January finally ended but not my runny nose, I've been particularly experiencing it during the mornings. It was a tedious battle that I struggled to overcome every cold morning, so I hope it'll lessen this supposed to be season of love. A lot of people here in our country are pretty psyched for Valentine's when February starts, which I somehow don't get because Valentine's Day was supposed to be the commemoration of St. Valentine's death, right? It felt tragic for me so I kinda don't feel celebrating that day (or maybe I'm just acting like the usual bitter gourd I am).
Enough for the bitterness, I finished a romcom anime just yesterday. The FMC was totally not your usual one—a perfect FMC for a rom-com. However, although most of the time I enjoyed watching them, there were times I found it uncomfortable. Maybe it's just me, but those uncomfortable parts somehow blotched the whole anime for me. Anyway, it's still worth the watch so be with me as we sneak a peek at the life of our fujoshi FMC as she enters a new stage of her life as the main girl, but still, her stand is strong and that's—Kiss Him, Not Me!
About the Anime
Kiss Him, Not Me (Watashi ga Motete Dousunda) is a shoujo anime that premiered in the fall of 2016. It aired from October 7, 2016 to December 23, 2016. This romcom anime series was animated by Brain's Base, and its theme revolves mostly around otaku culture, reverse harem, and school. This 12-episode anime is based on the award-winning manga that was written and illustrated by Junko.
Kae Serinuma was your usual otaku girl who's really into BL—in short she's a fujoshi. Since she's a devoted fujoshi, she can't help but fantasize about her male classmates doing stuff that fujoshis usually imagine. Despite her otaku tendency, she's still a likable girl—kind and considerate most of the time. Yet her undeniably overweight appearance made her out of the boys' radar—not that she cared anyway. However, everything changed when a life-changing loss happened to her.
It was a viewing usual night for her and she was just watching her favorite show when her beloved 'Shion' unexpectedly died. Unable to accept and process his death, she caved in her room for an entire week—never eating or even going to school. Her mother and brother were really worried about her so they forced themselves into her room, and lo and behold—something strange happened to her because instead of an overweight Kae, a slim girl greeted them. Upon losing most of her weight, she somehow gained attention—especially the admiring gazes of the boys.
But no, no, Kae is still Kae, and she totally not a princess who sees herself with a prince, rather she would stand in the corner and gawk at the two princes kissing! She tried to evade their advances, but to no avail, they persisted. Her once romanceless life gradually became like an otome game filled with ikemen. Will she one day fall in love like a princess and allow one of them to kiss her, and not him? Or not.
At first, I found it ridiculous how things immediately progressed. The plot was your usual reverse harem story with boys who were head over heels for her—though it has a little twist on the FMC's character. She was really entertaining, and I can't remember an episode where I didn't laugh and giggle at her fujoshi antics. Although there are a lot of cliche concepts there, I still find it enjoyable to watch because the characters are hilarious. The first episode immediately hinted who'll be her end game—and I'm right! I'm often bad at shipping so I was really happy that my ship has sailed!
The plot may not be that unique and well-written, but it's something that you'll be engrossed once you start following it. In the beginning, not all characters were likable—most of them were even red flags, however, all of them somehow achieved character development, and it's something that I really in this anime. It was an almost perfect romcom anime, however some parts made me uncomfortable with it. Maybe it's just part of their comedy, but I don't see the point in body-shaming the healthy FMC. Yeah, her beauty became more noticeable when she got slim, but it somehow annoyed me that they used some insensitive weight puns as part of the 'comedy'.
Other than that, I enjoyed most of its episodes. I somehow relate to the fangirl scenes, but of 'course it gave me secondhand embarrassment. As for its art style, I like how they're drawn especially the chibi versions of them because they're really cute. The character designs were mostly eye-pleasing, and the color palette they used on them was interesting. Further, the animation—although it wasn't that really stunning it still decent enough to portray comic movements. The art style was shoujo-coded and the animation did well in delivering comedic gags which undeniably made me laugh. As for its soundtrack, the background music was decent, but I'm not really fond of its opening and ending songs. The opening song was catchy, but for me, I just don't find it hooking. It's ending song was fine, but it's somehow forgettable.
Overall, my rating for this anime is 8/10. Despite its flaws and not-so-unique plot, I still find this anime entertaining and engrossing to watch. The characters are all interesting in their own ways because they aren't portrayed shallowly. They're not just flat characters, for all of them have certain charms that make each of their characters distinguishable. It's nice seeing how different they are, and how at first, they are mostly unappealing characters. The amount of their character development is astonishing, and it's one of the things that made this anime worth watching. So if you're looking for a romcom with a fujoshi MC with an interesting harem of boys, then you definitely need to try watching Kiss Him, Not Me!
Before I end this review, I'll share with you its trailer, so—
Have you watched this one before? Or is this your first time seeing it? If you have thoughts about this anime series feel free to share it in the comments. That's all for now, minna-san! I hope you enjoyed reading my review.
Arigatou and tanoshinde ne~
The pictures that didn't have source were screenshots from the anime while the last picture was edited in Canva.