This is Erokawaii.

Some of you are probably wondering why many people, especially the KimiKiss game fans, hate the anime so much. I think the main reason behind this is the lack of ecchiness, or rather, the erokawaii (erotic and cute) factor that many of the fans liked in the game/manga/novel/etc. I briefly mentioned some of the differences I’ve seen based on the first episode, but I wasn’t able to tackle the in-depth changes they made. So now, allow me to delve into these differences. I’ll be deep frying Eriko, Asuka and Mao in this segment (and perhaps bash Kouichi in the process ^^;;) Oh, and I think I’m going to provide a little spoiler for Mitsuki as well. I am basing my claims on the manga and the novels, which I assume is faithful to the game adaptation. Do correct me if I’m wrong in any way.

Whether you’re going to hate or like the anime after this, it’s all up to you. I think you have to play the game and be engrossed in its erokawaiiness (like “KimiKiss won’t be KimiKiss without the ecchi factor!” kind of thing) before you’ll get to hate the anime though. I believe you guys already know my standpoint regarding this, if you’ve read most of my episode reviews. Do take note that I’m not quite the type who delights much in fanservice, and fanservice alone. Just so you know my bias

Another word of warning, this is quite a LENGTHY post. Unless you’ve already been used to my loooong posts :p

On Eriko

From what I read, it seems that Eriko isn’t really as cold as she was shown to be in the anime. She is distant and rebellious, but she is pretty chatty and playful, and smiles (sarcastically) when she spouts her sarcastic remarks. She exudes an aura of mystery, but this seems to have been intensified in the anime, since she was turned into a worse ice princess.

The Eriko x Kouichi Route

Spoilers abound, so beware

Eriko and Kouichi supposedly met on the rooftop, and she was in a pretty dangerous situation as she was standing on top of the water tank there while throwing the paper planes. It seems that she just wanted to experience thrill in doing something, because she’s bored. Kouichi reprimands her for causing people like him to worry (since she could’ve easily jumped down from the rooftop if she wanted to), and Eriko agrees to tell Kouichi about herself, in return for the trouble she caused. They have a little interview chit-chat, and Kouichi finds that she doesn’t quite have the least bit interest in club activities, manga and games, movies, etc. What sparked her interest was his question about having experienced a kiss, which led to the kissing scene similar to what happened in the anime.

Eriko finds this experiment boring, and Kouichi became unsettled that she found that kiss as a failure. ouch to his manliness. They bump into each other in school sometime after the kiss incident, and Kouichi was happy at the fact that Eriko remembered his name. Then he starts imagining how Eriko really felt during that kiss they had. Kouichi suddenly realizes that Eriko probably did that kiss with him just to kill time, and that she probably did it with someone else. He brushes off these negative thoughts and thinks about how that kiss was most likely Eriko’s first and he starts on this crusade to get to know Eriko better. Kouchi says that he fell in love with Eriko because of that kiss. Meh. o__O

So, he starts following Eriko around… looked for her like Kazuki did in the anime, and finds her in the preparation room, the “first kiss” setting in the anime I believe. Eriko was eating potatoes and once again experiments by passing some potatoes to Kazuki mouth-to-mouth. It ends up with a kiss, and Eriko still finds it a failure, much to Kouchi’s dismay. =___=

A few days after, Kouichi finds Eriko in the preparation room again, and accompanies Eriko in her experiment adventures~ And yeah, you guessed it right. It’s yet another kiss experiment! x__x Now Eriko becomes curious as to what a kiss smothered with ketchup flavor would turn out like if Kouichi brushes his teeth first o__O Eriko was about to get on with the kiss, but Kouichi tells her to think of the mood first. So… Eriko holds his hand, Kouichi wasn’t able to restrain himself and embraces her tightly, then kisses her. Since Eriko is so adventurous, she tries a French kiss this time, and Kouichi felt as though she’s searching for something with that tongue T___T After the kiss, Eriko advises Kouichi to learn how to be better kisser, so yeah… he says he’ll do his best in finding the best way of kissing with a tongue. Whatever. x__x

