Books Made Into Movies: Kimi ni Todoke

Kimi ni Todoke is a manga series about a girl who bears and unfortunate resemblance to Sadako from The Ring. Even worse, her name is Sawako, so people just call her by the character's name. Sawako is awkward and nervous, which results in her hiding behind her long dark hair and making inadvertently scary. Because of this, people really are scared of her and do not want to get to know her. This changes when Kazehaya, a popular, outgoing guy notices her and works to draw her out of her shell.
I realize that this summary of the plot sounds a little bit She's All That, but it's not at all. He just gets a crush on her as she is and has no desire to change her; he's got it bad. That's one of the things I really like about this story. Unlike most pop culture, American or Japanese, it's usually the girl who has to nurse a crush throughout the plot line just waiting until the other person will have feelings for them. In this story, it's the boy that pines for the unsuspecting girl. It makes for a nice change.

He even likes her when she looks like this.

The film was definitely better than the manga, even though the latter continues after the couple has gotten together. The changes in Sadako's character happen so incredibly gradual in the manga that most of the time it feels like nothing's happening and is super frustrating. Here, she makes steady, realistic progress, learning to smile and convey her emotions to others.

Look at his super cute smile!

Mostly, this film was just super, super cute. Words can not express the adorableness of these characters, who looked just like their manga counterparts; that was some seriously awesome casting. Well, I guess Kazehaya doesn't look quite the same, but he's really cute, so who cares! If you like the manga, you should definitely check out the film; it will give you another fix while you wait for the next volume to be released in English.