Kimi ni Todoke – 2

Oh god. Moe levels at OVER 9000 right now.

This episode really demonstrates in a simple, effective way the depths of Sawako’s loneliness. She tries her best to evade the feelings, and she acts as cheerfully as she can, even when other students are being dicks to her, but some of her simple observations betray how alone she has been all her life. Such as this one: “I also found out that you can cry when you’re happy.” It might be a bit cheesy, but there are such profoundly sad feelings behind that statement.

I already liked Sawako from the first episode, but in this episode I identified with her to the point of it almost being excruciating, mainly because I have been down a similar road before in my life. The main difference between the loneliness and teasing Sawako endures in this episode, and what she endures in the opening episode, is that the teasing is played more for laughs in the opener (as in, holy crap these kids are idiots) and comes across as being mostly resolved at the end, while in this episode, although the teasing is still a bit exaggerated (these people must all be dumbasses if they really believe there is a curse on Sawako), the groupthink regarding things like nobody wanting to sit next to Sawako, or spreading rumors about Sawako being dumped by Kazehaya, are more painfully portrayed.

If you approach it logically, things like people not wanting to sit next to a person or spreading silly rumors should not be distressing, at least in a major way. To most people they are, at worst, minor annoyances. But what really marks Sawako’s loneliness is that these actions are an accepted way of life for her. She knows no other way to live other than being alone. What makes it worse, though, is that she cannot completely get used to it even if, until the start of the series, she has accepted her loneliness. Sawako’s peers whispering about not wanting to sit next to her still sends a shiver of pain through her heart. As cartoonish as the behavior of the high schoolers may be most of the time, that scene actually makes me hurt a bit, because it rings true. I was a pretty lonely guy until high school, so I know that while a person can accept loneliness, it does not mean that loneliness ever stops hurting.

And that is why this particular shot feels so wonderful to me. Sawako, for the first time in her life, is surrounded by friends who not only have her back but also treat her as they would treat any other person. Even some random guy Sawako doesn’t know is willing to sit next to her! (That scene made me laugh a lot. Poor Yoshida doesn’t get to show her appreciation for Sawako even though Sawako moves her so very much. And I love this Ryuu guy already. I get the feeling he will be an awesome character.) Sawako sitting almost in shock, being flooded with wonderful sunlight, might be a bit over the top, but it accurately portrays the feeling of actually knowing someone cares for you after feeling for so long that nobody really gives a crap. It made me smile a lot.

I’ve grown a bit warmer toward Kazehaya as well. Right now he is still a bit too much of the nice, flawless potential boyfriend type, but I do like that he is such a dork with Sawako. The guy can be totally smooth with almost anybody, but when it comes to someone he actually cares for deeply, he is way out of his league. Poor Kazehaya is scared out of his mind that he is going to screw things up. His fretting about “misinterpreting” that Sawako respects him rather than loves him is kind of silly; however, I can relate a bit. Unless a person is out of this world confident, then he or she will probably want to be absolutely sure of another person’s feelings before making a serious move, at least at this young an age. I get the feeling Kazehaya has never really had a girlfriend before. He’s probably finding out just now how complicated love can be.

The ending interests me, if only because it appears as though Sawako will soon find out how complicated love can be, as well. That girl at the end, I believe, is Ume Kurumizawa (voiced by Aya Hirano), and it does not take long to figure out she has some strong feelings for Kazehaya and is probably very interested in all the speculation about and interactions between Kazehaya and Sawako. We’ll see what kind of girl she is soon enough!

So, yes, another good episode. I am not totally head over heels in love with Kimi ni Todoke yet, but rather I am slowly opening my heart to it, much like everyone is opening theirs to Sawako, bit by bit.[/cheesy metaphor]