Itazura na Kiss

I've never written a review before but I just had to write a review for this one. If I can save one person from the misery of sitting through this tripe then I'll have done my duty as a human being. I've forgotten the names of the male and female lead but it doesn't matter. As this review focuses solely on them, the words "he" and "she" should cover it.

So here it is: The idea of a romantic comedy is to make the viewer/reader root for the couple in the spotlight; to cheer them on in their quest to find ... true love while at the same time, giving us a good laugh in the process. Itazura na Kiss does none of this. Unless you find a girl's miserable existence, trapped in a one-sided relationship with a bully, great comedy material, you will not enjoy this.

The female lead in this show is a salivating halfwit and the male lead is an egotistical misogynist. For some reason, despite the fact this simply horrible man treats her like something most of us would avoid stepping in, however, she adores him. The show covers nine years by my recollection and this never changes once. She remains smitten by someone who clearly has no respect for her whatsoever and he never stops being a hateful scumbag.

As the show goes on, you find yourself rooting for the male lead to die. Not just to lose her love, but to be killed in a horrible accident. Alas this doesn't happen. If it had, this alleged comedy might finally have given us something to laugh about, but alas he does not.

Without saying too much and spoiling anything, the show follows their romance from high school up until they're in the late twenties. They get married and eventually have a child together, then finally our hell is at an end because they stopped making this rubbish. During those years covered, the male lead sneers at and looks down on his dimwitted other half constantly. He gets nastier and nastier by the minute then every now and again he'll say something like, "You may look like a mutant from the planet uggo but you're not the least prettiest moron I've ever shagged." At which point, she will go starry eyed and drool, taking his words as a compliment. The real insult there being that as the viewer, we're supposed to find his back-handed compliments endearing too. We don't. They just make us want to drown him.

Finally, just to hammer home the point of what a nasty show this is. At one point the female lead actually stands up for herself and screams at him, "You don't love me." Finally, I thought. It's about time she stood up for herself. Sadly no. He hits her! Yes, he resorts to domestic violence. To make matters worse, she then finds herself feeling guilty and blames herself for putting too much pressure on him. Oh yes, he whacks her and she apologises. I kid you not! If this was a subjective look into the mind of a battered woman, I'd say give them an Oscar. However, it is not. This is apparently a comedy. Maybe if you hate women you might find this quite the turn on or indeed worthy of a chuckle, for decent human beings, however, this anime is quite frankly wrong.

What can I say.. I hated this anime because of the main two characters.
Aihara is everything a women shouldn't be. She is stupid , useless and falls for an abusive bully who treats her like dogshit. At the start I felt bad for her, but when she turned down some nice guys for that bully I didn't pity her at all. She deserves all of this.
Irie is basically a bully. The only reason he is with Aihara is because she is too stupid and he can control her easily ( for example when she wants to forget about him he just kisses her only so ... she cannot forget about him). He treats her like shit. I just hope that no one will ever fall for this kind of jerk.
Oh and he isn;t even smart , he just has photographic memory so he remembers everything after reading it once. He doesn't have to put in any effort but looks down on people who weren't blessed with a photographic memory like his.

The only good thing I have to say about this anime is how the story progresses quickly, and shows the characters when they are older.

Spoilers. Probably. Not really. There is definitely spoilers in this review.


NOTE: HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO REWATCH THIS ANIME IF YOU HAPPENED TO SEE MY COMMENT AND YOU ALREADY LEFT A COMMENT WITH HIGH MIGHTY RATING AGES AGO.

Well, well, well, well I rated this anime 7 back then when I was a child. I thought I should re-watch this after reading the synopsis and was clearly dumbfounded that I actually liked this anime. Was I masochist or am I just plainly ignorant back then?

Story and Character

Alright, the MC girl is a stupid, clumsy, masochist, dimwit, silly, idiot, klutzy-- wait, did I just use interchangeable words ... excessively? You damn right I did. I cannot fathom her attitude at all. She's like the god of stupidity and masochism because all she did is offer her life to a sadist wannabe man who clearly thinks she is a piece of shit (probably worse than that). The guy? I don't think he's a man at all, I don't even categorize him as human. If you want to know whether both characters improved throughout the anime, I can guarantee you that they did not. The only good part about this anime is how the story revolves around them; how she chases him, them finally being a couple, graduating school, working, getting married and actually having a child. They are infuriating to watch but I have to see what I liked about this anime back then. In the end, I just cannot deal the fact that this anime is just plain garbage. I think I lose half of my life by just realizing how the characters force a relationship despite the lack of chemistry, respect or even humanity.


If there is a fantastic anime out there, this one tops the craptastic anime of all time for me. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and as much as I want to rate it 1, I have to give it 2 for the sake of my childhood life. Man, if you still want to give this a good rating, I salute you for appreciating the horrendous opposite attract shenanigans. Oh wait, I don't even think he is attracted to the girl at all.

