Orange Volume 1 by Ichigo Takano

This was quite a nice manga about a girl who finds a letter addressed to her from her future 25-year-old self.  She thinks it’s a prank, but the things in the letter start to come true, convincing her of its authenticity.  Her future self begs her to look after a transfer student, Kareku, so that she can save him from a terrible fate.
 
This was a really interesting story about the things we’d tell our younger selves if only we had the chance and how tiny things can really affect the future and the whole butterfly effect thing.  There’s a whole flashback/forward thing going on too, which was kind of confusing in parts because the older gang of friends looked virtually identical to the younger friends.
 
The art was pretty good - lots of shoujo doe eyes and boys with choppy hair, but it was done well.
 
Naho was an okay protagonist, but she was just so meek it was unreal.  I was like, ‘Just hold his damn hand already!’  I actually liked the other two girls better - they were much more of a laugh!  And Kakeru was an okay love interest but he did the whole thing there the male protagonist is all ‘I really want you, but we can’t be together FOR YOUR OWN GOOD’.  Again, I actually like Suwa better than Kakeru.  One thing I really liked though, was although the group of friends was really diverse in personalities, they were all really close and had each others’ backs.
 
I think Orange would be better for a slightly younger audience.  One other reviewer described it as cute, and I think that’s exactly the right word.  This is cute, like kittens coming out of McVites biscuit packets.  A lot of reviewers said Orange made them cry, so I guess I must just be made of ice because it didn’t make me cry at all!  The message from the future thing lifted it a bit above normal shoujo manga but it was still maybe a bit too twee for me.  Having said that, it’s right there on Mangafox, so I’ll definitely read the sequel to see how it ends.
 
 3.5 stars