It weighs so heavily on the two of them that they’re willing to sacrifice everything in order to save their friend. It’s all the more poignant when we see flashes forward to the future, the one without Kakeru, and see that Naho and Suwa are married with a child. The doubts and self-awareness that comes from teenage love meshes well with the doubts and self-awareness that comes from changing the timeline. It’s the science-fiction premise that’s what really drives this book. It honestly reads a lot like Kimi ni Todoke in many ways, but there’s a twist: Naho has a letter from herself ten years in the future, telling her she has to prevent a tragedy the fact that Kakeru killed himself when he was just seventeen. There’s a guy with an obvious crush who suppresses it in order to support his crush’s true love, and those two girls who exist to contrast with the heroine one spunky, one grumpy. Naho, our heroine is cute but shy, and Kakeru is cute but troubled, in the best manga tradition. Orange, for the most part, reads like a shoujo romance, as you’d expect for a series begin in Betsuma. It’s a chunky book, but is absolutely worth the time. (cough) This is three volumes in one, and tells us the bittersweet story of a group of friends, struck by a tragedy from their youth, who unite in order to stop it happening. But honestly, there’s enough to talk about in this title so that I don’t need to go into that at all. Or that the complete series is out digitally via Crunchyroll (though I haven’t spoiled myself). Or talking about the odd move from a shoujo magazine (Betsuma) to a seinen one (Manga Action) when the author switched publishers. I always feel a certain need to geek out when reviewing titles like these, such as explaining that it’s not a typo in the header, orange really is meant to be spelled with a small O. Released in Japan by Shueisha and then Futabasha, serialized in the magazines Bessatsu Margaret and Manga Action.

Orange the complete collection 1