I've already written a review for this series, but I wrote it when I was tired and not thinking well enough to create very coherent thoughts, so this is me trying again.

You know what? I love this series to pieces, and my love for it only increases each time I read. I've scored all four of the categories Story, Art, Character and Enjoyment fairly high, but only one of them is the reason for my shameless adoration of the manga (and its anime adaptation, but I'm not reviewing that right now), and that would be its characters.

That's not to say that I love all of them. But I can safely say that this series holds some of the most entertaining, interesting and original characters I've ever read about...which is funny, as most of them seem to be based on common archetypes.
We have the shy, misunderstood loner; the popular chick-magnet she falls for; the hyperactive tomboy; the quiet, apathetic guy; the mature and worldly wise girl, and a number of other fairly well-worn character clichés.

And yet it's the way that the characters are developed far beyond what their moulds would initially make them out to be that makes Kimi ni Todoke really shine. They are so much more than what they may initially seem in the first few volumes, and so are the relationships between them.

This being primarily a romance manga (in the technical sense of the word, anyway, but I'll go into that later), character interaction and development of relationships is obviously a very important element, and, due to the brilliance of the characters, it's handled incredibly well. Love - romantic, platonic or an entirely different - is never easy to understand or handle, and the series does a great job of handling that realistically whilst keeping just enough light-hearted fluff and comedy in the equation so as not to let things become melancholy and exhausting.

But still, realistic it is. Sawako and Kazehaya find expressing their feelings difficult to the extent where any chances they have at love are often poorly handled or missed entirely; Ryu and Chizu have such a strong friendship that Ryu's romantic feelings for her are naturally approached with the expected caution; Kurumi is in love with a boy who's never noticed her back (and, unless the plot takes a shocking twist, never will); Ayane finds it difficult to feel true love and isn't sure that she deserves it anyway.
The relationship progression between all of the characters is slow - sometimes painfully so - but it's amazingly rewarding because the next steps feel much, much sweeter as a result.

So, to wrap up: is this series perfect? No, not at all! Sometimes the pacing is a little inconsistent - potentially deeper storylines are occasionally rushed, whilst some of the more tedious ones are dragged out to a ridiculous extent. At points, the chibi forms of the characters are overused, killing what may have previously been a serious or emotional scene and creating severe mood whiplash. The love bubbles everywhere are very pretty, but sometimes they only serve to make an already cute scene almost too sickly-sweet. And it's slow moving, very slow moving, to a point where things are *horrendously* frustrating at times (although I wouldn't call this a flaw persay, since it does mean we get a lot of relationship development; still, if you don't have a lot of patience and you aren't prepared to really commit to a series, then maybe this isn't for you).

And yet these flaws all fall into insignificance, because I can safely say that I would far rather put up with those and spend time with characters I can't help but love to pieces than, well, not.

Kimi ni Todoke is a romance manga, and yet it is about so much more than that; it's about friendship, it's about overcoming social difficulties, it's about moving on after times have been rough, it's about being true to yourself, it's about loving and caring and hurting and growing up and learning and being honest and so much more that comes with being alive. It's funny and cute and sometimes sad, and no, it's not perfection. It's probably nowhere near as amazing as I think it to be.

But as far as high school dramas go, it's one of the best out there. And I'd advise anyone who wants to read something that will make them smile and giggle and feel things to pick it up, because it's well worth a shot.