Kimi Ni Todoke Volume 3 cover image is courtesy of barnesnandnoble.com.

Rated “T” for “Teen”

Because of her jet black hair and gloomy attitude, high school student Sawako Kuronuma comes across as someone frightening to her classmates.  That is because Sawako looks strikingly similar to a haunting horror movie character named “Sadako,” which becomes her nickname.  However, Shota Kazehaya, the most popular boy in school, is about to change everything for Sadako… um, Sawako.

As Kimi Ni Todoke, Vol. 3 opens, Sawako, no longer a total outcast, is enjoying the company of her pals, the bossy girl duo, Ayane Yano & Chizuru Yoshida.  With preparations for the upcoming school sports festival in full swing, Sadako finally has a chance to participate like a normal student.  She even makes a new friend, Ume Kurumizawa, who also seems to be a big fan of Kazehaya.

THE LOWDOWN:  Readers should not be fooled by Kimi Ni Todoke (From Me to You)’s premise.  This series isn’t really about a girl who looks like she crawled out of her watery grave in some J-horror flick.  It is a typical shojo manga (comics for teen girls) high school romance, but with an outcast as the heroine.  Creator Karuho Shiina has hit upon a novel way of depicting Sawako’s trials and tribulations, her triumphs, and her confusion – draw the character a hundred different ways.

Sometimes, Shiina draws Sawako to look like the other characters, and sometimes, Shiina super-deforms Sawako, as well as drawing her somewhere between normal and super-deformed.  As a visual cue, this is an excellent way of establishing character, plot, and mood in graphic storytelling, because readers have a better feel for Sawako’s state of mind or of the narrative.  This makes Kimi Ni Todoke a little atypical.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers looking for something different in shojo romance will like Kimi Ni Todoke.

B+