Kouichi seeks Yuumi’s help, by having her recommend romance novels for his sister to read. Kouichi had another friendly conversation with Yuumi sometime after, and some accident leads him to kissing her. But, the impact of Eriko’s kiss was greater of course, so he easily forgets that kiss with Yuumi. Kouichi happens to read some of Nana’s books about kissing and finds out that the feelings of the people involve play a great role in the overall feel-good effect of the kiss. And what do you know, the book / magazine even have illustrations on the kiss with tongue techniques o__O So deep in his sleep, Kouchi dreams of kissing… and the next day comes another kissing experiment session with Eriko, with some ice this time. Argh! Enough with the kissing!!!

Oh, and that’s not all. Since after that kiss with ice, the experiment is still a failure, Mao-neechan decides to help out Kouichi in becoming a good kisser, so she becomes his kissing practice mate. Oh brother. They have some French kiss session in the nurse’s office, due to Mao’s insistence and Kouichi’s lack of resisting power. Mao insists to have a second round of kissing for more practice, but stops as Eriko arrives at the the nurse’s office in time to witness the indecent situation Kouichi and Mao are in. Eriko finds that Kouchi is doing quite some experiments on his own as well. He tries his best to explain that Mao is just his childhood friend (yeah, a childhood friend who could probably go to the extent of becoming his sex friend =__=). And due to some sudden turn of events, Kouichi finds out Eriko’s weaknesses, she gets touched by his sweetness blah blah blah. I can’t believe I spent much time writing all this crap. =__=

The latter part of the story where Kouichi gets to see the other side Eriko is cute and romantic though. I believe it’s also where the anime is headed (perhaps the anime will be even deeper), so I won’t be mentioning much about that first :3 The kiss was just… really overused in this novel that it turned out so lame =__= I don’t think there’s this much kissing scene in the game, as I’ve seen someone point out.

On Asuka

As I’ve mentioned in my episode 4 post, Asuka seems to be sweeter and less boyish in the manga (and probably in the game?), which will probably be made clear by some illustrated explanation.

The Kouichi x Asuka Route

Asuka is not Kouichi’s (and Kazuki’s) classmate in the manga. Asuka and Kouchi supposedly met by chance, when she accidentally hit him with a soccer ball she was practicing with on her way home. Seeing how Kouichi was able to handle the pass she did, she asks him to be his practice mate. Just like that ^^;; Kouichi of course is more than happy since he gets to spend time with a hottie! The attraction is clear right from the start. I still find the further developments cute though :3

From what we’ve seen in the anime, we can really say that Asuka is boyish, and most likely gets along well with the guys in the team. She’s also admired by girls, because of her l33t skillz in soccer and swimming (as far as the manga is concerned). In the anime, Kazuki even insulted her boyishness and the fact that she attracts girls rather than guys ^^;;;

Now for some spoilerish info on Asuka. I’ve also mentioned a little about this in the animesuki forum, but here goes~ I enclosed them in spoiler tags, but I URGE you to look at it lol.

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On Mao

The original Mao might be best described as erokawaii indeed. I think the manga, as with the Asuka and Mitsuki arcs, was really made out to be erokawaii. People who have read the manga (or perhaps played the game? if Mao is also more aggressive and erotic there) can certainly attest to this. Mao certainly reeks of fanservice, as you can see from that picture above. She is certainly more aggressive and ecchi in the manga, because you really see her initiating the seduction and the not-so-innocent skinship with Kouichi.

The Kouichi x Mao Route

Again, beware of possible spoilers, if the anime decides to use some of these as some plot device later on.

