Orange (TAKANO Ichigo)

Description

From Seven Seas:
On the day that Naho begins 11th grade, she receives a letter from herself ten years in the future. At first, she writes it off as a prank, but as the letter’s predictions come true one by one Naho realizes that the letter might be the real deal. Her future self tells Naho that a new transfer student, a boy named Kakeru, will soon join her class. The letter begs Naho to watch over him, saying that only Naho can save Kakeru from a terrible future. Who is this mystery boy, and can Naho save him from his destiny?

A short series Haruiro Astronaut added to its volumes.

Web Action releases

Official English Translation

Note: Nominated for the 20th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2016 and the Eisner Awards in the Best Graphic Album - Reprint category in 2024.

Type

Manga

Related Series

Orange: Future (Sequel)

Orange x Dreamin' Sun (Side Story)

Associated Names

orange - Lá thư từ tương lai

Orenji (TAKANO Ichigo)

portakal

Апельсин

Орендж

オレンジ (高野苺)

Groups Scanlating

Latest Release(s)

c.22 by Crunchyroll 10 years ago

c.21 by Crunchyroll 10 years ago

c.20 by Crunchyroll 10 years ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

5 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1

Ends at Vol 5, Chap 22

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

10 topics, 60 posts

Click here to view the forum

User Rating

Average: 8.7 / 10.0 (1318 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.65 / 10.0

42%

22%

18%

Last Updated

April 10th, 2025 6:13pm PDT - 2 weeks ago

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Genre

Drama Mystery Romance School Life Seinen Shoujo Slice of Life Supernatural
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Liu Yao: The Revitalization of Fuyao Sect (Novel)

Bokura ga Ita

Become a Girl at Night

Usagi Yojimbo

Two Names of Night

Recommendations

Taiyou no Ie

Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Futabasha (2014)

Shueisha (2012)

Serialized In (magazine)

Bessatsu Margaret (Shueisha)

Gekkan Action (Futabasha)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Crunchyroll (5 Vols - Complete; digital)

Seven Seas (2 Omnibuses - Complete; print | 7 Vols - Complete; digital)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #747

(-4)

Monthly Pos #1298

(-372)

3 Month Pos #2409

(-128)

6 Month Pos #3072

(-135)

Year Pos #3521

(+112)

List Stats

On 2364 reading lists

On 1548 wish lists

On 1944 completed lists

On 98 unfinished lists

On 735 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

Your favorite couple in Orange

6 months ago

Ichigo Takano's Orange Manga Gets Spinoff

8 years ago

Orange Gets Anime Sequel Film Written by Creator

9 years ago

Orange (TAKANO Ichigo) Gets TV Anime This Summer

9 years ago

Orange Will End in August

10 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

An abysmal portrayal of mental health

by Zazie122
2 months ago

Rating: 1.0 / 10.0

I do not understand the love for this series. The female lead is dense to the point of it being extremely frustrating, but more importantly:

It sends the honestly harmful message of saying that if your friend kills themselves, it means you didn't do enough to help them and it's your fault.

Never mind the fact that he had other shit going on in his life and he barely knew these people. He'd known them for what, a month or two? They weren't even that close.

The series also seems to think that major depression (to the point that the character considered suicide!) can be cured by, y'know, having friends. That's absolutely not how that works at all.

Also, I don't know how anyone can take the "letters from the future" thing seriously, especially when it's revealed how they were sent.

I'm sure the author had their heart in the right place and I don't want to assume they're a terrible person but the implications of what this series says are, quite frankly, disgusting.

... Last updated 2 months ago

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Rating 1 because I think its current 8.7 is too high

by modnar
6 months ago

Rating: 1.0 / 10.0

Haven't read volume 7, but I didn't really like this manga's end. But perhaps I was expecting too much. The sense that in the end the "going back in time" is just their imagination sort of kills the point of the whole thing too. Plus the empty/shallow romance that keeps switching hands like a bag of potatoes. I just found it highly unsatisfying. It's more like "reverse harem" so I guess that's recommended for girls. But not a "genuine love story", though that probably cant be found anywhere. Part of my personal thoughs/opinion in this very moment.

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Great!

by hinaru77
8 months ago

Rating: N/A

Love this story love the manga,

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Orange

by [deleted member]
5 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

Story: 6/10
Art: 7/10
Characters: 5/10
Quality Polish Edition: 8/10
Enjoyment: 6/10
Overall: 6.4/10

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Suwa is the greatest friend of all time. Personally for me, just misses getting into my circle of favorites. YMMV, generally highly recommended.

by roastedpekingduck
5 years ago

Rating: 8.5 / 10.0

This is a quality manga; this is one that has a good probability of tugging at your heartstrings.

