Kare Kano (彼氏彼女の事情) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Tsuda. It was serialized in LaLa from 1995 to 2005 and collected in 21 tankōbon volumes by Hakusensha. It depicts the romance between "perfect" student Yukino Miyazawa and her academic rival Soichiro Arima, and the relationships of several of their friends.
The series is licensed and was published in English in North America by Tokyopop. The chapters from the first seven volumes were adapted into a 26-episode anime television series by Gainax and J.C.Staff. Directed by Hideaki Anno, the episodes were broadcast in Japan on TV Tokyo from October 1998 to March 1999. It is licensed for distribution outside of Japan by Muse Communication[3] and Enoki Films under the title Tales at North Hills High,[4] and sub-licensed for distribution in North America by Nozomi Entertainment, which released it as His and Her Circumstances.
Plot
Yukino Miyazawa is a Japanese high school first-year student who is the envy of classmates for her good grades and immaculate appearance. However, her "perfect" exterior is a façade, an egocentric charade she maintains to win praise. In the privacy of her own home, she is spoiled, stubborn, a slob, and studies relentlessly and obsessively to maintain her grades. On entering high school, she is knocked from her position at the top of the class by Soichiro Arima, a handsome young man whose very existence Yukino considers a threat to the praise on which she thrives, and she vows to destroy him. When Soichiro confesses that he has a crush on her, Yukino rejects him then boasts about it at home. Her observant little sister Kano points out that her rivalry with him comes from admiration, causing her to rethink her own feelings.
Before she can figure out if she hates or likes Soichiro, he visits her home and discovers her being herself. He uses the information to blackmail her into doing his student council work. At first Yukino accepts it, coming to realize that he is also not the perfect student he pretends to be. Tired of being used, Yukino revolts and Soichiro apologizes, and admits he still loves her and just wanted to spend time with her. Yukino realizes she loves him as well, and together they resolve to abandon their fake ways and be true to themselves, though she initially has trouble breaking her lifelong habit of pretend-perfection and her competitive ways. She battles with this newfound love and the feelings of being two-faced.
As the anime progresses, Yukino is able to open her true self to others and earns her first real friends beyond Soichiro. It is eventually revealed that Soichiro was striving to be perfect to avoid turning "bad" like the parents who abandoned him. Falling in love with Yukino, he is able to become more true to himself, but he also finds himself becoming increasingly jealous of Yukino's change bringing new friends and new activities into her life, and of her having parts of her life that do not involve him. When Yukino unknowingly hurts him, he becomes even more jealous and afraid, and begins to wear another façade of the "perfect boyfriend" in an effort to protect her from his "ugly" self.
Production
Kare Kano was Masami Tsuda's first lengthy manga series. Still new to professional manga writing in general, shortly after starting the series she had to put it on hold while she finished working out the framework of the story and where she ultimately wanted it to go.
In adapting the first seven volumes into an anime television series, director Hideaki Anno kept the same general scenes and dialogue but modified the overall feel and focus of the series, making it into a "personal case study of relationships". He emphasizes the dialog over the animation using a variety of techniques, including iconic scenes, production sketches, real-life location shots, repeated imagery, and even using animation versions of manga panels or simply printing the lines of the dialog being spoken over static screens.
Anno is credited as director for the first 16 episodes and co-director with Hiroki Sato for later episodes but with his name written in katakana as アンノヒデアキ (anno hideaki) possibly as a form of protest. Kare Kano would be the last anime series that Anno would direct for Gainax. According to Michael S. Johnson of Nausicaa.net, Anno objected to the restrictions placed on television anime by TV Tokyo after the Pokémon seizure incident.[5] However, in Anno's own interview from the Kare Kano Blu-ray release, he talks about creating one of the first eyecatches that told audiences to watch in a brightly lit room away from the TV, a fact he seemed proud of as many started to copy him.[6]
Media
Manga
Written by Masami Tsuda, Kare Kano was first serialized in LaLa between December 22, 1995, and May 10, 2005.[9][10] The 101 individual chapters, referred to as "Acts", were compiled into 21 tankōbon volumes by Hakusensha. The first volume was released on June 5, 1996, with the final volume released on August 5, 2005. It also had a one-shot published on June 23, 2011.[11]
Kare Kano was initially licensed for an English language release by Mixx Entertainment in 2000, but it subsequently lost those rights before publication began.[12] In July 2001, the company's Tokyopop division announced that it had reacquired the license and that it would be serializing the title in their
Reception
Overall reviews for the series have been positive. The tenth volume of the series was listed as the top selling graphic novel in Japan on October 31, 2000.[23] In The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917, Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy praised the anime adaptation for its innovative techniques and the use of "surreal 'cartoon' effects."[24] THEM anime reviews gave the anime adaptation a good review calling it "probably the most disarmingly honest shoujo romance ever made."[25] Alexander Harris from Anime News Network called the anime adaptation very character driven, saying "If you love diving into the minds of a character and searching for those juicy naughty bits, and all the while being entertained and educated, then this is for you."[26]
Further reading
External links
References
- Caitlin Moore. 20 Years of KareKano Anime News Network, December 21, 2018, retrieved June 30, 2019^
- Serdar Yegulalp. Unfinished Anime About.com^
- His and Her Circumstances [English Sub] YouTube, retrieved March 30, 2022