Itazura na Kiss

I generally don't like the Shoujo sub-genre of anime or manga but always keeping an open mind, there are a few stand outs. Shoujo tends to suffer from the over glorification and near perfection of the male love interest, usually making them unlikeable and one dimensional. It's the same with the Shounen female love interest but the difference is that they tend to be the butt of jokes instead of idolised demi-gods. The one redeeming quality in a Shoujo is the female protagonist as from the beginning, she is the most interesting character but as the romance progresses, she falls into the over-glorified theme of the male love interest, making her as uninteresting as the male. Itazura na Kiss has all these qualities but there is something about it which makes me enjoy this Shoujo anime.

PREMISE AND STORY:
The premise is about two students who are forced to live together after an earthquake destroyed one of the student's houses. This is because the student's fathers are best friends and it is a friendly favour. The two students, Naoki and Kotoko, are always at each other's necks. Before the earthquake, Kotoko is hopelessly in love with Naoki and confesses but Naoki coldly rejects her and from that, a whirlwind romance ensues. In usual Shoujo animes I've seen, the heroine usually has an aversion or indifference to the love interest and as it progresses, she eventually falls for him either due to his infatuation and persistence with her or gradually falling into the theme of male perfection. Itazura na Kiss does it differently. Kotoko from the very beginning is in love with Naoki and Naoki has an aversion with her instead, with Kotomi doing the pursuing. While it deals with the usual romance, it also shows the bonds of family and friendship, unlike other Shoujo where it stays on a selfish tone of romance. It can be funny, it can be dramatic or it can be both. All of that made Itazura quite refreshing in comparison to the usual Shoujo.

CHARACTERS:
Naoki is the prime example of a super perfect, near god like male. An IQ of 200, extremely good looking, great at sports, great at cooking, can fly, shoot laser beams from his ey- nah, I'm just joking but you get the point. Kotoko is the cheerful, naive and optimistic protagonist and the usual butt of the jokes in the anime. Having Naoki technically being Jesus would probably make him one dimensional and uninteresting but what makes him quite interesting is that him and Kotoko are at wits end with each other, bringing out some flaws within the demi-god that is Naoki. He can become jealous, he can be regretful, he can be guilt stricken and that is all thanks to Kotomi's persistence and near opposite personality in comparison to Naoki. The anime is entirely a character driven story. Kotoko and Naoki's family and friends are important to Naoki and Kotoko's development and the overall development of the story and the overarching theme of the show is belonging in a family. All of the characters introduced are interesting and not just cardboard cut outs or one dimensional foils, they all have a part to play in the story.

the itazuru na kiss anaime is the cutest i'ev ever seen the storyline is so romaantic i wish my life waas like that....but the manga has terrible drawings but i cant really blame them since it waas made during the 90's but o well i still hate the manga for many different reasons most importantly...the dont have a happily ever after that was the hole point i watched the manga.after i watched the anime i treid 2 read the manga but the drawings were terrible and just couldnt keep reading. the last chapter pissed me off they dont get married or hav a kid that sux.well in the end i luv the storyline and anime but hate the manga. 2 add just watch the manga and forget abot the manga u will appreciate LOTS!!!1

This anime has got to be the most heartwarming and hilarious one ever. There was almost never a real serious moment. I recommend this anime to everyone! Its about a girl that has her house destroyed by an earthquake. Her dad and her has to move in with his friends. Turns put that theyre the parents from the boy that shes been crushing on! and with that a new romance begins.

That Anime was pretty cool because of Kotoko and Irie-Kun as well.
Irie was a very GENIUS! while it's the opposite of Kotoko but in the end they wll be couples and so on they will have a children that sounds pretty much haha. Even though there IQ are very far to reach that's not the reason. IT'S LOVE! really

It’s quite ironic: Itazura na Kiss is based on a manga that started its serialization in 1990, and was probably one of the pioneers in the shoujo romantic comedy-genre, and its premise still stands out as an original one: never have we travelled this much into the life of the lead couple. Where most stories just follow half a year or in the extreme cases go on until the wedding, Itazura na Kiss goes even further, and it ends when the main couple is happily married, and between the 25 and 28 years old. It’s such a shame that the creators of the anime just couldn’t handle such an awesome premise.

