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Please No More Itazura na Kiss, I Want To Get Off
I’ve been waiting to rip Itazura na Kiss a new one for ages but several things have come up that makes me want to reconsider:
1) I had my finals when I watched episode 1 (and it successfully messed me up when I went to go perform my final)
2) I was setting up this blog
3) I hear that it is based off an old manga
4) In my “research” I read the manga-ka died before finishing this series.
What do I think now?
1) I was probably stressed out so if a show wasn’t A+ material, I would’ve hated it at the time. So let’s look at this calmly:
Okay so maybe the stupid plot isn’t so stupid after all. Here we have an average girl falling for the cutest looking guy -yawn. I wonder if they’ll get together-. Good start for originality. Well, I wouldn’t actually say “cute“. He has such a huge chin he can battle Jay Leno… but we’ll ignore that. This girl has lost her mother – one sympathy point for her- and she hangs out with a group of awesome friends who stand up for her -good. Teaches you the lessons of friendship-.
Unfortunately Pretty Boy is well aware of his amazing looks and rejects her so badly that it makes Noah‘s rejection of the Unicorn onto his arc seem like nothing at all. But she’s her own woman so she snaps back saying something that can be loosely deciphered as “I wish I had your hot body but I cant so I hate you and wouldn’t like you with you even if you were the last person on earth… okay I would. But arrrgh, my feelings!” THEN as life seemed like it couldn’t get any worse, her house falls down, and she ends up at Pretty Boy’s house through something more than random coincidence and hillarity is sure to ensue, yadda yadda. Good stuff. Hmmm. I’m still not watching more of this. This recap only confirmed it for me. I now have a scapegoat on why I did so poorly on my final.
2) Maybe here, I can shy away from the rage posts and praise the series for how good it is!… Nah. Broke that idea in #1. I’m not really a rageful guy in the first place. What’s happening to me?! DAMN THEE, ITAZURA NA KISS.
3) It started in 1990 so I can ignore the ugly character designs… but for some reason this still looks way better than this… I can at least forgive the story a little bit, too. It was probably SLIGHTLY original way back when… maybe.
4) Awww damn it. Now I feel kinda bad. God rest her soul. I’ll give the manga a try?
So all in all, things dont change that easily. I still love shoujo, but this made me question the fangirl side of me. And yes, I know it’s a bit late for an episode 1 review, but hey. Rage can happen anytime.
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Thursday, May 15th 2008 at 4:54 pm
Dude, I couldn’t even stomach the first episode. More power to you.
Thursday, May 15th 2008 at 5:05 pm
LOL! I never watched the first episode because I couldn’t stand it either, but episode 2 gets better 😀
Thursday, May 15th 2008 at 5:24 pm
You know, this is actually one of the shows I enjoy of the season. Now I’m kinda interested in what you’d think about Special A, seeing your ruthlessness with this rather light shoujo show. :p
Thursday, May 15th 2008 at 5:30 pm
@Scott – It was DAMN hard
@ blissmo – I’ll NEVER watch episode 2.
@ Matte – here you are. Wrote this while I was briefly at Heterochromia: http://chrome.dasaku.net/?p=539
Thursday, May 15th 2008 at 7:16 pm
Ah. ItaKiss manga is one of my big manga faves. (It is one of those series I actually have the complete bunko set) As for the anime, it’s hard to connect since I had big expectations and preconceived notions. Still, it’s decent enough of an adaptation. I’m not a big fan of the character designs of the anime. I prefer the original manga art. Perhaps, the original design is an acquired taste.
As for the narrative itself, ItaKiss develops more than traditional shoujo. It does not end happily-ever-after when high school ends and when the boy and girl falls in love. It goes on til the marriage part. Since I’m extremely biased here, I’d recommend reading the manga instead.
P.S. Yep, Kotoko might be too much to handle at first but like the original design, she’s probably an acquired taste. She grows on you. XD
Thursday, May 15th 2008 at 9:37 pm
@Scott: to be fair though, what shoujo HAVE you been able to stand? I don’t think I’ve ever noticed you writing about a full-out shoujo series at all.
@Os: It also took me a while to actually get around to watching the first episode, personally, so I can’t fault you for disliking the show based on the first episode. But I think that for a shoujo anime series, it’s actually not too bad. I mean, if you think back to the first episodes of fan favorites Marmalade Boy and Hana Yori Dango — weren’t the first couple of eps of those also cringeworthy? (Okay, maybe that’s only my recollection now, so many years from watching it.) But hey, I stuck through it and was pleasantly rewarded with an awesome anime experience.
Friday, May 16th 2008 at 3:26 am
I actually find Itazura na Kiss funnier than Lovely Complex. ^_^;
Friday, May 16th 2008 at 11:10 am
Dude, you are missing episode 2 and Kotoko’s epic revenge of the loli trap picture.
And I agree with Ten, this is a classic shoujo series. Believe it or not it was considered somewhat of a pioneer back in it’s prime. And frankly (sorry, Ten), I would recommend the anime over the manga because I think the artwork is better. I like the story, but I didn’t find the manga attractive at all so it was difficult to read it. At least the anime has cleaned things up.
Sunday, May 18th 2008 at 9:07 am
[rejects her so badly that it makes Noah’s rejection of the Unicorn onto his arc]
Aww cmon, he didn’t mash her confession that badly. Oh wait, maybe he did.
Anyway, I personally like Itazura. It’s the whole old school manga feeling I keep getting from Itazura that makes me wanna watch it even more. Though I’d say its rather cliche, remember this manga was one of the ones that jump-started shoujo manga to the level its reached now. I mean, the mangas nearly as old as I am!
My advice, continue watching it! Embrace the shoujo classics! xD
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