Yesterday wo Utatte | Character analysis

Yesterday wo Utatte or Sing “Yesterday” for Me is a slice of life — seinen, which differs from other animes of the season by its complex characters but with common problems, making the viewer relate to the characters easily.

Yesterday is able to show how mundane lives have special parts that normally do not receive attention, such as deep feelings hiding behind trivial attitudes, the subtle value of everyday life.

Author Kei Toume started “Yesterday wo Utatte” inspired by the eponymous song by the band RC Succession (the song was used as the 3rd ED in the anime), which is inspired by the song Yesterday by The Beatles and to better understand this work and analysis, I strongly recommend listening to them before reading.

The four main characters of the story presented here are: Rikuo Uozumi, Haru Nonaka, Shinako Morinome and Rou Hayakawa.

The following text is based on the beginning of the work and presents some spoilers

Rikuo Uozumi

Uozumi finished college 6 months ago, was aiming to confess his feelings to his friend Shinako on graduation day, but did not.

With no clear goal in mind and feeling lost he started working in a convenience store, where he met a strange girl named Haru, who would always visit him at work, despite feeling uncomfortable about it, always finds himself thinking about her.

However, Rikuo meets up with Shinako in Tokyo and ends up declaring himself and being rejected, and despite all the disappointment and sadness he finds a hobby in photography, but always unsure of taking a step forward.

Haru Nonaka

Nonaka dropped out of high school because her school did not approve of her work at the “Milk Hall” cafe because the place sold alcoholic beverages during the night. Despite being a lively and positive girl, she has her moments of sadness, but always with consistent reasons.

Haru has feelings for Rikuo and says that she met him 5 years ago, but at first he doesn’t remember her because of her big change in appearance, before a girl in uniform and hair up and now an extravagant and sincere person who has a crow called Kansuke as a pet.

Having dropped out of high school, she tries to avoid Shinako, who was her former teacher, but after learning that Rikuo likes Shinako, Haru confronts her and declares war saying she will not lose to the old sensei.

Shinako Morinome

Morinome is depressed because her teenage boyfriend passed away due to illness, which made her leave her hometown in Kanazawa and go to Tokyo, but in Tokyo live her late boyfriend’s father and younger brother, and she visits them frequently, which makes her have a hole in her heart, always carrying the death of her beloved in her chest.

In addition to the fact that the younger brother of her late love, Rou, romantically invests in her, leaving her with a sense of guilt for causing this type of behavior in someone she considers a brother.

For these reasons Shinako is unable to close the doors of her past or open new ones for the future, not knowing how to respond to Rikuo’s feelings and even with her former student Haru declaring war on her for Rikuo, her conversations together always put her feet on the ground, inspiring her to move on.

Rou Hayakawa

Hayakawa is a high school student and the younger brother of Shinako’s late boyfriend. He liked to draw, but after the death of his older brother he stopped, returning only years later.

He has unrequited feelings for Shinako, feels that he needs to give the support that the older brother could not, forcing himself to mature faster so that Shinako considers him a man, but continues to act like a spoiled child, seeing Rikuo as a rival.

Concept map showing the relationships between the characters

Yesterday wo Utatte is an anime adaptation of the studio Doga Kobo that consists of 12 episodes and 6 specials, premiered in April 2020 and was based on the manga by writer and illustrator Kei Toume, published between December 1997 and June 2015 by Shueisha on Business Jump (1997–2011) and Grand Jump (2011–2015) magazines with 11 volumes.

“Living is 49% about the past and 51% about the future”