Sunday Shoujo: Itazura na Kiss

Itazura na Kiss
Anime Year: 2008
Made Me Cry: No

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The premise - girl ends up living with guy's family - surprise, surprise, they fall in love.  Though that sounds a bit soap-opera-convenient, the anime is pretty unique in that it encompasses life beyond highschool.  Without throwing in spoilers, it goes even past college! Not too many shoujo series do that, so it was a welcome change of pace.

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Unfortunately, I did not like the characters very much.  The heroine, Kotoko, follows the usual dumb, clumsy and easily influenced character type, only she doesn't really have a super strong or comic personality to make up for it.  She's weak, and her only saving grace is that she never gives up. Even when she should...

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And I think she should considering Naoki, her love, is fairly abusive.  From beginning to end he demeans her verbally, only showing his "true feelings" every once in a while.  I like the "tough guy" act, but what's the point if he never changes? It seems like their love, which spans at least a decade, never really matures. Maybe it's the old-married-person (ha!) in me, but if the characters are going to grow up, their emotional maturity should as well.  (I should say that I though the "Jacob" (yes, Twilight reference) character in the series was much, much better suited for her.)

(source) Even looks like Jacob..

Anyway, lest I turn anyone off from this anime, the entire relationship trainwreck is worth watching for the sake of Naoki's mother.  She is amazing, and will make you wish she was your mother-in-law!  She is nothing but supportive and gung-ho for Kotoko the entire time, helping set up dates and deterring love rivals.  Great lady, and hilarious too.  And I admit I secretly liked the last episode a lot.

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The anime, though fairly recent, uses a distinctly Sailor Moon/early 90's art style.  I think it's probably to most closely reflect the art in the manga.  The manga, I'm guessing, is probably better (isn't it always?).  And the plot itself has been popular enough that it's been made into a live action series not once, but three times.  So maybe there's more to the story of their relationship than what I saw in the anime series.

In summary, the series has it's moments, but I think I expected more from an anime spanning beyond highschool.

(source) Is this a spoiler? Just had to add some steam, ha!