The show has symbolic and metaphorical messaging all throughout this anime and it makes you wonder in the beginning anyways if they are just swapping spit or if this is a meaning for making out and just flat out sex at times. Which i feel keeps you interested enough and isn't just an average slice of life romance show.
The show is very character driven and succeeds in some regards. Akira is our main character and he is honestly a generic main character which could be replaced with another generic male lead and the story would be the exact same now this isn't all bad because this show is about adolescents growing up and the weird spit swapping is telling us these kids don't really understand how relationships work like at all. And seeing akiras dreams which can somewhat be seen as wet dreams or him trying to get over his jealousy or guilt or heartache.
Which brings us to mikoto the main girl love interest to mikoto who is very mysterious and makes you believe she has all the answers to relationships but she's just as clueless as akira. The first 3 episodes kind of make you feel like she could be a alien and maybe that's cause she had a little toy UFO or that she spits up 20 gallons of spit if she gets excited… like wtf. She's very shy and basically the way she conveys her emotions is through giving people her spit which in turn lets them feel what she is feeling at that time. Again it's very weird but on a level it works for this show all the way through and adds to her opening up towards the end of the show. And i just dont mean those pantie scissors. I felt as if there was another reason why she wasn't open with people but it was never really addressed. Her not opening up and the show show not wanting to move forward with their relationship at times makes the pacing kind of slow and hard to get through at times when in turn it also a somewhat episodic show.
The show really tries to focus just on the main 2 characters which in turn leads to a bad supporting cast. The best of the supporting cast is okay who is mikoto's best friend and helps her with her relationships and when i say help i really mean mess it up half time which in turn has her keeping the episodes more lively and interesting at times. Also through the metaphor of spit it's unclear if her and mikoto had lesbian experiences together or not. Akiras best friend is pretty generic and doesn't add much to the plot and the sister of akira also is just a generic sister.
Music is really repetitive but isnt bad its just kind of generic and unforgettable and the art and animation are good but nothing special honestly. I also watched this show in English and the 2 main characters were done pretty well while the rest of the cast varies from annoying to ok to flat out garbage.
The score i would give this anime is a 6.5
though most of the show is a generic romance What i think stands out is that you can look at the spit swapping as a straightforward kind of thing or you can look deeper and see what this show is trying to imply like mikoto and okas lesbian experiences or mikoto taking off her clothes and giving her “spit” to akira if you get what i mean. And this sometimes gets in the way of character development and just uses characters as a conduit to advance the themes of the show. But leads to a pretty good ending for the show.
If you're looking for recommendations of shows like this then check out B gata H kei it has ecchi stuff and has a pretty funny plot about a girl who want to have sex a lot. And also Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! It has a mysterious girl with scissors and about adolescents growing up.
