Valentine's Day, Japanese Style, Part 6:

A Tragicomedy of Chocolates and Condoms

By Margaret O'Connell
March 23, 2009

In most shoujo manga Valentine's Day stories, the heroine's efforts to present the guy she likes with a romantic gift of homemade chocolates come to grief either because she's a klutz in the kitchen (Tamako in Pearl Pink) or because she and the guy in question are such long-established bickering partners that it's difficult to even contemplate making the transition to potential boyfriend and girlfriend (Risa and Otani in Love*Com and Momoka and Ryuga in St. Dragon Girl).

Protagonist Karin Karino's situation in Kaho Miyasaka's Kare First Love (Viz) is somewhat more complicated, although it includes such standard February 14th shoujo manga tropes as boy/girl failures to communicate; conflict over which of an array of edible offerings is the most cherished; and a spat on the day itself that leads to a homemade valentine being given to someone other than the intended recipient. In fact, so many different things go wrong in connection with the hearts-and-flowers holiday in this rather soap-operatic manga that most of volume six is devoted to shy, tongue-tied Karin's misfired attempt to subtly give her boyfriend Kiriya the sexual go-ahead along with his Valentine's chocolates, and the extensive repercussions that result from this.

The introverted, bespectacled Karin had deliberately chosen an all-girls high school because she was uncomfortable around boys, only to end up being courted by Kiriya, a handsome student from a neighboring school whom she met on the bus. Kiriya is one of the few guys perceptive enough to develop an interest in Karin despite her original dowdy appearance. (This situation changes dramatically once she gets contact lenses and learns how to use cosmetics.) But he is also far more popular and experienced than Karin, who is new to dating and extremely self-conscious about just about everything involved.

The situation is further complicated by Karin's controlling parents. Karin's mother and father spend most of their own time at work, and can agree on little beyond their mutual desire for her to keep her nose to the academic grindstone 24/7. As a result, Karin assiduously conceals the fact that she now has a boyfriend from them entirely for quite a while.

Although her mother is eventually more or less won over, her father winds up finding out the truth in virtually the worst way possible — by being summoned to a pharmacy to pick up Karin, who is being held there with Kiriya for suspected truancy. Even worse, Karin has a pregnancy test purchased for a sexually active friend in her bag. (No wonder no one ever purchases her own pregnancy test in shoujo manga. Buying one is a virtual guarantee of being caught in the act by the most undesirable witness imaginable, as also happens to Hatsumi in Miki Aihara's Hot Gimmick when she makes a trip to the drugstore on her more popular younger sister's behalf.) Naturally Mr. Karino assumes the worst and forbids Karin to see Kiriya, although he is eventually somewhat mollified by Kiriya's declaration that if the pregnancy test really were for Karin, he would stand by her and take responsibility in the event of a positive result.

Ironically, at this point Karin and Kiriya have yet to do much more than kiss. In fact, Karin's reluctance to go all the way has been an ongoing source of tension between them for months. Even when Karin made up her mind to fulfill everyone else's expectations about what would happen when she and Kiriya went to Okinawa together during summer vacation, she drank so much in an attempt to calm her nerves that she wound up short-circuiting their intended romantic encounter by passing out while her boyfriend was still in the shower.

Unbeknownst to Karin, her mother subsequently approached Kiriya, ruling out any further overnight excursions and asking him to promise to "keep everything safe while you're still in high school." As a result, Kiriya backs off sexually without telling Karin why, leaving her more confused and conflicted than ever.

As February begins, Karin half-heartedly accompanies her more sophisticated friend Nanri (the one who needed the pregnancy test) shopping for Valentine's candy. Surrounded by the elaborate department store Valentine's chocolates display, Karin finally confides the mixed-signals problem she's been having with Kiriya, fretting, "Maybe I made him wait too long ...? Lately he hasn't seemed that interested .... I want to talk to him about it, but I get embarrassed. Is there a good way to bring it up?"

The experienced Nanri, whose recently-ended previous relationship had been with a businessman at least ten years her senior, bluntly proposes that Karin eliminate whatever doubts Kiriya may still have about whether or not she's ready by giving him a sex toy. "Whoa. I'm still a beginner, you know," her embarrassed friend replies, staring down at the floor.