Again: RECOMMEND TO RE WATCH AND RE EVALUATE YOUR SCORE FOR THIS ANIME IF YOU HAPPENED TO RATE THIS FROM 7-10 SCORE. I am trying to save your soul.

i'm the type of person that fast fowards through parts in a series im watching if the episodes get boring.
i've done it alot actually[heheh] ^-^,
but i've realized that not once have i done it with this show.
so that must mean that itazura na kiss is not your typical romance comedy..
this story does go by pretty fast,
but not like "life flashing before your eyes"
there is still lots of character development
there's just no dull moments ?
and IMO, thats a good thing =]

... what i liked the most about this anime
is that i felt all the pain, sadness, and happiness
that all the characters are going through
and i havent even been in that kind of situation !
it's just a really inspiring story
and it makes me feel like i can do anything if i just try.
^-^

**It is quite evident that when it comes to manga, women don't have too much imagination. I mean no offense, and I apologize to the entire feminist fanbase who might feel offended, but this is the truth. It's sufficient to read some shoujo manga and observe that about 90% of them are the same. The pattern is typically a girl falling in love with a popular boy, often portrayed as dull. Forced drama abounds, leading one to wonder, "Has the mangaka ever been in a relationship or do they derive everything from shoujo manga? Are Japanese teenagers truly this naive?" Anyone who has watched "Kimi ... no Todoke" (which is a good story) or read "Ao Haru Ride" knows what I'm referring to—melodramatic situations that appear silly. It feels as though these mangaka's base their understanding of relationships solely on other shoujo manga. This might explain the prevalence of similar, unoriginal stories that feel like another chapter in an overly long tale or another season of "Young & Restless." How do I know all of this? Because I can't stop reading shoujo manga (I'm rather embarrassed to admit it, but it's the truth). While 90% of it adheres to clichés, there's that valuable 10% that's truly worth one's time. Now, does "Itazura na Kiss" fall into this category? Not exactly. It's a bit more complicated.

Let me clarify a few points before delving further: This review will focus on the anime. Regrettably, as many may know, the mangaka passed away before completing the manga (R.I.P.), so I'm hesitant to invest in an unfinished work. The reason I started discussing shoujo manga is that the number of shoujo manga receiving anime adaptations is notably small compared to other genres. Having more than one shoujo adaptation per season is considered quite extraordinary, and those adaptations that do happen are usually among that valuable 10%.

Now, back to "Itazura na Kiss"... I can't categorize this story as part of that 10% because that percentage pertains to more recent works. "Itazura na Kiss" manga originated in the late '90s, a period during which the anime industry was burgeoning. It was an era when originality was still a significant factor. "Itazura na Kiss" emerged during a time when shoujo manga didn't involve ULTRA-MEGA-SUPER melodramatic scenarios that provoke frequent facepalms and evoke dark feelings (cough* "Ao Haru Ride" cough*). This was a time when many good shoujo series began to surface, although several lacked a certain essential quality. Similarly, in shounen manga, well-developed combat systems were lacking, primarily revolving around martial arts and energy beams. However, the late '90s marked a turning point with the emergence of complex stories like "Naruto." "Itazura na Kiss" also exhibits a deficiency, and I'll explain that shortly. This story is pivotal in laying the foundation for subsequent clichés. Thus, I don't regard it as part of the 10%, though it remains a classic. Nonetheless, being a classic doesn't diminish its quality—it's, in fact, quite impressive. While the manga is from an earlier era, the anime adaptation was released in 2008 (a good year), so it retains an old-school charm that sets it apart.

Story: Before delving into the story, a crucial clarification is needed. Some individuals have criticized the romance in this story for lacking in comparison to works like "Kimi no Todoke," "Fruits Basket," and the like. Their viewpoint holds merit, BUT this anime isn't primarily a shoujo romance—it's a ROMANTIC COMEDY, with comedy being its primary genre. The distinction between romantic comedy and romance lies in their nature. Classic romantic comedies include movies like "Pretty Woman," "10 Things I Hate About You," and "City Lights" (if we're considering films). On the other hand, romance is represented by works like "Romeo and Juliet," "Titanic," and "Gone with the Wind." While comparing anime with American movies might seem odd, it offers a point of reference. For those accustomed to shoujo of the current decade, anticipating significant development and melodrama, you won't find that here. Individuals with such expectations have given negative reviews to this anime, which is understandable. It's akin to those who frequently watched movies where Arnold Schwarzenegger singlehandedly defeats armies armed with machine guns using just a Colt 45, firing four bullets without needing to reload, and then shoots a car with a single bullet, causing a city-leveling explosion. If these individuals then watch a realistic WWII historical film and complain about the characters not matching up to Arnold's action-hero standards, it reflects a misunderstanding of the genre.

