Kimi ni Todoke 36-37 – Pastel Party (END)

Thought about making separate posts for the final two episodes, but since they aired together, I may as well post about them together, right?

Anyway, the ride is over, and considering how the second season began, it might be a slight shock that Kimi ni Todoke has actually come to a close now! (Ah, the days of me ranting about how long the series could keep the retarded misunderstandings in perpetuity seem so far away . . .) It’s a sweet ending, and I think everything is wrapped up in a relatively strong way. I actually wouldn’t be adverse to a third season, just because it’s so rare to see a relationship in anime develop past the point of confession, but I doubt it happens.

Out of curiosity, a question to those who are reading the manga and watching the anime: Is the anime still remaining faithful to the manga? Or did Production I.G step in and say, “Man, we gotta end this now” and have Kazehaya and Sawako hook up? Because if the manga is still keeping the cockblocking going, then that’s kind of ridiculous, but if it’s developing the relationship, then that might be interesting.

But even without that, this ending is fine. It’s kind of funny how the second season of Kimi ni Todoke turned out to be the opposite of the first season in terms of how I enjoyed it. I think the first season is fairly strong the whole way through but has a disappointingly weak ending. The second season makes me want to rip my hair out half the time, but I like the ending quite a bit. I guess it’s a strength of the characters to make me still care about them even when the story is at fault. Even Kazehaya is kind of interesting for me now. (The fact that he wants to kick Joe’s ass just endears him to me even more.)

Man, I will laugh a lot if I find out that Osamu Dezaki guest directed these final two episodes. Seriously, though, the pastel freeze frames are everywhere! Maybe a cost-cutting thing (can’t look as good as this show usually does without breaking the bank a bit), but also of course a common device to heighten emotion. It’s used so much, though, that I kept laughing whenever it comes up. I half-expected there to be a pastel freeze frame of Pin picking his nose when he is talking to Kazehaya and Ryu. If I had any talent as an artist (I don’t), I would totally draw this.

Getting back to srs biz, in ep11 I think Sawako and Kazehaya on the beach is the strongest moment. It’s one of the few times where both really seem to let their feelings run around free rather than restricting themselves with modesty or whatever. For Sawako, that scenario is like her equivalent of flashing Kazehaya or something. Plus, the beach at nighttime is just romantic. A good choice of setting, I say. I also like that both Kazehaya and Sawako take strong steps to avoid misunderstandings. Now, I wish they had both done this many episodes ago, but you know, beggars can’t be choosers and all.

As for ep12, I loved Ayane talking down the bullying rumormonger girls (she’s always the cool head, and I love her for it) and Sawako and Kurumi talking this shit out once and for all. Even when Kurumi was a rotten apple, I always liked something about her, and while she gets the short end of the stick here, at least we can see that she won’t be wallowing in misery the rest of her life. Kazehaya ain’t that wonderful, yo. It’s just refreshing to see all these characters finally bring this shit out into the open instead of fretting and blushing and whatnot.

Speaking of bringing shit into the open, Ryu is BOSS. Good work, sir.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about Kimi ni Todoke‘s second season. At its worst, the show artificially drags out drama by introducing stupid misunderstandings that exacerbate problems in a way that makes me facepalm rather than hope everything gets resolved. But, to the show’s credit, when all this shit does get resolved, the show actually gets fun and entertaining again. A good ending to an overall decent romantic-comedy.