Kare Kano, Volume 21 Book

***Spoilers!!!**

The story begins when Yukino begins high school. Yukino has devoted most of her young life to being the best in everything she does. She is the top student at school, perfectly dressed, and her peers adore her. Content to live life with this mask on, Yukino is convinced that she has life under control. Things start to crumble around her when the newest student in school, Soichiro Arima, shows her up in every area. Soichiro has his own problems. Unable to live the life he wants, he is determined to be the "good kid" so that his aunt and uncle will never be disappointed in him. The abuse he suffered as a child has severely scarred him and it is doubtful that he will ever be able to take off the mask he wears and be himself. This is the Kare Kano storyline I love- angsty, emo-ish, full of hurt and anger, and a lot of love to redeem things. As Yukino finds her hatred of Soichiro turning into love and they try to figure out who they are without the masks, the story takes you back to Arima's past and his parents mistakes. For most of the volumes, the manga-ka did a fine balancing act between dark and light, and I eagerly waited each book. After volume 20, the story felt done to me and I couldn't believe there was one more... the mop up volume in which she ties up all the loose ends, I guess.

I'm trying to figure out exactly what I hated about volume 21. It may be that she started the story off in the future with Arima dead and Yukino married to Arima's best friend, Hideaki, and then took it back. It was like that was the story she wanted to write, but since it didn't go anywhere, she pulled away from it. And then there was the storyline where Yukino and Arima tell Hideaki that Yukino is pregnant, and Hideaki knows 1. it's a girl and 2. it's his soulmake. So when Yukino's daughter is 17, she tells Hideaki that she loves him. It felt way too contrived and WRONG to me. Plus, she tries to reveal the truth about Hideaki's past (and only kind of does it) when she should have put that story string in much earlier when we all cared about why he was a womanizer.

But in the end, I think it's because she makes life so much easier for them after they grow up. They have children too young, have to put a career on hold, and everything is sweet and beautiful. Soichiro works too much, but everyone loves him anyway. Yukino's kids are beautiful and perfect. Hideaki is a famous artist who lives next door and babysits while Yukino goes to med school and then starts work... it's like she totally doesn't know how tough it is to be a real adult. It doesn't ring true and it feels likes lies. She lost her way in this story, I think, and went for the easy ending- the one people wanted to read instead of the ending the story required. I'm sure all the fans are happy, but I'm a bit disappointed. This was the manga-ka who had the courage to tell the producers of the anime that they couldn't use her storyline anymore if that's what they were going to do with it. I wonder if she's happy with the ending or just happy that it's over....