If you will notice, I changed the title of this post, spiced it up a bit, instead of the boring monotonic version I’ve been using for the past KimiKiss episodes. For one, I think this’ll spark up more readership, an initial indicator that I am not merely blogging a descriptive episodic post on the series, to separate myself from the rest of the people doing mass-market episodic blogging, as bateszi puts it.

A little bit of overall thoughts on KimiKiss thus far…

I haven’t watched the other romance offerings of the fall season to proclaim KimiKiss to be the most superior of them, but it is undeniably one of the best. KimiKiss started out as nothing else but a simple tale of high school romance, which initially attracted viewers with its non-conformance to typical harem romance stereotypes. Having read the manga and the novel beforehand, I was able to appreciate much of the changes made to the show, with its additional characters, and “plot” changes. Described as a vanilla show by most people, with the lack of fanservice or moe spice we usually see, it managed to stand out despite its simplicity. We’re already halfway through the series and yet we’re still at the edge of our seats, wondering who will end up with whom as the series draws to a close. “Unpredictably predictable”, as CCYoshi puts it, is but apt to describe this.

This unpredictability is one of the aspects which compelled me to analyze the relationships in KimiKiss, with the coming of each episode. It’s much to my surprise that I never seem to run out of things to say for this series, for the characters and the relationships involved. To those who have joined me in this ride, you can see how my perceptions of the characters have changed as the series went on, how Mao has especially grown on me despite my initial apprehension for her. I think I also owe much of that to Mike of Anime Diet, with his post in defense of Mao. With Owen’s response to my previous post in defense of Eriko on the other hand, I realized how I became too logical in analyzing her development, as I confined myself in this sandbox of “reality” which limited by understanding and open-mindedness.

In all this, I found all the characters of KimiKiss endearing, real as they are portrayed to be. Despite my biases for certain characters and couples I’m rooting for, I can honestly say that I’ll be happy with whatever outcome the series will have. Though of course biases will still be present, if that’s not evident enough in my “shipping”.

KimiKiss have already given me much; not necessarily life-changing, but thought-provoking ideas and circumstances which allowed me to grow as a person. I want to broaden my perspectives, which is why I want to stand by this show until the end. It’s also for this same reason that I would all the more appreciate comments from my readers, a reality-check of some sort, to see whether people agree or disagree with whatever I’m posting here.

The initial title I had for this post is “KimiKiss Episode 14 – "Don’t Promise Me Forever…"”, and I wonder what difference this change in the post title made caused. Would you have most likely ignored this post with that title? I’m just curious…

Before you go and respond to this post, do note that I have yet to include my thoughts on episode 15 in this post. Also, for now, this post has no eyecandies, and I wonder if that affects your willingness to read my usual “tl;dr” posts.

Kouichi x Yuumi

In retrospect to Kouichi’s courageous declaration in the last episode, there’s another thing I’d like to point out, his utterance of “forever” (We’d still be together forever, even if you transfer schools). As romantic as this might be, I think it speaks of nothing else but a sense of disillusionment, a proof that they haven’t come into terms with the harsh reality that nothing lasts forever. I would’ve preferred Yuumi to smack some sense into Kouichi by refuting his words, and perhaps tell him “Please don’t promise me forever, for it will only break my heart [someday]…”, reminding me of the song “Promise Me You’ll Try”

Don’t promise me forever
Don’t promise me the sun and sky
Don’t pretend to know
you’ll never make me cry
Just hold me now
And promise me you’ll try

Even until now, Kouichi and Yuumi are still living in a dream. They have it all too easy. They have no [aggressive] rivals; they’re head over heels for each other. They are far too focused on each other to see the tons of other possibilities that lies ahead of their relationship (and the possibility that they might not really love each other after all, in the truest sense of the word). I’ve mentioned it for who knows how many times before, that I do not see depth in Kouichi and Yuumi’s relationship. After what seemed to be Kouchi’s amazing declaration in the last episode, their relationship remains shallow and just dreamy. Kouichi x Yuumi shippers, feel free to defend this couple to enrich my perspectives.

I understand that Kouichi is naive when it comes to relationships, but I did not admire his indecisiveness in this episode, and his mindset with regards to how he should spend the remaining time he has with Yuumi to the fullest (and why is he thinking of having an overnight stay at that lodge o__O). As Mao pointed out, what matters most is not where they go but HOW they’re going to spend their time together. In my opinion, their time will be more well-spent if they do other worthwhile activities, not just a date by the beach. One might argue that if two people love each other, every time they spend together will be memorable. Yes, but wouldn’t it be even more memorable if they do something enjoyable yet meaningful as well? Like, take up classes or workshops together, be involved in outreach activities, or do a part-time job together. Activities that might allow them to become one step closer to their dreams. Activities which might even turn out to be life-changing.

