Pleased to bring you our first full feature article here at Anime Inspirations. Today, we are focusing on quite a sensitive subject I think, and one that I feel very strongly about. Hopefully, through this article others can gain some insight surrounding the nature of long distance relationships.

I'll continue by saying that I will be tying in themes present from the first Kimi no Iru Machi OVA so expect slight spoilers if you haven't already seen this.


In Kimi no Iru Machi, we are given a glimpse of the relationship between Haruto and Eba Yuzuki. A tale of young love so to speak. The manga goes into greater detail than what is shown in the OVA, so be aware of this. In this series of events, Haruto is visiting his girlfriend, Eba, who currently lives in Tokyo. They are in the middle of a long-distance relationship. Despite this, the two try their best to stay in touch and to keep their love strong.

They plan to meet during one of Haruto's school trips, that fortunately brings him to Tokyo where Yuzuki resides. Even though his schedule is tight, they manage to arrange a time to meet, with Haruto promising an important "gift" to her upon their meeting. The blossoming of their relationship came at a rather tragic point, as Eba had to move away just as things got serious between the two. Their love never got the chance to fully mature, but despite this, they promised to hold on strong, regardless of the odds, and to not give up on each other. Even if it was for a short while, they knew that being able to meet would give them much happiness, and restore faith in their love and their relationship.

Now one of the many challenges of a long distance relationship (that I will elaborate on later on) is convincing others of your love. Some people have this firm belief that these types of relationships just don't work. We can hear Rin (offscreen) questioning Yuzuki on why she continued to put up with things. Rin claimed she would only be lonely as a result. Yuzuki, who shown as being rather innocent and soft-spoken, could not say much in defense. Despite the naysayers, she knew who she loved and had the utmost faith in her bond with Haruto.

As the episode progresses, we are given an overview of just how much the two much struggle to make this meeting happen. Things go wrong, Haruto gets distracted, and ultimately their plans get delayed. Through all of this, they knew just how important and meaningful this meeting was, and would go to any length to embrace each other. Unfortunately, nothing seems to go as planned, and to make a long story short, the two do end up meeting, but under much different circumstances. Let's say there was ultimately a roadblock in their relationship (spoilers), but despite this, the two eventually end up reuniting later on, and never gave up hope on their love.

Long distance relationships are never easy. If conditions were favorable, couples would never be forced apart from each other, never be forced to have lonely nights. Unfortunately, this world is cruel, things don't always go our way. This is something I can speak of from personal experience.

It upsets me to think of how ignorant people are when it comes to LDRs (I'll abbreviate it from now on). Often, they are sticking their nose somewhere it just doesn't belong. They claim that LDRs don't work, but what do they know? Have they ever personally been in a long distance relationship? Perhaps their relationship failed and as such they assume every type of similar relationship will fail. That right there is such an ignorant mindset.

I cannot measure (personally) the amount of flak I have received by being committed to a LDR. My parents, friends, everyone I knew pretty much, told me to abandon the one I loved, simply due to the nature of our relationship. How do you defend yourself from that? I couldn't. My only choice was a silent defeat. Don't get me wrong, I did protest in the beginning, I made my voice heard but eventually I just got shot down too many times. Despite the naysayers, I did what I felt in my heart was right, continued to love and have hope in my relationship. I knew she was the one for me.

My personal advice is this: Don't enter into a long distance relationship if you don't have to. That being said, if you are searching for your soul mate, it doesn't hurt to have an open mind. If you shun people just because they live a certain distance away from you, chances are you are missing out. Later on if you find out the person is not what you are looking for, its easier to move on (in my opinion). Things certainly can work if both couples have faith in each other, but again, not all will be successful. The ultimate goal between the two individuals has to be to move in with each other and eventually get married. Now if this is not your goal, I will truly say that you are wasting your time and should get out of the relationship immediately.

There are many risks to a LDR, and it obviously isn't for everyone. If this person is not a potential life-long partner it definitely isn't worth it. Dating individuals from another country is a whole other ordeal in of it self. The identity risks (the person is who they claim they are) financial commitments, and potential scams makes it tricky business. So that is one thing you have to be careful of. Trust is an even greater issue. Therefore, if you are looking for a soul mate, it is your choice whether or not to consider someone from another country. All the same, realize there are scams out there, and if there are financial concerns, just remember that money cannot buy true love.

This is one of many inspirational scenes you can fine here at Anime Inspirations. Anime is a powerful medium, and if we can take something from each viewing experience, be it wisdom knowledge, or motivation for our next endeavor in real life, it makes our time all the more worthwhile.

Check out our full photo gallery below with scenes from this episode. If you haven't seen the Kimi no Iru OVA, please check it out here