At this point the two girls' spiteful classmate Yuka barges into the Valentine's boutique, sticking her head between them to sneer, "Heeey! Moderately priced chocolates ... you're all kinds o' cheap." Cradling an armful of packages of Valentine's candy, the pushy self-styled femme fatale remarks airily, "I have so many guys to buy for that I probably should go economy, but I just can't make myself do it. It must be so much easier when you only have one ...."

Fortunately, Yuka's bragging about her evident intention of using giri (obligation) chocolates to flirt with every guy she knows is cut short by her collision with a middle-aged woman clutching a Chanel bag and a chihuahua. In the process, Yuka knocks over most of the display of Valentine's candy, earning dirty looks and comments like "Young girls today! They don't pay attention to anyone but themselves!" from annoyed onlookers.

With this comedic scene concluded, Karin reluctantly complies with Nanri's suggestion that she get a male perspective on her situation by consulting with two of Kiriya's friends. Her boyfriend's brash, insensitive buddy Tohru's initial response to her awkward plea for advice is an impatient, "How long have you guys been together now? I mean, what's with the innocent act? We all know you're doing it." After confessing the couple's previous failed attempts at consummation, the distraught girl explains,

... I love Kiriya ... I want my first time to be with him... And lately I feel like maybe I'm ready — but I can't even kiss him first! I get so nervous — and then I'm ashamed of myself for feeling nervous. So I try to be more forward, but then he thinks I'm doing something that I don't want to do. I-I don't know what to do ....

Now taking the situation more seriously, the ever-crass Tohru suggests,"Why don't you slip a condom in with his [Valentine's] chocolate? .... It might not be the classiest move, but at least he'll know how you feel. And anyway, no guy's gonna get upset 'cuz his girl wants to do it with him."

Karin is speechless, but Nanri responds, "A rubber with his chocolates? That's not bad. More subtle than a dildo." With the proposal thus seconded, Karin smiles with relief and decides, "Thanks, Tohru. I'll do it."

But even after Karin has braved the scorn of a sneering pharmacy clerk to purchase the condoms in question, then narrowly prevented her older sister from spotting them as she's attempting to wrap them up with the successfully prepared homemade chocolates, numerous other obstacles materialize to hamper her and Kiriya's Valentine's Day happiness. First and foremost of these is Shinji Takagi, an arrogant photographer who had been aspiring photographer Kiriya's late older brother Yuji's professional and romantic rival.

When Yuji's widow Shoko introduces Karin and Kiriya to Takagi so the boy can get some pointers on photographic techniques, Takagi takes a fancy to Karin and infuriates Kiriya by flirting with her. Karin, who can't catch a break to save her life, manages to lose one of the earrings that Kiriya had just given her at the photo shoot Takagi had been allowing them to observe. The photographer finds it, but instead of returning it to its owner, as Karin and Kiriya are leaving he slips her his card, with the message, "I have your earring. Come get it whenever you want," scribbled on it.

Naturally when Karin calls Takagi in the hope of retrieving her cherished earring before Kiriya notices its absence, Takagi claims that he's so busy that Karin will have to come to his studio to pick it up late on the afternoon of the 14th. Desperate to get the earring back before her scheduled Valentine's evening date with Kiriya, Karin agrees. Unfortunately, Takagi's evil genius leads him to call Karin back mere moments after Kiriya has borrowed her cell phone. When Kiriya spots the photographer's name on the cell's caller ID and picks up, Takagi is tantalizingly vague about his reason for calling Karin, even going so far as to derisively accuse Kiriya of screening his girlfriend's calls. Kiriya hands the phone back to Karin grumbling that "You had a crank call," but is too afraid of looking like a possessive jerk and starting a fight to ask what business Takagi has with her.

When Karin goes to Takagi's studio in search of the earring, he refuses to return it to her unless she allows him to film her playing the deluxe piano left over from an earlier photo shoot, despite her insistence that "I don't want anyone to take my picture but Kiriya." Although Takagi does nothing worse than take photographs of Karin playing Chopin in her school uniform, he winds up making her noticeably late for her 6 PM Valentine's date.

