Itazura na kiss Anime review

Synonyms: Naughty Kiss, Teasing Kiss, Mischievous Kiss, Itazurana Kiss, It Started With A Kiss, Playful kiss

Type: TV

Episodes: 25

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 4, 2008 to Sep 27, 2008

Producers: Bandai Visual, TMS Entertainment, Trinity Sound

Genres: Comedy, Romance, Shoujo

Duration: 24 min. per episode

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Shoujo romance can be a bit of an annoying genre for me. First it is dominated by bishounen love interests who often look more like girls and usually have aloof or abrasive personalities that make you wonder why the heroine fell in love with them in the first place. While at first glance, Itazura na Kiss may not seem to be any different (though with the relieving lack of bishies) it evolved before my very eyes into the most heartwarming romance I have seen to date. This Anime is so good that there ia a TV series both in Japanese and Korean based on the series, also follow the anime episode by episode.

The plot for Itazura na Kiss is no different than your standard shoujo romance. A plain and stupid, but cute girl Kotoko has fallen in love and secretly pined for school idol and uber smart Naoki Irie. She finally gathers to courage to write him a love confession letter but he flatly refuses to even accept or let alone read it stating that he doesn’t like "stupid" girls. Of course in a plot twist that can only happen in shoujo, Kotoko's house is destroyed due to faulty construction and she and her father are forced to move in with his old friend, who just happens to be Naoki's father! Hilarity and hijinks ensue.

Despite the fairly non groundbreaking premise the story remains quite funny. Kotoko tries desperately to get her feelings across despite Naoki being cold, uninterested, and mean to her. Though some of it walks to line of being unforgivable to my feminist brain, it never has some of the cruel or absolutely mean spirited feeling as I am accustomed to seeing in this genre. But what really sets Itazura's story apart is the eventual payoff to the romance. Yes I know this is going to be a shocking spoiler, but Kotoko and Naoki end up together! Omigosh really! Before some of you get upset at me for revealing that, but thats expected right?

What we get in Itazura is something we almost never see in romance; the AFTER in they lived happily ever after. Most romances evolve over the space of at most a year or two where in Itazura the years pass as we see our couple evolve and move on to each new stage of their life. The formulaic romance plot evolves into a bit of a slice of life over the last half of the series. But what is truly beautiful is seeing the characters and even the supporting characters grow and fine love and happiness themselves. It’s quite refreshing to see the spurned love rivals actually can be happy and not spend their lives pining away for an unattainable love. My only real gripe with this is that the extra romances themselves play out too similarly to the main storyline. I mean come on everyone does not fall in love the same way you know!

Kotoko makes for a very satisfying shoujo heroine. She has all the attributes that one would expect. She is cute but not overly beautiful, ditzy and clumsy, and not very bright. What she lacks in intelligence she makes up for in determination, hard work, and a singular focus on getting her man. This is where Itazura differs from a lot of shoujo. Our ordinary girl is not surrounded by a harem of pretty boys and while others vie for her love, too her credit her feelings for Naoki never waver. However as loveable and likeable as Kotoko is, you can’t help but wonder what it is she sees in Naoki who is so cold and mean to her. This is my main gripe usually with shoujo as I think it sets a bit of a bad role model for girls who thinks is ok to put up with this kind of thing. Even though she succeeds and manages to get her well deserved reward, you have to wonder why she bothered with him in the first place. Additionally, despite her pursuit of her man there is little else of substance about her. You don’t feel like she has any real dreams of her own beyond her relationship with Naoki. It also annoyed me a bit that even after becoming intimate she still referred to him as Irie-kun. All that being said, seeing Kotoko grow up and experience all the joy and happiness life has to offer brought a smile to my face and a few tears.

Our stoic and cold hearted love interest Naoki certainly isn’t the kind of guy I would fall for, but he has all of the attributes that young girls dream about. He is handsome (yet thankfully not a bishie), smart, the son of a company president, and of course admired by women and men alike. His is cold and aloof to everyone and while they at times touch on why this is they sadly never develop this part of his personality very well. He does make a lot of growth in his character over the course of the series, though annoyingly he often reverts back to his old ways in the following episode. But by the end of the series you feel as though he has become an acceptable human being. And to think it only took Kotoko 10 years to get that out of him!

Any romance would not be complete without the supporting cast of "cockblockers". There always has to be girls and boys who spring out of the woodwork to try and derail our leads happy romance. Itazura is no different however thankfully we get a cast of supporting characters who break the mold a bit and never seem to outstay their welcome and know when to move on when they have been defeated. There are no real villains in the cast and you will end up liking every one of them and feel all the more happy when they find loves of their own.