THE STORY: It commences with Kotoko, who, in the first episode, moves with her father into their newly constructed house. However, her father's greed led to subpar materials being used, causing the house to collapse that very night following a minor earthquake. Homeless, Kotoko and her father move in with his old friends, who happen to be Irie Naoki's parents—the same Irie Naoki who dismissed her love letter in a mere second, citing his dislike for "dumb girls." If anyone expects a profound romance after this premise or the first episode, they might be misguided. The story then centers mainly on Kotoko's attempts to make Irie fall for her, gain his attention, and similar endeavors. What sets this apart from many stories is its decade-spanning narrative. Here lies the minor problem that garners complaints: development. Despite more than 10 years of passage, their relationship grows considerably (I'll refrain from spoiling), but at the same time, it hasn't evolved significantly. Development occurs in their relationship dynamics and life circumstances, yet their romantic lives and feelings remain relatively static. Even after nine years, Irie treats Kotoko much the same. Kotoko falls in love with him during her early high school years due to his intelligence and handsomeness, but they have minimal interaction until his swift rejection and her subsequent living arrangement with his family. Her initial idealized image of him should shatter upon meeting him, given his cold demeanor, but her feelings remain unchanged and steadfast. This is quite puzzling, as Irie is far from an ideal partner. While he might seem perfect for a husband—intelligent, successful, good-looking—he'd likely struggle to convey love, potentially leading to infidelity, divorce, and legal battles for half his fortune, custody, and their pet. Yet, despite this, "Itazura na Kiss" remains highly enjoyable. The primary genre, comedy, serves a purpose and generates many laughs. Although drama is limited, it's executed skillfully, inducing teary-eyed moments.

CHARACTERS: The main characters are obviously Kotoko and Irie. Kotoko is a dumb girl, but she is cute and honest. She is part of class F, which is basically the class for dummies. She is technically good for nothing. She can't cook or take care of the house. She isn't very smart, and she is clumsy. Her only qualities are her honesty and stubbornness, which makes her a good character, though. Being clumsy and stubborn makes her different from the usual characters who would cry and feel depressed over every little difficulty (and she has a LOT, because Irie is... Irie). When a rival appears, she doesn't back down and, despite her obvious inferiority, she fights to win Irie. She really does a lot of things and changes people. She is even able to melt Irie's ice heart (more or less)... Irie says at one point, "Kotoko is unable to do 90% of the things I can do, but the remaining 10%, I can't do, she excels in making it.'' The problem is that we really don't know why she loves Irie. He was her first crush, and he remained like this. After their relationship develops, the emotional part remains kind of unchanged. She continues to address him as Irie-kun even after 9 years, even though at some point she becomes an Irie too.

Irie is the exact reverse of Kotoko. He is in class A, a genius who is the number 1 student in Japan. Very handsome (even though Kotoko is very cute too), cold, and serious. He starts to change after he meets Kotoko... not because she changes something in him (even though she does), but because Kotoko's clumsy actions have repercussions against him. He is the main problem of this anime. He doesn't give too much of a damn about Kotoko at the beginning, and that doesn't change too much after he falls in love with her. He continues to be kind of cold and bully her, or even hurt her (without intention though), until the last episodes when he gets a little warmer and more caring, which is kind of the norm in a normal manga. But at that point in Itazura, it has been 9 years since they were together. You understand what kind of a cold bastard he is when we see that a year before, he had given her her first birthday present (poor Kotoko, to think that the man you love and who loves you gives you a present only in movies). I mean seriously, it took him 8 years to give her a present? Basically, what keeps this relationship is Kotoko and her "I love Irie, and I won't give up on him" attitude, which makes her extremely happy with any small proof of love she receives from him. Even so, Irie is actually the portrait of the usual Japanese male. Take out his looks (they aren't all handsome) and intelligence (Asians are smart, but they aren't all geniuses), and you have the normal: cold, stiff, and too serious Japanese husband who doesn't say "I love you," but shows his love by bringing the money into the house. The side characters are important too. There is Mama Irie and Papa Irie, and little Irie Yuuki, who respects his onni-chan and rejects Kotoko for a period, but continues to "bully" her and consider her stupid even after he accepts her. Mama Irie loves Kotoko, and her main purpose in the story is to bring Kotoko and her son together. After they get together, she makes sure that their relationship works fine, following them incognito on the honeymoon and dates. She is really funny, and she takes tons of pictures and films every important moment between Kotoko and Irie. But we don't really get why she loves Kotoko so much. There is Kotoko's father too, but there isn't too much to say about him. An important side character is Kinnosuke. He is the dumb guy who is in love with Kotoko. He is basically the male version of Kotoko. You may find him annoying, but you will love his honesty and motivation to do everything for Kotoko. He is the character that in the end receives the biggest character development of all.

ART: The art has the old school aura. There's nothing special about it, but it's not bad either. It suits the story, and the expressions the characters make are really funny.

SOUND: Again, old school. The OP really reminds you of a '90s anime, and for me, it was a surprise that it was done in 2008 because I really thought it was from the beginning of 2000. The EDs are good too. The second ED is used a few times as a soundtrack in dramatic moments, which made me laugh at a moment because it has rap. So I couldn't really take that moment seriously. There's nothing special about the other tracks though.

