“Kiss Me, Okay”


「俺とキスしな」 (Ore to Kisu-shina)

Itou Miyabi & Supernatural Lies:

After very little deliberation, I’ve decided to pick up Yamada-kun for weekly coverage. As a fan of the manga, I have to say that I’m very satisfied with how this adaptation is playing out. Will that last? Time will tell, but this time the focus is on Itou Miyabi (Uchida Maaya), a girl who loves everything supernatural, which explains why she would join the newly formed Supernatural Studies Club. Itou has always been a character that I feel has a hard time sticking out once others are introduced (Kikaijima from Medaka Box is another character that comes to mind), but for now we’re just getting introduced to her, and I couldn’t have been happier with how it went down.

Firstly, like the rest of the cast, she’s quirky and she’s funny. We get a ton of repeated gags between her and Yamada, yet somehow it doesn’t get boring. Yamada-kun as a whole is funny to the bone, so I can promise that almost every character will bring something to the table, with some magical body-swapping powers thrown in just to spice things up, and Itou is no exception. Itou’s first experience with the body-swapping (aka seeing Yamada and Shiraishi kissing) was a good one, which leads her to spreading rumours about their affair through the whole school. Yamada eventually locks lips with her in order to erase the issue, but the problem is already solved before he even has to do anything. Simply put, nobody believes a word that comes out of Itou’s supernatural obsessed, alien-loving mouth. It’s a bit sad – less so than Shiraishi’s bullying last week, mind you – but the balance of it being both funny and depressing is handled in a way that nothing ends up feeling forced, sparing us from being put through the emotional wringer. Cue some delinquent fights and fanservice finishing moves, and everything manages to work out nicely in the end.

Hints of Romance:

There’s been some comments about how you shouldn’t get your hopes up for romance in this series, and I just have one thing to say to that. Did you see Yamada and Shiraishi when they were about to kiss again? You could put their blushing down to them being nervous, but they have no problem kissing each other at this stage. Heck, I’d say they’re both quite enjoying it. Ship away, I tell ya! This a series with many possible pairings, and just as many kisses to keep you satisfied.

Body-swapping Intensifies!:

Last episode we had a fairly standard two-way swap with either Yamada and Shiraishi, or Yamada and Miyamura. Throw in one more character though, and we’ve got a four-way kissing orgy that becomes quite difficult to keep up with. First off Yamada and Shiraishi swap bodies, and then Yamada (in Shiraishi’s body) kisses Miyamura. Is it still BL if two boys are kissing, but one of them is in the body of a girl? Itou seems content either way. From there we have Miyamura in Shiraishi’s body, and Yamada in Miyamura’s, who is kissed by Itou, and then we finish off with Yamada and Miyamura kissing each other whilst in the bodies of Itou and Shiraishi (now yuri fans can be satisfied as well, as promised). If that’s with only four characters, just think how this could turn out with five, six, seven, or maybe more. I’d also like to applaud all the seiyuu involved for being able to play all these characters within each other’s bodies – they did a fantastic job here and I can’t wait to hear what else they have to offer in future body-swaps.

Overview – What’s Next?:

It’s clear that they’re pushing through the source material, but I’m not bothered by it yet. If I were to make a prediction, I’d say we’ll be getting one or two characters to focus on each week. If you put everything together, you can expect an episode for each of the seven witches that the series is actually named after, as well as some other characters that are part of this mystery. It’ll be a packed 12-episode run, but if it means we get a condensed version of a fantastic first arc, as opposed to an unfinished version with no promise of a continuation, I think I’ll be satisfied.

Preview

14 Comments

  1. As a manga reader, I think this is a good show but a bad adaptation. On its own it’s really fun and clear, but as an adaptation it’s skipping a lot of character development scene that, funnily enough, just became important in the latest chapter.

    It’s a fun ride though. I’m enjoying it.

    emd23
  2. I’m honestly not sure that all too much is being skipped (episode 1’s FTL travel through 9 chapters notwithstanding), since the preview for episode 3 is concerning chapters that already happened by the manga’s ordering. There’s definitely going to be some cut material if they mean to cover everything in the OP in a mere 12 episodes, but if next week is any indication maybe we will get some extra character development after all.

    Purple Bomber
  3. I’ve just picked up the manga, and some of our readers here are right – there’s some development missing here and there and might feel particularly rushed if you really compare it to the source material.

    As a show itself, though, YamaMajo is really fun, light-hearted and humorous with some typical fluff but interesting twists on the concept of gender bender. I would also echo the kudos to the seiyuus who did a great job whenever the body swaps happen. I bet they have a lot of fun too while they were at it. :p

    The ships will probably continue to start sailing, but there’s no better vessel than the SS Urara.

    At least for me. 🙂

    Owaranai
  4. I’m even happier that I decided to watch this now. It’s really an enjoyable watch (that four-way body swap madness was so hilarious…I’m chuckling just thinking about it).

    Aki-Chan
  5. With a manga like this, there’s SO MUCH material out there that they can’t help but condense it to make sense for a 1 or split-cour run.

    It’s not One Piece, Fairy Tail or Bleach or any of those other heavyweights that can guarantee a raft of crumbcrunchers will tune in religiously and buy as much merch as possible. Yamamajo is popular, but it’s niche popular.

    So for everyone complaining on the compression and dropping scenes, where would YOU end this in 12 eps then? What scenes would YOU drop? That’s the main problem. It’s just not easily adaptable with current budgets and 1-cour shows being standard practice.

    The alternative is no anime adaptation at all.

    Treat it like an appetizer for the manga, and enjoy the ride. It’s not perfect, but I’m enjoying it as it is.

    s_w
  6. I don’t know if it’s coincidence, but I just happen to love most of the characters voiced by Saori Hayami. From airheads Musubi (Sekirei) and Ikaros (Sora no Otoshimono) to Hina (Buddy Complex) and more recently, Yukinosita (SNAFU), Shinoa (Owari no Seraph) and of course Shiraishi, who is already among my all time favorites of Hayami!

    Although at first, you would expect Shiraishi to be the usual spoiled ojousama that despises Yamada, she seems to be completely the opposite. Not only does she not bat an eye to all the kissing with him, she is always willing to help him without a moment of hesitation. We still do not know why she does it but I am really enjoying her character right now! Best female character of the season at the moment, imo.

    Tassadar
    1. It’s obvious that she likes him…
      But not too much though she looks like this when Yamada needs to trade places. https://randomc.net/image/Yamada-kun%20to%207-nin%20no%20Majo/Yamada-kun%20to%207-nin%20no%20Majo%20-%2002%20-%2008.jpg

      Another benefit in watching this anime is that the main voice actors here are great in mimicking the other ones voice, especially Ryota Osaka [who just got my full attention in guessing how will he sound like when voicing in Kuroko no Basket] and Toshiki Masuda [coincidentally voice rolling in KnB], who is the reason I’m watching this anime as ToshiMa-san sounds similar to Nobuhiko Okamoto [who also happens to be one of my fave male seiyuu recently].

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