Kare Kano

Reviewed by Kristina Tiedemann
February 8, 2006

Author: Masami Tsuda Publisher: TOKYOPOP Website: www.tokyopop.com Review Rating: 10 out of 10

“A nice healthy dose of reality”

Originally published in Japan as Kareshi Kanojo No Jijou , Masami Tsuda's Kare Kano is a wonderfully witty story about two overachievers who start off as rivals but end up falling in love. The main characters, Yukino Miyazawa and Soichiro Arima, are both well-rounded students at the top of their class. Although they look like perfect students on the outside, both of them have secret personalities. Yukino acts kind, but on the inside she is extremely vain. Her goal in life is to do whatever it takes to hear praise and admiration from her teachers and peers. Soichiro has a dark, mysterious past that forces him to be the very best at any cost. Soichiro and Yukino's relationship begins with a rough start when Soichiro steals the number one spot from Yukino. Yukino keeps her calm on the outside but plots to take back the spot from Soichiro. However, Soichiro discovers the secret of her vain personality and uses this knowledge to his advantage by blackmailing Yukino, but later he professes his love to her. Yukino and Soichiro find out that they have more in common than they initially thought and promise each other that they will stop pretending to be perfect students. They begin to accept each other for who they are.

Kare Kano is excellent. It is well written with many realistic twists and turns from which you can expect payoff. Although there are many characters, Masami Tsuda's writing style made it easy to relate to each character and their situations no matter how strange. Although Kare Kano is characterized as romantic comedy, there are some seriously dark elements to the story that are smoothly balanced out by humor. The artwork is gorgeous and the gag-manga-style caricatures that express their inner personalities are hilarious!

Kare Kano is a must-have if you are an avid manga reader simply because it is NOT your average story. While the covers of each book and the descriptions on the back covers look and sound cliché, the story of Kare Kano is a nice healthy dose of reality. As a whole, the manga is deeper and more realistic than any other I have read, which is refreshing. At the cost of $9.99 a piece and with 18 volumes currently on the market, Kare Kano can become an expensive but satisfying addiction. You can bet that I'll be scrounging my car for loose change when volume 19 hits shelves in April.