Kare Kano

Kare Kano(Japanese:彼氏彼女の事情,Hepburn:Kareshi Kanojo no Jijō, lit. "His and Her Circumstances")is a Japanesemangaseries written and illustrated byMasami Tsuda. It was serialized inLaLafrom 1995 to 2005 and collected in 21tankōbonvolumes byHakusensha. It depicts the romance between "perfect" student Yukino Miyazawa and her academic rival Soichiro Arima, and the relationships of several of their friends.
The series is licensed and was published in English in North America byTokyopop. The chapters from the first seven volumes were adapted into a 26-episodeanimetelevision series byGainaxandJ.C.Staff. Directed byHideaki Anno, the episodes were broadcast in Japan onTV Tokyofrom October 1998 to March 1999. It is licensed for distribution outside of Japan byMuse CommunicationandEnoki Filmsunder the titleTales at North Hills High,and sub-licensed for distribution in North America byNozomi Entertainmentwho released it asHis and Her Circumstances.
Yukino Miyazawa is a Japanese high school first-year student who is the envy of classmates for her good grades and immaculate appearance. However, her "perfect" exterior is a façade, anegocentriccharade she maintains to win praise. In the privacy of her own home, she is spoiled, stubborn, aslob, and studies relentlessly and obsessively to maintain her grades. On entering high school, she is knocked from her position at the top of the class by Soichiro Arima, a handsome young man whose very existence Yukino considers a threat to the praise on which she thrives, and she vows to destroy him. When Soichiro confesses that he has a crush on her, Yukino rejects him then boasts about it at home. Her observant little sister Kano points out that her rivalry with him comes from admiration, causing her to rethink her own feelings.
Before she can figure out if she hates or likes Soichiro, he visits her home and discovers her being herself. He uses the information to blackmail her into doing his student council work. At first Yukino accepts it, coming to realize that he is also not the perfect student he pretends to be. Tired of being used, Yukino revolts and Soichiro apologizes, and admits he still loves her and just wanted to spend time with her. Yukino realizes she loves him as well, and together they resolve to abandon their fake ways and be true to themselves, though she initially has trouble breaking her lifelong habit of pretend-perfection and her competitive ways. She battles with this newfound love and the feelings of being two-faced.
As the anime progresses, Yukino is able to open her true self to others and earns her first real friends beyond Soichiro. It is eventually revealed that Soichiro was striving to be perfect to avoid turning "bad" like the parents who abandoned him. Falling in love with Yukino, he is able to become more true to himself, but he also finds himself becoming increasingly jealous of Yukino's change bringing new friends and new activities into her life, and of her having parts of her life that do not involve him. When Yukino unknowingly hurts him, he becomes even more jealous and afraid, and begins to wear another façade of the "perfect boyfriend" in an effort to protect her from his "ugly" self.
The return of both of his parents into his life sends Soichiro into a dark area, but helps him finally break free to truly be himself as Yukino and their friends help him learn to lean on and trust others. The end of the series shows Yukino and Soichiro in their 30s, with their three children, and gives updates on the various friends they made along the way.
Kare Kanowas Masami Tsuda's first lengthy manga series. Still new to professional manga writing in general, shortly after starting the series she had to put it on hold while she finished working out the framework of the story and where she ultimately wanted it to go.
In adapting the first seven volumes into an anime television series, director Hideaki Anno kept the same general scenes and dialogue but modified the overall feel and focus of the series, making it into a "personal case study of relationships." He emphasizes the dialog over the animation using a variety of techniques, including iconic scenes, production sketches, real-life location shots, repeated imagery, and even using animation versions of manga panels or simply printing the lines of the dialog being spoken over static screens.
Anno is credited as director for the first 16 episodes and co-director with Hiroki Sato for later episodes but with his name written inkatakanaas アンノヒデアキ(anno hideaki)possibly as a form of protest.Kare Kanowould be the last anime series that Anno would direct for Gainax. According to Michael S. Johnson ofNausicaa.net, Anno objected to the restrictions placed on television anime byTV Tokyoafter thePokémon seizure incident.However this was not close to true in Anno's own interview from the Kare Kano Blurays, he talks about how they created one of the first eye catches that told audiences to watch in a brightly lit room away from the TV. A fact he seemed proud of as many started to copy him.
