I say fairly good since while it started off strong with excellent episodes I do feel the series had a significant dip in the middle, luckily the final episodes picked up the pace again in a positive direction.
What I enjoyed most was although the series had comedic elements and is based on an eroge, it's not a real harem series as most harem series go, since the "Kimikiss ~Pure Rouge~" anime series focused on multiple males, females and their different pairings (not all the female characters are pursuing the same male character).
The most interesting characters in the series were undoubtably the supporting characters. While the main characters Kouichi, Mao and Yuumi were nice and likeable, especially Kouichi and Mao got stuck in stereotype character writing and didn't see much significant development.
I can fathom it's possible -perhaps likely- for people to be in a more retracted, nearly depressed state for quite some time while in a relationship, it didn't help the overall plot arc that both Mao and Kouichi were in this state for nearly 10 episodes, just so they could resolve their story arc in the final episode. It felt as if it dragged on too long.
By far the most interesting characters and pairing for me in "Kimikiss ~Pure Rouge~" were Kazuki and Futami, their characterizations seemed more realistic and their development, both individually and as a couple was more involving. I quickly developed a personal preference for their plot arc and pairing and was glad to see it come to fruition.
I thoroughly enjoyed many scenes involving Kazuki and Futami, especially the one where Kazuki showed up at Futami's door, her reactions were so endearing. Not only was it a good scene but several such scenes between them showed how they both changed throughout the series, how they grew as individuals and also grew towards each other.
Futami may certainly be a genius with a very high IQ, even though she's highly intelligent, she hardly knows herself and her own emotions, seeing her discovering them, acknowledging them and finally accept them was nice. Kazuki often said he's just dumb but he was mostly half-hearted, not really motivated or focused, realizing his feelings and what Futami meant for him caused him to change in a positive way.
The other girl vying for Kazuki's affection, Asuka, didn't get to be with him but at least her character did see some development as she was able to move on and grow from the experience, the same goes for Yuumi, who seems to be the only one who really evolved from the plot arc with Kouichi and Mao.
Megumi and Hiiragi's final episode pairing did seem a bit thrown in and sudden, with the 24 episode run of "Kimikiss ~Pure Rouge~" I'm sure there was time to introduce that plot arc earlier and flesh it out a bit more.
A few characters ended up not involved in any romantic or other significant plot arc so one could wonder why they were introduced and given so much screen time, since for some their impact on the main plot arcs was insignificant. This goes especially for Narumi and Nana, who seemed to only provide the cast with another location through the udon restaurant run by Narumi's uncle and as comedic relief with their mascot frogs (which should really have been scratched as they got annoying quite fast).
Throughout the series the animation by JC Staff was good (it suffered here and there but this happens with most series), all the characters were well rendered, recognizable and realistically drawn, especially the hairstyles and -colours were well done (realistic shades of brown, black, red ).
Striking for "Kimikiss ~Pure Rouge~" was how feminine all the girls looked, whether the more attractive, cute or sensual type, they always looked very feminine without the designers resorting to impossibly proportioned character artistry.
I'm glad I picked up this series, it quickly grew on me and was a welcome change from the more generic harem comedies we see each season (which can still be enjoyable as well).
To people looking for a more serious romantic series that isn't too stereotypical nor overly dramatic, I will certainly recommend they watch "Kimikiss ~Pure Rouge~".
