KimiKiss pure rouge Episode 3 – book mark

The focus of the episode was on our hopeless dopey couple Kouichi and Yuumi, whose relationship has found hope thanks to Mao. The pacing was slow and sweet, leaving much room for the development of the romance between the two. I am really thankful that the anime is diverting from the Kouichi x Yuumi story I read of the novel, where the “development” was really ugh! shallow. With that, do expect a little deep frying stuffed in my thoughts for the episode.

Mao stays true to the promise she made of supporting her little brother (Kouichi) in his love life, to the point of doing almost everything in behalf of making the shy guy get closer to Yuumi. As much as I wanted Kouichi to have done most of what Mao did for him instead, I think it stays faithful to the shy and timid character he showed right from the start. Just imagine being able to stand by the sidelines, being contented with merely observing your crush for a span of one year (or more, if not for Mao). That’s how much he lacks confidence and the courage to even talk to Yuumi. It is after all, but natural for people to feel fear of being rejected, especially for a guy like Kouichi who I believe thinks of himself as a simple boring guy (in the same way as Yuumi doesn’t think of herself as anything special).

I’ve mentioned before that I found it really cute that Yuumi was happy at the simple thought that Kouichi knows her name in the last episode, which seemed to have given her the confidence to approach Kouichi at the start of the episode. But then seeing Mao enter the scene made her somewhat lose that confidence. Fortunately, this misunderstanding was easily resolved within the episode, as Yuumi gets to confront Mao about the issue in their girl-talk session in the restroom. At first I was thinking that it would’ve been better if Kouichi was the one who got to clear this issue up. I was already imagining some scene where Yuumi will see Kouichi and Mao together, run away as she misunderstands the situation… then Kouichi will go running after her and explain that there’s nothing between them and such lol. But well, that’d be an entirely different series altogether. I’m happy that things turned out simple and sweet :3

From what I’ve seen of Yuumi in this episode, I’d say she has even more guts than the supposedly MAN Kouichi. First, she was about to approach Kouichi and talk to him when she saw him going to school, if not for Mao. She also had the courage to ask Mao about the real score between her and Kouichi in the karaoke session. Aside from that, she also doesn’t stutter as much as Kouichi, and is pretty chatty when you get to talk to her. And near the end of the episode, she was even able to tease Kouichi about his embarrassing kuma beam :p She was waiting for Kouichi to make his move all along, conservative as she is. It just so happens that Kouichi isn’t doing his part, so Mao had to step in.

Kouichi and Yuumi should really be thankful that this isn’t your usual harem or shoujo melodrama show, otherwise their love is either doomed, or what happened in this episode could’ve dragged on for more episodes. Seeing Mao do much of the work for our dopey couple made me all the more like her. It’s great that she’s really sharp when it comes to these things, and knows how to handle these situations well. She certainly is a godsend to the lives of these two. I actually thought about the bookmark title, and I believe it’s a metaphor for the significant progress in Yuumi and Kouichi’s relationship shown in this episode, and for whatever development there is to come for this couple. Thanks to Mao, there’s now this bookmark of progress in their book of romance :3 Kouichi really felt this as a moment of triumph, though according to my fellow chef Seleria, he should’ve done a small celebration dance. But for Kouichi to have gathered up all that courage just to ask Yuumi if he can talk to her ^^;;;

Simple and sweet (I wonder how many times I’ve said that already lol). That’s the best way to describe the moments between Kouichi and Yuumi’s in this episode. All I’m really hoping for is for their relationship to blossom, to become deep and even sweeter as they will now get to spend time with each other. If Kouichi still doesn’t change his cowardly ways, I’ll be wishing that a Shugo Chara will come to his life and go chara-change him or something lol.

And please… don’t stick to what happened in the novel, where Kouichi had more of the balls alright (he was the one who cleared up the misunderstanding between him and Mao, was the first one to approach her, talk to her and such), but he also had more of the perv male tendencies as he’s filled with thoughts of kissing Yuumi even before thinking of forming a solid friendship with her. In the course of their relationship, the time they spent together allowed them to know each other on a shallow level still. The simple likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc. meh. They haven’t even gotten much close to each other and yet already kiss =__=

I dislike both Kouichi and Yuumi in the novel. I just speed-read it but I think it was enough for me to see that there wasn’t much depth in their relationship. You also have a more… aggressive and erotic(?) Mao there, who kisses Kouichi on the cheek. Stay away from the novel unless you’re really curious, or want to have a better appreciation for the anime :p Stick to the anime if you can. If things will go well in the anime, I think we’ll see Yuumi and Kouichi talking about deeper things in life like their dreams. I don’t think they even talked about that topic in the novel.

Unlike Kouichi, Kazuki’s hesitation to approach Eriko is more justifiable, considering that he already faced the shock of rejection (well, sort of) last time. I believe it made him realize the truth in Hiiragi’s words, about her being on a completely different level than him. It’ll take a few more episodes before he gathers up the courage to once again talk to Eriko I believe, as I’ve seen something about it being mentioned in the episode 5 summary from Newtype.

Now to talk about Kai and Mao. Kai might just be an additional character in KimiKiss, but he certainly takes the limelight of this show. Only a few minutes was spent on him this time, but it was enough for us to see that he’s an independent guy who certainly knows what he wants in his life, and does everything he can to make that happen. As Mao learns about this fact about Kai, I believe it made her reflect on her own life, especially with the sad expression she showed as she remarks on how admirable he is. I’m thinking this has something to do with her reason for coming back to Japan.

Mao might seem all cheerful and free of problems, but seeing this little change in her expression made me think that there’s something more to Mao than this happy façade. It’s not School Days dark, but it most likely have something to do with her problems… either in family, school, etc. in France. And perhaps has a connection for her change of image, from the geeky Mao to the fashionable and friendly Mao? I’m positive that the anime will deal on that later on

As for the kouhai characters Nana and Narumi… I think they’re still side characters who just provide a little more comic relief to the show ^^;;; Their cheesiness and yuriness… coupled with frogs, is quite disturbing though. Though, from the blushful expression Narumi showed as she greeted Kazuki, I’m thinking it will follow a similar path in the manga, where she’ll look up to him as the admirable sempai. But who knows, she might have a greater role than that.

There are still lots of characters to be focused on, particularly Megumi and Asuka. I don’t know what ending they’re planning for these two. I’ll reserve more of my rantings and thoughts as I get to see the later episodes. Oh, and as a final note (I forgot to mention this last week), I love how the ending theme plays as the episode ends… it really adds much charm to this romance series