The series starts out hilarious, though. Both Kotoko and Irie (the series’ main couple) have a great sense of humour and love to tease each other when they can, making for a few priceless situations. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes apparent that the creators just want to do too much with this series, but have no idea how to fill up its time. As soon as the characters enter college, this series descends into a bit of a mess: the creators keep throwing random love rivals at the main couple, in order to supposedly test the strength of their relationship, but none of the love-rivals make ANY impact, and are just carbon copies of their previous version.

The big problem is that the creators are just terrible at creating dramatic climaxes. They try over and over, but with one or two exceptions, they all fall flat, are too rushed, forced, superficial and cheesy and make the majority of this series (from episode eight to around episode 20) a pain to sit through, especially since the humour also becomes really dull and repetitive around that same time. The characters also hardly develop, due to this shallow drama, and there’s very little that’s actually worth watching.

But thankfully, this series changes entirely once the characters finish university, and get a job. It’s here where this series finds its former magic back, and drops its superficial climaxes. The humour comes back, and the time that Kotoko and Irie spend at work is really entertaining and heart-warming. It’s here where the characters finally develop and grow up, and this series closes off with a really enjoyable finale.

Overall, I wouldn’t exactly recommend you to sit through the really dull middle part, but it does reward you in the end when everything comes together. It’s the perfect example of why extra drama isn’t necessarily good for a series, and for Itazura na Kiss, it’s mostly the light moments where the creators aren’t obsessively trying to strengthen Irie and Kotoko’s relationship. Subtlety is definitely not this series’ greatest point, and it should have focused its time at the slice of life moments, and making the viewer laugh instead of these shallow love triangles. I really liked this series when it first started, but unfortunately, the creators just couldn’t live up to this series’ potential.

Itazura na Kiss is one of the best anime romance ever! That's of course you like the kind where the girl fights for the guy and someday soon he'll give in and take her! Watching the first episode of Itazura na Kiss reeled me in, before you knew it was sitting here at the computer all day and night watching it till the end xD but it sucked how I had to wait for entire week to pass by to watch it again T.T
It's a lovely anime about a unfortunated girl falls for promised guy yet they complete each other so cute!

I was going to give up on thinking there's a actual good romance anime until...I found this one! You HAVE to watch this anime on how the two main characters cope with their romance towards each other! I totally recommend this to EVERYONE!

Kotoko Aihara is in love with Naoki Irie, a genius who is always number one in exams. She evens write him a love letter, but he rejects it, without even bothering to read it. One day the house which Kotoko was leaving in was destroyed, and thus she has to live in her father's friend's house. Coincidentally, or by fate, it was also the house of...Naoko Irie! With this, they spend more time together and perhaps maybe ...fall in love.

As usual, awesome music, characters and animation. No need to explain, since they are just simply so good! Watch it yourself and you'll see! As I said before, I totally recommend this to EVERYONE, not just big adults, since I was only like 10 years old maybe when I watched this.

Well, for starters, I can not tell you enough how many times I watched this series! It was so amazingly good and played out. The story line starts off with Kotoko (like any other high school girl) and her crush on the handsome, smart Ire-kun. While she's planning on giving him her love letter, her house suddenly collapses from an earth quake! And the worst part is, she ends up staying at her dad's friend's house, which is where Ire-kun lives! Ah this anime is full of twist, humor and alot of romance ^^ But, you'll have to watch to uncover the rest. Enjoy~

this is the best anime in the world second after shugo chara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
its funny how the mother and daughter fight lol i
i wanna meet the actors from the real drama i just love this anime.
kie is so mean

itazura na kiss is really kawaii...
i like their story...
about how in love is kotoko-chan ni naoki-kun..
it is really a one sided-love....
but at least kotoko-chan did got naoki-kun at the end...
and they've got a really cute daughter..
i hope she's not as aho like kotoko-chan is..
but i wish she got her mother's fighting spirit...


Nice Story...

Love it..!!!!