ENJOYMENT: I saw this for the first time in 2009 or so, and I loved it. I watched it again last week, and I loved it. And I am sure I can watch it another 10 times and love it just as much. This is a really easy-to-digest story that will not give you sad butterflies in your belly. Instead, it will make you feel good. It's sad that the mangaka died before finishing the story (R.I.P.). I know that there was more in the manga that wasn't used in the anime, including arcs and characters... I wanted to see more.

OVERALL: I recommend this anime to everybody who wants to laugh and have a good time.

PRO:

Really funny and has great and enjoyable characters.
ZERO unwanted and dumb melodrama.
Interesting time skip.
CONS:

I would have loved to see more development between characters as a result of some important events.
The time skip can be a little annoying at some points when in 1:30 minutes, 2 years go by, especially when it comes to Irie Yuuki.
Many of the important side characters have been ignored after some point and didn’t receive their part/development/etc. in the story, like it was covered by the manga.
Too short, taking into consideration that it follows +10 years of their lives, it really feels rushed and short, leaving you with the feeling of wanting more. At least 30 episodes would have been more suited, 50 episodes would have been welcomed.
STORY: 8
ART: 7
SOUND: 7
CHARACTERS: 9
ENJOYMENT: 10
OVERALL: 9

P.S.: And for those who complain that it didn't have development like Kimi no Todoke, think about this: in Itazura, the characters kissed like 3 times, and they did much more... No kiss in Kimi no Todoke, +30 episodes, and no kiss...

A frustrating show. The anime takes the most generic Rom-Com characters and plot-line imaginable. It then expands the story, adding nuances and drama that bring life and interest to an otherwise cliched genre story. It then throws away all this hard work by making characters so one dimensional that they are insulting.


Your template: Plain-Jane girl swoons over genius handsome idol classmate.

The plot twist: None, this is a romantic comedy and we already know they end up together.

The improvement: Girl gets guy, SHOW ACTUALLY CONTINUES, we get a view of married couple life and university life.

To insult the feminist within you: Genius-Handsome-Idol is as emotionally ... approachable as a waifu body pillow. Plain-Jane girl seems to accept being ignored and general emotional abuse as OK because guy is hot, rich and smart. Show portrays this as acceptable and basically ends with the moral of "love can solve abusive relationships, it's probably your fault anyways".

To insult the man-isist within you: Dumb broad deserves what she gets; she has no problems deceiving and manipulating comic-relief-romantic-interest-male in a pretty disgusting way for her own benefit.

I was really excited to watch this anime because I knew this, along with the live-action version were really popular romance animes. Unfortunately, I had little to no enjoyment when watching it. I'm not against the enemy's to lovers troupe but, this entire show was pretty much just enemies to a one-sided love. I know that with Irie, his whole thing is that he's "Cool" but he treats her like absolute trash and literally only gets better in the last two episodes. I think the show also made it a running gag to have every other character point out that he treats her terrible and ... question why she's with him, but she just laughs it off and then says "oh well he is always like that!"
I'm sure if I watched this when I was a kid I would have LOVED this and thought it was really good but watching it now, I have to give my overall rating a 3 and do not recommend it.

This anime is literal dogshit. It’s heavily flawed on every level and the ambitious premise doesn't make up for the horrible characters and misguided recurring themes in this anime.

Story (1/10):

Itazura na Kiss is a story about how a unintelligent girl with no redeeming qualities other than being kind, relentlessly pursues her crush, who is a scumbag, and then proceeds with a long term emotionally (and physically to some extent) abusive relationship that is for some reason framed in a positive light. Sounds awful, right? I see a lot of praise for this anime comes from the premise, which is ambitious in the sense that ... it covers a long period of time and touches on romance past the usual "mutually confess and get together" phase where most romance anime end. What left a bad taste in my mouth is how Itazura na Kiss's narrative tries to portray a destructive and outright disgusting romance as something acceptable and even worth striving for. The very fact that this anime even exists is a moral stain on the industry.

Beyond this hollow and sickening take on what initially seemed an interesting premise, this anime still utilizes every shoujo troupe in the book but fails to execute them in a way that meaningfully adds to the characters, story, or underlying themes (which are.. problematic, to say the least). One example would be when they transitioned from high school to college, yet every character ended up at the same university in equivalent classes and situations. Even the one character who didn't make it into college conveniently found employment as a cafeteria worker at the school. Every "major" development was underwhelming and screamed lazy writing.

Art (3/10):

I wasn't a fan of the art style heading into this anime, I find it wildly inconsistent and lacking any artistic direction, which is why I put off watching this for so long despite the intriguing premise. The male lead is the ugliest character in the show which I'm pretty sure is opposite of the intended effect. His mouth was way too close to his nose which just highlighted his stupid gigantic chin, but I guess that’s personal preference. The MC was pretty cute and the backgrounds were run of the mill.