Sometimes I feel like asking Kouichi, if he knows what the point of his relationship with Yuumi is. From what I can see, it’s like he’s just in love with Yuumi. He’s hanging on to his first love, for whatever reasons I am not clearly seeing. It’s also the same for Yuumi. Sometimes love just ain’t enough, as the song goes. With a love that is not deeply-rooted, it will be nothing else but an ephemeral emotion, which will become a fleeting memory of the past, sooner or later.

Novel deep frying insert:

Despite how I don’t like the kiss fiend Kouichi in the novel, as I ranted before, I actually liked the development of his relationship with Yuumi there. Both of them felt as though they were “kindred souls”, who shared a lot of similarities. Both of them were able to notice each other’s presence, despite how “invisible” they were from the rest of the people. I think this was also tackled early on in the anime, but then we can see how Yuumi gets along well with her girl classmates. They also share this common weakness of dealing with people (especially of the other gender). They vowed to change their passive and cowardly selves… together~ The novel actually showed them gaining the courage to make new friends, which is really good imo.

Now when Kouichi asked Yuumi to “officially” go out with him, he told her how he wants to know her better, to spend more time together with her, to experience more kisses with her (/facepalm at last words). I have yet to see episode 15 in its entirety, so I’m not sure if Kouichi mentioned something along these lines. But I really want Kouichi to say this to Yuumi, or to at least think of their relationship this way. I want to see them talk about, life, love, dreams, etc. I don’t know if there’s just something wrong with my eyes, but I don’t think I’m seeing this… In the anime, we see them talk about their daily experiences, happy thoughts, etc. Yuumi is also helping out Kouichi reach his dreams. But for some reason I still don’t sense depth in these conversations (although I know, “depth” is pretty much subjective).

…the rest of this deep frying has something to do with episode 15, so I’m reserving the rest of this deep frying for that post (though I have mentioned much about this in my comment to Stripey’s post).

Mao x Kai

It’s becoming clear that Mao has feelings for Kouichi (even without having read the spoilers, the hints in the past episodes were enough to prove this). With the look of the spoilers, it seems that the anime is heading towards the Mao x Kouichi path, which I also prefer. There’s gotta be a reason why the movie was centered on the theme of childhood friends, right?

Despite knowing all this, Kai decides to stand by Mao and support her, be a crying shoulder if things turn for the worst (I hope that won’t happen >_<). I love Kai, which is why I think he deserves someone better than Mao, someone who will reciprocate his feelings wholeheartedly. Even if Kai doesn't get to have a romantic happy ending, he has already learned much from all that has happened, particularly when Mao came into his life. He was able to see that having someone by his side (a friend, or something more) who bears witness to the events in his life, is certainly better than isolating himself from the rest of the world. With all this, he realized that opening up to someone, being warm and friendly, isn't bad after all. In this episode especially, the glimmer in Kai's eyes is evident, seeing how Mao is happy for him now that he's gotten closer to his dream of becoming a musician. Kai is all shy about it *^-^* But of course this is a two-edged sword. The more Mao does all this for him, the more he gets to love her, and all the more painful to know that she doesn’t really love him back, not the way he wants.

Mao x Kouichi

A random observation… Mao mentioned “Kouichi rashii” (that’s so like Kouichi) a few times in this episode, which I also think is another “hint” for the possible Mao x Kouichi ending. Kouichi was becoming out-of-character, as he was focusing on the wrong things in his relationship with Yuumi. Mao made him realize this, and brought him back to his feet. She knows Kouichi that well. She knows him far more than her own, actually, which explains all the confusion episodes she’s been going through.

As I’ve also mentioned in the AS forums, I’m still waiting for the day Kouichi gets to realize the possibility of him loving Mao, in a non-platonic way. Mao’s kiss in episode 10 contributed to that a little bit, but since she continues to put on the facade of a “sister”, Kouichi brushed off that certain possibility (for now). The tides will turn once he realizes Mao’s feelings for him, as it will make him come into terms with that possibility. I will prefer it if Kouichi will realize his feelings for Mao through some other device plot however. Like, make him realize his feelings for Mao after he experiences how it is to be apart from her (seeing how Mao is happy with Kai? and perhaps realize that he can’t live without her?), or by realizing how everything happened because of Mao, the change in his character, the “relationship” he now has with Yuumi.

I’m saving my thoughts on the Asuka x Kazuki x Eriko triangle later, since I love Asuka enough to dedicate a whole post in defense of her and how she’s supposedly the best match for the guy

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