Daijoubu

Watching Kimi ni Todoke has reminded me again of a frequently occurring thing in Anime where small groups of girls form very tight cliques. I suppose this happens in schools all over the world, but those that appear in anime and manga seem especially strong somehow. The girls are not necessarily alike either in personality, like in Azumanga Daioh or even Ichigo Mashimaru Sometimes, they do share interests, at least, like those linked by a club, as in K-On. In Kimi ni Todoke, Sawako, Yano and Yoshida form one of these groups, again with girls of different personalities who are really into each other. Of course, the writers do need a limited cast of characters to work with and maybe I’m overemphasizing something which is really just a given of any High School, but I can’t help but wonder if there is something peculiar to Japanese schools here. I was reminded of this recently when I read a Japanese suspense-type novel, Real World, by Natsuo Kirino. In this odd book, a boy kills his mother and steals his neighbor girls bike and cell-phone. Because the girl is in one of these mini-cliques with three other girls, he finds their numbers and starts calling them and they all get involved in his flight from the police. Very stange book, yeah, but there’s that group of girls again. Of course, the Kimi ni Todoke group has two boys as well. Maybe I’m making too much out of it…