Yu Koito, a high school freshman, tells a second-year student, Toko Nanami, about distress that she's never been able to tell anyone before.
"Girls' manga and love songs are filled with romantic love, but I've never seen someone as a special person," Yu tells Toko.
Yu has an expectation that Toko may be the same kind of person as herself because the beautiful girl, a member of the student council, refuses to receive a favor from anyone.
"When you have no interest [in romance], you tend to feel as if you are the odd one," Toko consoles Yu. But Toko's sudden confession thereafter completely changes the world Yu lives in -- "I'm almost falling in love with you."
Yu wonders what Toko is saying.
Those are scenes from TV anime "Yagate Kimi ni Naru" (Bloom Into You), which depicts same-sex love with beautiful visuals and subtly nuanced psychological characterization. The anime aired on Tokyo MX and other channels, and is an adaptation of a popular manga by Nio Nakatani, which is published by Kadokawa Corp. The anime is drawing much attention, including how it is received by viewers.
"When I read the original, I felt that the relationship between Yu and Toko is a straightforward and genuine love. If we showed it sincerely, this work would reach a wider audience, I thought," said director Makoto Kato.
Yu's wavering feelings are represented by various landscapes and props, such as water flowing into a classroom, leaves blown by the wind, black tea in a cup, and the changing sunlight at sunset. This technique is very impressive.
"I don't deny using facial expressions and acting [by the characters] for presentation, but I also don't think it's all about making everything easy to understand. Each viewer can have their own way of appreciating the work," Kato, 34, said.
The anime also shows what happens between two adjacent panels in the manga, visually expanding the scene. It sometimes leaves a mysterious barb, like a scar. "Otherwise, there's no point turning a manga into an anime," Kato said.
This is the second time Kato has directed a TV animation series, following "Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru" (A Corpse is Buried Under Sakurako's Feet) in 2015, which is based on a novel of the same name. After graduating from university, Kato began working in the animation industry because he adored "Mononoke-hime" (Princess Mononoke), directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Kato did not become an animator, but worked in the production coordination section before becoming a director.
He was named the director of "Yagate Kimi ni Naru" on request by producer Toshiyuki Nagano of animation production company Troyca Inc.
"Because he has embarrassingly straightforward energy in abundance," Nagano, 43, explained as the reason for picking Kato.
Stories about same-sex love between women are sometimes referred to as "yuri" (lilies). Its origin can be found in girls' novels by Nobuko Yoshiya before World War II, yet the term has been used in the context of a subculture largely because of its use in young adult novel series "Maria-sama ga Miteru" (Virgin Mary Is Watching) by Oyuki Konno, which became a huge hit in the late 1990s when it was published by Shueisha Inc. as part of the publisher's Cobalt paperback series. This work was also turned into an animation, prompting the birth of the yuri genre.
Nakatani's manga is acclaimed as a masterpiece of this genre.
"I wasn't interested in yuri and had never read those works," Kato said. "However, the original manga duly delves into the theme of 'loving someone.' I thought the fact I didn't know about yuri would be an advantage." His words sounded promising that the anime version will become a masterpiece as well.
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