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.
