by torrentchan on September 2nd, 2008, 3:11pm

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User rating of this review - N/A out of 5
Story/Plot - 5 out of 5
Characters - 5 out of 5
Drawing Style - 4.5 out of 5
Enjoyment - 5 out of 5
Overall - 5 out of 5

Click here for series information

First off, i would like to apologize for my bad English (not in spelling, but in grammar).

Second, i would like to point out that when i typed all this, i did not plan for it to become so long ^ ^'

Plot/Story
Kuronuma Sawako’s is widely known as "Sadako" from the Ring; infamous and feared by many. Because of her lack of communication and misunderstandings, Sawako's life been doomed with lack of friends. She's simply a 15 years old high school girl who is too innocent (quoted by two of the characters within Reaching You, by Yano and Yoishida, 'She is "pure white"') for others to comprehend. She holds high respect for her classmate, Kazehaya-kun, who is a laid-back and a easygoing guy. Because of his past experience meeting her, Kazehaya actually holds a special feeling towards Sawako and aims to help her out in whichever way-- though his feelings may prove to be too much later on.

The plot flows in really well, where each chapter successfully develops the characters and Sawako's attempts to communicate with others. The speed of the manga is really fast pacing, but at the same time, it gives off a feeling of not fast pacing enough (am i getting this through here?)-- which is a good feeling (made me so nervous, my heart skipped a beat with anticipation).

In the first volume, the story was basically aimed at introducing the characters and emphasizing Sawako's situation. It was a enjoyable read for the 1st volume, a 5 star! I really like the fact the the story develop more deeply right off the bat of volume 2. Since the 1st volume was a light read with Sawako's daily troubles, the 2nd volume introduced to the readers a new kind of problem for Sawako and Co. The plot just does not stay put; it keeps on developing.


Characters
SAWAKO is the main character. She gives off a feeling similar to Sunako from Perfect Girl Evolution (aka: Wallflower). Like Sunako, Sawako is definitely a must-like/love character. Sawako's hobbies are; to study, to help out others, more studying, to pick up trash, and to imagine situations where she can make friends. Weird, but is refreshing and different. It started when Kazehaya talked to her and befriended her, but whenever Sawako encouters Kazehaya, she is filled with courage and start talking to people around her. She never gives up and is very optimistic, this is one of the main reason why not only people in the manga start understanding her, but also the readers. One downside factor of her personality would be her ignorance. Sure, this side of hers is interesting and lovable, her ignorance is what makes her cute! But when it comes to Kazehaya's attempts to get Sawako to understand his feelings, her ignorance may be a major downside. But surely...one day her thick skulled ignorance will be taken down by Kazehaya!!

KAZEHAYA is the popular-boy-in-school kind of guy. He has many girls rampage over him. He is very easy going, laid back and is very cute! (>_<).From chapter 00 to whatever, he is the character whom helped Sawako out of many pinches. Instead of misunderstanding Sawako and her lack of communication, he would ask directly how she feels about things and try to understand her. He quickly became Sawako's light and admiration. From the beginning, you can kind of sense the feelings Kasehaya have towards Sawako, the feelings develop within each chapter where you could see how much his feelings accumulated. Normally, i find myself not liking some main-male-character who is too cheerful and too popular for their own (and the main-female-character own) good-- since it would mean too many unnecessarily problems going to happen (take Kare Made Love KM for eg). However, i find myself enjoying Kazehaya and his sincere feelings more and more.

YOSHIDA and YANO are Sawako's close friends. They were not friends of Sawako before the manga started, since Sawako started out from the beginning with no friends (aside from friends of the past-- middle school-- but they were not close friends). Yoshida is the compassionate type, who cries whenever she sees Sawako being so innocent and kind. Yoshida is stupid, lazy and very laid back-- but is also a character who does not fear of others. Yano is quite similar to Yoshida, though she is more mature and interested in guys than Yoshida is. She was rumoured to have satisfied 100 guys within the past-- which is all lies. Yano is good with ghost stories. Yoshida and Yano's friendship towards Sawako was put to the test when Sawako decided to avoid them for their own sake. Their friendship is pure, and both of them enjoy seeing Sawako giving her all and never giving up.


Drawing Style
Might not be the highest (best) art, but is not the lowest or middle art as well. Strike that sentence. SHIINA Karuho's art is beautiful to see and adorable to read. If i have to complain something about the art style...that would be too hard. But i must confess that THE EYES!! YES! The eyes. Sometimes the eyes would give off a emotionless feeling. ... ... ok, i don't think anyone would agree with me on this one since it would be kind of weird. *cough* but the art style would be near the 5 stars (looking at the art style carefully, you can see it has plenty of room for improvements). I decided (about a long debate) to rate the art 4.5 stars.


Enjoyment and Overall
If you've read the top bit, then it is obvious that i ENJOYED IT SO MUCH I WISH IT WAS COMPLETE, LICENSED AND PUBLISHED ALREADY!!!. I read some of SHIINA Karuho's manga and must confess that i did not wholeheartedly enjoyed them all, but Reaching You would be SHIINA Karuho's masterpiece. I actually burst out laughing while reading this! (one part was in v01 ch03 pg175). I feel happy seeing Yoshida and Yano friendship towards Sawako. I feel nervous whenever Kazehaya attempt to look at Sawako in the eyes, or confess alittle of his feelings. I feel a warm feeling seeing Sawako trying and being herself. I like these feelings. I downloaded 8 manga at the same time and read it all. 7 of them was boring to no end (like typical shoujo, typical shounen, typical story, typical characters), Reaching You was the only exception.

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