CBR18 Bingo – 26: volume 26 was all about my favorite character.
The primary conflict of Kimi ni Todoke is that the protagonist looks like the girl from The Ring. Sawako’s name even resembles the girl from The Ring’s – Sadako.
Because of her pale skin and evil blunt bangs, Sawako has never been able to make many friends, despite being the sweetest darling in the universe. But things change in high school.
Generally, it’s a love story. The romance between Sawako and Kazehaya is what the story is about and Kimi ni Todoke is one of the most popular manga ever because of it. I didn’t care about it, but I rarely care about romantic content one way or the other. What I enjoyed was the friendships and endearing characters.
Yes, it’s cute that Sawako and Kazehaya can’t even look at each other without fluster bombs. But I thought one of the sweetest scenes was when Ayane told Chizu to highlight her sharp features when doing makeup, instead of softening them.
Volume 26 focuses on Kurumi and her relationship with Sawako. Kurumi was introduced as a love rival and she’s the closest thing the story has to a villain. She’s also my favorite.
This volume is just Kurumi and Sawako looking at each other and blushing for 100+ pages, which I say as someone who thought they would make a better couple than Sawako and Kazehaya. By better, I mean more entertaining to me. Maybe someone else sees two girls building a platonic friendship strong enough to launch a spinoff, which is probably more accurate.
With or without Kurumi, the series is just 30 volumes of Sawako being kind and considerate and not much else. It’s great.
