From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke

A little surprised this show doesn't have more buzz because it's a cute and effortless weekend binge watch. And while some subplots were a little frustrating as a viewer it was overall enjoyable and just sweet. The characters all had depth and arc, I enjoyed the shots and music. Again it kind of feels like the straight Korean version of Heartstopper. From the opening with the different seasons to the gorgeous misunderstandings of youth navigating friendships and love (in a non Euphoria filter type way). But again there will be some moments you watch it and be like...ugh, okay, no, wait, just TALK MORE!! But other than that, it's a good watch for anyone looking for something cute and simple.

As the summary says, watching this live action series was like watching a Cliff's Notes version of the story. It's very high level with little detail, so it's hard to fully buy into any of the characters' emotions or motivations. Fortunately, I had just finished the 38 ep, 2 season anime series, so I knew a lot of what was going on in the background, at least for episodes 1 through 7. Once the series got to where the anime series ended, everything seemed rushed and a bit confusing, which stands to reason when you consider they were averaging 5 anime episodes per live action episode. This series definitely would have benefitted from being either a full 25 episode season or two 13 episode half seasons. I don't want to spoil anything, so suffice it to say that there are some character relationships that seem to come out of nowhere, and are really tough to accept, because there wasn't enough time to develop them, which is a shame. Still, it's a nice slice of life/coming of age story.

If you havent read the manga or watched the anime it might seem kinda fast and the characters might be kinda confusing at times. The manga ran for 30 Volumes and 123 chapters and even the anime had 36 episodes but only went to chapter 47 so 12 episodes at 30 minutes a piece doesnt really do the story justice. If they would have made the episodes longer and added more from the manga I think it would have been perfect.

At the end of the day it is a live adaptation of an anime so it can be pretty hard to nail certain characters and how they act in certain scenes. I feel like its a double edged sword. Either you follow the character to a T and the acting is a little awkward at times or you have to change the character a bit and potentially more to fit how real world people act which I feel like can be tough. I do feel like they had a good mix of both in this and were able to portray the characters how they were portrayed in the manga/anime pretty good.

All in all, I feel like they did a really good job with this show and the actors fit the character pretty well. Wish certain scenes that were pretty big in the manga/anime were also included in this but oh well.

Loved the show!

It's my favorite japanese TV series. Beautiful plot, good actors, perfect in their roles, especially Ryu Sanada (great casting); the direction is more than good, and the musical accompaniment is centered and delightful; even the places where the events took place are attractive and perfect. Too bad it's only twelve episodes long, but perhaps this allowed the authors to keep the quality high without having to resort to unnecessary fillers. It doesn't seem to want to adhere to the most common reality of things, it seems rather the romantic vision of a female point of view, yet it's so beautiful as a whole that once you get to the end, you're sorry it ends. I want to recommend it to romantic souls looking for an optimistic vision of life, a clean and sincere story and that like to have characters that are easy to get attached to.

Oh well, k-dramas are something that westerners may become accustomed to, however Japanese movies/series may be a little too much. If you are educated in this spirit, you may very well end loving this series, because it's genuine, sentimental, powerful, visually stunning (a characteristic of Japanese movies/series). If you liked it, I strongly recommend 5 cm per second (oh well, it's an anime, but a very powerful one). Don't expect for one second a westerner type of show. Oh, no! It's a completely different artistic approach, with lots of introspection, genuine feelings exposed in a shocking way, and a completely new culture. I loved the show!!!!