The Rivals
Episode 3 of From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke titled ‘Feelings of Romance’ begins with Sawako dropping some books and Kurumi rushing to help her. She smiles and leaves which has Sawako confused by her sudden friendliness. Later, Sawako has a meal with Yoshida and Yano at Ryu’s father’s shop. She says it is nice to have ramen with friends and they find her cute.
They then head to his room and Yoshida tells her to relax as he’s like family. Yano gets a call from her possessive boyfriend at university and Sawako wonders if Yoshida is also dating Ryu. The two are suddenly awkward as Ryu calls her a younger brother and they bicker about their age. They decide to call Kazehaya and the moment he hears Sawako’s voice he drops everything to meet them.
As they wait for him, they go through some old photos of when Kazehaya had short hair and played baseball with Ryu. The girls joke that he now has long hair because he is dirty-minded and he reaches just then and scolds them. Sawako laughs at their antics and he finds it cute. He notices that Yoshida and Yano have started calling her by her real name and they ask her to call them by their first names – Chizu and Ayane.
As the four play cards, they ask if Sawako will be playing soccer for their Sport’s Day. She says she is bad at it and before Kazehaya can say something, their teacher Pin shows up. Turns out he is a family friend and wrestles with Kazehaya before sending everyone home.
The next day, Kurumi approaches Sawako and calls her by her real name. She compliments her intelligence and asks if she can borrow her study notes. At that moment, Kazehaya only spots Sawako and runs to greet her. Kurumi goes ahead of her and greets him. Sawako doesn’t think much of it as they are friends from middle school.
In class, Kazehaya passes Sawako a note saying he will help her with soccer. As she waits for him, she plays with a rock and when he finds her he smiles. He blushes as he tells her to follow him and she wonders what is up with him. As they play soccer together Kurumi watches them from afar and is annoyed. Sawako finally passes the ball successfully and Kazehaya runs and high-fives her.
Kurumi starts having meals with Sawako and Yano and Yoshida are worried since it seems both girls like Kazehaya. However, they recall that in middle school Kurumi was the one who came up with the pact that none of the girls should fight over Kazehaya as he doesn’t like quarrels.
But that doesn’t seem to be the case as Kurumi tries to come between him and Sawako. She tells Sawako that she is not special and that Kazehaya is just nice to everyone. Kurumi adds that she can read his mind and they might be more than friends. Our poor innocent Sawako is just happy to be considered a confidant and thinks they are more like family.
On Sport’s Day, Yoshida and Yano help Sawako tie a bun and are in her team. She helps with the winning goal and everyone cheers. She later meets Kazehaya who is excited that her team won. But before he can high-five her, Kurumi runs to them and says she wants to talk to Sawako alone. Kazehaya calls her Ume and Sawako finds it cute. However, Kurumi stops her as she doesn’t like that name.
Sawako says it’s a nickname like Sadako and Kurumi scolds her that her name is Sawako. She then confides that she likes someone and wants Sawako’s help. It is Kazehaya and she is the first one to know since she is her friend. Sawako says because they are friends she cannot help because she cannot genuinely root for them. She says Kazehaya is special to her and Kurumi lashes out.
She says that he just does charity by being nice to Sawako and she is sneaky as she uses her gloomy behaviour to get his attention. Kurumi adds that she is serious about dating him and Sawako tries to comfort her. They watch Kazehaya’s baseball game together as Sawako doesn’t leave her alone despite Kurumi being grumpy.
She continues to belittle Sawako and feels that she only thinks she has feelings for Kazehaya because he spoke to her and she has no other guy to compare him to. At that moment, a ball heads towards Sawako’s face but Ryu stops it. Kurumi says she should talk to other boys like Ryu since he just helped her out. He might be actually special to her and Sawako decides to give it a try.
While Ryu is napping, Sawako heads up to him and he says he was waiting for her. Turns out Kurumi tricked him into thinking Sawako sent a note to meet up with him. Undeterred, Sawako simply thanks him for helping him. There is an awkward pause and she asks him about love. He says he loves Yoshida and she smiles as they would be perfect together. She asks how he knew Yoshida is special and he says because she can’t compare to anyone else.
Meanwhile, Kurumi is helping Kazehaya clean up and says Sawako probably has feelings for Ryu. Kazehaya’s smile falls and as they walk past Ryu and Sawako, Kurumi says that something is definitely going on between them. This just spurs Kazehaya to take Sawako’s hand and run off with her. Once they are alone, he asks if she likes Ryu. He is relieved when she says she doesn’t love Ryu and she smiles at his reaction.
Ryu runs into Yoshida and Yano and they ask about Sawako. He says that she gave him a note but turns out it wasn’t her. They see it and realise that it is from Kurumi. The girls confront Kurumi who is alone on the terrace. Sawako finds the three and Yano reveals that Kurumi is the one who spread the rumours and is using her. Sawako tears up as she hopes it is a misunderstanding but Kurumi says it is all true.
She says she hates Sawako and Yoshida is furious that Kurumi made her cry. They leave but Sawako stays back. She tells Kurumi she loves Kazehaya and wanted to share it with a friend. Kurumi is frustrated as she says they are not friends. Her love for Kazehaya is better even though she knows he doesn’t like her. She starts crying and Sawako gives her a handkerchief.
Kurumi then meets up with Kazehaya who apologises for running away. She says she likes him even though he doesn’t and he thanks her for understanding. The next day, Kurumi almost walks past Sawako but then says she will never congratulate her if she gets together with Kazehaya. Sawako hopes they can be friends but Kurumi says they are rivals and walks off. This just amuses Sawako who smiles.
She heads to the garden to tend to the flowers and recalls that the first time Kazehaya remembered her real name is when she truly fell in love with him. He approaches her to help her water the flowers and they smile.
The Episode Review
The friendship between Kazehaya, Sawako, Yano, Yoshida and the newest addition, Ryu is absolutely adorable. It seems that every episode of From Me to You: Kimi ni Todoke can only be described by the word cute. They seem to genuinely like each other, care for each other and worry about each other. Even when they are suspicious of Kurumi, they don’t intervene initially as they think Sawako is happy.
And honestly, Sawako is the most precious bean ever and must be protected at all costs. She still gives Kurumi company even though the latter is constantly lashing out at her. Even when she learns of Kurumi’s motives, she is still nice to her and hopes they can be friends. And weirdly enough, if Kurumi was not jealous, she would have made a really good friend.
Poor Sawako also doubts her feelings for Kazehaya at first just so that Kurumi can have a chance with him. And while no one really ships Sawako and Ryu, their interaction together was funny and cute. Of course, we knew he liked Yoshida and who better to cheer them than Sawako? We would love to see more of that friendship.
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Episode Rating
(3.5)