AKA: 君に届け 3RD SEASON

Genre: Romance/Comedy

Length: Web release, 5 episodes, 60 minutes each

Distributor: Currently available streaming on Netflix.

Content Rating: TV-14 (Violence, mature themes.)

Related Series: 1 and 2 (TV series); a live-action film in 2010

Also Recommended: You and Me; Boys Be; Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines

Notes: Based on manga by Karuho Shiina, published by Shueisha

Rating:

Kimi ni Todoke (From Me to You) Season 3

Synopsis

Somehow, Shota Kazehaya and Sawako Kuronoma are finally a couple, and even the first meeting with the respective parents seems to go fine. But Kazehaya starts treating Sawako coldly, while her gal pals Ayane and Chirzuru go through their own tumultuous experiences with love (or at least vague attraction.)

Review

It's been a long time since I saw Seasons 1 and 2, but I got up to speed pretty quickly, even without the 10-minute summary of previous events that Netflix also throws in.

I'm not sure how I feel about the hour-long episode format here. Its main advantage is that specific events that would be split into several episodes in a conventional 24-minute format (here, as one example, a class trip) can be presented as a complete unit.

I think I may have mentioned the show's character art before. This is one of those shows where the boys are prettier than some of the female leads. I guess it was done to provide "character" to their faces. Sawako's countenance would be OK except that she gets presented in super-deformed (SD) form at least half the time; but her friend Ayane's puffy lips and extra-long eyelashes make her look mildly grotesque. (The show at least no longer emphasizes Sawako's "spooky" appearance that originally caused many of her classmates to call her "Sadako", after the ghost girl in The Ring- although a few characters here STILL call her by that name, even to her face.)

I've long been infuriated with Sawako's "doormat" personality- her naivete; her complete ingenuous trust in others; her tendency to blame herself for anything and everything that goes wrong (whether she's in any way culpable or not); her perpetual apologizing; and with THIS installment, we add continuous fretting about the status of her relationship with Kazehaya. I've several times nearly proposed violence against her; this time I idly considered that maybe Sawako should, like her nickname-sake, get thrown in a well. But my MAIN ire this time is toward Kazehaya, whose reason for shunning Sawako was SO illogical (and counterproductive for BOTH of them) that I thought HE probably needed to get tossed into the well first. (At least homewrecker Kurumi didn't make it into this installment. THAT would have likely made this a TOTAL mess.)

There do seem to be some interesting things going on with others in Sawako's orbit. Her friend Ayane, supposedly the most thoughtful and mature of the girls, we discover isn't that discriminating about the guys she goes out with. And Kento Miura, the "ladies' man" character (he has groupies!) is faced with the difficult task of convincing ONE girl that he's absolutely sincere about HER.

But I've always found the most interesting relationship in the show to be that between the hotheaded, tomboyish Chirzuru and her childhood friend, Ryu (or Ryo- I've seen the English spelling both ways.) Ryu has always been taciturn, but he finally brings up the elephant-in-the-room-in-their-relationship; and Chizuru doesn't want to accept that, while she can still have a relationship with Ryu, it may have to include some aspects she isn't psychologically ready for. Her feelings are usually masked with belligerence, but we do see, at one point, her come clean about her wish that they just continue like two buddies, instead of entering into a romantic relationship. We do get some genuinely marvelous backstory here on their childhood friendship: their mothers were close friends, AND Chizuru had a crush on Ryu's older brother Toru; it's a kind of gender-reversed version of the Kaname-and-the-Aida-sisters situation from You and Me. Ayane says of Chizuru and Ryu that "they should just date, already", but Chizuru is having a terrible time getting to that place.

Still, I'm going one more star on the rating of this one than on the previous installments. It's mainly on the fact that, in the end, at least two of the relationships ARE clearly moving forward, while the third...well... seems to be at least creeping in a positive direction as well. Even Sawako may finally find enough courage to speak her mind rather than suffer in silent martyrdom, which gives me less incentive to wish violence on her. All's well when I don't wish for anyone to be thrown into a well.

But I WOULD recommend that "Mr. Pin", the egomaniacal teacher who wants to intrude into the students' personal lives, SHOULD be considered for well-occupancy.

By the way, notice the phones that everyone carries. It speaks well of the series' continuity, but less well about HOW LONG this thing has taken IRL. — Allen Moody

Recommended Audience: Netflix says TV-14. Some violence this time, apparently because nothing convinces a girl of your sincerity than beating up someone on her behalf. The cast is still struggling with mere kissing (that's still too advanced for some), while girls in the bath are safely concealed by tub water rather than dangerously revealed in the shower.