Kare Kano manga, volume 1 (English version)

Kare Kano (カレカノ), or His and Her Circumstances, or Kareshi Kanojo no Jijō (彼氏彼女の事情), is a manga by Masami Tsuda and a 26 episode TV anime series, directed by Hideaki Anno of Gainax. The English anime is titled His and Her Circumstances (a direct translation of the Japanese title) and the English manga, published by TokyoPop, is titled Kare Kano, which has been a popular abbreviation of the title by the fans. The manga series is still continuing on LaLa magazine in Japan.

The main character is Yukino Miyazawa, a Japanese high school freshman who is the envy of her classmates because of her good grades and immaculate appearance. However, this is just a charade she maintains to win praise—at home, she is a total slob, who lets her appearance, her family, and everything else slide so she can study relentlessly and thus maintain her grades. She is threatened in this position by Soichiro Arima, a handsome young man who also gets great grades and challenges Yukino for class leadership positions. She vows to destroy him, but after some misunderstandings they fall in love instead. The series follows their relationship as they're tested by school, family problems, and friends.

As is to be expected by an anime directed by Hideaki Anno, the style is extremely vivid, original and at times unpredictable. E.g., at some point the voice-actors are starting to discuss about the plot. In another episode, papercut-figures are replacing the usual animation.

Characters

Names are in Western order, with the given name before the surname

Yukino Miyazawa (宮沢 雪野 Miyazawa Yukino) - Very smart, very attractive, very athletic and very talented, Yukino Miyazawa is supposedly the model student. However, her model exterior hides the fact that everything she does is done solely to receive praise and accolades from others and has always been since she was a little girl. This all changes when she meets Soichiro Arima.

Soichiro Arima (有馬 総一郎 Arima Sōichirō) - Also very smart, very attractive, very athletic and very talented, Soichiro Arima is the perfect complement to Yukino. At first Miyazawa couldn't stand to be around Arima, but eventually they learned just how similar they were. Arima also puts on a model exterior to hide the fact that he comes from a disreputable family.

Tsukino Miyazawa (宮沢 月野 Miyazawa Tsukino) - The middle daughter of the Miyazawa family, Tsukino seems to be goofier and more laid back than her sisters. Tsukino tends to tease Kano, the youngest daughter.

Kano Miyazawa (宮沢 花野 Miyazawa Kano) - The youngest of the three Miyazawa daughters, Kano is known for her shoujo (girl's) manga and novel obsessions. She uses the knowledge from her love stories to help out Yukino when she's in a psychological pinch.

Hiroyuki Miyazawa (宮沢 洋之 Miyazawa Hiroyuki) and Miyako Miyazawa (宮沢 みやこ Miyazawa Miyako) - Yukino, Tsukino and Kano's parents. They met as children and married just out of high school, a continuous source of consternation for Miyako's father. Hiroyuki often acts very immature, but really just loves his three daughters. Miyako tends to act more rational than her husband and acts as the more level-headed member of the family.

Pero Pero (ペロペロ), a.k.a. Pero^2 - The Miyazawa family's strange dog. Seems to appear in random places during the story.

Hideaki Asaba (浅葉 秀明 Asaba Hideaki) - An attractive, but not very bright, young man, Asaba is friends with Arima. Miyazawa and Asaba don't initially care for each other (Asaba wants Arima to act as a "wingman" of sorts in Asaba's pursuit of being surrounded by cute girls), but they eventually become friends.

Tsubasa Shibahime (芝姫 つばさ Shibahime Tsubasa) - A very small, very cute girl who likes Arima. Arima and Tsubasa went to middle school together, but a skateboarding accident prevented her from joining high school at the same time as everyone else. She has a significant crush on Arima, who, in turn, only treated her as a younger sister. She is insanely jealous of Miyazawa, but they all eventually become friends. Tsubasa is a sucker for Totoro.

Tsubaki Sakura - A friend of Yukino's. Tsubaki is one year younger than Yukino, but a phenomenal sports player. Her tomboyish attitude and appearance eventually catch up to her when a person from her past appears later on in the series.

Aya Sawada (沢田 亜弥 Sawada Aya) - Aya is obsessive compulsive when it comes to her writing. She's the one who came up with a screenplay for the newly formed school drama club (later, she chases down Maho and Yukino to play to lead parts).

Rika Sena (瀬奈 りか Sena Rika) - The quiet one of Yukino's friends. Rika is a gifted seamstress and craftswoman. She works on costumes for school plays and events.

Maho Izawa (井沢 真秀 Izawa Maho) - An attractive and intelligent student, she falls out of the limelight when she arrives in high school because of Yukino. Her jealousy becomes hatred and she turns the entire class against Yukino. Eventually, however, it backfires on her and the class turns on Maho. Yukino, however, takes the high road and makes the first efforts to turn Maho into a friend.

Kazuma Ikeda (池田 一馬 Ikeda Kazuma) - Son of the woman that Tsubasa's father is seeing. He's a member of a rock band and has bleached hair, so he is initially looked upon with suspicion by Tsubasa and her father. However, he wishes to have her mother be happy and to have a sister of his own, so he immediately takes a shine to Tsubasa.

Official Sites

• Gainax's Kare Kano - anime
• Hakusensha's Kare Kano - manga