Sound (7/10):

I actually enjoyed the voice acting in this anime. The roles should have been easy considering how one-note all the characters are, so I can't heap too much praise here, but overall I thought they did well. The music was decent.

Character (0/10):

Awful, awful, awful, abysmal, trash, embarrassing, awful, and plain bad. The main two are the worst of the bunch, which should never be the case, and all the side characters were static and underwent absurdly predictable, cliché developmental character arcs, that were for the most part, just convenient cop-outs to force feed happy endings for everyone.

Our MC is dumb, talentless, and unwaveringly in love with a guy who continually treats her like garbage and belittles her. At one point in the show she decides to become a nurse for the sole purpose of being able to better support her doctor husband. Eventually a side character points this out critically, but the show failed to delve into the critique as the MC never directly responds to the issue nor has any internal monologue regarding it. I found their dynamic, and the show as a whole, to be incredibly misogynistic, which is very discomforting considering this a shoujo.

The show never decides to really point out the self-destructive nature of her character and instead casts it aside in favor of framing her as a “spunky” good hearted girl and somehow expects the viewer to find solace in her simplicity. The worst example of this was when she discovers a side character in distress and then proceeds to completely panic and cry on the phone as the male lead tells her what to do, step by step, including how to call an ambulance. Bear in mind this happens in the latter half of the series which exemplifies her complete lack of development as a competent human being.

The male lead is initially a “cool” jerk, which is typical in shoujo, but usually the male lead ends up progressively improving as a person as the MC warms his cold heart, so to speak, or they were always “good” and just not great at outwardly expressing it. This male lead in Itazura na Kiss is a jerk, and a truly horrible one at that, who doesn’t become a redeeming character until the last 2 or 3 episodes. On numerous occasions he shows some compassion but then consistently reverts back to his usual disgusting self. There’s also usually a reason, such as a tragic experience or difficult childhood, for the male leads initial behavior, but here the male lead has lived a carefree life in a traditional atomic household with his loving and wealthy parents. He has an amazing support system and the show never alluded to anything negative in his past to attempt to explain his flaws.

To sum it up, she is incompetent and he is lacking in basic humanity. I’m not exactly sure how these are supposed to be likeable characters.

Enjoyment (1/10):

I did not enjoy watching this anime whatsoever. In fact, I watched the last 5 episodes at double the speed, as in I literally sped up the video 2x, in order to avoid wasting any more of my life on this irreprehensible trash heap of an anime. The misogynistic central relationship was frankly appalling, as was the lack of character development. I will say that the ending (episode 24; 25 is a light hearted epilogue) was heartwarming and enjoyable. At this point they are in their late 20s and the MC finally shows some fortitude that isn’t directly derived from her unsubstantiated romantic feelings, and the male lead finally shows respectable character traits without ever reverting. The problem with Itazura na Kiss is that it takes 23 episodes, or approximately 10 years within the timeline of the show, for these characters to achieve this minimally acceptable level of competence and humanity.

If you want to watch a terrible rom-com anime with unlikeable characters and misogynistic themes, look no further, Itazura na Kiss is the anime for you.

This is the most sadistic, unpleasant thing I have ever seen - on a psychological level - and I've watched those PEETA animal cruelty videos (and 'Friday' by Rebecca Black). What do they have in common you ask? They both make me cringe.

The only reason I think I gave this anime a 2 is because there are moments that really engage one's sense of empathy - you laugh sometimes at the things that Kotoko does (if you're not cringing) and you cry. I really felt Kotoko's pain sometimes - and boy does she go through a lot of it. Perhaps one of the most ... disturbing aspects of Itazura Na Kiss is that it's quite dismissive of Kotoko's pain and doesn't really focus on character development at all. But then it does get difficult to feel sorry for someone like her after a while. How cool would it have been if the first couple of episodes were just to demonstrate how naive she was to begin with, and then she got it together became an awesome ball-buster of a tsundere?! It probably would have been one of my favorite animes ever. But unfortunately, as the episodes progressed it became evident that.. well, this is sadistic bull. It's really almost unbearable. The way in which Kotoko is treated by Naoki and the her utter masochistic behavior was genuinely horrifying for me to witness.

I hope that no girl or woman ever aspires to be like her; it makes me so angry that people don't recognize how twisted this anime is sometimes.

Okay, first of all, apologies in advance for the perhaps colorful language that I'll be using in this review.

This anime, while generally average, has the highlight of having the single douchiest character that I have ever seen to date. Seriously, Irie is so impressively terrible to everything and everyone (especially the female lead) that her own musings on her potential masochistic tendencies are less musings and more an exercise in stating the obvious.

This anime quite obviously tries to have an archetypical strong, silent, impassive and cold guy, but the creators obviously could not tell when enough was enough when adding from the 'cold' jar. Seriously, ... this guy is so extremely over the edge in the 'a-hole' department that he's in a class of his own. I seriously have no one else to compare him to.

