The Pure Innocent Love -- Kimi ni Todoke

Konnichiwa minasan! I am sorry that I did not blog for some nice TV series, movie, anime series or manga for sometime. The reason is I was having some health problems lately and could not do spend so much time for the blogging. But I am OK now and would like to introduce a Japanese romance movie to you all. It is called "Kimi ni Todoke". The story is about the pure love story of 2 high-school students. This is the movie of Year 2010.

Well, if you are a manga fan, probable you would know that it is the live-action film from the romance shōjo manga series named "Kimi ni Todoke" by Karuho Shiina (Shīna Karuho). The film is directed by Naoto Kumazawa, who also co-wrote the film's script with Rika Nezu.The film stars actress Mikako Tabe, who plays the role of Sawako Kuronuma, also known as "Sadako", and Haruma Miura, who plays the role of Shota Kazehaya, an outgoing teenager who is popular with his classmates.

^{Title        :} Kimi ni Todoke (君に届け)
Genre  : Movie, Romance, School-life
Length : 128 minutes
Story   :

 Sawako Kuronuma has always been avoided by her classmates because her name resembles that of "Sadako", the main character in the 1998 horror film Ring. They believe that when one stared into Sawako's eyes for more than three seconds, bad luck will befall the person. They also believed that she could summon ghosts. These rumors got worse because Sawako is unable to express her views openly. However, Sawako is a kind person whose motto is "to do one good thing once a day". Shota Kazehaya, on the other hand, is an outgoing student who is popular with his schoolmates, especially the girls.

On the first day of school, Sawako helped Kazehaya, who was lost, to find his way to the school. Since that day, Kazehaya treats Sawako with kindness, making Sawako respect and admire him. Sawako also made friends with her classmates Chizuru Yoshida and Ayane Yano after she agrees to play the role of the ghost in their class's "Bravery Challenge" activity. With their help, she manages to gain self-confidence and interacts better with her classmates. The rumors about her also began to subside. However, Ume Kurumizawa, an admirer of Kazehaya, starts to become jealous of the way Sawako is being treated by Kazehaya.

Strange rumors like "Chizuru has slept with 100 guys" started spreading. Sawako distances herself from her new-found friends, believing that they were targeted by the rumors because they were close to her and she did not want them to get hurt because of her. Both Chizuru and Ayane felt hurt after they overheard Sawako saying that she did not regard them as friends. However, with advice from Kazehaya, Sawako stands up to the people who were spreading the rumors. Sawako did not back down in spite of violence, and Chizuru and Ayane were greatly touched by Sawako's actions. Their friendship becomes stronger.

At a sports festival, Kurumizawa, on the pretense of being Sawako's friend, confessed her feelings for Kazehaya to Sawako and asked Sawako for her help. Sawako refused, saying that Kazehaya was also special to her. Kurumizawa then tried desperately to turn Sawako's attention to Ryu, even to the extent of secretly arranging a meeting between them so that she could "coincidentally" walk past with Kazehaya. However, the plan backfired as Kazehaya got jealous and grabbed Sawako's hand and pulled her away. Chizuru and Ayane later discovered Kurumizawa's plot and cornered her, warning her about breaking apart Kazehaya and Sawako. However, Sawako begged both of them not to reveal this incident to Kazehaya. Kurumizawa later confessed her feelings for Kazehaya, who rejected her but said that he was happy that she confessed to him.

As winter came, Sawako's father requested that she take a bus home instead of walking because he was concerned for her safety. When applying for the student concessionary pass, her teacher misplaces her student handbook, which contains treasured items such as a cherry blossom leaf Sawako picked up on the day she first met Kazehaya, causing her grief. Kazehaya and Sawako also begin to spend less time together, because Kazehaya used to walk Sawako home. Kazehaya then tries desperately to go with her on a date and to confess to her, but Sawako always misunderstands and invites Chizuru and Ayane along.