Kiriya, who had been impatiently waiting for his girlfriend at his apartment while sampling the chocolates he'd been given by female customers at the cafe where he works part-time, steps out onto his balcony just in time to see Takagi dropping off Karin in his car, flirtatiously grabbing her wrist and telling her "Next time you have to call me Shinji" when she tries to insist that her impromptu "modeling" at the piano was a one-time thing. When Karin obliviously arrives upstairs, Kiriya embraces her possessively, then ominously inquires, "Anything you want to tell me? Like why you're late?"

Flustered and fearing that Kiriya has somehow found out about the missing earring, Karin unconvincingly stammers that she had to meet somebody. Kiriya, who knows perfectly well who that somebody was, not so subtly begins attempting to mark his territory by putting his hand up Karin's skirt, then under her uniform blouse, while pushing her down to the floor. Panicking at the prospect of unromantically skipping right over the presentation of the chocolates and condoms to the intended result, Karin grabs the boxes containing Kiriya's Valentine's gifts and shoves them in his face, blurting, "Eat this! I mean ... open it!"

This attempted distraction actually works for a minute. Kiriya opens the heart-shaped box filled with the homemade chocolates he'd made a point of requesting and is momentarily touched by the delicious appearance of the lovingly-prepared results, exclaiming, "Wow, they look great!" Then he remembers that he's supposed to be mad at his girlfriend and, frowning, demands, "I want to eat them out of your mouth." "Huh? Uh, what?" Karin responds, nervously backing away. "I'm gonna be selfish today!" Kiriya persists, poking at her with the opened candy box.

"I didn't know he'd be like this," Karin thinks, obviously beginning to regret her plan to give Kiriya the sexual all-clear signal with a gift of condoms — which he still hasn't spotted. "If I don't do it, will that start a fight ...?" Finally deciding to comply with her boyfriend's demand, Karin takes a piece of the candy in her mouth and tilts her face upward expectantly. Then she notices a chocolate stain at the corner of Kiriya's lips from the customers' Valentine's gifts he'd been sampling before she arrived.

"There's chocolate on your mouth!" Karin cries indignantly — and indistinctly — through the piece of candy still in her own mouth, jabbing an accusing finger at the telltale stain. "Who else gave you chocolate?"

"Come on, it's not a big deal," Kiriya protests sheepishly, red-faced with shame.

"You ate theirs before you ate mine?!" Karin continues, gathering steam. Just then, she spots the half-dozen boxes of chocolates from customers sticking out from under the quilt where Kiriya had tried to conceal them after his ill-timed taste test. Flinging back the coverlet, Karin surveys her mercurial boyfriend's haul of chocolates from other women and remarks deceptively calmly, "You're pretty popular ...."

"I was a little surprised myself," the wayward Kiriya replies faux-modestly, with a self-deprecating smile.

Karin's aura darkens. "What?! Oh, please! .... What conceit! ... is what I'd really like to say," she thinks. Aloud, she only comments, with an ominously sickly smile, "Well, you know what they say ... better to have a popular boyfriend than one who's not ...."

"So you're not mad?" Kiriya asks, grabbing both her hands anxiously. "Not at all," Karin replies insincerely, averting her eyes.

"Don't worry about the chocolate, okay?" Kiriya murmurs into her ear, obviously under the impression that everything is all right again. "I'll eat yours, too."

This sets Karin off again. "'Yours, too?'" she thinks furiously. "That's not the point! You were hiding it because you felt guilty!" Whirling around and pinching Kiriya's cheeks, she exclaims, "Don't touch me." "I get it now!" Karin's internal monologue continues. "He came on strong to cover his guilt!"

"What?! Are you seriously pissed off over a few chocolates?" Kiriya demands incredulously. "Oh, no! This is gonna turn into a fight ...! It already has ...!" Karin thinks despairingly. Meanwhile, visions of Takagi laughing at him dance in the self-righteously indignant Kiriya's head.

Resigning herself to the wreck of her Valentine's hopes, Karin pauses for a long moment, eyes closed, then announces, "Anyway, I'm taking mine back." "What?!" Kiriya exclaims, continuing mentally, "Are you gonna give them to Shinji?" "Don't put my chocolate in the same category as those other girls'!" Karin thinks, clutching the reclaimed chocolates and glancing back over her shoulder at Kiriya, eyes bright with hurt and anger. Then she slams out the door and leaves.

Next week: Part Seven!