KimiKiss Pure Rouge

Wow. Just wow. After watching the last episode of Kimikiss, I can say that this was one of the best romance animes I've seen in a long while.

Story
The story is so simple ... it's about true love. We all chase it, but not all catch it. And that's what our two main guys are doing as well. Revolving around the typical high-school environment, two events of the first episode put a whole romance story in motion, a romance story you probably won't forget that easy. It seems so simple and human that you easy forget about this world and live the feelings of the ... characters involved in this story. As in all romance animes, the drama can't miss out, and you'll find many moments when you'll actually feel like crying if you put yourself in a certain character's situation (like I do, usually). One thing I didn't like was the ending, since I hoped I could see a bit of a "1 year later" story but it ended kind of abruptly. Well, nevertheless, the story is probably the greatest thing about Kimikiss.

Art
I've heard some people don't like the artwork from Kimikiss and I certainly don't know why, because I consider it pretty good. The characters are drawn good (even though it has a different style than other animes), the background scenery is pretty good as well so I see no reason why I shouldn't give it an 8. Plus, in episode 20, when they changed the art for the Kazuki-Eriko scene, it was very interesting to see that depth in the eyes, that facial expression that few animations can give, even for one episode.

Sound
Not much to say about this part. The OST is very good and the background music fits the anime like a glove. Not to mention the great OP/ED songs that can really make you sing along with 'em. "Aozora Loop" is one of my top 5 songs since the anime started airing due to the exciting feeling it gives you if you're actually in love. It's one of those songs that make being in love a happy, cheerful and awesome thing, like you forget all the bad parts.

Character
Character was one of the things that caught me from the first episode. The variety of girls fits a harem anime, yet one of the main elements here are the guys. It's the first romance shows I've seen that actually has 2 main guys, so two main stories at the same time. You can see them throughout the anime how they become from the inexperienced, lonely bums to guys that know how to face the facts and have the guts to get past the obstacles in their way. They fall in love, and that's what makes them stronger. I really think the characters made this show more worthwhile.

Enjoyment
I loved it. From the first episode that aired in the autumn of 2007 to the last episode in spring 2008, I loved this anime. Back then, when I saw the first episode, it captured me and didn't let me go. I still love it even now and I'll keep it because I'll surely watch it again someday, probably when love strikes me. Here's one anime that deserves a hats off. Good job, Lantis, Bandai, J.C. ... good job.


Final Overall Grade: 8.6, rounded up to 9

Ok this anime well pretty much goes Down after 2-4 episodes, They start making us wait until the last ep for something to actually happen :P ,Very annoying , other than that the charecters were Too Much,storyline was pathetic after the 2nd episode


So ye if u dont like boring stuff dont watch this

This is a mixed bag for me. Kimikiss isn't without ANY watchable features (actual establishment of relationships, carefully separated relationships and character personalities, love triangles hurrrr), but it definitely has enough drawbacks that I couldn't really enjoy it as much as I would have liked. While a 4 may seem pretty brutal, I just can't bring myself to rate a 5 considering the numerous standout problems that kept poking me in the face during every second of every episode.

Kimikiss clearly started off with the idea in mind of having multiple dynamic relationships, only to realize it had to pick one or the other; multiple or ... dynamic. It ended up choosing multiple, which means while we get three relationships all develop separately, the problems encountered in these relationships are both extremely predictable and extremely drawn out. Since having two arcs for each relationship would clearly have been ridiculous length (at least in the eyes of the writers), each relationship basically only follows one menial arc in the entire length of the show. Love triangles are often "elaborated" on to act as the show's filler episodes, with content we've already had established taken to /slightly/ further lengths in a very similar situation just to stretch out the episodes before that relationship hits its conclusion.

The writing was pretty poor too, unfortunately. Kimikiss could be described as a romcom without the com and with repetitive rom. Any humour aspects are few and far between and are /very/ weak, usually just spontaneously and thoughtlessly shoehorned into segments that are providing background context for future events. As for the romance; relationship arcs are brutally predictable in how they play out, and efforts to inspire emotions in the audience are fruitless due to two key problems with the writing. The first is the fact that since we're following so many different relationships with so few arcs we have seen very little character development, ergo it's difficult to be attached enough to the characters to really care who comes out best. The second is that precedent the show has set in order to advance to previous plot points is totally ignored in favour of advancing to new plot points, creating a confusing and sometimes contradictory plot to further baffle the audience that is already reeling from following all the separate characters.


**MINOR SPOILERS**
Take, for example, the filming of the movie. At first Mao AND Hoshino flat-out rejected the option to act in it and were not revisited at that time since their reasons were considered sound (Mao didn't think she could act and Hoshino was too embarrassed). Come back 10 episodes later, however, and both Mao AND Hoshino have acted in the movie after simply being asked "Pleeeeaaase?" at some point earlier in the same episode. It's so blatant it's depressing, and it totally detracts from the appreciation of the plot and places the fate of the series entirely on the characters /following/ the plot.
**END MINOR SPOILERS**

Not a great idea, because the characters aren't great either. Kouchi is an absolutely typical male character, totally oblivious to the feelings of the opposite sex, randomly and suddenly nice in convenient situations towards specific individual girls in need of lovin', not shown to have any particularly strong views or even any defining characteristics. Hoshino is the shy, embarrassed girlfriend of MC-kun who is apparently capable of giving extended speeches about friendship or acting in movies. Sakino is the soccer tomboy with a quick temper and an inexplicable crush on MC-kun('s lookalike) after he did two or three random acts of kindness for her... I could list these character templates for paragraphs and not totally reveal the extent of their mediocrity.

Some of them are even downright contradictory. Eriko just makes zero sense, her social patterns changing drastically with very little external influence over the course of about 5 episodes. Regardless of whether or not she is in a relationship or experiences emotions for the first time (lol), she remains a genius with a genius IQ and has been a recluse for most of her life; why is she suddenly able to be so insanely sociable and react naturally to any instance of MC-kun('s lookalike) being lovey dovey? Just watch the first half of episode 22 and you can see just how far Kimikiss has gone from actually having a genius loner to simply having a dandere voice actor.

A/V? It's debatable. Maybe I just detest the characters appearances because of how little I enjoyed the series, but to its credit the expressions are pretty well captured and animation is fluid. No crazy hair colours or hairstyles, but I'm not sure whether that's good or bad considering I would usually come to Anime expecting that kind of escapism or interesting art style. Doesn't help in distinguishing between characters either (although by around the mid-point of the series it shouldn't be too hard to remember who has a crush on who just by their voice acting and predictable mannerisms). The voice acting is pretty great in everyone except Kouichi, who I'd describe as "bland" right off the bat in the lack of variety in tones and expressions no matter what emotions his character should be feeling. Forgive my insolence, but I don't even remember the music, so I'll just avoid talking about that since I imagine I'd have identified it as good or bad if it had been in any way memorable.

Overall; not good. I don't think this even qualifies as satisfactory, although it's pretty close. There were too many basic problems and an overall feel of laziness in the structure and writing, to the point where I was simply watching the final episodes to get the less than enjoyable series out of my face forever.

(also the campfire scene gives me flashbacks to School Days,,,)