Each year, before the start of each Autumn Season, I hold a little poll in which you can all force me to blog a series I wouldn’t normally even consider to cover. The only time at which I could not complete such a series was in 2009, with Kimi ni Todoke’s first season. It had very solid production values; Production IG made sure of that. However, as a romance it just had no idea what it wanted to do. Any scene that focused on Sawako’s (the lead character) growth as a character was overshadowed by its romantic drivel that refused to go anywhere.
It really was the classic syndrome of romance shows, where the creators just refuse to let relationships play out normally, in favour of forced and artificial cheese and drama. It’s because of this that I wasn’t looking forward to its second season. But lo and behold: it actually redeemed itself a bit. The biggest surprises of this season definitely lie in its sequels.
This second season really shows that the creators took a good look at what happened to the first season, with the intention to fix its major flaws. They put aside the romantic nonsense and simply constructed a series with the sole purpose of resolving the romantic relationship between the two lead characters. It’s an in-depth look at how the relationship between the two lead characters grows. It’s no longer another simple “will they won’t they”-story, but instead the series changes into a “when, how and why will they hook up”. A much more interesting premise, and to make matters even better: the creators also figured out how to use slow pacing. Instead of using it for stalling, they use it to slowly build up everything they need, deliver one hell of a climax, and afterwards carefully wrap up everything that needed to be wrapped up. It’s a massive improvement over the first season.
At the same time though, I wouldn’t say that this is the second coming of White Album. The fact remains that the first season just left a lot to be desired, and it didn’t even seem to build up for this second season. The second season does make use of some of the things that happened throughout the first season, but it mostly feels like the creators went “oh crap, we actually need to develop these people”. Kimi ni Todoke still is an overly pure portrayal of teenaged romance: great to swoon away, but at the same time it’s not like the story behind it is really deep and thoughtful. The characters remain one-sighted teenagers who only seem to think about romance and the drama still is based entirely around the fact that they refuse to talk to each other. They’re just much better written and portrayed than in the first season.
| Storytelling: | 8/10 – Has exactly what the first season lacked: focus. Carefully builds up its simple but effective romance. |
| Characters: | 8/10 – They refused to develop in the first season. In the second season however, they do, and IT’S ABOUT BLOODY TIME. |
| Production-Values: | 8/10 – Production IG is solid as expected, though there are too many distorted faces. |
| Setting: | 8/10 – Nothing special nor nothing bad here aside from an overly idyllic portrayal of teenaged life. But then again, something tells me that was very much intentional. |
Suggestions:
– Bokura ga Ita
– Aoi Hana
– True Tears
Now I guess it’s time to give Toradora a try. But beware it started slowly and it just keeps rising till the awesome end.
It seems we agree overall on the movement from Season 1 to Season 2, and that the sequel did a much better job of diving into the mentalities of the characters. I feel season 2 could’ve worked without the 1st season, since it was still had plenty of all the glowy innocence and awkwardness that fully took over season 1.
I think this anime did a great job of portraying idealistic first loves, the type many a girl or guy dreams about but few ever really get to see or experience.
I really wanted to like this series but I couldn’t get past the first few episodes. The animation looks great but I just couldn’t. Perhaps because I was an extremely shy girl myself that I find it difficult to relate to sawako. Which is a darn shame.
overall I give this one a pass.
Completely disagree with your view on the first season, but nonetheless this review was a great read.
haha, it’s true about : 8/10 – Production IG is solid as expected, though there are too many distorted faces.
OMG, it ended so well! And the effects were really beautiful!
I think it’s the first time I’ve strongly disagreed with your views – I found the two seasons pretty similar, though the 2nd played the ‘endless misunderstandings’ card to extremes for a while. I see it as romance second, and as a character study of debilitating shyness & fears first. Season one was as much about Sawako’s first friendships and conflicts with rivals as about romance – but I admit it rides on whether you have the patience for a trying main character.