This really deserves a longer review. I'm at a stage of my life in which I can no longer really spend the time on on a detailed breakdown. Fortunately, lots of longer reviews here. I figured I would just do some part to contribute some more words on MU. MU never die! Manga reviews are spread thin now across here, AniList, MyAnimeList, Good Reads, etc., but MU 100% is still the best database for manga.

Alright, I suppose I should move onto my brief thoughts about Orange.

What I did not like:

-The series really did not need an expository explanation for its time travel mechanism. Time travel always gets much lamer when talk of parallel universes, paradoxes, and physics gets more than a brief mention. The ultimate explanation for how the group achieves their time travel in

guessing correctly that there was a black hole in the Bermuda triangle was so hokey that it momentarily jarred me out of a really moving part of the story. If you are working on a time travel story in which the science of the time travel is not directly related to the plot, please, your characters don't need to actually cite physics technobabble. They can just be confused and accept that miracles are happening. (Also, see Netflix's Dark for another example of poorly handled time travel exposition that distracts and weighs down the story with nonsense.)

-Kakeru and Naho could have used a few more character quirks. The series could have also fleshed out Ueda a little bit more. It seemed like she was also in a bad mental place.

What I did like:

+Sadness, ruminating regret, and familial depression are fortunately handled in a much more sensitive and measured manner than the time travel mechanism, which is obviously much better than if vice versa were the case. This series will stick with me because of how grounded and sensible Kakeru's struggle with his mental health felt. It felt so real that Kakeru kept having setbacks, that his friends had to strive so fervently for Kakeru to be able to realize small improvements. It also felt much more lifelike that the series did not culminate with Kakeru being ultimately cured. Yes, the group is able to change the future and

Kakeru opts to not throw himself in front of a vehicle at that particular moment in time, but it is clear that Kakeru's struggle has not neatly come to an end. He is dealing with an affliction that will likely crop up in episodes throughout the rest of his life .

+Especially in the last volume, I think the series beautifully delivers the wisdom that we will always have regrets and demons to work through. And ultimately, who is to say that one future is better than the other?

It was profoundly sad in the panels close to the end where the friends ask Suwa whether he is okay with a future in which he does not marry Naho and have a child with her; Ichigo Takano drew a memorable expression for Suwa that exuded wistfulness and uncertainty.

Will read Orange Future soon to see if it provides a nice coda. For the time being, I will wrap up by saying that Orange concluded with a feel-good warmth that felt earned through the hard work of friendship and love. It was not saccharine. The pacing was well done and the characters had believable arcs. This is a rewarding, life-affirming work.

Love and cherish your friends, people.

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Worth reading...though keep a box of tissues handy

by LingFei
7 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

This is a wonderful manga! I don't want to repeat what most people have mentioned before so I'll keep my review short and simple
Pros:

This is how you do emotional school-life manga right (no insta smut here....in fact no smut!)
Shows solid friendship, the kind you reminiscence of your school days
Does approach the topic of suicide from a different angle- mainly how OTHERS deal with a loved ones suicide (Although i respectfully disagree with another reviewers comment that this manga did the theme of depression right...my take is that the depression was not the main issue here- it was the unexpected death of a loved one; the "how could we-the closest to him- could have missed the signs of depression and suicidal tendencies)
Best character- Suwa!

Cons:

The explanation to the time traveling was confusing as if the author wanted to make it sound very scientific.
Nao- I get that there are people who are naive and shy etc etc but the number of times she almost asked Kakeru what was troubling him- but didn't ask in the end; as well as her "he loves me-he loves me not" was very irritating -_-
Poor Suwa!
While the author makes the Nao x Kakeru pairing seem like they were meant for each other, I couldn't help feeling sorry for Suwa in the real world. It's one thing to love a girl in school, only to have a friend take her away, but for the adult suwa, I'm not sure if Nao did finally come to love him because I found their marriage just plain convenient. In the whole series, there is only one time the author addresses it and Nao lamely says, "thats not it, I was very happy when you confessed to me" 0_o Ummmmm not enough....
Anyway on the whole- a manga worth reading!

Edit: Apparently Orange:Future will show Nao and Suwa in college and how they fall in love as well as some chapters from Suwa's point of view....

