Let's talk about: Orange ~オレンジ~

So Let's talk about Orange.

While I was working, I wanted to read something (I watch teens as they do their homework). I adore Manga and I like how fast I can read them, so I looked around for a new manga.

I remembered Yamaki Risa (Country Girls) talking about Orange a lot. So I picked it up and I started reading and gosh did this story hit me. 

I still don't really know what I am going to talk about in this post. It will be a bit of a review about both (Movie and Manga), but also a just a bit of gushing about the whole story and the feeling it gave me. Let's start with a small overview of the story (no spoilers).

A girl, Naho, recieves a letter from herself on the first day of school. The letter has been written by herself but it's the her from 10 years in the future. The letter talks about a lot of regrets older Naho has and how she wishes the younger her could erase them. But is her biggest regret something that can be changed?

Okay, so let's start. I adored the manga. I loved the story, I loved the characters and I loved the message the manga was trying to give. The art style might not be totally my thing, but it's not bad in any way. The emotions in the manga are amazing. 

The Live action movie was suprisingly extremly good. I couldn't stop watching and I cried like a baby. To be honest, when the movie was done I was still crying. 

I will now start talking with spoilers, BUT please if you did not watch the movie or read the manga, Please do that first, it's worth it. 

A story about suicide and how damaged a person can be. 

Orange is a story that suprised me in many ways. I really love the idea that someone can be saved from their own demons, but the story also shows that sometimes love isn't enough. 

So the letters Naho gets are from herself in the future, in a future were Kakeru dies. Kakeru is a new kid in class who loses his mother due to suicide. Kakeru blames himself and the letter asks Naho to save him from that blame. A real difficult task, especially if you think about what is at stake. 

Spoiler: in the end Kakeru lives, but the Naho that wrote the letter still lives in the same future where Kakeru died, because current Naho didn't change the future, she, with her friend, created a new parallel world, in which Kakeru does have a future. 

It's such a difficult topic. Suicide. When you are not in their shoes, you can not imagen what is happening in their head or heart and this story illustrates that perfectly. Even with all the love in the world, not everybody can be saved from themselfs. Seeing that Kakeru was saved in one world, but couldn't be saved in another one, it breaks my heart. Eventhough Kakeru survives, doesn't mean his life suddenly got better, it means he lives, but still has a lot of fighting to do. 

Why this story is so good? Some people live like this every day. Looking happy, but damaged and broken on the inside. I think a lot of people will see something in this story that will hit right home. Maybe it's about your friend, a family member, neighbour, maybe even yourself. It's such a difficult topic to talk about, but I think this story shows us how love and friendship, sadly, can't always save everybody. It's a beautiful fairytale, but not reality. 

The Manga is ofcourse way more ellaborate about a lot of things and some characters have more depth in the Manga. Yet the movie showed the story very well and I think the actor who played Kakeru, Yamazaki Kento, played his part so well. I love how they actually get to cry ugly in this movie, opposed to "beauiful" crying in other (mainly american) movies. It just made the movie so much more real. 

Another thing I really wanna adress is Suwa Hiroto. This guy might be the best friend you could ever wish. He gave up his future, his wife, his baby, to save his best friend. Ofcourse he would save his best friend, but to give all this up and knowing about it. I feel like Suwa might be one of the best characters in a movie or manga ever. True, real and selfless. 

I think if I really want to I could talk for hours about Orange. I really adore the story so much and it felt so good to see Kakeru survive in the end. Yet his struggle to find a reason to live, his guilt, his tears, it breaks my heart. Heck the soundtrack of the movie still makes me teary eyed. 

For the Hello!Pro fans: Mano Erina has a part in this movie. It isn't big, but she is there. And you might recognize the actor who plays Hagita (Sakurada Dori). He was in Ousama Game with Kumai Yurina, Suzuki Airi and a lot of other Hello!Pro members. 

So in the end this article/blogpost might not have been perfect. I actually think I just wrote my thoughts and that's it. But really, this is one of the best things I ever read or saw. I really wonder how the anime is and I will totally watch it. There seems to also be an anime movie, which is more about Suwa and what happend after the Anime, so I am looking forwards to see that aswell.