This anime deserves credit for that, if nothing else.

As for the female lead, there isn't too much to say about her. Kotoko actually does manage to land perfectly in the center of her archetype, the 'always nice to everything and everyone beyond any sense of logic, duty or reason' hyperactive, cheerful kind of character. It's very easy to like and root for characters like her, but in the end she is rather forgettable. Also, my biggest gripe with her, is that I simply can not respect her. I pity her. Say what you will about having the single-minded determination to never give up on the man, no matter how rude and/or abusive he is towards her, but there is 'determined' and then there is 'self-punishingly moronic'. Watching Kotoko was painful, because in reality girls like her need professional help and a lot of support in order to get over the compulsion that keeps sending them back to their abuser and live a full and healthy life.

Surprisingly, the best part of this anime was its supporting cast, though that speaks more about the low quality of everything else.

I gave Itazura na kiss a 4/10. The animation was below average, the main characters were hilariously bad caricatures of people, and the plot itself was slow, predictable, and ultimately unfulfilling.

Props for sending young adolescent girls all the wrong messages, I guess.

First off, I'm glad I had this to watch during the time I was waiting for Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza's new episodes to come out, and I would like to thank AlexisSolitaire for recommending it to me.

This has become my favorite romance anime that I've seen so far. It's everything a romance junkie like me wants: a beginning, middle, and end; an anime that's 100% romance right from the start and doesn't let go until the closing seconds of the 25th episode.

At first, I was under the impression that this would be a regular slice-of-life, high school romance anime. I could not have been ... more far from the truth. Not only did it begin in high school (at the age of about 17), it ended with the main heroine in her early 30s or late 20s. You might be skeptical at reading that, but trust me: you'll definitely end up loving it.
They utilized something at perfect junctures in parts of the story when it could have gone bad. Which usually leads to anime's giving themselves self-inflicted wounds by boring the audience it's trying to entertain half to death. What they utilize so magnificently is the time-lapse. I would have never guessed that there would be a time in my life in which I would enjoy a time-lapse, a "3 years later." Did they ever prove me wrong.

You know when an anime's good when I was completely satisfied at the half way point! About 14 episodes in! 14! I became skeptical again. Alright, so they've basically done all I've expected them to do, now it's just gonna get bad, how terrible. Again, I was proved wrong.

I like to use analogies to describe things that are tough to put into words; as most people might often do. Well, I attribute this show in this way:
Your parents give you $10 to go to the movies with friends. You're like, "Alright! Gonna have a good time. Night out with the buddies." Turns out, when you get there, you find you have an extra $20 in your pocket. Making the night even better. Then, you happen to be pulled into a side-room by Quentin Tarantino and given a private screening of his latest movie for free. You're thinking, "Wow. What a night: I got $10, found an extra $20 in your pocket, and I got to see a private screening of the new Tarantino movie! What a night!" However, your already fantastic night has one more surprise for you. Say you went with a few of your friends, one happened to be the girl you've always had a crush on. But, it turns out that after you walk out of the theater, she turns to you and says "that she's always liked you." How would you feel? How would that night be for you? Great, right? To a lesser extent, that's how I felt when this series was finished. Sad that it was over, happy that I got to experience something so amazing, and even more happy that I got to enjoy all these great surprises around each corner.

I would now go into each individual category and rate the show, but this show needs to stand out from the rest that I've seen in some form or fashion. It deserves no criticism, because, that's ultimately nitpicking for the tiniest deviation from greatness. (Plus, by reviewing most of these things, it would be hard to have people properly understand what I'm talking about or referring to without giving away any spoilers.)

It really did have a beginning, middle, and end. Not in terms of plot, which, of course it did, but the story of their relationship, the bond between the two is so fun and enchanting to reside over. I actually likened their relationship to that of one of those "well problems" that I got back in 5th grade: if you fall to the bottom of a 100 ft well, how long would it take you to climb out if each day you climbed 6 ft but slid down 4 ft?

I would wholeheartedly recommend this to any romance fan out there looking for an engaging story of what it takes to love and what it takes to be open to love. Although some might be critical of the "superfluousness" of the later episodes, who cares? Doesn't everyone ultimately wish that they could see their favorite couple from another show develop like this one and end like this one?
It's a feel good anime that never ceases to stop "feeling good."

10/10, perfect, flawless, etc.

Feedback is appreciated.
If you want to be told more in-depth of why I liked the show so much, send me a message. However, spoilers will probably be dolled out like soup from a soup kitchen. So ask at your own risk. Or if you disagree with my opinion, and want to talk about the show, I would love to have a profile-to-profile chat.

