Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (His and Her Circumstances)
[Episodes 1-26 Reviewed]
[Reviewed by Bethany]

There are very few anime series I love as much as this one. There are very few anime series that pull off what KareKano does—and believably. (Actually, I can't think of any others.) Of what am I referring? To that incredible blend of drama and comedy, reality and absurdity, the mixture of emotions that gets swirled around in something so low-key. (Well, low-key with a main character who transforms into a demon every so often. And, actually, I digress. The pacing is pretty frantic and spastic at points. So, whatever.)

Story
Kare Kano is a tale of high school life (and life in general) through the eyes of a number of people—but mainly through Miyazawa Yukino, who begins the series as a high school freshman. Yukino is a model student ... or so she has the entire student body believing. Truthfully, Yukino acts elegant and sophisticated because somewhere down the line, she learned to love being praised by others. With her grades and her activities, everything is going just how Yukino wants it. Until her popularity is challenged by one Arima Souchirou. Of course, all of this challenge is in her head—but that doesn't stop Yukino from giving her damnedest to being number one and regaining her popularity status. That is, until circumstances (^_^) bring her and Arima together, and Yukino begins to learn there's more to life than pretense.

You May Dream
I could go on about this anime forever. There is so much to it, it won't be possible to fit everything I love about it into a simple review. The complexity of relationships—how the characters meet, and react, and thus change—the subtle approach to life's difficulities ... and of course the humorous approach to them, which is no less powerful, but has a lot more laughing-till-you-cry. Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou is not something you simply start and end without being affected. The story is about change, about growing, evolving. It throws one angle at you... then turns around sharply and shows you another. It's classy, but not above itself, either. And it's the only anime I've seen that manges to be interesting—engrossing, even—when both main characters are out of the picture.

It's also one of the smartest shows I've seen, partly in the way it deals with issues, partly in the dialogue, partly in the examination of its characters. And unlike many other series, its characters are constantly altering. They are not the same people they were at the start, and they cannot go back to how they were, for better or worse. They have problems that are not easily solved — or really solved at all, but the circumstances around those problems differ as time goes on. I perhaps can't say that Kare Kano is incredibly close to reality, since it has its own inherent sense of the abnormal, but if nothing else, it is bitingly sincere — despite not exactly taking itself seriously.

I do have a few complaints, of course: the first being I'd like to strangle Hideaki Ano. Yes, you're an awesome director, enough with the stoplight shots. We could also do without the experimental bizareness of episode nineteen—not that I dislike that episode, but... and the final episode was rendered nearly impossible to understand for someone not Japanese, since you have more than one thing to read at time. Hell, it was probably hard for Japanese people to read and listen and comprehend, as well. There's a lack of resolution to the end of it—but this is due to the fact that [I believe] they were rushing to get the anime out, and it was catching up with the manga. I'm hoping desperately for a second season, now that the manga's story is further along... but I'm doubting it. (Which is why I need that damn manga.) But really, everything I find wrong with it pales in comparison to my utter adoration for the story, the characters, and its portrayal of them.

The Bottom Line
You want a comedy, a drama, or some highly entertaining, addicting, and impacting shoujo? This really is as good as it gets.