Manga Mondays Meme (100): Kimi ni Todoke vol. 3 by Karuho Shiina

New Manga Mondays Meme!

I can't believe I'm up to 100 Manga Mondays! It sounds like such a huge number, although it's really only slightly less than two years. I haven't missed a single one. Of course, a few of them have been throwaway posts, but I at least put something up. This will never be the most popular post on my blog, but I love all of you who read and participate in Manga Mondays! It's fun to share my love for manga with other bloggers.

I've been doing Manga Mondays every week since I started my blog 2 years ago. It started out as a personal feature, but I've turned it into a meme in the past few months. There are quite a few people who do Manga Mondays. I don't claim that I own or created the idea of Manga Mondays - it's an obvious choice given the alliteration. I think a meme would be a good way for everyone to publicize their own Manga Mondays and get a little more publicity.

The linky will be below my review.

Kimi ni Todoke vol. 3 by Karuho Shiina

Summary

Will the curse of Sadako leave her friendless for life? R to L (Japanese Style). Sadako's dreams come true when she finally becomes friends with her classmates, instead of scaring them off. She even gets friendly with the cutest girl in school, Kurumi. But will this innocent friendship with Kurumi make Sadako realize that her feelings for Kazehaya are more than just friendly? Sawako Kuronuma is the perfect heroine...for a horror movie. With her jet-black hair, sinister smile and silent demeanor, she's often mistaken for Sadako, the haunting movie character. Unbeknownst to but a few, behind her scary facade is a very misunderstood teenager. Shy and pure of heart, she just wants to make friends. But when Kazehaya, the most popular boy in class, befriends her, she's sure to make more than just that--she's about to make some enemies too! (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

*Warning: Potential spoilers. My manga reviews tend to be more of a summary than a review. I find it hard to review manga in the same way I do regular books.

Life is looking up for Sawako. She is making more and more friends at school and the bullying is somewhat lessening. But like any bullying victim, she's cautious. She can't believe that people actually like her. And doesn't know how to react when people are nice.

A main plot point of this volume occurs when her friends challenge Sawako to call them by their first names. This is a big deal in Japanese culture. You call most people by their last names. And almost always use honorifics. People don't go on a first name basis unless they're friends. Even then, they usually use honorifics like -kun or -chan. It's hard to properly understand the big deal about this unless you're Japanese. Luckily for Gaijin like me, I can call Japanese friends by their first names without honorifics and it's excused because I'm an ignorant foreigner. That's a good thing, because I didn't know about the honorifics when I went to Japan.

Yano-san and Yoshida-san (using last names) have been very nice to Sawako. However, they still call her Sadako - the mean horror movie nickname. I'm assuming this is out of habit, but it makes me question their characters. Especially when Sawako is so adamant about using formal names. It does occur to them at one people that they shouldn't call her Sadako, but they haven't changed yet. I hope they do.

Sawako makes friends with one of the most popular girls in school. She's the female version of Kazehaya. Nice to everyone and liked by all. Sawako is incredibly flattered to be the recipient of such attention and wants to be just like her. She is upset though that Kurimi-chan and Kazehaya have such an easy friendship. She's too scared to talk to him. Plus, she wonders if that means that Kurimi-chan and Kazehaya are something more.

Neither Sawako nor Kazehaya have acknowledged that they "like" each other yet. All the signs are there - extreme nervousness, cautious formalism, shy niceties - but they're blind to it. At the end, there's a potential wrench thrown into their growing relationship. I wonder how or if it will cause a problem.

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