The story for Itazura na Kiss is quite cliche for me, it revolves around this girl who has a crush on a genius, to make it harder shes in the bottom group for everything and he's in the top.
She gets enough courage to give him a a note saying her feelings but being a snob he rejects the letter, then in a bizarre twist her house falls down and her dad says "well move in with my friend" his friend is no other than the dad of the guy she fancies.
As far as im up to you can see hes gradually getting to like her ... (very slowly) but apart from that the art is poor and the animation style is shocking, a friend of the main girl looks like a fat man not a women.
I would say its watchable at this part in time but its still got alot of episodes to go so i hope so more things happens instead of a predicted he "finally loves her they become couple".

I saw this anime a few months back and I loved it. I like the fact the story progresses much further than ending when the couple get together. It is one of the few romantic anime that is fully packaged with a solid ending. I like the 2 main leads particularly Naoki Irie as he goes through the most in character development. Soundtracks within the show are really nice and fit in with the mood of the show and the OP and ED themes are very good too.

However this show is really targeted at the female viewers and is very romantic though it will ... take a while before it gets there but worth the wait. I love this show from beginning to end. Even at the beginning when the male lead wasn't very nice it was entertaining to watch how his feelings gradually change almost episode by episode. It's very subtle.

The only downside is the animation, it's mostly good but it does get a bit choppy and Naoki's character design probably suffers the most with this unfortunately. Overall, he is generally very handsome it's just some shots doesn't make him look consistently good.That's my only gripe.

I would highly recommend this show, there have been a few scenes which brought me to tears and they are not sad scenes but probably the romantic moments. This could easily make the top 5 best romantic anime out there currently.

This anime is the one with the most developed story i've ever seen! It has about 15 episodes for starting the romance and 2 episodes after they are getting married, and having a child. This makes the story explore what happens after the "Happly ever after" part!
The characters are super kawaii :3 good looking and appealing, if it weren't for all the heart shapes and glitters the kissing scens would have been pretty sexy.
Opening and ending weren't bad, but nothing that sticks to our minds.
The charecters: This is were things go way down! ... The main characters were really poorly developed, Irie-kun (main male character) started to be a mean guy who treats girls badly so i thought we has like a deep person with some dark past or trauma... but it just happens for him to be mean and thats all he is. Kotoko (main female character) just happens to be so obsessed by him that she is willing to accept everyting... There were time I just cheered up for side characters to conquer her because i couldnt just support to see her being more pushed down by Irie-kun.
Although sweet Kotoko is heartbroken in more than the first-half of the anime, that was the good part because it touch our feelings. After that is just enjoyable to watch but it does not addict as much as the first episodes.

Somewhat spoiler-free review:

Seeing the high score on MAL made me think this was going to be a good Shojou Romance. I was in for a rude awakening with this one. As I have lived in Japan for over a decade, I know full well the patriarchal dominance and chauvinism of a good portion of male citizens. Naoki is nothing more than a pretty face hiding a terrible persona. Kotoko is mentally subdued by him throughout the entirety of the show. He treats her terribly 99% of the time. He mentally and emotionally abuses her. When he realizes he is losing his hold on her at ... a myriad of times, he uses flashy words or phrases to manipulate her into running back into his arms. He treats her like a tool to keep himself at ease with little care for her feelings until the last few episodes where he just slightly cares due to her situation (trying not to spoil too much). Many viewers were calling him a tsundere. He isn't. He is just a toxic male persona. The entire time watching all I could think of was actions speak louder than words. As I said, he used a lot of flashy wordage, but he rarely used action as proof. Naoki's family and Kotoko's father were all oblivious to the terrible way he treated her (save for his mother who sometimes got upset, but not enough for Naoki to care). They also added to the issues by not taking her feelings into account for a majority of the show. *Slight Spoiler* The biggest failure was Kotoko's father sitting down with Naoki at one point for a friendly chat about why she ran away near the end half of the series due to Naoki's treatment of her. He put his own daughter down while talking about how she is similar to his wife and even sympathized with Naoki having to deal with it. A real father would chew him out for treating his daughter like a cold-hearted jerk, not stroll down memory lane. *End Spoiler* This is definitely not an anime for kids who can't use logic when viewing as it sets a bad example of how one should act in relationships. As for the other characters they all have many terrible personas. From people only loving someone based off looks, trying to steal other people's lovers, trying to cheat (honeymoon episode), being creepy, or going as far as forcing themselves onto other characters, this is not a show worth enjoying. There are plenty of beautiful Shoujou and non-Shoujou Romance anime out there worth your time. Unless you really want to watch this to see how disgusting people can be, I advise finding something better.

I found the whole story to be very cringy at best due to everything I stated above. Hence the pathetic score. The art was slightly old-school which I don't mind, but the elongated chins were odd looking. Hence the fair score. The sound was fine. Characters... It's what really drove home the terrible nature of this anime. While there was progression for everyone, most of their personas stayed the same disgusting shade. Hence dreadful. I didn't get much enjoyment out of it, but I never drop anime and watched it until the end. Overall, it was not worth it. Please don't be fooled by the score.

I picked up this series looking for a light enjoyable shoujo anime, but finishing Itazura na Kiss proved to be one of the hardest things I've done.

