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「キスをした」 (Kisu wo Shita)
“I Kissed”
Living an isolated life where no one can betray you is the ideal way of living according to the social outcast Tachibana Mei. Little did she know that an accidental roundhouse kick would put an end to her lonely days. Everyone, meet a genuine love story in Sukitte Ii na yo. – an adaptation of what is currently one of the most popular shoujo manga in Japan.
Meet Tachibana Mei (Kayano Ai), a loner who prefers to live an isolated life because of an incident from her childhood where her classmates blamed her for killing the class pet. Since that betrayal, Mei hasn’t made any friends at all and is now a social outcast. Afraid of being betrayed or unwanted and used for someone’s convenience, Mei doesn’t feel any need for a social life, but she likes cats and has one called Marshmallow.
The popular and kind Kurosawa Yamato (Sakurai Takahiro), who treats everyone equally, takes notice of Mei because of his friend Nakanishi Kenji (Shimazaki Nobunaga) acting clumsy. Kenji himself is interested in his and Yamato’s common friend – the busty and genki girl, Oikawa Asami (Taneda Risa), or Asamicchi as Kenji prefers to call her.
One day, Kenji goes a bit too far while trying to peep beneath girls’ skirts by lifting Mei’s. She returns the vile act with a roundhouse kick – which accidentally hits Yamato as he happened to stand next to his perverted friend. Instead of blaming Mei, Yamato becomes interested in this girl and gives her his cell phone number in hope of receiving a call from her.
At work (a pâtisserie called “Bakery Farm”), Mei encounters a creepy man who takes an interest in her. On her way home she realizes that she is being stalked. Seeking shelter in a convenience store, with no one to call because she has no contacts aside from home and work in her phone, she decides to call Yamato for help. Surprised by the call, Yamato rushes to aid Mei by walking out of the store with her in a confronting demeanor towards the stalker. When the stalker questions who the boy is, Yamato confesses his love for Mei before kissing her.
Awkward girl meets popular boy – how many times have we seen that now? It’s a concept that can be found in most shoujo titles and can be tiring. So what makes Sukitte worth watching? It’s the way it displays social issues that many of us can relate to. This is not your typical romantic fairy tale where everything goes smoothly. Sukitte is an honest love story that shows the hardships of being alone more than anything. If you are familiar with Hazuki Kanae’s other manga, you probably know that she tends to create stories about society as it is now. Many of her works are very dark and explicit. Some of them involve rape, stalking, crimes, drugs, and domestic violence. Compared to her other works, Sukitte Ii na yo. can be considered to be quite mild.
As a fan of the manga, heck, I was even part of the team that worked on the scanlations for it (I used to be a cleaner/typesetter before joining Random Curiosity), I must say that the anime presented the premise way better than the manga. Both of them introduced us to the characters in a similar way but aesthetically, the anime did better with its beautiful dreamy scenes accompanied by wonderful piano tracks. It’s also easier to understand Mei’s situation in the anime because we were shown a picture of her father who has probably passed away (this was not part of the manga). Therefore it’s not very difficult to realize why she and her mother have to work so much at late hours. The anime truly presented the story beautifully, artistically, and sincerely to us so I can do nothing but praise the first episode of Sukitte Ii na yo. Considering that this show is directed by Satou Takuya, director of last year’s big hit Steins;Gate, we can probably say that this might be a safe bet to be enjoyable.
Aside from the presentation, the characters are all very well written. I prefer to hear Sakurai Takahiro voicing villains or cold guys because that’s what he does best, but he definitely did Yamato justice, and the same can be said about Kayano Ai voicing Mei who, if you ask me, did a perfect job in portraying Mei as a humble, awkward, and sweet girl. I thought the bandage scene was adorable and it reminded me of why I like Mei so much as a character.
The first episode of Sukitte Ii na yo. was very enjoyable and I’m definitely looking forward to more. Hearing Suneohair performing the ending theme makes it even better as I am a big fan of his songs. So far, this is my favorite ending song this season. To me, Sukitte has been artistic in every aspect so far; ZEXCS couldn’t have done it any better, so to answer this anime’s title’s request – I love you!
Full-length shots: 14, 16, 21, 37, 39, 42
Eyecatch: B-part
ED Sequence
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ED: 「slow dance」 by スネオヘアー (Suneohair)
Preview
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Love it!
Agreed, because it reminds me of Kimi ni Todoke except that Mei is an outright loner!
