Anyway, J.C. Staff appears to have paid the price in terms of DVD sales (apparently, vol. 1 didn’t even place in the top 100 for anime discs. Since ~pure rouge~ is 25 episodes long, they’ll bleed money), so it’s a situation gone very wrong.

As an anime fan, it’s frustrating to see bold, quality work go to waste. This type of failure only reinforces a producer’s inclination to stick with normal, highly marketable stuff. That even Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro na -Crescent Love- can sell better is messed up.

That being said, I think the changes are for the better as well. If all the ladies are too similar, it would be a boring watch for me.

but in any case, I really like the dimension they’ve added to KimiKiss, as it’s not just some crappy game adaptation like other ones out there, albeit being shoujo-ey

@Mike: agreed ^^ (I think the fact that I am able to post long commentaries and babbles on the episode is one evidence of that xD)

Others examples of such major changes where fans were uninformed and thus unaccepted were Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2 and recently Da Capo II where they chose to focus on boring and/or annoying characters… It’s good that producers are trying to go for some originality but it will carry risks that they should discuss with their fanbase.

Having said that I do think they did the right thing with KimiKiss, if all the girls were moe and sweet (read: one dimensional) the show would have been boring. Ditto if there was only one main guy all the girls were falling for. It’s just that the changes they made to the girls border on character assasination (which, according to game players is the case). If the producers had announced these changes before the show started airing fans could have prepared themselves. Would some have outright turned away? perhaps but I think majority would still have tried it; with amore open mind I might add.

Sorry for the long post

From what I can remember, I planned this follow-up post when I saw the points made by some 2ch people way back early December. Though it wasn’t until last week that I finally decided to give this post a “go!”, after seeing the game videos in youtube. I had to rack my brain to recall the previous discussions in the 2ch threads because they’re no longer available @__@ I guess it took me weeks? Though it’s pretty much incremental, as more ideas kicked in, with the anime episodes going on, hand-in-hand with the slow-paced manga.

I wanted to play the game myself, when the anime started, but it’s not until recently that I managed to get my hands on that PS2 game. If I played it and loved the characters for what they were in the game, perhaps I’d be complaining like the rest of the [close-minded] fans too lol.

It’s great that the changes made by Kasai to the characters are reasonable, and all for the sake of having a solidly woven romance story, which is why I don’t have much qualms regarding his decision, despite the little glitches and “plotholes” it caused

From what I can make of the YouTube videos, I have to agree that Kasai made the alterations for the better. As much as I’d like to have deredere Eriko and moe Asuka, the impression I got from watching them talk was “generic” — as far as this genre goes, see one you’ve seen them all. The anime presents a more realistic side not present in the source, and I’m glad that happened. God knows I’d have not lasted that long if it were that faithful to the game.

I’m also guessing that the staff’s silence would be something that comes with looking at a long history of eroge/v.novel/dating sim adaptations and fan reactions — no matter who you try to please, ultimately there’s going to be someone left unsatisfied. Better please a few than try to pander to everyone, I presume? So they thought they’d save themselves the bother by not talking to the understandably livid fanbase.

The fuss that the fans have kicked up isn’t surprising, though, I mean, it’s the adaptation v.s. source argument all over again, and it’s the same no matter where you go or what series it is. I’ve been victim to this myself with the Claymore adaptation last Spring, and it’s really annoying to say the least to see a work of such magnitude be reduced so pathetically towards the end. kimikiss had more fundamental changes than that, in any case, and I’m doubtful that I’d be as level-headed as I was now had I played the game beforehand, but you get the idea.

Hope to see more posts like this in the future from you, since it would be great to be updated on the fans’ reaction in Japan whenever possible. (: Keep up the good work!