... Last updated 7 years ago

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Great read

by nonightshades
8 years ago

Rating: 8.5 / 10.0

I tend to stay away form shoujo, but this one was actually really good. I know that there are some readers who thought that the female protagonist was a typical shoujo type, but she's not. There are many people on this earth who are just as shy and passive as this person is, and she's not annoying like most shoujo characters. Her worries and doubts are not shallow as they are dealing with a SERIOUS issue. Who wouldn't be stressed knowing that

the choices you make will be instrumental in someone's death at 16-years-old? o__O?? One thing that bothers me though is that the artist made it pretty clear that if Kakeru had not committed suicide, Naho probably would have never married Suwa. I don't know...for as great a person (awesome, really) that Suwa was, it just seems like Naho settled. The love of her young life was gone forever, and Suwa, who loved her and whole-heartedly treasured her, was right there waiting for her through all of her grief. I don't doubt that she loved Suwa, but it just didn't feel...unconditional on her side? It felt more...safe and familiar. While moving on with one's life is not a bad thing, I just kind of hate that a great person like Suwa most likely never fully received Naho's heart. I know that some might say, "Well, she might have chosen him in the end," and that might be true had Kakeru not died. But he did, and in such a tragic way, so the impact of his death, and then the true nature of his death revealed to his close friends years later only served to further impact Naho's feelings and inflict further damage on everyone's fragile resolve. I felt bad for everyone, really, and I didn't dislike anyone because of their circumstances. Life happens.

This series did a pretty good job of shedding light on parallel worlds. What I gathered from this series is that the letters didn't so much as travel back in time as they did travel to a parallel universe? Kind of like the concept of "In reality one, person-A narrowly escaped being hit by a car at a crosswalk; but in a parallel universe, person-A made one wrong move and was killed instantly by a speeding car." So while the manner in which the author attempted to describe the "time travel" phenomenon was pretty lacking, the concept was not a new one and basically very understandable--I'll take that. The boundary between two parallel universes breached due to the strong feeling of love, heartbreak, longing, and regret of others--that's basically what I gathered. Could be wrong, but more or less makes sense to me. So this series' execution was quite marvelously done. It was far from perfect, but definitely not your run-of-the-mill shoujo, which I GREATLY appreciated. Also, the manner in which the author attempted to approach the subjects of depression and suicide and how it effects the person suffering, as well as their loved ones, was touching and very well done. The characters were all likeable, pretty realistic, and the overall pacing was good. Again, there were several areas that could use some improvement, but this series is a great read overall.

My main gripe about this series is that the ending felt rushed. It could have made much more of an impact and could have been quite profound with a little more input. :/

P.S. For the record, if the above comment was in response to what I said, I just like to point out that I said that Orange's take on depression was done "well", not "right." Depression is not the main theme of Orange (though it is a very important factor of the series), because the entire series revolves around the effects of Kakeru's suicide on those who loved him in one reality, and the effects of Kakeru's feelings of hopelessness and impending suicide on the people around him in the other reality. So, I definitely agree with you on that. No shade, just clarification

... Last updated 6 years ago

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Beautiful Message

by NoOneSpecial75
8 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

This series has really solid art and a great message about the value of life. Sure, it can get a little preachy, and when taken too far the message can be a little counterproductive (yes, absolutely love people and help them, but in the end if they still make bad choices that's on them...) But I think this series gets things just right. I was really on the edge of my seat during the "exciting conclusion" and when things do get resolved it's very fulfilling. I understand there's an anime, movie, and all kinds of spin-offs. I haven't looked into any of those, so this review is just for the manga. I probably won't look into the spin-offs either, since this story is nice and concise on its own and I think extra material would make it too complicated...

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Legendary

by kyeoptae
8 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

A friend had actually recommended me to read this manga and knowing myself, I ABSOLUTELY HATE reading tragedy because I know how extremely depressed I get afterwards. There's no doubt that I'll go through that feeling once again now that I've just finished reading this series.

I don't know how much I teared up even after just the first chapter. I still teared up til the very last chapter and I can assure you that reading this will definitely give you a better outlook on life. You won't regret it (reference from the manga, so please read it to find out what I'm talking about!)

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Extremely emotional

by Ariaofthesong
9 years ago

Rating: N/A

I was hesitant to read this because I knew it was probably going to make me sad. While it may seem fluffy it's definitely not.

I seriously cried. Maybe it's because I'm alot like both Naho and Kakeru, but I felt this pit of sadness in my stomach. I lost someone I loved deeply to death in the same way as the characters do. I have these deep regrets and often I wished that I could change the past.

This manga really gets it right. I promise if you read it you will cry.

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