As the semester starts, Kouichi sees Mao in her drastic new image and thus becomes hesitant to get all friendly with her like he used to (way back the childhood days~). Because of that shyness, Mao decides to make the first move in bringing back the old friendly relationship they have, by joining him in lunch where she asks him about his love life, particularly having experienced a kiss. She sees that Kouichi is a poor guy who has never been kissed, so she helps him experience it. And what do you know… Mao certainly goes all out in helping Kouichi as she volunteers her lips for the said tutorial. Good thing Kouichi has a bit of restraint, as he is too shy to kiss his Mao-neechan on the lips. So what Mao does, is lend him her knees for kissing instead. After which Kouichi seems to have been stirred up by the mood and wants to kiss Mao on the lips already =__=

Since Kouichi refused her earlier offer for that kiss, Mao makes him suffer a little, by postponing the lips to lips. But then Mao tells Kouichi there’s nothing to be sad about it since he’ll make a MAN out of him, shape him up to become someone like her type of guy. So here’s where the “Mao Check” lessons start, with Mao’s tips on how Kouichi will become that kind of guy.

Kouichi walks home together with Mao, where they get to reminisce things in the past, particularly how Mao used to be a bully. She really treasures those childhood days, and you see a smile painted on her face. Kouichi stares at her, then Mao teases him for thinking about kissing her. Kouichi resists, but Mao gives her advice, that a guy should be aggressive at times like this, so they kiss.

I’m going to do a little fast-forwarding, and move to the chapter where Nana invites Mao to spend the night at their house (where she and Nana also have a yuri-ish session as Mao teaches her how to do a French kiss, in front of Kouichi ^^;;). In the anime, you see that everything between Mao and Kouichi is platonic. The most intimate thing we see them do is play the racing game together :p In the manga, and most likely in the game, things doesn’t stay as innocent because of Mao’s seductiveness. She pays Kouichi a visit and sneaks into his bed, telling him that it’s not good to pretend to be asleep (with some body language) >__< Kouichi takes a good look at Mao who is now right in front of him on the bed, then she gives him a friendly advice of not staring at girls like that =__= After the ecchiness subsides, Kouichi thinks of going to the beach together, and Mao happily agrees. And Kouichi asks for another kiss before heading to sleep. can’t blame him though.

And they head to the beach~ of course it goes without saying that they have some sweet little ecchi time together, thanks to Mao.

I really like what Kouichi said after the beach scene though. That despite how sexy and beautiful Mao has become, he still prefers the geeky looking Mao with glasses.

Obviously, after all that, there’s no way Kouichi is going to let go of Mao. So despite how Mao went all emo and ended the “Mao Check” lessons upon seeing how Kouichi has become quite a swell guy (he seemed to have become “popular” to the kouhais, thanks to his sister Nana), Kouichi confesses his true feelings of love for his Mao-neechan~ Then before the Mao arc ended, we find out that the reason why she stopped using her glasses is because Kouichi once called her a “meganezaru” back when they were kids (it’s a tarsier, the little monkey with BIG eyes, an animal local to our country. Yay~ love your own xD). He just blurted it out by impulse because of the insult he got from his playmates, that he’s still playing with a girl despite his age. That incident is also what made Mao decide to become beautiful, so that one day she’ll win Kouichi’s heart~ <3

On Mitsuki and Kai

A sudden thought just struck me… by looking at the 2ch threads with people who want Mao to be paired up with Kouichi, and Kai with Mitsuki instead. There is quite a possibility that twists might happen in the pairings at this point, since there are still girls like Mitsuki (and even Megumi) who might just have a more significant role later on. I was particularly thinking of the Kai x Mitsuki possibility, considering that they are both musicians. Mitsuki is really good in piano, aside from being a ballerina. I actually want the Kai x Mao pairing… but what if, some problem arises in their relationship because of some music language barriers. Then who knows, Mitsuki might come into play o__o These are just speculations, but the music angle just made me think of this possibility… which sort of reminded me of Kin-iro no Corda lol.