So, most popular guy falls for most unpopular girl..Got it! Question: Does it apply when the roles are reversed as well? 🙁
Also, what is up with guys stealing first kisses these days? Is it a new trend or something? :O (See Tonari)
On a more serious note, Mei’s character was kinda enjoyable to watch, Yamaoto on the other hand..no comments. But damn, what’s up with these shoujo shows this season? I was initially a little skeptical when checking out Tonari and this but both were actually really decent!
How about girls stealing kisses then?
Hmm, it’s a decent show, but I have one question: why the heck did they change Nakanishi Kenji to look like he’s just a clumsy decent guy? In the manga, he actively bullied Tachibana Mei (such as “intentionally” knocking her down to laugh at her reaction and then “intentionally” pulling her long skirt at the stairs for fun) like many other students, but in this anime, NO~~, good heavens betsy!! That’s just too mean and cruel to our innocent teenage girl watchers of this shojou show!! We must make him likable instead of ass he was in the beginning! So instead we have him “accidentally” backing off and knocking Mei down and apologizing profusely and then pulling her skirt down mistakenly in a horny state and not knowing who she was, therefore somewhat without malicious intent. RIGHT. I find this sort of change a bit insulting for viewers, like they can’t handle the truth!
…But I find this to be a better show than Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun albeit they are different animals.
Oh yeah definitely some good shoujo anime this year 😀
This and Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun. Can’t wait for more. ^_^
uh, dude, you forgot chuniibyou
After seeing this episode I got interested enough to read all 6 volumes of the scanned manga I could find. It really is an excellent story. Not sure how far the anime will get, but I like the newer characters that come in the later volumes Show Spoiler ▼
. So, I will probably not get to see them.
Regarding the father:
Show Spoiler ▼
Social outcast girl? Unheard of, that only happens to guys!
Still, it hits home and it seems like a really good show. I’ll be watching this.
Great episode! The manga is really unique is how she portrays the darker tones that you would not find anywhere else…
3rd show the of the season where confession + kiss all in the first episode… but this one is so sweet that I can’t even spam the “series end” jokes…
at first I didn’t find the premise all that interesting, but after seeing the episode, I am hooked 🙂 will definitely follow through, and thanks for the coverage stereoman xD
Didn’t think this manga would get an adaptation or covered by anyone xD I remember reading it months ago and thought “oh gosh this manga is getting boring” but it finally started getting deep into character development so i’m slightly happy i suppose lol I’ll be waiting for next week 😀
well I remembered I ve read this manga but really nice episode
I’m impressed, very good first episode from the sound to the animation.
I am very impressed. I haven’t watched a shoujo anime in awhile and now it seems like there are two winners this season, Tonari and now this. The fall season is shaping up to be very good.
I agree! The fall season is looking pretty good. I’m especially excited because I haven’t read the manga. So plot wise, Sukitte Ii na yo is very refreshing.
Show Spoiler ▼
Nice to see Chiharu in episode 1
I had a Netorare feeling in the end of the episode. =.=
i will puke my heart if that ever happen to this series :S
she couldn’t have called the cops to report the creepy dude? im glad you mentioned that there is more to this than just being a “girl meets boy” kind of thing. thought it was gonna be just another kimi ni todoke. im intrigued by the dark undertones that you mentioned. following this one. 🙂
Reporting the situation would most likely cause a lot of problems for Mei because that would drag the authority into her life. As a social outcast, she’s already being made fun of so calling the police would probably just give people more reason to talk about her than they already do. Considering Mei’s situation (all alone, late working single parent, no friends), I think she made a quite logical decision.
By the way, this is reality for a lot of people IRL. They’re scared of involving the authority despite being harassed. If Mei’d call the police, she’d have to involve her school in the problem as well. So Mei not reporting the situation makes sense to me.
If you don’t mind reading explicit manga, I highly recommend reading Hazuki Kanae’s other works because they’re even darker! :]
I never get excited about shoujo manga adaptions anymore, but “Say I Love You” has been on my reading list since it came out. I am looking forward to this! I never finished “Kimi ni todoke” which this has been compared to, because it got boring and too cheesy. This manga is for an older audience than “kimi ni todoke” I think because it deals with sex a lot up front.
