Sukitte Ii na yo (Say “I Love you”) by Kanae Hazuki
Serialized in Dessert
Published by Kodansha

We’ve read this story before. The girl who can’t trust anyone and the guy who tries to bring her faith back in humanity. Kanae Hazuki’s Sukitte Ii Na Yo‘s heroine, Mei Tachibana, is a girl who has been betrayed by many leaving her without friends or boyfriends for the past 16 years. And while she tries to get by with things on her own, our hero, Yamato Kurosawa, tries to convince her that there are people she can rely on and the most real of kisses can taste like karaage (fried chicken).

Fried Chicken Kisses

“The kiss with those feelings had the flavor of fried chicken.”

Is it so wrong to like a series because of one line?

I must confess that Kanae Hazuki’s art style is not one of my favorite shoujo styles. The characters are stick thin. The boys are languid and has enough “hipster” air to make me twitch in the same way I twitch when I see an Ai Yazawa’s goth heroes. There’s a strange emptiness in her panels and I can’t exactly know if she intends people to focus solely on the characters or at times she’s just being lazy. But perhaps what really caught my attention in this series was Mei’s description of her first real kiss with Yamato. Shoujo manga always likened sweetness to kisses, but here’s one title that tells us kisses can taste otherwise.

I thought it was shoujo comedy gold.

For a good long while I really thought the series would ride on that humor. I love my shoujo funny and with little tears, as much as possible. I had the idea that this would be one of those “makeover” stories similar to Kimi ni Todoke (Reaching You) and yet it’s quite unlike it. Perhaps it is similar in the way that the story protects Mei’s innocence and naiveté with people. Like Sawako, she has pure yet firm beliefs in life. But unlike Kimi ni Todoke, the people that surround her have heavy stories I rarely encounter in shoujo. You have a girl insecure about her boobs. Another insecure about her weight. And as you’re introduced to more characters in the story you realize that each one has a story to tell, painfully close to home. I was no longer ready a story about a sweet rosy romance often seen in shoujo. If anything, those fried chicken kisses was a prelude to feelings and flavors that are close to us, something comforting and far from ideal.

“Everything about it is perfect.”

I asked a friend who’s currently watching the anime on why she particularly didn’t like Sukitte Ii Na Yo. With conviction she cited that Yamato was too perfect and everything about it just falls into place. And I must agree. Sukitte Ii Na Yo feels like a convenient romance. Yamato’s quite handsome and there’s really nothing detestable with Mei apart from her gloomy attitude. There’s hardly anything amazing about Mei but Yamato chose her over and over again. His love for her is infallible that I can understand why some people find it annoying. It’s just bloody perfect. Nobody just falls in love without reason and the first few chapters of the manga highlights this “perfection”.

After a while (two to three volumes ahead, which can be a drag for some readers) not all is perfect in Sukitte Ii Na Yo. And this comes after the first few pulls of your heart strings and a rather quiet (yet comfortable) undramatic pace of Yamato and Mei’s romance. Slowly, Kanae Hazuki introduces insecurities of other characters, some of which made me question if this was running in a josei magazine (and in a way it is!). The teens are open about their sexuality in this title (but it’s not as graphic as other smut titles), and while some might find it uncomfortable, I find relief that it’s not the focal point of this series.

Aiko’s story was particularly surprising for me because of her open sexual frivolity. Aiko’s longing to capture Yamato’s heart so that he can accept her body became a story of compensation and her own personal search to love of her own body. And despite her lover’s attention and care for her, she continues to struggle accepting her body until it damages her. Eventually, she learns to accept herself (and her loyal lover), but my god, haven’t we all been there? Trying to find someone who will accept our imperfections?

It’s a story filled with imperfections and insecurities which makes the kids appear real to me. You’ll even find the perfect Yamato dealing with his own much later in the manga. As the story puts it, the more we put up the image of perfection the more we hide our own imperfections. The characters grow and support each other through their own insecurities. It’s not a rare story but unlike others, Sukitte Ii Na Yo does not pretend it has all the answers but it doesn’t also let the kid’s insecurities overwhelm the story. They learn and they grow. And in return, I think, the reader can grow as well.

Say “I Love you”

I’ve been in reflection ever since my friend told me about her issues with the series. Even I wondered, have I fallen for the “shoujo trap” of falling in love just because they fell in love? I strangely love this story a little more than I love Kimi ni Todoke and people have more reasons to love that. Strangely, I’m caught in this one and I’ve been following it faithfully despite my mild distaste for the art.

Apart from the fried chicken kisses, I realize that this story puts into question our motivations for loving not only of other people, but of ourselves. Why do we say we love someone? Why does loving ourselves just as important?

The story’s quiet pace leaves enough room for reflection. Some might find it boring. Some, like myself, may welcome this comfortable pace. In realizing that, I come to understand why her panels are a bit empty. Perhaps, it’s because we’re suppose to put ourselves in it. We color those spaces with our emotions and depends on how we have lived our lives, we see those panels differently. And it’s strange reading Sukitte Ii Na Yo without the trappings of fawning over the craziness of other shoujo titles. It never pushed itself as our ideal romance. The series presents itself as one we can relate to. If anything, it’s a romance that aims for us to recognize the things that are important to us and the things that we should love.

It’s a manga I definitely love but not one I particularly recommend to everyone. I know it has things that can trigger some people’s position on romance, idealism, and feminism. It doesn’t have a strong-willed heroine and the character’s insecurities will definitely reinforce some questions on shoujo’s reiteration of a girl’s weakness. And I honestly don’t feel like going into a discussion about it because for me, I am more pleased that this manga does not deny these imperfections and tries its best to embrace it. It’s a story doesn’t feign confidence and struggles, just like anyone, to find it. And this title handles it just fine, but again, how we receive depends on where you stand in life.

I am not sure if KodanshaUSA will ever license this in English (or if any publisher is even ready to invest in a title like this), but if someone does pick it up, I hope they too will feel the warmth that comes from this series.