Every heroine needs a cast of helpful supporters encourages her romantic struggle. The series has some good ones, the biggest cheerleader and most humorous being Naoki's own mother who actively supports Kotoko in wooing her son, scolds him when he is mean to her, and loves her as her own daughter. It is quite sweet. The cast gets quite large towards the end and sadly some favorites tend to fade away into obscurity but you don’t miss them too much because they all are so wonderful to watch.

The artwork and animation is quite good. As I mentioned most shoujo series seem to revolve around bishie male characters which we do not get in this series. All the guys look like men, at least the ones that are supposed to be manly. There is some inconsistency at times with the look overall, particularly Kotoko who sometimes looks a bit too childish. The art itself is a bit plain too, by design but the settings, backgrounds, color palette, and character designs are not going to really blow anyone away. The music score is outstanding however. I really loved the EN theme and the performance from Kotoko seiyuu Nana Mizuki who is a favorite of mine and is probably best known as the voice of Fate from Nanoha.

Itazuka na Kiss comes close to receiving a perfect score. From a pure enjoyment standpoint alone it surpasses it. This series rivals my love for series with developed post confession romances such as Clannad. While is has a few minor annoyances overall this is the best and most enjoyable romance series I have seen. If your love your romance that’s lite on the tragedy and gives you a heartwarming happy ending then this should be at the very top of your list.

Anime opening titles:

ef - a tale of melodies Anime review

English: ef - a tale of melodies

Synonyms: ef - a tale of memories second season

Type: TV

Episodes: 12 + 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 6, 2008 to Dec 22, 2008

Producers: Shaft, Sentai FilmworksL

Genres: Mystery, Drama, Romance, Seinen

Duration: 24 min. per episode

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Well, ef - a tale of melodies is sequel of ef - a tale of memories.

I dint watch ef - a tale of memories. I directly started with tale of memories. I couldn't follow at the beginning because there was a huge network of relationships. So i suggest you to start with memories. I know it will be as amazing as melodies because i can surely say  that watching "ef- a tale of melodies" is not like watching a regular anime, but more like an artistic painting come to life. It really is a unique experience!

And the violin in the anime will definitely leave you in awe.

In a story set years in the past, Himura Yuu is a studious and diligent young man intent solely on maintaining his top academic position at Otowa Academy. One day, he meets a mysterious girl named Amamiya Yuuko, who, to his surprise, recognizes him. Memories of a distant childhood, memories rather left forgotten...meeting Yuuko again will force Yuu to confront the regrets and sorrows of their collective pasts and presents.

In the present, Kuze Shuuichi may seem like a womanizer, but upon closer inspection, is a man who would rather be left alone. Hayama Mizuki, however, is not the type of girl who would let him be, especially after hearing the beautiful sounds of his violin performance. As Mizuki attempts to become closer to him, Kuze attempts to push her away - the tale of their budding relationship is darkened with undertones of an imminent tragedy.

The story is not far away from being a masterpiece in my opinion. It was a lot times better than the story of the prequel "Ef - A Tale of Memories" due to the mysteric way of presenting real circumstances in everyday's life. A person who is condemned to die early and his desperate struggle to find a 'conclusion' for his life in order to experience a kind of fulfillment; and another person who has to reflect on his actions he made out of desperation and fear, which finally led to something even worse.. that is the kind of story I would definitely call a true drama. From the beginning up until the end there's no time to release one's mind. Just like in the prequel the recipient get bombed with extremely well reasoned dialogues, creating a thick and heavy atmosphere and encourage the viewer to reflect on the behavior and actions of the protagonists.

As it can be assumed when looking at the title, in "Ef - A Tale of Melodies" the sound/music plays a very important role. In my subjective interpretation, those "Melodies" are first based only on music, later the whole story building (including the end) gives this "Tale of Melodies" a new meaning, some kind of "life melody" with images as well as music. But this doesn't concern at this point.

The melancholic music of this anime, primarily composed by Tenmon is perfectly fitting into the story and underlines the atmosphere created by the plot. The fact that Kuze is musician and plays his violine makes me feel of the music as a firmly integrated part within the story - and that makes it even more fitting.

The opening is not one of my favorites, but that's not important at all. The ending music changes from episode to episode making the anime appear more dynamic. Something I've rarely seen before.

Characters, what do I have to say? The protagonists both totally convinced me in their train of thought, in their actions and behavior - you can mean that the author himself experienced these cruel situations - and especially in their appearance. Kuze and Yuu are two very different human beings, both struggeling.. Yuu with his dreadful past, Kuze with his fearsome future. Both try to find a way out of desperation, but they have to learn that it's not possible to solve one's problems that easily. While Kuze slowly abandons everything around him, Yuu seems absent from the world itself unless he meets Yuuko. Remember, those two storylines take place in different times - Yuu's story in the past, Kuze's story in the present of the prequel "Ef - A Tale of Memories".

