Kimikiss - 04 October 28
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Kouichi & Yuumi
So after their first date, which wasn’t really a date considering there were like 10 other people there, their relationship continues to progress at 5 centimeters per hour. He still sucks at talking to her, she still blushes all over the place whenever he does, and it isn’t until the end of the episode that he works up the courage to ask her for some help regarding books and that library stuff she’s good at. Good thing about these kind of relationships – they progress so slowly you never really feel the bumpy ride.
Progression: At a snail’s pace, but at least it seems to be in the right direction
Kouichi & Mao
No more updates on their late-night “gaming” sessions, as she seems to have affirmed her onee-san role and doesn’t seem like she’ll be giving that up anytime soon.
Progression: A complete lockdown cease-fire
Kazuki & Asuka
Our genki soccer chick is getting some major playing time this episode, and she uses it well to flaunt not only her athletic gifts, but her total domination over the weakling known as Kazuki. The two appear to have some history, particularly involving their relative abilities at soccer, but it seems to run deeper than that. How deep? Kazuki has too much else on his mind to remember…
Progression: Until someone drops the bomb, this one isn’t going anywhere
The Imouto Duo
They still seem to be riding that wave of “new friendship” where you’re so happy you made a new friend that’s just like you. Wait until a rift happens! Wait until their love interests overlap! Wait until the blue frog shows up! Well, all three of which will probably never happen – the only clue we really have of anything happening to this plotline is that Naru-chan is one of the girls in the intro lineup of the six girls.
Progression: It’s all going buddy-buddy for now, but if the OP is any indication…
Kai & Mao
Our resident a-hole walks in on Mao cleaning up the millions of love letters that have fallen out of her shoe locker, and offers his stoic apathy for support. And he kinda catches her as she’s wobbling off-balance from not sleeping enough. Then he picks up her bag and takes her to the nurse’s office! Douchebag. Not to mention he asks her out on a date in the last scene – and she accepts!
Progression: No physical action going on here (yet), but this is the only relationship that’s actually moving at a “natural” pace
Kazuki & Eriko
You remember that first girl you ever touched, or the first one who showed half a wink of interest in you? And you couldn’t take your eyes off her in school, couldn’t stop thinking about her, etc. It’s like, you don’t even know her, but some little event triggered off a whole cascade of emotions resembling a crush. I’m sure most of us have experienced something like that, except it was probably around the fifth or sixth grade. How old is Kazuki? Not to mention Eriko probably has the maturity level of a girl much older (or at least tries to), so we’re essentially dealing with a relationship where the guy is obsessing over a girl who not only has an IQ twice as high as his, but also a mental age twice as high as his. She’s clearly mad at him in her own apathetic way, which likely makes her the hardest egg to crack of all the characters in this show, but we all know it’s just a matter of time
Progression: In all seriousness, this is kinda going like the thing between Clannad’s Tomoyo and that blonde guy. Which is to say, nothing will ever happen until he goes completely emo and completely gives in to her.
Other things to watch out for in this ep? Asuka meets the imouto duo, and Mao meets Eriko. Oh, there’s also Kawasumi Ayako sensei as well as Mitsuki (classmate, voiced by Noto Mamiko) getting brushed off by Eriko. She is cooolllddddd.
Preview
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Thoughts
I don’t really care anymore, this show is way too generic and requires me to completely suspend all notion of expectation and common sense to appreciate it. Which I don’t have a problem with, it’s just that normally that attitude is exclusive to shows like Ninomiya-kun which is brainless fun for twenty minutes, not Kimikiss, with a pedigree like H&C and Nodame. It’s like the art style and character designs just don’t fit the depth of the show and its characters.
And then there’s the belief that because this show has TWO male leads, that somehow absolves it from being a harem show. Well, it’s definitely not a traditional harem, and not every girl is after the guy(s)’ nuts, but believe it when I say these girls are complete cookie cutter mashups of the tried and true formula of female character dynamics in a traditional harem. It’s a bit different in that all the storylines seem to be progressing at once (in contrast to the sequential progression of each character in traditional harems), but the almost complete independence each relationship has with each other is astounding. With all the different things going on, you’d think their feeble minds and hearts would explode.
