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Second-year student Naho Takamiya and her friends use letters from their regretful selves ten years in the future to try to save Kakeru Naruse. The letters do not erase the future that sent them; they create a new parallel branch in which Kakeru may survive.
- Genre:
- 青春 / 恋愛 / 友情 / SF / ドラマ
- Medium:
- Manga / Anime / Film
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orange — Timeline12 events
Kakeru's mother dies on his transfer day, and he blames himself
Kakeru Naruse moves to Matsumoto with his mother and transfers on the first day of the second school year. While he returns late after joining his new friends, his mother dies by suicide, and he privately blames his broken promise for her death.
Vol.TVアニメ第12話 LETTER12Ch. — Official TV episode 12 synopsis and its flashback; this is a shared starting point in both the sender and rescue timelines. ↗
Kakeru ends his life under the appearance of an accident
Burdened by guilt over his mother and increasingly isolated, Kakeru cannot ask for help after a New Year's Eve conflict with Naho. The day after Valentine's Day, he moves into the path of a vehicle and dies in what appears to be an accident.
Vol.TVアニメ第13話／映画 orange -未来- LAST LETTER／映画本編Ch. — Official TV episode 13 and movie story, combining the death with the later discovery that it was suicide. ↗
At twenty-six, the friends send their regrets to the past
At twenty-six, Suwa, Naho, Takako, Hagita, and Azusa visit Mount Kobo without Kakeru. Suwa, now married to Naho and raising their child, also carries regret, and the friends send letters recording events and their true feelings to their sixteen-year-old selves.
Vol.映画 orange -未来- 映画本編・26歳の春Ch. — Official movie story; the letters are sent to create another possibility rather than erase the senders' lives. ↗
Naho receives a letter from ten years in the future
On the first day of her second school year, Naho receives a letter from herself ten years ahead describing future events and regrets. When Kakeru transfers exactly as predicted, she begins trusting the letter and changing her actions to keep him alive.
Vol.TVアニメ第1話 LETTER01Ch. — Official TV episode 1 synopsis. Parallel World B is this timeline's label for the rescue branch distinct from the sender timeline. ↗
Naho's actions begin changing Kakeru's school life from the sender timeline
Naho overcomes the regret described in the letter and makes lunch for Kakeru. Differences emerge when he joins the soccer club, unlike in the sender timeline, showing her that events are branching toward another future.
Vol.TVアニメ第2〜3話 LETTER02〜03Ch. — Official TV episode 2–3 synopses; spring is estimated from continuity with episode 1. ↗
Naho and Kakeru watch the school-festival fireworks together
After Kakeru's relationship with Ueda leaves Naho unable to speak with him, the letter pushes her to reconnect. At the school festival she overcomes interference and reaches him, realizing the private fireworks moment that never occurred in the sender timeline.
Vol.TVアニメ第4〜6話 LETTER06Ch. — Official TV episode 4–6 synopses. ↗
In the rescue timeline, all six friends celebrate Kakeru's birthday
In the sender timeline, the friends at twenty-six gather at Kakeru's grandmother's home to honor a promise to him. In the rescue timeline, their teenage selves learn what he wants and celebrate with Kakeru alive among them.
Vol.TVアニメ第7話 LETTER07Ch. — Official TV episode 7 synopsis, which explicitly contrasts the same birthday in the two timelines. ↗
All five friends share their future letters and support Kakeru
Suwa and the others reveal to Naho that they too received letters from their future selves. Rather than reproduce every instruction mechanically, the five resolve to judge the Kakeru before them and save him together.
Vol.TVアニメ第8〜9話／映画 orange -未来- LETTER08〜09Ch. — Official TV episode 8–9 synopses and the movie story; placement before the sports festival is estimated from episode order. ↗
Kakeru tells his friends about his guilt over his mother
When Kakeru injures his foot at the sports festival, Suwa and the others refuse to leave him alone and encourage him to speak honestly. He reveals his guilt over breaking his promise to his mother, and the five accept his pain before completing the relay with him.
Vol.TVアニメ第10話 LETTER10Ch. — Official TV episode 10 synopsis. ↗
The friends keep Kakeru from becoming isolated after his conflict with Naho
On the New Year's Eve that became a decisive regret in the sender timeline, Naho and Kakeru clash again. Knowing the future, Naho refuses to abandon their relationship, while Suwa and the others watch over Kakeru and work to prevent the same isolation from continuing.
Vol.TVアニメ第11話 LETTER11Ch. — Official TV episode 11 synopsis. ↗
The five save Kakeru from the crash and hear his wish to live
Naho conveys her feelings to Kakeru on Valentine's Day, and the five prepare for the final day named in their letters. They search for him, prevent the road collision, and share the message left on his mother's phone. Kakeru tells them he wants to live.
Vol.TVアニメ第13話 LAST LETTERCh. — Official TV episode 13 synopsis and the rescue sequence in the finale. ↗
Kakeru builds a family with Naho in the world where he lives
The rescue world created through the letters does not overwrite the sender world; the two futures continue in parallel. In the branch where Kakeru survives, he marries Naho and they have a child, while Suwa carries forward his choice to support them.
Vol.映画 orange -未来- 映画本編・新しい未来Ch. — The movie's official description of the untold aftermath and new future, plus its rescue-timeline epilogue. Because positioning the causal relationship between the two worlds involves interpretation, dateReliability is marked interpretation. ↗
Related timelines
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