Out of desperation, Kazehaya suddenly confesses his feelings for Sawako and asks her to be his girlfriend. He also asked if she could go out on a date with him on Christmas Eve. Sawako rejected him and ran to the bus, leaving Kazehaya feeling dejected. To make matters worse, she did not turn up at a Christmas Eve party that she promised to go to, leaving Kazehaya in a foul mood at the party. Chizuru and Ayane suggest that she go apologize to Kazehaya on New Year's Eve, when he volunteers at a festival every year. However, Sawako's father's orchestra has a concert that night, leaving Sawako conflicted over which to chose. Sawako eventually decides on Kazehaya, and apologizes to her father. Meanwhile, Kazehaya, after seeing Sawako's handbook that the teacher passed to him, finally understands Sawako's feelings towards him. Eventually, they meet up just after New Year's Day and embrace.

Characters Description :

Mikako Tabe as Sawako Kuronuma, whose name is often mistakenly pronounced as "Sadako", the name of a lead character in the film Ring. She is actually a kind person who puts others before herself, and she is also a hardworking student who consistently scores high grades in examinations. Her birthday is on 31 December 1994.
Haruma Miura as Shota Kazehaya, a popular and outgoing student in school who has won many admirers. He fell in love with Sawako during the first time he met her.
Misako Renbutsu as Chizuru Yoshida, a ex-delinquent who comes from the same junior high school as Yano and Ryu. She secretly likes Ryu's brother, though this later changed when she found out that he was engaged.
Natsuna Watanabe as Ayane Yano, who is not good at expressing herself like Sawako. Her best friend is Chizuru, whom she was classmates with in junior high school.
Mirei Kiritani as Ume Kurumizawa, a girl who had a crush on Kazehaya since they knew each other in junior high school. He was the reason why she enrolled in this high school.
Haru Aoyama as Ryu Sanada, a star of the school's baseball team. He confessed to Sawako that he likes Chizuru, whom he has been friends since they were young.
Yuta Kanai as Soichi Shironouchi.
Arata as Kazuichi Arai, the class's homeroom teacher. He is neither passionate nor responsible, and does things according to his own liking. However, he sometimes gives his students useful advice.
Yasuko Tomita as Sawako's mother.
Masanobu Katsumura as Sawako's father, who plays the clash cymbals in an orchestra.

Personally, I like the lead actress of this movie as I think she is lovely. I also like her 2 friends as they have a good friendship. The cherry blossoms are very beautiful in the movie and I like it very much. Besides the live-action film, "Kimi ni Todoke" has also adpated into the anime series with 2 seasons. I am yet to watch such anime series yet but I am sure will catch it soon. FYI, I have never read its manga series before. :P

Well, if you are interested to catch the movie, anime series or the manga series of "Kimi ni Todoke", you may click on the links respectively as provided below.

Kimi ni Todoke Movie

Kimi ni Todoke Anime Series (S1)

Kimi ni Todoke Anime Series (S2)

Kimi ni Todoke Manga Series

OK, hope you all like "Kimi ni Todoke". Enjoy watching and/or reading!!!

Vampire Miyu's Kakinouchi to Launch Fairy Jewel Manga

Narumi Kakinouchi's romantic fantasy of fairy who loves a human, strives to become human

Manga creator Narumi Kakinouchi (Vampire Miyu, Ryoko's Case File) will launch a new series called Fairy Jewel (lefthand side in image) in the January issue of ASCII Media Works' digital magazine Dengeki Comic Japan on November 25. The romantic fantasy revolves around a fairy named Matama who loves a human. So, Matama aims to earn 100 points in the Fairy Exam to assume the human form.

Toshiki Hirano and Kakinouchi have been serializing a Vampire Miyu spinoff called Vampire Princess in another web manga site, Flex Comix, but that manga will end in the next installment. The anime studio AIC released four episodes of the Vampire Princess Miyu original animation video (OAV) from 1988 to 1989, and AnimEigo began releasing the anime in North America in 1995. Akita Shoten published five volumes of the New Vampire Miyu manga from 1992 to 1994 and released ten volumes of the separate Vampire Princess Miyu manga beginning in 1999. A Vampire Princess Miyu television remake of the OAV, directed by Hirano, aired in Japan from 1997 to 1998 and Tokyopop distributed the series in North America from 2001 to 2002.
 
