Get Chu
Get a Kiss

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Initially, I’d ignored this title, even though I liked Ayane’s Desire Climax. But that’s just because the summary doesn’t do this beautiful and colourful story justice and belies its true frivolous nature, instead making it seem pedestrian and predictable. However nothing in this one follows any standard manga stereotypes! There are no teary eyed shoujos who run the other way from their bishies, there is no dashing hero who’s waiting in the shadows to jump to the rescue every time she trips over her own clumsy feet, and there are no scheming best friends! Yay!

The starting scenes are perhaps the funniest. Our heroine Chitose ... suffers from a particularly over the top imagination and is caught salivating when daydreaming about a fictional boyfriend declaring his undying love for her, in class (We’ve all been there!). She’s banished outside and has to stand in the most ridiculous pose holding two buckets (full of water) in her hands while balancing contraband manga on her head! But her fantasies aren’t over yet, and soon she sinks into yet another one where she strikes the infamous titanic “I’m flying!” pose! Why am I so painstaking in her various stances? Because when you’re done reading this for the first time, these are scenes you’ll return to day after day to enjoy Ayane’s excellent sketching skills as well as to roll over in giggles over the sheer outrageousness Chitose manages to get up to.

Anyway, she gets hit in the face (Kapow) with a flying football and enter Bishi on Heroin, Yamato, who is clearly concerned for her well being and so begins their cat and mouse game. Yamato is in the host like business of selling his kisses and Chitose absolutely refuses to pay for any of them and will have them all to herself! And she’s not opposed to using any means possible to “rehabilitate him” as she declares (to no one in particular)! Her dogged determination easily stands out throughout the 7 chapters.

Why should you read this one instead of the hundred other mangas in which the heroine takes it upon herself to pursue the hero? Because well… frankly, you’re not going to find those kind easily, and also because the kind of heartwarming and genuine characters you’ll find here, who act not along some script, but how you and I would, are not to be underestimated. Each scene with Chitose and Yamato either makes you smile inwardly or mortifies you beyond belief with the daring antics Chitose pulls off only to keep Yamato exclusive! It’s not like she’s unabashedly courageous, she just likes Yamato so much that she gathers enough guts to play interference or pursue him wildly to sneak a Polaroid or two!

But this is not to say that these two are the only ones who contribute to the story. There is a good natured supporting cast which adds comedy and shots of drama to the plot whenever it starts to settle down into something mellow, including the supportive and caring best friend, the two naughty albeit kind cronies to Yamato, and the besotted third wheel. That’s another plus. There are no malicious one dimensional characters presented here. Neither is anyone unnecessarily victimized or glorified.

While the plot and the novel little situations that the mangaka cooks up are all original and very unprecedented, the dialogue is ordinary in comparison with no groundbreaking wit or dry humour. Cliches are exposed and therefore carefully avoided by Chitose. Her internal monologue is deeply personal, including her initial insecurity and subsequent fixation.

The artwork is a little busy at times, but not so much that it distracts from the characters and their many adorable expressions. Each panel depicts a new and totally credible facial from each of the characters, which is another aspect the manga excels at. Some panels are accompanied by the occasional roses surrounding the couple, but only to point to the maudlin emotion in a satirical sense. Both the leads are appropriately dreamy with long eyelashes and kissable lips!

Do I recommend this to you? Hell yes! This one is for the feminists, coz not only does Chitose set her mind to an apparently impossible task, but she goes about it with the kind of tenacity lacking in the best heroine nowadays. Her frankness is appreciated and applauded and whenever you think she’ll do something, she thumbs her nose at your instinctual response and does just the opposite! For the romantics, what’s more swoon inducing than a bishi being floored by the sincere efforts of the heroine and for everyone else, there’s plenty of comedy and drama to keep you hooked right till the end. A well deserved 9!