Angsty shoujo romance is usually something I tune out very quickly (unless it’s played for laughs as in Itazura na Kiss.) Kimi ni Todoke (Reaching You) plays it totally straight, but it still has me watching after three episodes. Maybe it’s true that the genre doesn’t matter as long as it’s done well enough.

Sawako Kuronuma is a girl who is shy, book-smart and overly earnest. She has no friends because her classmates are afraid of her. They call her “Sadako” after the character in The Ring, whom she rather resembles. When she is nervous, which is most of the time, she looks angry and speaks in shaky voice that sounds like something out of a nightmare.

When a cheerful, popular boy shows an interest in her she gradually begins to relax, lighten up and start to make friends. However given the nature of the genre we know that things are not going to be that easy for her.