There's a case to be made about the core similarities between KareKano and Bloom into you. (A thinly veiled analysis of the first part of both series.)

Normally, I would never reach this kind of conclusion simply because of how different both series are. But experiencing them at the same time and writing about each one for potential future posts is what got me here. Make no mistake I still haven't completed either one,-

-in fact, I'm still in the first stretch of both series. I have no idea how similar or different those two are in latter parts. But that is precisely why I decided to make this post now, in case I changed my mind later on or forgot what I was trying to say.

Let's tackle Bloom into you first, since I started reading it before watching KareKano. In the first chapter of Bloom into you we follow a girl named Yuu who internally laments her inability to feel anything special for anyone.

She believes she's weird, that something is wrong with her and vents about it to an upperclassman she met named Touko. Touko consoles Yuu, by affirming that there's nothing wrong with Yuu. At the end of the chapter Touko confesses to Yuu seemingly out of nowhere after confirming-

- that Yuu would never fall in love with her. Yuu is surprised and rightfully so, since she consulted Touko under the belief that Touko's on the same boat as herself. The confession feels as abrupt to Yuu as it did to the reader.

Touko falls in love with the idea of being with Yuu not Yuu herself, being able to unconditionally love someone and be affectionate without them reciprocating is what drove Touko to confess. Because being loved entails expectations, and Touko cannot handle that kind of pressure.

Plus the idea that someone would come to love the real her and not the persona that she worked so hard to create by imitating her sister is most likely going to hurt her.

Yuu sought Touko because she thought she was like her only to find out that Touko is willingly rejecting people and is not abnormal (in her eyes at least) like her at all. I'm repeating this because this is what connects both series to me. And it's a point you should keep in mind

First episode of KareKano follows a girl named Yukino. Yukino is a model student, she has the highest grades, has a good personality, carries herself gracefully and has good looks. She is at the center of attention.

And that is intentional, as she likes to be showered in praise and she acknowledges the shallowness behind that kind of motivation. Going so far as to call herself "vanity personified."

Enters Arima, a classmate of hers that is everything she strives to be, her ideal self. He robs her, though unintentionally, of her dramatic high school debut essentially becoming her enemy. Arima gravitated towards Yukino because he fell in love with her persona for being so-

-similar to him and sharing that kind of trait with him. She seemed perfect to Arima. He admired her. He confessed only to be rejected. Later, he accidentally comes upon Yukino out of her persona in her natural state. Yukino was faking being perfect like himself,-

-except unlike Arima where she has a fully formed identity behind her mask. Behind his persona is a blank slate, a personality yet to be formed. This is the similarity I found between the two shows.

A character (Yuu, Arima) has a certain trait, meets another character (Touko, Yukino) who seems to share that trait only to find out that they're willingly acting that way, it's not something they have no control over like previous said characters. And then they date.

I know this is a silly post but I had to get it out there cuz this thought has been plaguing me for days on end.