Kimi ni Todoke - Episode 8

As we reach episode eight of Kimi ni Todoke, so we see a whole new slew of rumours doing the rounds about Sawako... Except what's this? They're all positive rumours? From talk of curses and bad luck, it seems that Sawako's revision notes have become infamous, but not as much as her true smile, which is now rumoured to bring good luck to anyone fortunate enough to see it. Of course, getting Sawako to actually smile like that isn't exactly easy.

This good news in Sawako's ever more pleasant school life sets us up for another instalment which is, above all else, incredibly fun to watch. We get to see her make more new friends for starters, despite her naive struggle to start calling her friends by their first rather than second names (one of those issues it's still hard to appreciate the importance of sometimes from living outside of Japan), and even the announcement of the upcoming sports festival can't ruin Sawako's day, as she ends up getting to play (or rather, try to play) football with her new-found friends, before Kazehaya eventually comes to the rescue as she looks to find a way to practice after school so as not to let the side down. Mind you, Sawako spends so much of this episode just starting at Kazehaya and spacing out, I'm not sure any such practice will actually be particularly helpful, but never mind.


Off to the side of all this fun stuff however we do get a proper introduction of sorts to Kurumi, who is well and truly teeing herself up as Sawako's soon to be love rival when it comes to grabbing Kazehaya's attention. Although she manages to get to spend some time with him via the school sports committee this episode, at the moment Kazehaya clearly only has eyes for one girl, as well he should.

I mentioned last episode how that particular instalment of Kimi ni Todoke left me with a huge smile on my face, and this eighth instalment of the series is no different - Aside from being fun, watching Sawako's progress and the increasing acceptance of her foibles by those around her is truly heart-warming and pleasing to watch, while Kazehaya is the kind of guy you find yourself rooting for without a second thought. I really didn't imagine that I'd find myself enjoying this series quite this much, but every week Kimi ni Todoke ends up being my biggest highlight - I just can't get enough of it, and at the moment it seems simply unable to put a foot wrong.