Kakinouchi also illustrated Yoshiki Tanaka's Yakushiji Ryōko no Kaiki Jikenbo (Ryoko's Case File) novel series and manga adaptation, and the story inspired a television anime series in 2008.

The next issue of Dengeki Comic Japan will have a new manga series called Shibuya Hachikō-Mae -another side- by Tohru Fujisawa (GTO). ASCII Media Works launched the magazine last December, and it is viewable on smartphones, the Apple iPad and iPhone, and personal computers.

3-Chapter GTO Short Story to Launch in November

The 48th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine is announcing on Wednesday that Tohru Fujisawa is launching his GTO: Shonan 14 Days manga spin off in the next issue under the title Black Diamond. The new three-chapter story will be a school action story with two characters from GTO: Shonan 14 Days, the twins Riko and Miko Sakaki, and the advertising says that the keywords are "high school girls" and "auction."

GTO: Shonan 14 Days served as the sequel to Fujisawa's original Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO) manga series until it ended earlier this year. Fujisawa launched GTO in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 1997, and Kodansha released 25 volumes through 2002. Tokyopop published GTO in North America. In 2009, Fujisawa returned to the character of Onizuka with Shonan 14 Days. Vertical announced in May that it licensed both GTO: Shonan 14 Days and Shonan Junai-gumi (the predecessor to Great Teacher Onizuka) for North America.

Absolute Boyfriend Manga Has Live-Action Korean Show Planned

Korean drama adaptation of Yuu Watase's romance manga slated to air in 2012

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The Korean pop culture website Soompi

The Korean actors Kim Ha Neul and TOP may star in the upcoming television drama, but their roles have not been confirmed. The show's producers are currently planning and organizing roles for the new comedy manga adaptation.
Absolute Boyfriend already received a Japanese live-action television drama series in 2008 and a special in 2009. There has also been a Taiwanese live-action drama adaptation of Watase's romance manga.

In North America, Viz Media serialized the manga in Shojo Beat magazine from its premiere issue in 2005 until the manga's ending in 2007. Viz Media also announced the manga series for its digital manga library iPad application in April. noted on Tuesday that a Korean production team is planning a new live-action adaptation of Yuu Watase's Absolute Boyfriend manga. Titled Absolute Him, the program is slated to air in Korea in the first half of 2012.

Fairy Tail Adventure Manga Gets Film Next August

Film of Hiro Mashima's manga that already inspired TV anime, 3 original anime DVDs

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The email newsletter for Kodansha's Comic Plus members revealed on Wednesday that a film adaptation of Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail manga will open next August. More details will be provided in future postings of the newsletter.

The manga and the ongoing television anime follow the adventures of world's most notorious mage guild, Fairy Tail. In addition to the television series, three original anime DVDs have been bundled or will be bundled with the manga.

Del Rey published the 12th volume of the original manga in North America last September, and Kodansha resumed publishing the manga in English with the 13th volume this past February. Crunchyroll streams the television anime into several countries as it airs in Japan, and Funimation will release the first DVD/Blu-ray set in November.

Chapter 64 of KWMS

Wow! Chapter 64 is cool that Usui kissed Misaki in front of all the students! So, no more a secret as a couple for them now. I am wondering what the next story will be when Usui is at Miyabigaoka High School! Will he really go back to meet Misaki everyday as he said? What will Hinata do towards Misaki since Usui is not in the Seika High anymore?! Will he get his chance?! All these all wondering by me.

Moreover, I am also looking forward for the Season 2 of the anime series "Maid-Sama" too. Wish that it would be on air soon. So, let's pray for it! :P

KWMS is definately my favourite manga/anime series! How about u?!