Kimi ni Todoke - Episode 23

Christmas might be over, but it seems like for Sawako I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day has become something of a reality, as she awakes to find that she's still overjoyed at her latest presents from both her parents and, of course, Kazehaya.


However, as it's now the last day of school before winter break, Sawako is preparing herself for a relatively lonely time, even though New Year's Eve is her birthday... of course, she still hasn't quite gotten the hang of this whole "having friends" thing, so she remains as surprised as ever to find that Yano and Yoshida still want to hang out with her outside of school.

As soon as this pair find out about Sawako's birthday plans, and after Chizuru invites her along for the traditional New Year shrine visit, a rather more cunning plan is hatched by the duo - To get Sawako to invite Kazehaya along, and then make sure that she gets to spend some quality time with him while looking as eye-catching as possible. So it goes that their plan swings into action effortlessly, leaving us hanging come the end of this episode as Sawako and Kazehaya are left alone to visit the shrine as a couple. I feel so girlie getting excited about this prospect, but I just can't help it!

Away from that rather sweet little ending (aside from Kazehaya's complete inability to complement Sawako on her looks - There's shyness, and then there's being a bit of an ass), this was perhaps one of the most happy, fluffy and generally funny episodes of Kimi ni Todoke we've seen - Almost the entire episode was spent just enjoying Sawako's looks of utter glee and joy as her life comes together splendidly, a far cry from some of the emotional hardships we've had to watch with damp eyes earlier in the series. This made for a rather joyous occasion, full of amusing moments that really lighten the mood after a long day, while I think I actually soaked in a big chunk of vicarious happiness from seeing life going so sweetly for the show's female protagonist. Now I just have to wait with abject impatience to see how Sawako and Kazehaya's impeccably crafted "date" goes....