Swayed by the exhalting posts, I gave Kimi ni Todoke a good try and giggled maniacally non-stop through the first 15 minutes of the episode. Also, squeaked "OH NOES SHE'S CHANGING COLOR" and such. No idea if this is my internal fangirl or what, I've never met her before.

As far as art goes, it's open to interpretation. Yano and Yoshida are drawn as caricatures not completely dissimilar in spirit to the monkey boys of J2, and I recall Aroduc had no objection to that. And Windy Tales proves that anime can be breathtakingly beautiful while disposing with the trappings of big-budget show that we take for granted: complext layouts, animations of large numbers of background characters, numerous lines and shadings, etc. Backgrounds of Todoke certainly are amazing and it's obvious that the show is prepared for a BD release. So, it's all in the eye of the beholder.

Same applies to the work of Mrs. Noto. Evirus e-mailed me that she "is still refining the role, but when she does hit her marks she is spot on." After listening for myself, I think he's right. Sure, there was too much breath and such, but it's abating. So I'm optimistic on her score.

As far as the story, too early to tell. Chracters seem sympathetic, but again the dude is a big question mark. I'm not even certain I'll stick with the series in the long run, but it was a good ride at the start.