In an interviewHiroyuki Yamagasaid Gainax found it difficult to work with a series that is based on an original work stating:
"Kare Kano was supposed to be romantic comedy and we wanted to emphasize the comedy and not the romance. The author wanted to emphasize them both and that is where the conflict came to be. We would like to continue to work on it but we have upset the author, so it is very unlikely that there will be a continuation of the series. I am very sorry."
However, Tsuda disputed these statements in her own interview on the French Gainax site.
"For the rest, I trusted them and did not worry about it. When I entrusted the adaptation to other people, I knew that it would not be "my" Kare Kano, even if the adaptation was the purest and the most faithful. So I gave them carte blanche , being careful not to make any comments. And in the end, a lot of people could see my story, … I am very happy about that."
Written byMasami Tsuda,Kare Kanowas first serialized inLaLabetween December 22, 1995, and May 10, 2005.The 101 individual chapters, referred to as "Acts", were compiled into 21tankōbonvolumes byHakusensha. The first volume was released on June 5, 1996, with the final volume released on August 5, 2005. It also had a one-shot published on June 23, 2011.
Kare Kanowas initially licensed for an English language release byMixx Entertainmentin 2000, but it subsequently lost those rights before publication began.In July 2001, the company'sTokyopopdivision announced that it had reacquired the license and that it would be serializing the title in theirSmilemagazine starting in 2002.However,Smilewas discontinued in 2002 before the Tokyopop released the first collected volume of the series on January 21, 2003; the final volume was released on January 10, 2007.It was one of the first manga series that Tokyopop released in the original Japanese orientation, in which the book is read from right to left, and with the original sound effects left in place.In February 2008, Tokyopop reissued the first three volumes in a single omnibus volume.
The series is licensed for regional language releases byEditions Tonkamin France byGrupo Editorial Vidin Mexico, byGlènat Españain Spain, byDynamic Italiain Italy, byCarlsen Comicsin Germany, byPanini Comicsin Brazil, and byPlanet Mangain Portugal. The chapters were also serialized in the French magazineMagnolia[fr]and the German magazineDaisuki.
Kare Kanowas adapted as ananimetelevision series produced byGainaxandJ.C.Staff. The series was directed byHideaki Anno. The 26 episodes were broadcast onTV Tokyofrom October 1998 to March 1999. The opening theme was "Tenshi no Yubikiri" by Fukuda Mai, and the ending themes were "Yume no Naka e" by Atsuko Enomoto & Chihiro Suzuki for episodes 1–24 and 26 and "Kaze Hiita Yoru" by Yuki Watanabe & Maria Yamamoto for episode 25.
Four CD soundtracks have been released in Japan for the anime series by the StarChild label of Japan'sKing Records. The first,His and Her Circumstances: Act 1.0(彼氏彼女の事情 ACT 1.0)contained 24 tracks, including musical scores byShirō Sagisuand songs written byFumiya FujiiandYōsui Inoue. It was released in Japan on December 23, 1998;Geneon released the CD in the US on January 20, 2004.His and Her Circumstances: Act 2.0(彼氏彼女の事情 ACT 2.0), containing an additional 25 tracks, followed in Japan on February 26, 1999, and in the US on November 1, 2005.The third volume,His and Her Circumstances: Act 3.0(彼氏彼女の事情 ACT 3.0), also contained 25 tracks. It was released in Japan on May 28, 1999.The three CDs were released as a box set in Japan, along with a fourth disc containing an additional 22 tracks, on February 23, 2005.
Overall reviews for the series have been positive. The tenth volume of the series was listed as the top selling graphic novel in Japan on October 31, 2000.InThe Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917,Jonathan ClementsandHelen McCarthypraised the anime adaptation for its innovative techniques and the use of "surreal 'cartoon' effects."THEM anime reviews gave the anime adaptation a good review calling it "probably the most disarmingly honestshoujoromance ever made."Alexander Harris fromAnime News Networkcalled the anime adaptation very character driven, saying "If you love diving into the minds of a character and searching for those juicy naughty bits, and all the while being entertained and educated, then this is for you."