I’m a manga reader, I totally love the series, and I must say that I’m very very happy with this first episode, everything was great, I love Yamato and Mei’s interactions, and their seiyuus did a good work, I’m so gonna keep on watching! =D
some of the later characters have already been listed with their respective seiyuus, so it’s a good bet that the show might have 2-cour. it’s quite impossible to fit all the exisiting manga chapters into 1-cour if you want to flesh out each character.
I hope it’s two-cour, I hate when they rush a story.
1-cour, I’m sorry. :/
I thought the art was great, I hope they keep up the quality. This is going on my watch list.
Stereoman might prefer hearing Sakurai Takahiro voicing villains or cold guys >:) but I’m elated that he gets to play a love interest using his “dark” voice rather than the bumbling optimist voice his more likeable characters often have.
Only real reason I’m watching is due to Mei’s voice actress. In this role, her voice really makes me melt (as it does in Muv-Luv).
However, Show Spoiler ▼
Well, anything can be a cliche if you pull enough examples. The manga does introduce some very stereotypical/cliche scenarios from the shoujo genre, but the strength is really in the lead characters, and particularly Mei. Personally, I feel that many shoujos create a female protagonist that causes certain scenarios to happen, and then the male protagonist carries the show (by resolving the issues). This is one of the few shoujo series where I feel that the heroine carries the show.
The main difference is that, rather than badly hiding she is troubled over ‘x’ (insert issue here) and going, “It’s nothing,” when asked, or saving the day with sheer stupid enthusiasm, she takes a more realistic approach to problems by either stating the facts, or do the (realistic) fascade of ‘nothing’s wrong’ with a blank face. She’s not completely clueless about certain issues either.
It’s drama-y, and a bit of a cliche, but honestly, so was high school. She does get more prone to outbursts/breakdowns as she gets deeper into her relationships, but I don’t think that’s particularly ‘cliche’.
When I first saw the kiss, I was thinking how it was sort of an anime cliche I should have saw coming, but loved the way they executed her reaction where these beautiful memories flashed in front of her. Excellent.
textbook way of starting for this kind of genre, still gonna watch, cause it is funny to see how she react to anything he does.
well i say quite a hmm to watch.
girl who is quiet & don’t got friends give have trust issues give accidental kick to guy who seem fallen for girl after kick.
give phone number which later came in cause lead main female get her first kiss?!
oh my so looking to what happen next?
One of the funniest bits was when Mei thought Yamato meant for them to swap their phones when he said “lets swap numbers”
Overall , I enjoyed this first episode and I cannot wait for the next ones.
Everyone seems to like it so much so I’m not sure if I’m the weird one for wondering this but is Yamato really supposed to be a “kind guy”? He seemed to be interested in a girl solely because she was the only girl that wasn’t interested in him then he declared his love and kissed her despite barely having talked at all. I’ll continue watching for at least next episode since I’m wondering where this will go but I honestly don’t like Yamato at all right now.
of all combinations of popular and unpopular, they settled for a classic Cinderella… my fave is unpopular x unpopular (bring me back Haganai for second season!)
One thing I was not happy about…
Show Spoiler ▼
The characters are hotter in the manga XD
Looking great. Definitely interested to see more.
love at the first kick?
Definitely looks promising and Stereoman got me hyped that it’s at least as good or better then manga. Can’t wait for ep 2.
I just had to get into anime during midterms…can’t be helped!
You’re a series to look forward to, Sukitte Ii na yo.
I am liking this a lot! Started watching it just now… and I like its resemblance to one of my favorites, Kimi ni Todoke. It’s a like a serious version of that, which I totally love.
I seriously want to know the name of the piano song in the first episode
The opening song is Friendship by Ritsuko Okazaki. A heart-warming and soothing song indeed. Also check out the ending song Slow Dance by Suneohair. 😉
If you were referring to the piece from about 2:30 to 3:21 in the episode, I think I just found it. It’s a piece by Gabriel Fauré called Nocturne No. 6 in D flat Major. I can’t for the life of me seem to find the specific recording they used in the episode, which is driving me crazy because I can’t find a more beautifully played version than the one they used. Anywho… cheers!
You don’t know how much I love you, I’m insanely happy right now, it takes me a life to know the name of that song, the metro station song. I’m really curious about how you get the name. I have to say that I was expecting a Debussy’s song or Ravel’s but it turns out that is from Faure, the thing is that Faure was Ravel’s teacher. That’s why it turns familiar for me. I don’t know how to say thank you. AGAIN THANK YOU THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUUUCH!!!