Naho Takamiya, a sixteen year old high school student, receives a letter from herself ten years in the future. The letter instructs her to watch over a new transfer student, Kakeru. Kakeru, on the first day, becomes part of Naho’s friend group and at first she is not so sure if the letter is a prank, because everything seems fine. On the first day she ignores the most important instruction from herself, telling her to not invite Kakeru to walk home with them. She later learns that on that day, Kakeru’s mother committed suicide. Naho then becomes committed to following every step of the letter to make Kakeru happy. And along the way she grows feelings for him. She try’s hard to do every request from herself that shoves her out of her comfort zone, in order to save Kakeru from himself. That is the biggest regret that future Naho has, she could have saved Kakeru form taking his life.
I am eagerly waiting to check out the next book! Very exciting. I loved this book a lot. It was very clean and never swore, or showed any suggestive images. We are in the perspective of Naho throughout the entire book. She is a sweet motherly character and it was definitely enjoyable to step in to that mind set. We see her set of friends throughout the entire book and they, in personality, are all very animated characters. Naho is a girl who doesn’t want others to know what she wants, in order to make it easier for them to get what they wish to have. The first thing that sparks interest between Naho and Kakeru is the fact that he seems to be the only one who knows when she’s holding back her wants, to grant the wants of others. It is very sweet to see how much she cares for him throughout the book, as well as all of her friends.
This book seems to move a little slower, but that is because Naho is making actions that are building up to the future. For example, future Naho tells past Naho to begin making lunches for Kakeru. Of course this was a highly uncomfortable request, but Naho built up the guts to do it. Of course, we don’t see the immediate affect of that action and how it changed the future, but it helped give the book a gradual climax. As you read the book, Naho begins to see how slowly, the events are changing and not sticking to the original letter. This, to me, seemed like a great thing. I felt Naho was making progress, and that by stepping further and further away from the letter, she was getting closer and closer to saving Kakeru from himself. But then I began to realize that there was still no way of telling whether Naho had actually succeeded in saving Kakeru. The book had created its own amazing climax, with a life on the line.
I would recommend it to anyone who is above the age of 10. Though it never goes into to much detail, having the concept of suicide throughout the book tends to darken some thoughts. But it is completely worth it, a very heart touching book.
CCPL Writers' Block 