by Kory Cerjak
Title: His and Her Circumstances (Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou)
Author: Masami Tsuda
Publisher: Tokyopop (former)
Kare Kano, after Fruits Basket, has to be the best-selling shojo manga of all time for Tokyopop. Kare Kano also holds the distinction of being one of the first manga Tokyopop ever released “unflopped.” This was a big decision for Tokyopop, since it meant they could save about $10 per page in producing the manga for a North American market. But enough about history, let’s get to the story. What makes Kare Kano’s story so endearing is how Miyazawa and Arima grow throughout the series. And with 21 volumes, there’s a lot of material to watch them in.
The story is simple, a love story of two high schoolers trying to grow up and grow closer together. Your usual complications come up throughout the story (I’ve read the entire series, but I’ll only be reviewing the first three volumes here), like the “new kids in town” Hideaki Asaba and Maho Izawa and typical Continue reading “Kare Kano” hilarious, touching