“Getting To Know You” – Kimi ni Todoke (Season 2) (anime) – 8/10 Pools

Love has no desire but to fulfill itself. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving. ~Kahlil Gibran

Genre: Romance/Slice-of-Life/School

Review Status: Complete (12 Episodes/12 Episodes)

Licensed: No, this anime is not licensed in the US

Art/Animation: There really isn’t anything unique about the character designs, but the colors are bright and lovely, and the backgrounds are mainly lovely watercolors. The animation is sub-par for a slice-of-life anime. It tends to be on the rough side, surprising since there isn’t a whole lot of movement and there is no action per say.

Dub Vs. Sub: There is no dub for this anime.

Summary: The continuation of the first season. Sawako Kuronuma and her friends have just begun their second year of high school and they are in the same class together again. To make matters more interesting a male student newly transferred into their class is seated right next to Kuronuma and has taken an interest in her. What hurdles will Sawako and Kazehaya face next? (from MAL.net)

Review: While I wasn’t impressed by the pacing in the first season, this second one took it up a notch. It started off with a bang- a new guy transferring in, and he’s not impressed by the main couple’s dithering around! So of course he offers to help Sawako and be her friend. Quite a few episodes are spent building up the tension as Kazehaya watches them get close and is infuriated by it.

This plays around with some of the things that often show up in shoujo romances- for instance, it’s Kazehaya that gets up in arms when he sees Sawako getting close to the new guy. The really nice thing about this is that he neither sees the need to get ‘revenge’ or behave like Sawako is his property during it. He doesn’t have that personality, and the author stays true to it.

The second season is also where The Confession happens. Finally! The ball gets moving between our main protagonists. What was also very pleasant about this story is that it’s not all ‘I love you everything’s good and we can live happily ever after’. There is no way that the story could end up like that! The mangaka kept in mind that Sawako is the most feared, avoided girl in the school, and that there would be little to no chance people would accept their relationship right off the bat. So while the confession does happen, they spend a few episodes going through people’s reactions to their relationship.

Why am I not as impressed by this as I could be? The love triangle. I’m very, very tired of this particular shoujo cliché. I’m just glad that it acted as an immediate catalyst for the confession. Sawako had to be particularly clueless for a few minutes after, but within the next episode everything was back to rights, and the main couple was official. The other thing that I was disappointed in was how the last episode ended. Yes, they’re together, but there was a clear cliffhanger for a potential third season. I should expect it within the next few years. Until then, you might want to pick up the manga if you need to see their relationship grow and solidify before then.

Overall, if you liked the first season, you’ll love the second!

Recommended: Yes! 10+, this is a very family-friendly romance. Pin (one of the teachers) is a little perverted, but most of what he says will go over the heads of younger kids. No fanservice, no language, the ‘scary’ scenes of Sawako being the town ghost aren’t scary since you know how sweet she is and it’s not presented in a frightening way… This season is almost as clean as a whistle.

Other titles you might enjoy:
Kimi ni Todoke (Season 1 and the manga)
Train Man (manga)
Princess Jellyfish (anime)
Emma: A Victorian Romance (anime and manga)
Lovely Complex (anime and manga)
Ouran Host Club (anime and manga)
Clannad and Clannad Afterstory (anime)
Ah! My Goddess (anime and manga)
Fruits Basket (manga)