Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (His and Her Circumstance or Kare
Kano) is a slice of life high school romance series by Masami Tsuda. The manga ran from 1995 to 2005 and is 102
chapters long.
Yukino Miyazawa
was the top student in school until her first year in high school where she was
bested by perfect student Souichiro Arima.
Yukino works hard to be a model student.
She finely crafted an outward appearance that brings her nothing but
adoration and respect. While in reality
she is a bit shallow and doesn’t have any real relationships with people
outside of her energetic family. When
Arima out does her in every way she is determined to destroy him so she can
return to the top. In a rare slip of
concentration she reveals her true self to Arima. Instead of exposing her layers of lies to the
student body he black mails her to do his homework so he can concentrate more
on extracurricular activities. When
Yukino has had enough she tells him off at which point he confesses his love
for her. After rejecting his advances at
first she realizes that she has fallen for her rival and they begin
dating. Yukino learns that Arima is also
living a fabricated existence when it comes to everyone around him. They decide to be true to themselves and
honest with the world around them as they find a connection with each other
they have never experienced with anyone else.
While the problems
between them seem to have cleared up, outside forces start to move against them
one after another. Jealousies and
rivalries spring up, trying to thwart their pursuit of happiness. In the efforts to overcome their challenges
they grow closer and more distant with each other. Yukino grows more from the experiences than
Arima and when his dark and troubling past starts to come back his future of
happiness seems unreachable. Can Arima
come to terms with his upbringing and will his own feelings and secrets destroy
the only person he has ever had any connection with?
After watching and
loving the anime adaptation from the end of the 90’s I have finally read the
manga…and man am I happy I did. While I
love the anime and think it does a great job of translating this manga its only
half of the story. The anime came out
when the manga was half written, so it only deals with what was published at
that time. The anime ended well but it
left you with an impression far different than the manga leaves you with. The focus of the anime also changes the
viewpoint of the story. You really feel
that it deals with Yukino as the main character. But upon reading the entire manga, Arima is
the real many character of the story, especially the second half. It really shows his development as he tackles
his past and tries to figure out his future, but much of that story is told
from other people’s perspectives. As
stated, the first half is pretty much exactly what is done in the anime. There
are a few issues at that point that break off from the Arima story and flesh
out the side characters while jumping the timeline ahead a year and a half. The second half zeros in on the final year of
high school and deals pretty much solely with Arima; his past, present and
future. There was always a layer of
comedy in the anime and it shows up here and there in the manga but with the
serious and dark nature of the second half this really is a dramatic romance.
There
are some problems I have with the manga though.
The artwork can get a bit…odd. I
don’t have a big problem with the character designs, but at some points it was
hard to figure out who was talking and who was who as many of the female
characters look very similar. This story
does deal with some pretty harsh slices of reality like rejection, child abuse,
suicide and hatred. But at the same time
all of these characters are pretty fortunate in life; regardless of some of the
horrible childhoods. You have the son of
a wealthy and powerful medical family who is one of the smartest students in
the nation. You have a girl who comes
from an incredibly loving family and is living her life to the fullest, with
the world completely open to her. You
have a member of a successful rock band; a successful author, etc, etc. Everyone really lives pretty blessed lives…not
withstanding the pain they feel.
Fortunately the pain they do suffer from really never stems from being a
spoiled brat. Most of the characters
problems stem from social/self acceptance and loneliness. The real focus of the story is how Arima and
those around him make the transition from childhood to adulthood and the pains
associated with every ones personalities and past problems.
I am really happy
I finally read the manga, the anime is one of my favorites and the manga just
made the story so much better. I don’t
think I will reread it as I already know what is going on and can’t see it
being repeatable. I will probably
re-watch the anime at some point down the road though. This is a great romantic series but doesn’t
focus on the romance very heavily. I
highly recommend this series to fans of romances. But usually this one is one every ones list
anyways! It would be really nice is the
manga-ka would release a follow up series…the last chapter of Kare Kano will
explain what kind of follow up I am talking about.
The entire thing
is available in North America as is the anime.
So pick it up and enjoy!
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