But in the end, it’s not THAT bad and ultimately, it’s all a good way of getting your romance fill of the season. I was looking for something to replace the void left by Nodame, but instead I got an upscale version of SHUFFLE. No, I can’t even say that, as shuffle knew exactly what it was and took every necessary means to accomplish what it set out to do (hot characters, above-average plot), but I’m not sure Kimikiss really has a set identity yet. The writing is just too weak for it to make any sort of impression. Four episodes in, I expect some real meat!
But obviously my expectations are misplaced, so I guess I’ll just have to shift them to where they’re obviously supposed to go.
Kimikiss is the best looking, probably the most serious harem anime ever! The drama isn’t cheapened by fanservice, the characters don’t throw themselves at the male leads’ feet (wait, there’s more than one?!), and the level of depth is much greater here than we’ve seen in any other harem! Each relationship takes on a different feeling and a different pace to give each a unique and substantial feel!
Captions up
Jezreel at 1:36 am on October 28th, 2007
muy buen anime, lo recomiendo mucho, espero los sub en español
Ichigo at 1:40 am on October 28th, 2007
este anime no sirve
junior at 1:40 am on October 28th, 2007
la verdad que este anime es uno de los mejores lol eso no me lo creo ni yo mismo
Genestarwind at 1:44 am on October 28th, 2007
No hablas espanol
kencute321 at 1:54 am on October 28th, 2007
wow… Im starting to luv dis anime more and more!
Rey del Banno at 2:15 am on October 28th, 2007
I get what Ichigo said but have no Idei what junior said but anyway this anime is awsome can’t wait for the subs.
Arc at 2:44 am on October 28th, 2007
You have absolutely no clue what happened in the episode at all, do you?
kadian1364 at 4:16 am on October 28th, 2007
wut??? Four earliest comments on a Random C. blog are in Spanish! Must be some first. Anyway…
Jaalin’s tone and phrasing in the summary and captions leads me to believe he is beginning to get “that bad, sinking feeling” about this show. Tell me now if I should just bail out now and chalk up this season as a win for Dating Sim Adaptions and a loss for Humanity.
Mentar at 4:52 am on October 28th, 2007
Sorry Jaalin, but to put it bluntly, if you seriously mean what you’ve been writing, your antenna needs a full recalibration. You’re totally off.
You say you need “to completely suspend all notion of expectation and common sense to appreciate it”? That from the guy who was and still is raving about the chaotic dramatic mess of School Days, an utterly illogical show devoid of any TRACE of common sense? You compare this show to Ninomiya-kun, a _totally_ different kind of anime which simply follows the usual boob-wiggling harem recipe? You call it an “upscale Shuffle”, the show where every girl and her mother were totally brainlessly trying to get into the male lead’s pants? A show which has no resemblence to Kimikiss at all either?
I mean - it’s fine if you don’t like it, and it’s also fine if it doesn’t meet your expectations, but sorry man - what you were writing was utter nonsense.
The hilarious thing is that deep down inside you even seem to know it. Since your sneering last paragraph is totally over the top on the positive side, but except for the “best” stuff generally correct. And while I may wince in pain every once in a while about the sluggish shyness of the male leads, I in fact do appreciate a romance show in which the girls do NOT for inconceivable reasons try to jump the male lead without a trace of realism and common sense. We had too many shows like that in the past.
