The perfect power couple.
Genre - Comedy, Drama, Romance, School, Shoujo, Slice of Life
Length – 26 Episodes
Run - Oct 2, 1998 to Mar 26, 1999
Animation Production – Gainax, J.C. Staff, The Right Stuf International
Note: If you have read the manga, please keep any negative
comments about the anime to yourself. I am well aware of the "issues"
and will address them at the end of the review.
The story starts out with "Yukino Miyazawa".
Yukino is at the top of her class and is Kind, intelligent, pretty and
modest to boot. Everyone praises her and is usually the center of her
class and school. She gladly takes in all the praise and admiration
because of her true nature. You see, she has put up a facade for most of
her teenage life. In reality she is not as kind and modest, she's
actually pretty arrogant and self-centered. This little facade goes on
until "Soichiro Arima"
catches Yukino showing her true colors, and I mean catch literally.
Soichiro is a new student at the school and is also kind, handsome,
modest, and intelligent. However just like Yukino he also has a "dark"
side and decides to blackmail Yukino after discovering her secret. As
these two develop an odd friendship many things start to occur around
them, and then romance steps in to make things even more complicated...
The art in this series is "experimental". Visually, as the anime
progresses, it delves deeper into an avant-garde style of presentation.
It becomes less of an animated series and more an experiment in visual
storytelling. I personally appreciated this aspect of the series as it
made me look forward to seeing how the story would be told in each
episode. From the popsicle stick figures, cityscapes, flashing images,
sketch book drawings, etc. In essence it was very different and very
interesting to watch. Think of the art as a mix between "TTGL" and "FLCL".
Kare Kano mixes romance and comedy well. The romance isn't cheesy most
of the time which is good, and the comedy is top notch. Both Yukino and
Soichiro's friends make sure to add more of both into the mix. I
guarantee anyone who watches this anime will be laughing nonstop
throughout the series as well as letting out a couple of awe's here and
there.
Moving on to the music, the soundtrack was not very impressive.
The music throughout the anime was average. I feel they could have made a better soundtrack but it's nothing to complain about.
The OP & ED however are great, personal favorites of mine.
Going back to what I said about the manga, I feel I should make some
things clear. Most who have read the manga and then watched the anime
complain about its weird approach and outcome. Though the anime is based
on the manga, it does drift away from it. The anime implemented more
comedy than its manga source and some things are changed so that it fit
into 26 episodes. Directors were also changed and you will notice the
anime change gears around the middle.
To finish off, there is rarely a dull moment in this series and it is
constantly making sure you are up to date with what has happened so far,
which does get a bit annoying if you marathon through the show. Story
wise, it's nothing special. It's how it was portrayed that makes it very
entertaining. I really did enjoy this anime and hope everyone else will
give it a try.
Art - (7/10) Sound - (8/10) Plot - (8/10) Enjoyment - (9/10)
Overall
8/10
Overall
8/10
Note: The ending will leave you speechless, for many reasons 
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