Kimi ni Todoke S1E1 - Prologue

January 3, 2026

I really enjoyed the opening episode to this anime. In this episode we meet a few characters: Kuronuma Sawako, Shota Kazehaya, Ayane Yano, and Chizuru Yoshida. Sawako is a sweet and kindhearted teenage girl. Kazehaya is a popular guy at his high school. Yano is stylish. Yoshida is a tomboy.

A flashback scene shows Sawako giving Kazehaya, a transfer student, directions on where to go. Sawako is happy that Kazehaya treats her like everyone else and is kind to her. Sawako secretly admires Kazehaya for his kindness.

Sawako is misunderstood by everyone at her high school. Everyone is afraid of her because she resembles the girl in the horror movie The Ring. They call her Sadako. There is a rumor that she can communicate with spirits. Sawako is so sweet, that instead of being angry of the rumors, she is sorry because she can not fulfill everyone's misconceptions. There is a class event and everyone is invited to participate. Yano and Yoshida are talking amongst themselves and they jokingly suggest that Sawako should go to the class event because everyone will be afraid. Sawako walks into the classroom and overhears. She politely explains that she cannot communicate with spirits. Sawako's pure-hearted nature melts Yoshida's heart and so Sawako, Yano, and Yoshida become friends.

Sawako attends the event. Her task is to stand in the forest in a scary manner. The students then walk into the forest with flashlights. The students all scream when they see Sawako. Kazehaya enters the forest also. Kazehaya tells Sawako that he didn't think she would attend the event. Kazehaya then spends time with Sawako in the forest. Because he spent time in the forest with Sawako, he didn't pass the courage test. His punishment is to go out with Sawako for an entire week. Kazehaya gets angry at the suggestion and scolds the entire class for how disrespectful they are being. Sawako doesn't want Kazehaya to lose his popularity so she confesses her feelings about Kazehaya to the entire class. She says that she is attracted to his kindess. She then excuses herself from the classroom. After school, Kazehaya is waiting for Sawako on the path home. He says that everyone in the class apologized. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Kazehaya has liked Sawako since when she first gave him directions to the school. He wonders if his feelings have now matured.

I really enjoy this anime. I haven't finished the entirety of season one before. I have only watched maybe five episodes of this series. My hope is that with this blog, I wil be able to complete the entire series.