[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Itazura na Kiss 2-6: the tenacious Kotoko and the tsun-tsun Naoki
I’ve been trying to come up with a reason for finding this show so addictive - is it because Kotoko shares the same VA talent as two of my other favourite female leads, Darker than Black’s Kirihara and Tokyo Marble Chocolate’s Chizuru? Possibly. In all honesty though, everything about Kotoko’s character is funny and engaging - her good-natured persistence is simultaneously foolish in the extreme or thoroughly deserving of respect, depending on your point of view on such things. Personally I have to concede that she’s doing really well in the face of adversity, not to mention a guy who doesn’t deserve her devotion or admiration.
It’s like Gainax, without the bounce
Swap the genders round and you have not a shoujo romcom but a shounen romcom sans the fanservice - imagine Kotoko as a clumsy guy who does badly at school and Naoki as an attractive but cold-hearted female genius…and congratulate yourself on thinking along the same lines as Ken Akamatsu. I mean, from that standpoint Itazura na Kiss is a bathing scene away from being Love Hina; it’s still superficially a stablemate to Kare Kano because of the setting and vintage, but the latter has much more drama and angst. Maybe this sort of series was popular back in the mid-90s because I’m loving InK for that old-school aesthetic that KK shares.
Anyhow, InK has the promise of a long-running storyline, in the sense that it plays out over a number of years, rather than in the sense that it’s meandering and fillerish. Actually, I was expecting the story to stall for time more than this given the episode count but it’s moving things along briskly, covering successive milestones in the protagonists’ lives; we’re quarter of the way through and they’re already doing their college exams!
The thing that makes me realise how this show could actually *go somwhere* from a narrative point of view is that Naoki isn’t 100% arsehole. There is a ‘nice guy’ buried in there behind the glacial facade, slipping through when he helps class F with their studying; that sort of incident is what makes me think that Kotoko isn’t fighting for a lost cause after all. Getting back to the Reverse Love Hina idea earlier, Naoki’s character is essentially a male tsundere…the potential consquences of which promise great things indeed.
Early signs of the dere-dere breakdown, boy style
The scene that shook me out of the opinion that this is going to be frivolous comedy and shallow characters goofing off happened in episode #5. Kotoko and Naoki have a proper conversation in the garden during which she comes up with some quite profound ideas of why higher eduction really is important: she’s unsurprisingly uncertain as to what she will do for the rest of her life but understands that college is a good opportunity to learn about what you yourself want in the long run. I don’t think she’s as stupid as initial impressions suggested: her view seems to be “I know I’m not that bright and I know I’m unsure of what to do with my life.” Knowing that you don’t know is an important step I think.
Naoki in contrast is supposed to be sharper than this but is content with breezing through school without thinking about what his long term plans are. Despite being the brighter of the two I think Naoki is less switched-on because Kotoko has a better grasp of the bigger picture; there’s evidently been more going through her mind than winning his heart! What with it being a series intended for a female audience I don’t know how much insight into what he’s thinking will come through in future episodes but these instalments took some meaningful looks into the protagonists’ heads and in doing so said more about what sort of people they are.
Mother knows best: I have a feeling that her idea is of great importance
All in all there’s a two-fold appeal that InK holds for me: firstly it has the underdog character in the form of Kotoko, who elicits more of a reaction from me because someone who tries and fails is more worthy of admiration than someone who succeeds without trying. Secondly it has a tsundere character; okay, so the tsundere is a guy rather than a cute female but you can’t have everything.
It’s win-win whichever way you look at it though.
Posted on May 24th, 2008 @ 2:28 pm
Wow, I found this so surprising that anyone would like this show. When my crew and I got together this show ranked dead last for “episode ones” this season.
I’m not some action-only retard that thinks Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist is the end-all and be-all. I’ve watched, enjoyed, and perfer to enjoy the more dramatic things like Hanbun no Tsuki, Asatte to Houkou, and even Kare Kano.
In the first episode she was stepped on emotionally so very completly SEVERAL TIMES that I found myself not respecting her as a character or a person for not getting the hint when it’s been put up in neon letters: THIS GUY IS AN ASS.
The house falls down, excellent bit of drama and comedy, but the next day he tosses her change to compound (a) his image as a jackass (b) her already strained life.
Then she meets the little brother, both of whom insult her within five minutes of entering this house which is supposed to be a refuge for her. The last scene, where it fades to black as the two brothers close the door with an evil smile on their face left me wondering if she’d survive the night, or at least escape without being beaten or raped.