Starting the anime, my fears were that Kotoko would keep running after the guy after being stepped over and over with no clear reason why. That was proven correct after 3 or 4 episodes of her getting nothing from Irie but still describing him as a 'gentle person' for doing the bare minimum (holding the door of the subway for her. Noting that was the second time, since the first time he let's the door close stating he hates ... distracted girls).

The series gets progressively worse so don't expect for a redeming ending or character growth. As adults Kotoko keeps having zero self respect and Irie keeps treating her with indifference or rudeness at occasion, absolutely nothing changes.

the supporting characters are dull and not charismatic at all, but I would still rather watch them than have to watch one more second of the love Irie and Kotoko are said to share.

If you don't mind the main character having no dignity, no goals or reason for her love and admirition, gor for it. But if you require any of those, stay away from this horror show.

This show could have been great, and maybe it will be for you girls out there. I'm a guy that often enjoys Shoujo/Josei, but this one, I just can't even. It would have been great, but Irie is just such a piece of s***. Like he is literally worse than Hitler. Well, maybe not Hitler, but he's at least worse than Stalin. You'll keep on telling yourself as you watching, "Oh, this will be the episode when he stops being an a**hole." Nope. It never happens. And she's just so blindly loyal to him! Like get a grip girl and kick him to the curb! ... nope. This anime isn't disappointing, its unsettling. It left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I totally expected Irie to like see the error of his ways. Nope. And the worst part is that the show totally teases you, like an episode will end on a good note so that you actually expect Irie to be a good decent human being in the next episode. Nope. Sorry-not-sorry. Whats most unsettling is all the praise this show gets. Do girls really like guys like Irie? He's the worst! If you are a guy, at least, please do not watch this, unless you wish to be deeply disturbed.

This anime's story is about as deep as a puddle. The main character falls in love with an abuser and everyone's just fine with this. He continues to be mentally and verbally abusive throughout the majority of the anime. The main character herself was written with little to no redeeming qualities and constantly shows no trust in her relationships. The show resolves love triangles by making them squares and just having anyone who isn't the main two just settle.

The only "enjoyable" parts of the anime where when in focused less on the main relationship and towards the end. The side characters were far more interesting ... then the main characters, with the exception of two. One of the two I speak of is literally a Mary Sue and the other is so obnoxious it's unbearable.

At first glance you might think that this is a another "High School Romance", and at first it is, but this anime goes somewhere that others don't. Most series end when the characters are still in high school, but Itazura na Kiss goes past high school, into college and even into life after that. This series is truely something of a masterpiece in character develpment.

The story line is the classic love story with a small twist, of course I won't go into detail, you'll have to see for yourself! The music kind of reminded me a lot of the same in different animes, but still ... it catchy and if there is ever a chance to get my hands on the soundtrack, I certianly will!

Unless you get really into your anime, you might not feel the deep feelings that the characters have. When Kotoko cried, I cried. When she laughed, I smiled and laughed with her. When she made a complete fool of herself ... I laughed at her. But when I watch shows, I get pulled into them. So when I watched each episode, there were partes that I cried, both in sadness and happiness.

So if you're looking for an anime with the same ol' story but a different twist and something a little more, Itazura na Kiss is a series you should look into. I enjoyed every minute of it and I know many more people will too.


Thank you Tada Kaoru for giving the world such amazing stories.

_Itazura na Kiss_ is like a mountaineer who climbs up a slippery slope halfway and helplessly tumbles down to a crushingly disappointing death. Doesn't mean we don't get a few laughs when it hits some rocks and trees along the way, but in the end, it's still rather startling to see how low a series can sink from a promising starting point.

Imagine a love story between a noble prince, whose only fault is his perfection, and a female slave on a pirate ship, whose only redeeming quality is the constancy of her failures. Along the way, our hero and heroine face earthquakes and dividing ... chasms, thunderstorms, battle of the gods, and epic Homeric warfares to test the quality of their love for each other. _Kiss_ is the modern epitome of the superfluous, overwritten romantic comedy.

Characters? What characters? Characters are either plain-looking and stupid but kind-hearted, or porcelain-like gorgeous and inhumanely intelligent but cold and silent (on the outside, of course. "Deep down inside," we all know they are really lacking whatever it is that only the stupid, plain-looking characters can supply. Aah, the "secret weakness" that makes them human). Just mix and match those character traits between the sexes and you've pretty much covered most of the character interaction that can be found in _Kiss_.

The sounds, however, are excellent. The ambiance supports the circumstances rather unobtrusively, heightening whatever tension left in the poorly written script without bringing attention to themselves. The opening and the endings could easily chart my personal top anime soundtrack as well.

Despite all its faults, I watched through the series rather painlessly, as much as I hate to admit it. _Kiss_ manages to stay faithful to its light-hearted comedy and well-timed jokes. Watch this to appease those dead brain cells of yours while eating pork skins and potato chips for maximum pleasure.