The development of those two characters influenced by feelings from other people and its outcome of finding strength and courage is the thing that makes me consider this anime as something 'real'.

"Miracles don't exist in this world. There are only coincidences, inevitabilities, and actions that people take. I'll just have to make this miracle into an inevitability."

Well, it's not something new at all, but it's just perfectly shown in this anime.

The side characters also play a very good role and round the whole thing up.

This anime is indeed a really great work of art. With some simple means it creates a terrific atmosphere which is absolutely necessary for this kind of story. The drawing is well-done, the animation authentic (especially the wind flowing through the hair and partially the movements), and the character design also really good. But the fact that makes this anime to something very special regarding the arts is the style of blending the images, using many different colors and shapes, implementing words and sentences from romanian languages and telling a parallel story besides the animation's story by using just these technical means. At this point it's pretty sad that some of those screens fade too fast so that the viewer has to pause the video in order to read what's written on the screen (and especially to think about the relation to the story).

Anime opening titles:

Hapi Mari Manga review

Warning: Recommended readers: 18 + as the manga is little smutty

Type: Manga

Volumes: Unknown

Chapters: Unknown

Status: Publishing

Published: Jan 8, 2009 to ?

Genres: Comedy, Romance, Josei

Authors: Enjouji, Maki (Story & Art)

Serialization: Petit Comic

Hapi Mari wasn’t a manga I wanted to read at first. I was bored and decided to just click on one random title in the romance section. Hapi Mari is basically about the dysfunctional marital life between Chiwa, an office lady, and Hokuto, the seemingly cold and socially aloof president of the company she works for. What’s that you say? The concept of Office lady plus mean cold guy has been done? Well, yes, it has been done, but Hapi Mari feels terribly refreshing. , I enjoyed how the author made the development of their relationship very realistic. 

Are you sick and tired of the usual typical plotlines, ie, seeing silly little high school girls with big buggy eyes and ridiculous pouty mouths who do nothing but worry over boys with great teeth and great hair who don’t give two shits about them?????

If you are, then look no further, because I bring to you in this review, Hapi Mari by Enjouji Maki!

Men - they're the root of Takanashi Chiwa's problems, which is why she never had the time nor the opportunity to have a boyfriend in her entire life. A full-time office lady and a part-time hostess, she works night and day to pay off her dad's debt from his failed business. One night at her part-time job, a high-class customer has her fired. Then the next day, she's called in to see the president - whom she had never even seen before in the office - only to find out she's to marry him! But what kind of guy is Mamiya Hokuto anyway? Will he become one of Chiwa's problems, or will he save her from them? And will this marriage even last?! 

Their marriage was a sham and Hokuto only wants to keep his power in the company while Chiwa wants to pay off her father’s debts. Her father’s business failed and the mother left, so Chiwa works as a host. Before you yawn and go ‘Oh no not another Ouran High School Host Club’, you only see Chiwa as a host for roughly two manga panels before

Hokuto proposes they get married. She dumps the job (as any normal person would do – oh wait, no, she got fired, sorry. But she’s never seen working at another host club so she must’ve turned over a new leaf. Hurray!). Anyway, the reason Chiwa was picked was because Hokuto’s grandpa knew her gran, who looked after him for some while (or summthing like that), and he wanted to repay the favour. At the same time, Chiwa could still work for the company and work off her father’s debts.

Well…Chiwa measures the odds… it seems ok, no strings attached… no compromises really, and Hokuto seems ok with it. Speaking about Hokuto… he seems sensible (or so she thought) so the two agree to the marriage. Then the problems come; Chiwa realises Hokuto is this giant tsundere. He’s hot as hell, but still acts like a big pompous ass to her half of the time.

Unfortunately, I’ve only Few. For so little, a lot goes on in every one. Unlike most manga heroines of shoujo, Chiwa is not a whiny little git and is reasonable, selfless and logical. She actually thinks ahead of things and think through.

Hokuto is a bit of a turd nearer the start, but as you read on, you realise he is actually quite the giant softie but too stubborn to show it. He is also husband material.

My god. After you read this, you will seriously wish your future husband, should be like Hokuto (but only when he’s nice!).

I gotta say. I like this this story. The art was fine - it is clean, the expressions are great, and I can follow who is saying what! More importantly though, I like the two main characters.

It isn't particularly deep, and so far, I really like where it is going. It is a little bit smutty, and I suspect that it may get a bit smuttier in the future, but in way that is part of its charm. Ultimately, this is a romantic comedy. I have only read the first three volumes (as it is all I could find. Woe!), but it has been humerous and well paced. Speaking of pace - it is fast paced! gets to the point quickly (they are married in the first chapter!). Despite the lightness of it all, it is quite moving in parts (Chiwa wears her heart on her sleeve) and it is quite sexy in places too!

It is light, and sweet, and I can't wait for it to continue!