Back in 2021, I wrote an article about hair color in the Kimi ni Todoke anime series. This classic anime romance takes a more conventional approach to hair color than many other series and visual novels. But having established myself as one of the world’s foremost 2D anime person hair color researchers after being inspired by a story from the 3D world, I could not pass up the chance to discuss in some detail a scene wherein Kimi ni Todoke indirectly articulates how to understand hair color in the series. The Kimi ni Todoke article has turned out to be my most-read hair color piece, surpassing my most interesting (in my view, at least) article of the series. While the Kimi ni Todoke article has been a consistent performer, I noticed an unusual number of views over the last 24 hours. What could be causing new interest in an anime series that aired more than a decade ago? I performed a news search with Startpage and discovered that Netflix has just picked up both seasons of Kimi ni Todoke.
My views on Netflix acquiring anime streaming rights are largely unfavorable, not lest for pragmatic reasons (I subscribe to two anime streaming services, Crunchyroll and HiDive, but not to Netflix). However, to the extent that Netflix can make some classic anime series available to a wider audience, it can perform a good service (not to mention Kimi ni Todoke is still available on Crunchyroll).
While my hair color analysis piece of Kimi ni Todoke was not an anime review, I noted that I do largely like the series — with caveats about its tendency — especially in the second season — to rely too much on manufacturing misunderstandings for its drama. In that article, I quoted with approval the following assessment of the memorable protagonist of the series, Sawako Kuronuma: “If you check the Wikipedia page and search for Asperger’s you won’t find it, but heroine Sawako Kuronuma is an absolute textbook case. It’s quite a good study of it, in fact.”
If you have Netflix, I recommend considering giving Kimi ni Todoke a try — regardless of whether you generally watch anime. My recommendation comes with the small warning that the second season is a bit frustrating to watch, but it ends in the right place.
(Note: While the Kimi ni Todoke anime does end well, it also ends before the half-way point of the manga source material. I add it to the list of series that could use a new season.)