Well, that was precious.
I suppose my track record with slice-of-life on this column hasn’t been too kind and, at this stage, there’s no point in trying to dispute that. If I could append another point I once made in a Vice Pit episode, I’ll say that a story’s placement on the “Art and Entertainment” sliding scale honestly has a lot to do with how easy it is to comment upon for a column like this.
When I get done with an episode of a wild fantasy like MADOKA MAGICA, I can speculate about what the machinations of Kyubey are shaping up to, muse upon the show’s effectiveness in breaking down the Magical Girl genre or even stick with the basics of just saying that one particular collage-animation battle with a witch was especially cool.
What is there to discuss for a show like KIMI NI TODOKE? Speculating about what cute little characters moments could come next episode feels kind of silly. Comparing the young amore with the wistfully unrealized romances of my own teenage years might be interesting… for one post. The show’s comedy is so light that there aren’t really any solid gags to recount, either (the confusion between the lead and Sadako from the RING movies is… mildly amusing?)
So what does that leave with me? Not much to discuss - - and that’d be the case, even if this was a good show.
As it happens, I didn’t this was that great. No, it wasn’t awful. It’s just there. And I’ve dismissed good slice-of-life shows in the past, so there’s even less reason to even entertain the notion of following this series here. Again, it’s just so overly precious. If you can look at cuteness as an exploitative ingredient on the order of sex and violence (and that’s really not that far of stretch), you’ll know that I think you can get away with any such ingredient as long as there’s enough self-awareness and humor about its use.
Well... KIMI NI TODOKE could use a bit more funny self-awareness.
Watch this episode, "Prologue” here and decide for yourself.
Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk
