Kimi ni Todoke (From Me to You) is a slice of life, shojo manga series written and illustrated by Karuho Shiina. It was originally intended to be a one-shot story compiled for Shiina’s previous work Crazy for You, but she decided to expand and make From Me to You into a full series. The manga has been running in shojo magazine Bessatsu Margaret by Shueisha from 2005 to 2017, with a total of 30 volumes. In 2008, From Me to You won the Best Shojo Manga award in the 32nd annual Kodansha Manga Award. It was also nominated for the 1st Manga Taisho award in 2008.

From Me to You has been adapted into two series of light novels by Shueisha, under different imprints. Sixteen volumes under Cobalt imprint were written by Kanae Shimokawa, with the first volume coming out on August 2007 and the last volume on December 2015. Thirteen volumes under Mirai Bunko imprint were written by Kanako Shirai, with the first volume coming out on March 2011 and the last volume on June 2015. Both series were illustrated by the author of the original manga Karuho Shiina.

From October 2009 to March 2010, the first season of From Me to You’s anime adaptation was made by Production I.G and released on DVD. From January to March 2011, the second season, also made by Production I.G, was aired on NTV. The live-action film adaptation of From Me to You was released in 2010, starring Mikako Tabe and Haruma Miura.

The story of From Me to You started with fifteen year-old Sawako Kuronuma and her daily struggle due to her frightening appearance. Often being misunderstood by her scary look with long, black hair and creepy smile, Sawako was nicknamed “Sadako” (Japanese name for the girl from horror movie “The Ring”).

She had that nickname ever since elementary school and even after entering high school, Sawako’s real name was known by almost no one. In truth, Sawako was a kind person but her awkwardness made it hard for her to convey her real intention. She has always wanted to become a person who didn’t scare others and Sawako deeply admired her classmate Shouta Kazehaya.

A polar opposite of Sawako, Shouta was a cheerful guy with a bright smile on his face. When noticing Sawako’s gaze, Shouta turned to greet her but his friend pulled him away. He whispered to Shouta that there was a rumor about getting bad luck after looking into Sawako’s eyes for more than three times in one day.

Sawako recalled the first time they met on the day of high school entrance ceremony. Sawako saw that Shouta was looking for the school gate and helped him. Shouta said “Thank you!” with such a wide smile that if left a strong impression on Sawako’s heart. She has admired him ever since.

Then, Shouta came in front of the class and announced the test of courage that was planned before the final exams (a common activity in Japan’s schools, in which people explore scary places to build up courage). People were rushing to sign up but when Sawako came near the bulletin board, they got scared and said that it would be truly scary if Sawako also participate.

After the first period, the homeroom teacher asked for volunteers to help him for one day before the summer break. Sawako raised her hand to volunteer because she was the class’s committee member but Shouta defended her and said that he would do it. Sawako was really happy that Shouta volunteered for her sake but insisted that she would help anyway.

After class, one of Sawako’s childhood friends asked why was she so happy and if she has made any friend. Sawako told her about Shouta and said that “He is 100% refreshing, or rather, he is made out of cheerfulness!”.

Sawako’s friend noticed Shouta walking by the window and accidently overheard them, she told Sawako to apologize. However, instead of being angry, Shouta asked Sawako, “How should I take that?”. Sawako looked surprised and her face turned red while replying, “......as a compliment!”.

Shouta cheerfully laugh and ran over to Sawako’s side.

Shouta then revealed that he was really surprised because he thought Sawako hated him. Shouta called Sawako by her real name instead of “Sadako” like everyone else and said that he knew the meaning of her name. The characters of “Sawa” in “Sawako” meant “refreshing”. Hearing that, Sawako felt like this was the first time someone has truly understood her.

The next morning, Sawako heard two girls in class talked about asking her to secretly play the ghost. At first, it was a joke but then Sawako initiated a conversation and told them that she would do it. The girls finally saw the real side of Sawako and opened up to her. The three of them agreed to let Sawako play the ghost and surprise everyone.

At the night of the contest, everyone gathered in the designated spot while Sawako hid on the side of the road. As the first team going through her hiding spot, Sawako stood up and creepily looked back at them. They were so scared.

However, when it was Shouta’s turn, he was pleasantly surprised to see Sawako actually coming after all. He decided to stay with her. The two girls also showed up, bringing Sawako a drink and complimenting her on doing a splendid job as the surprise ghost.

When they were finally alone, Sawako told Shouta that she was able to open up her heart like that because of him. Shouta laughed and told Sawako that she was actually a very cheerful person. Sawako was moved by Shouta’s words and looked at him, her eyes glistening with tears which made Shouta’s face turning bright red and he had to hide his face in embarrassment.

It was the start of Sawako and Shouta’s story, as Sawako thought in silent, “It seems like Kazehaya kun is giving me a lot of firsts......”

How will their story unfold? Will Sawako and Shouta finally be able to realize their true feelings?