Kimi ni Todoke – 3

I’m trying to think up something witty to say here, but really, I just want to stare at that screenshot all day!

That is kind of how I feel about this episode, actually. It is not really super deep, and you are not going to sound like a genius analyzing it, but who cares when it delivers such a pleasant experience? Sawako and Kazehaya are a completely adorable couple, and damn it, I am eating this up with a spoon. Actually, with the ending, I am sort of lamenting the appearance of love triangle drama, since it appears that the new girl who likes Kazehaya is spreading nasty rumors and attributing them to Sawako, while also putting on a kind face in front of her. We’ll see how that goes, I guess.

But, yes, I have fallen more in love with Sawako x Kazehaya. They are just too cute together. When it is pulled off correctly, is there anything cuter in romance than passing notes to one’s partner? I say no. It’s especially cute when Sawako gets nervous about receiving a note and accidentally passes it on to Ryu instead of accepting it herself. Don’t know if Sawako is bordering on Purity Sue territory for anyone, but again, for me, it is that serious, “I’m going to make friends whether I suck at it or not!” attitude with which she approaches life that makes her so endearing. It’s better than having her fall everywhere like a ‘tard.

Kazehaya is getting more interesting, too. He’s still a lovable dork around Sawako, but his deeper desires are starting to show through just a bit, such as when he gets slightly jealous that everyone else gets the opportunity to experience Sawako’s smile. Kazehaya is not quite Arima from Kare Kano, of course (this would be a weird relationship if that were the case!); however, it is a nice detail that makes him feel a bit more real to me. I could see myself maybe feeling a twinge of irrational jealousy in that situation, too.

Come on, you know you’d be jealous if someone brought out that smile and you didn’t!

Besides all the fun relationship stuff and Sawako making more friends and opening up more, I loved a couple of other things: First, the gym teacher. A Pedro Martinez reference is about the last thing I expect to hear in any anime, much less a romance series like Kimi ni Todoke, which makes it all the funnier, haha. Also laughed at the guy thinking he is all manly for standing up to Sawako and tempting fate by staring into her eyes for a few seconds. The students are so impressed, man.

Ryu continues to be awesome, too. He doesn’t even do much, and yet he totally has my attention whenever he is onscreen. For whatever reason, the simple act of Ryu sleeping in class makes me laugh a lot. I cannot really explain it, except to say his laziness is hilarious. Gotta admire a guy whose sole mission is to go to school and check out for the day. He has his priorities in order. Only Sawako being an awesome teacher is enough to wake Ryu from his slumber, and he doesn’t even bother to get help from her.

Little worried about the next episode, if only because Yano and Yoshida should be able to see that Sawako isn’t the type of person who would (or, really, could) spread dumb rumors about people, but Kimi ni Todoke has been good fun so far, so I will have a bit of faith in it to keep doing well.