You swap with parallel versions of yourself on a daily basis, you’d hardly know it. Often to close worlds where everything plays out the same. But the further away, the bigger the differences.
Summary
Both of these books go hand in hand and according to the author can be read in any order. From reading both of them I’d agree with that. Each book explains points from the other better though. If you could read both at the same time, that’d be the way to go xD
To Me The One Who Loved You has a major plot point with one of its characters that ties into the opening of To Every You I’ve Loved Before. While To Every You I’ve Loved Before explains the whole parallel worlds, drifting between them and the IP bands better in my opinion. At the end of the day they are both separate stories, just in the same universe. So take your pick xD
To Me, The One Who Loved You
The story here focuses on two kids, Koyomi Hidaka & Shiori Satō who fall for each other over the course of their early childhood. It turns out Koyomi is able to hop between worlds at will, without the world hopping machine even being powered on. They both want to be together, but there is a complication. Their parents are hoping to marry. Making the lovers step-siblings. They both decide to run away to a parallel world where they can be together. But it goes wrong. The story focuses on one lover trying to save the other throughout their lifetime. It’s a nice love story with a big tragedy, though I felt the character & world-building was a little rougher in this one.
To Every You I’ve Loved Before
This story focuses more on Koyomi Takasaki & Kazune Takigawa. Its another love story. This one focuses more on the parallel world hoping and the world around it. The book introduces the concept of the IP bands better as well as how the science of it develops world wide in the universe of the book. The plot here also asks the question as to whether you could love every version of someone and what you would do for said person. As well as if you’d feel comfortable spending time with a parallel version of your partner. As it technically isn’t them. There a bit of a mystery in this one too which was a nice surprise. Out of the two I preferred this one for sure.
Anime
I found out after reading the books that an anime film has been made for both books as well. I’ll probably watch them one evening at some point. From the trailers while I’ve linked below, it looks perry accurate to the books. So if you’re short on time and want to know the story, these may be a good choice.
Verdict
I’d say these are both decent reads. While parallel worlds are often used as plot points, I feel these books place a good twist on this. Instead of multi-verses or what if’s, it shows more practical scenarios to what life would be like if such a thing existed. A nice change of pace xD
