From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke follows Kuronuma Sawaka, a socially awkward and incredibly shy high schooler who starts breaking out of her shell when the popular and cheerful Kazehaya Shouta befriends her.
Story
Sawako has a reputation for being a woman capable of cursing others, as most students get jump scared whenever she’s around, thanks to her eerie demeanor and appearance. However, she’s just incredibly shy and socially awkward, and selfless to a fault.
When Kazehaya befriends her, Sawako’s life begins anew as she finds herself falling for him as well as getting more and more confident around others. Their friendship develops into something more romantic but a few detractors try to pull them apart.
Their love conquers all hitches but their own mutual misunderstanding. Sawako finally makes her confession clear and the two begin dating. Meanwhile, their friends Ayane and Chizuru also contend with their own romantic trials and tribulations.
The ending of From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke sees Sawako choosing to study to become a teacher, and departing for Sapporo, while Kazehaya decides to become a sports trainer and eventually take over his father’s business, enrolling in a local college.
Chizuru finds love in her classmate and best friend since childhood, Ryu, and the two also part ways temporarily, owing to Ryu’s college and baseball, promising each other to ultimately reunite and get married.
Ayane follows her academic ambitions in Tokyo, suffering many romantic failures, only to learn from it all and embark on the next stage of her life as a confident woman.
Kazehaya and Sawako reunite at the end of the show, embracing each other before walking away to their happy-ever-after, as From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke rolls the credits.
Performances
Minami Sara as Sawako and Suzuka Ouji as Kazehaya are adorable as the leads and do a great job bringing their manga and anime counterparts to live-action, a task most difficult as translating the exaggerated and fluid dynamics of drawn characters into real-life performances can be rather tricky.
This brings one to the instances where the nature of their characters as well as the proximity to the source material that the show abides by, makes for a rather underwhelming display.
That said, the actors in From Me to You deliver a truly heart-wrenching display of emotions during the soppy scenes. Sara is believable as the shy Sawako whose social ineptitude is only second to her unadulterated innocence and kindness.
Ouji’s eyes and frowns can often come across as too fidgeting but he’s also really believable in his role. Kumada Rinka and Nakamura Riho are a treat to watch as the two most adorable supporting characters who are not there solely to serve the main plotline and protagonists.
Positives
Much like its anime and manga counterparts, From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke is a thoroughly comforting watch, as the emotional highs and lows don’t stray that far from the equilibrium.
The casting is rather brilliant and the viewers of the anime as well as manga readers might delight in the moments where resemblances of the features and demeanor come through as quite uncanny.
It’s refreshing to see the many subplots and storylines in the periphery through their conclusions, as the supporting characters all get their arcs, even if the screen time devoted to each of them could have done with more minutes.
Negatives
Sometimes the contrast in anime, manga, and live-action becomes very blatant as certain sequences don’t render nearly as effectively here as they did in other mediums. This calls into question the creative choices that must be made when adapting a manga or anime into live-action.
The later episodes of From Me to You begin feeling a bit congested as all the storylines converge and reach their conclusions, and one wonders if splitting the show into two seasons must have been the optimal choice here.
Verdict
From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke is a cozy treat of high school romance, drama, desperation, a variety of firsts, and the whirlwind emotions that they inspire. It’s also a story of healthy friendships and bonds that motivate and inspire people to do better, be better, and treat others with a little more selflessness.
Also Read: From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke ending explained: Do Sawako & Kazehaya end up together?