Note: This review is based on m.3.3.w. fansubs, which, just like this show, are average at best. You can as well pick them as they take little space.
Quote:
Each girl is born to meet her own destined one.
Originally created as manga by Tada Kaoru (Aishite Knight, Kimagure Angel) and directed by Yamazaki Osamu (Terra e..., Wrath of the Ninja) Itazurana Kiss[/b] is a very simple shoujo anime centered the life of a (surprise) clumsy girl, Aihara Kotoko, who has fallen in love with an emotionless genius, Irie Naoki.
The two best things about Itazurana Kiss is that: one - it has no fillers (except for the last episode, uuh, it hurt), two - Kotoko's and Irie's personalities, like water and fire, make a really beautiful contrast. And that's pretty much everything for the good things. Otherwise, this anime presents nothing new to the old shoujo love-romance formula (no surprise as the manga was written in 1991). Girl falls for a cold guy, after some sort of coincidence they hook up, and then it's all love and bunnies. Though I still must commend the author for never ruining Irie's obnoxious personality despite making him fall in love.
Animation: 5/10
Animation done by TMS Entertainment (Buzzer Beater, D.Gray-man) is, well, surprising. I mean, it's the year 2008 and they still go as low tech as this? Character designs are inconsistent: in one scene you can see Irie like this, in another like that and in the third you will go wait a sec, who is this guy?... Kotoko is no exception either, as though her original design is pretty good and she definitely looks really cute at times, there are many scenes where she undergoes such horrid deformations, that, well, you will be turned off for sure (and it's not slapstick humor scenes these deformations happen in if you are wondering). Also a lot of years pass in the span of the show, however, the outward appearance of characters doesn't change at all. Be it 17 years or 28 years old Kotoko always looks the same. It kind of kills the realistic feel this show tries to present... Anyway, it would still be plausible if the movement fluidity of those inconsistent character designs would be good, but it isn't. At times it seems as if the characters are literally sliding around the screen, and when they are not, their movements are blatantly choppy. Only backgrounds don't suffer from technical problems, as most of them, though barren and simplistic, are believable and create cute light-hearted atmosphere for the show.
Direction is barely worth mentioning as the camera always follows the characters and centers completely on them alone even when they are sitting down, talking or just idling. Bland, bland, bland. It's as if the staff had forgotten what camera angles are, or didn't have a guy responsible for them.
Sound: 4/10
The opening song Kimi, Meguru, Boku by Hata Motohiro is a pretty, if slightly shallow, song. It works pretty well at creating the not so serious, light-hearted shoujo like mood for the show. The two ending songs, Kataomoi Figher by GO!GO!7188 and Jikan yo Tomare by Azu, though not as good, are pretty similar to the opening one. Unfortunately, this is where the good comments on music end. Though composer Takanashi Yasuharu (Gantz, Ikkitousen, Mononoke) never was overly distinctive with his music, in Itazurana Kiss he reaches the epicenter of blandness itself. Not a single memorable track, not a tiniest memorable tune in the whole 25 episodes long show. The music is so bland, so boring, that it barely beats the silence. In anime I usually remember memorable scenes via their music and, well, frankly, there are no such scenes in the whole Itazurana Kiss.
Finally, voice-acting is average at best. Though the heroine voiced by Mizuki Nana (Naruto as Hinata Hyuuga) sounds pretty good, especially in those panic-hyperactive situations, side characters don't. Daisuke Hirakawa (Gankutsuou as Franz d'Epinay) comes off as mediocre with his performance of Irie Naoki, ultimately sounding boring, but fitting the character's conceited personality somewhat. Other characters, be it the Kansai accent speaking Kinnouske or a pig-like voice having girl from the main character's friends group end up as being either too bland or even annoying. There is also a foreigner Christine Robbins voiced by Goto Yuuko (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu as Mikuru Asahina) so expect to hear lots of shabby engrish lines here. Also, since that character eventually learns japanese the voice-actress is forced to talk her native language with fake accent which ends up being unsettling to say the least. Goto Yuuko is a decent seiyuu, but, damn, in this show, she was forced to act awfully. I was constantly fighting the urge to plug my ears whenever Christine Robbins and her fake Japanese accent would go into action.
Story: 5/10
Though the story is extremely rushed (more than 10 years pass in the span of 25 episodes) and sometimes it's hard to take things seriously, it's not boring to watch. It's funny and sometimes cute as Kotoko's reactions to Irie's cold treatment hardly get old. Were there any fillers abound, however, I might have not managed to finish this show at all. Nonetheless now it is just an average, by the book, shoujo show, without anything new or exciting to offer. The only really commendable thing in Itazurana Kiss is that it does indeed manage to follow the whole love life of its two leads from its silly beginning to its solid end.
Characters: 6/10
Save for Kotoko and Irie, all other characters are little more than extras. Few for comedic relief, few to advance the story, however, none of them develop enough to resemble real human beings. Anyway, as for Kotoko, she is funny, really, the way she messes things up, the way she tries her best, heh, even I started to enjoy keeping my eyes on her. On the other hand, Irie, perfect at everything and cold to everyone, is a great contrasting pair to the emotional and clumsy Kotoko.
Myers-Briggs personality type indicator[/u]:Irie Naoki - ISTP (D)
Aihara Kotoko - ESFP (D)
Value: 4/10
Most certainly not a show to watch twice. Though it has no fillers, its story is way too simplistic to be experienced more than once. I really can hardly imagine anyone watching this show more than once... Unless you genuinely fall in love with Kotoko or Irie. Of course, I believe very few could fall, for those, while quite interesting, but still half-baked characters.
- Conclusion[/u]:[/b] Best suited for ages 13+ Itazurana Kiss is an anime clearly aimed at women who will certainly find this show better than males, including me, do. Anyway if you don't have anything to watch at the moment and you really want to live through some light shoujo romances, well, Itazurana Kiss might be your pick, as well, as two hundred other shows. It's funny as long as you watch it, but you will start forgetting all about it the same day you have finished it. Anyway, it would be wiser to spend your time on exceptional shoujo like Full Moon wo Sagashite, Kodomo no Omocha or on one of many shoujo mangas as they are the dominating genre there, for example Mars would be a pretty good choice.