Pinky at 5:12 am on October 28th, 2007
i love this series!^_^
KiraTakuto at 5:51 am on October 28th, 2007
Holy crap! Her head is backwards!
http://randomc.animeblogger.net/image/Kimikiss/Kimikiss%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2013.jpg
ewok at 5:57 am on October 28th, 2007
I like improbable pairings like Kazuki X Eriko (and Sunohara X Tomoyo - talk about hitting on a girl…)
seek at 7:17 am on October 28th, 2007
not every girl is after the guy(s)’ nuts
I like how you put that in perspective
Breadcrumbs at 7:20 am on October 28th, 2007
Eh, for me, the already pre-determined couples (judging by the progress in every relationship so far) make this show less interesting. It is still a nice change though, compared to other harem animes, but it is still not outstanding…so far. Only time will tell if drama will unfold as the relationships intertwine at some point (but hopefully not to the extent of turning into a chaotic mess).
gmdeath at 8:09 am on October 28th, 2007
haha waiting for the subs! looks like some relationships are moving, but such a small pace. a great plot twist would be welcome right about now. xp
Wika at 10:24 am on October 28th, 2007
this shows to predictable to be interesting…everyone here knows whats gunna happen who sgunna end up with who yata yata yata..I dont like shows that hold my hand the whole way through….a little shake up goes a long way..but who knows Eriko seems like she might pull something to shake things up a bit we can only pray that happens before the boredom level hits critical mass
kdp at 11:27 am on October 28th, 2007
LOL. I’m not much for romance and harem shows, but I’m loving the reviews and comments. We probably won’t know until at least ep 6 if this really has potential.
Drakron at 11:50 am on October 28th, 2007
I think that Jaalin does not like Harem but I have to agree with Jaalin, this is going nowhere fast … only slice-of-life with harem does not work very well, harem usually have either ecchi and comedy to spice it up because its bland.
Myself:Yourself is better then this despite not being very different due to having a smaller cast, being more focused, giving comedy moments and hinting to drama.
SkyLark at 12:24 pm on October 28th, 2007
http://randomc.animeblogger.net/image/Kimikiss/Kimikiss%20-%2004%20-%20Large%20Preview%2003.jpg
Freaking win. Mao is stealing this show hardcore.
jaalin at 12:27 pm on October 28th, 2007
drak: it’s not that i don’t like harem - on the contrary, i quite like my brainless fun from time to time - it’s just that i don’t take them seriously, whereas this show has the look and pedigree of something that should be taken seriously. when the look doesn’t match the depth of writing… it just feels awkward, doesn’t it?
mentar: that’s just the thing, though - i pointed out some of the differences in the thoughts section, the main one being the fact that the girls don’t wanna jump him. but that’s it. that’s the writers’ lame attempt at trying to make this unlike a harem, but everything else points to it being just that. and that pisses me off.
i look for honesty and focus in anime that i watch - i rave about the dramatic mess of school days because it knew exactly what it was and it took every necessary step to address that. for me it wasn’t so much about what actually happened, it was how it was executed. the pacing, the cinematography, the suspense - all were done to perfection - but kimikiss? it looks like h&c / nodame, it’s got an all-star seiyuu cast, but in the end, what do we have? it’s a classic generic-as-hell harem with an extra male lead and an extra sub-male, plus all the girls aren’t head over heels for the guys (not yet, and at least not all of them). the writing is still just as bad, and the show progresses by moving from relationship to relationship with little to no interaction between them - the only difference this has with some h-game nonsense like kanon is the fact that they are progressing at the same time and at relatively different speeds.
it’s my belief that writers in the harem genre have realized that they have pretty much exhausted the list of moe modes to pull from; every conceivable anime girl has pretty much been done - so the only way to bring something new to the harem table is, as seen in kanon, ninomiya, etc, is to change the male lead. kanon / clannad has the asshole, ninomiya has some uber ninja, whereas the more classic harems have guys who just kinda go with the flow and serve as a home base where all the girls gravitate to. kimikiss has put their own twist on it by adding more male leads, but the level of writing hasn’t changed - each relationship is still generic, poorly conceived, and frankly boring.
but, if i’m able to suspend all expectation, which is what i do for harem anime (expect anything from trashy entertainment and you will get burned), it’s all good. i’m looking forward to the mao and dominatrix eriko doujins!