Sawako finally realizes that her feelings for Kazehaya are more than just admiration. But this novice in love has a lot to learn about romance. Not that Chizu can help her out any – she’s got enough worries of her own to deal with! Can either of these shy girls take the next step towards a real relationship?
– Summary of Kimi ni Todoke 5
Volume 5 of Kimi ni Todoke covers four chapters. And for the first time, the story changed its entire focus away from Sawako and onto her friends. I remember Kurumi had her share of spotlight in previous volumes, but Sawako played a integrated role as well. This time around, the focus is entirely on Chizu, one of Sawako’s best friend.
But first up, let’s make clear the things that happened between Sawako and Kurumi. In last volume, Kurumi shed off her exterior shell and revealed her true nature – a manipulator. As I mentioned before, in spite of what Kurumi did, I like her. I like her for her courage and I like her more as the series continues. I honestly think it was pretty cool of her to label her relationship with Sawako as “rivals”. Her acknowledgement of Sawako only serves as a sign of how significant Sawako to her. They aren’t friends, but they aren’t truly enemies either.
Now moving on to Sawako’s friends.
This volume threw some hints on Ayane’s perspective in relationships. As the more mature girl among her peers, it’s not unusual that she shares a different perspective when it comes to relationships. While two of her good friends are busy fantasizing about their crushes in full fluffiness, Ayane dated and then broke up with a college student. Instead of crying over her breakup, Ayane showed only annoyance. She showed no signs of sadness or even rage.
And now to the highlight of the volume – Chizu’s crush! Right, it’s the highlight for me anyway. Since childhood-friends-turn-lovers is a popular trend in anime/manga, it’s natural that I hold special attention towards Chizu and Ryu. I am their no.1 supporter since day one. To me, this pair of childhood friends is unique to others mainly because of the bond they share. There’s a mutual trust and understanding between the two, and they’re completely comfortable around each other. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Chizu’s character draws away from the usual stereotypes of “the girl hopelessly in love with the childhood guy friend”.
Also, good thing that Ryu isn’t the super jealous guy type either. As the matter of fact, I can’t imagine him throwing tantrums and showing extreme emotions. Wait, does he ever show any other emotion besides a smile?
If anything, this volume reminded me how I always looked forward to learning more about Sawako’s friends. I remember being really excited to see what’s going on in Sawako’s friends lives and not just seeing Sawako’s progress in her social achievements. The focus on Sawako’s friends is also the reason why I like Kimi ni Todoke so much. The characters, big or small, managed to leave an impact. It’s rare that when I read a title, many names and characters flood into my mind. Kimi ni Todoke is perhaps the only series that has such a lovable cast.
World of Yamaguchi Hoshiko 
Now that I think about it, the section with Chizuru and Ryu’s brother was one of my favourite parts of the early series. Not only did we get to learn more about them, we got to truly feel for the hardships they went through and hope that things would get better. And they will get better, I’m sure of it.
That’s right. This is when I thought this series is truly unique in the sense that it expands its story beyond just Kazehaya and Sawako. It also gave me a glimpse of the other side of Chizu, the girly side, which I think it’s kinda cool.
It was definitely a good decision to add another love relationship into the story next to Sawako’s worldly innocent first steps into romantic feelings. As much as I like her I can’t deny that she’s a little weirdo ^^. Chizu is a bit more down to earth.
Lol, Sawako may be socially awkward, but she’s such a sweetie >.<. One of the reason why I like Chizu so much is her earnestness and sincerity. There's something really loving about her.
I bought volume one to four and im still half in the first one lol and i bought like 2 years ago lol
I think its harder once youve seen the anime ^^
That’s so true. It’s even harder when the anime and manga doesn’t differ much at all.
I haven’t read the manga nor watch the anime but I’ve seen the live action movie ^^;
Not sure if it’s true to the entire story but the friendships are really heartwarming and I kinda enjoyed watching it. I like Chizu and Ryu too.
Btw, where do you usually buy manga? What titles would you recommend? Thank you!
I didn’t like the live action movie as much as the anime and the manga, but it showed the essence of Kimi ni Todoke itself – heartwarming stories. =).
I buy manga at Kinokuniya. So far, that’s the only place I found that sells English manga in my country. I’m currently into Kimi ni Todoke and Skip Beat!. I highly recommend these two titles!