It took one day shy of one year, but I finally completed this series. Having seen it all, how do I feel about it? I regret ever watching a single episode of it. I think this could very well be the worst anime I’ve ever seen. I can’t even chalk the stupidity up to fanservice or general pandering. I can’t try to pretend the behavior of the men portrayed or the lack of self worth of the female characters served any sort of purpose.
No. This series is just repulsive. The women throw themselves onto the men, accepting every moment and type of abuse that they’re willing to give, as long as it means they’ll get a moment of attention. Naoki has moments of softness, but never is he truly kind to Kotoko. But that’s okay to her, because he’s willing to not push her away. Does she really feel herself so unworthy of love that being treated badly is better than nothing? What sort of role model is that character? Naoki screams at her, forces himself on her, humiliates her in public, and at least once hits her. But somhow this is an epic love story? Tell me where any of the love was in this series. I saw lots of compulsive obsession, plenty of stalking, there was jealousy, lust, but love? No.
Usually a series can become bearable if there’s a single enjoyable character. I think this is the very first series where I didn’t like anyone. Matsumoto was the closest to a tolerable character, and even she was an inconsiderate bitch most of the time. The leads? Horrible. The families? Obnoxious (Kotoko’s father wouldn’t have been so bad, except he seemed to like the guy that was being emotionally abusive to his idiotic daughter). The friends? Worse than the families if only because they had some truly terrible seiyuu. I suppose I liked some of the nurses to an extent, except that the crossdresser became a caricture of the crossdresser, and the other guy started making eyes at a teenager when he was in his twenties. Creepy. Tomoko and Marina were just forgetable.
What was there left to like when the story and the characters were unredeemable? Well, it did have a good opening theme, and the first closing was also great. The art itself was comfortable too. But those are the only positives I can think of for this series.
I do not recommend this series to anyone. Except for maybe fans of the Twilight series. There were definitely similarities, except even Twilight was infinitely better than Itazura na Kiss.
I suppose it’s a good thing I dropped this series after the first episode.
How’s Maison Ikkoku coming along?
It’s coming along slowly but surely. I’m up to episode 49, but only watch it when I need a bit of a pick-me-up. I really like it, but it can get a little tedious trying to watch too many episodes in a row sometimes. Still, it regularly cracks me up.
And yeah, contrary to what everyone else seems to think, Itazura na Kiss has few redeeming qualities, in my opinion. The theme songs, and also the fact that it doesn’t think that marriage is the end of one’s life. I appreciated its willingness to keep following the characters after that point, even if I didn’t actually like the show whatsoever.