In short, they spent entirely too much effort developing the older brother’s cold “I’m so awesome I don’t need anyone” image that if left me totally hating him. Also, because she was given SEVERAL reasons to leave him in the past and NO reason to even hold the elevator door for him, I have no respect for either as characters or people, and that speaks poorly to the writers in my book.
“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” And she is such a doormat her middle name should be “Welcome”.
Email me back if you care to continue the discussion, I enjoy a good intelligent debate about the deconstruction of anime plots and characters.
Posted on May 24th, 2008 @ 3:22 pm
For me, the appeal comes from two sources, the characters and the plot (which is character development primarily).
As you say Kotoko is the lovable underdog but you needn’t go to length as great as genderbending the cast to illustrate this. Merely, describe Kotoko is the ordinary girl, or Cinderella chasing her prince of amazing riches and coolness. That would be solely interesting even if we didn’t have the batty mum and others providing the luls.
It’s a heart-warming setting, but avoids becoming mediocre or predictable trap because the character development is so good. The plot is perhaps a little understated, or rather the pace of it. It’s 8 episodes in and they’ve already graduated high school. You can visibly tell Naoki’s character change little-by-little as the story progresses.
Posted on May 25th, 2008 @ 9:48 pm
I’ve got to admit, I think the writers have hugely overdone Naoki’s nasty streak in this show - I was willing to buy the aloof guy with a soft centre concept for a while, but over the course of the series so far he’s gone beyond that to the point where I hate him only marginally less than Code Geass’ Suzaku, and that really isn’t a place you want to be as the male lead in a romantic comedy. This guy has publicly humiliated her, upset her numerous times, pretended that he was going to rape her for a brief second (which pretty much finished my chances of crediting him with much in the way of likeability), and… well, you haven’t covered episode seven here, so I’ll shut up. :p
However, I will concede that Kotoko’s character is a redeeming shining light for the series over the arsehole she’s in love with, and her immensely annoying and grating friends. It’s just a shame they’ve placed her decent character in with such a bunch of unlikeable morons.
Posted on May 27th, 2008 @ 11:23 pm
@Avid Elite: I’m not sure how far you’ve watched into this show because you’re absolutely right about Naoki for the first couple of episodes. After that he mellows a bit and shows a bit of humanity; that said, he’s still an ass so I’ve no idea how the writers are going to resolve that later on.
@Teeif: character development is the key - I just hope it happens at fast enough pace for me to keep interest. The way in which it plays out over such a long time is a refreshing change though.
@Hanners: As much as I don’t like repeating myself, I feel the need to agree again that Naoki’s nastiness is a bit overdone. It makes Kotoko’s coolness shine all the brighter but yeah, the fact that I only made a passing reference to her friends indicates how little I care about them! Hopefully I’ll find time to watch ep #7 later this week though.
Posted on June 3rd, 2008 @ 2:04 pm
Naoki is pretty much a jerk, yeah. Though I don’t have quite the hate for him that some folks do. Mine mellowed when I actually pondered the initial situation from his point of view; what do you do when you’ve made the clearest statement of disinterest you can think of and the girl won’t take ‘no’ for an answer? Especially with a girl who’s behavior borders frequently into the territory reserved for stalkers? From that perspective some of the early Naoki actions can be seen as the escalating steps in a ‘what do I have to do to get this girl to take the hint?’
Posted on June 8th, 2008 @ 9:31 am
Too bad for the girls (or should I say, good thing for the guys?) that the prospect of Kotoko accidentally stripping/groping/walking in on Naoki while changing/bathing will never happen, eh?
In all seriousness I’m glad you’re enjoying it as much as I am, and that you found the conversation in the garden at episode 05 to be as epic as I thought it to be. It was certainly a “whoa” moment that made me realise that this wasn’t just your average shoujo manga, and despite being stuck at ep 07 due to a massive backlog that I need to download with sporadic internet, I can see myself watching this all the way to the end. Needs less horrible encodes by m33w though.
Posted on June 9th, 2008 @ 12:34 am
@Owen: yeah, at least we’re spared the cliched bath scenes in this show! That conversation in the garden was a highlight for me though - it said so much about what the characters are *really* thinking and justified why I spend so much time sitting through the generic and predictable moments where I wanted to slap some sense into everyone bar Kotoko (who is, by the way, cute in the extreme even if she’s acting like a lovestruck idiot).
I’m banking on Naoki becoming more likable later on, which is why I’m giving this show a chance. Hell, he’s gonna have to become more likable, right?