Perhaps my favorite aspect of anime and manga is the way they allow fans to access various emotions, from boy-meets-moe love stories (Hatsukoi Unlimited or KimiKiss) to series that explore the frustration of not being accepted by your peers (Kimi ni Todoke), and even an anime that enables you to experience the terror of a major disaster (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0). One of the more awesome anime/manga series to come out of the 1980s was Kimagure Orange Road, essentially an intense love triangle between a boy named Kyosuke, the cute Hikaru-chan and the enigmatic Madoka, complicated slightly by the fact that Kyosuke’s family had esper powers that they must keep secret from everyone. One day I was sitting in my university history class thumbing through vol. 18 of the manga, when I suddenly realized that the story I was reading was the last chapter, which would finally resolve the love triangle. I couldn’t stop reading the intense story even in the middle of class, yet I had to hide my emotions from the people around me while I cheered for the characters.
So what is your favorite anime emotional roller coaster? (Old school or not)
Orange Road was an awesome anime/manga from the 80s.
