First Impressions / Series Introduction

Mao is hiding a deep, dark secret of her past. Her constant and unwavering aversion for studying has continued to confuse those around her, especially those that knew of her intense study habits years ago. She’s not stressing over the upcoming college entrance exams, she’s not stressing over the next set of midterms – hell, she’s spending all her nights cooped up in front of the television playing some crappy racing game! She’s not even good.

Which is why it becomes a topic of interest. After being duped by Kouichi to go with him to the library where everybody was waiting with their textbooks, we find out the true reason behind Mao’s fear of studying – after studying for weeks for an important test, she became sick the day of the test, eventually bombing it.

That’s it. That’s her trauma. She got sick and it screwed her over. Went from a top student to super slacker cuz she got a cough for a couple days.

Still, she relents to the peer pressure like every good teenager does, eventually getting her a good grade on the test.

In other news, Mao makes zero headway with Kai, Kazuki makes zero headway with Eriko, Kouichi makes zero headway with Yuumi, Asuka and Mao get friendly, and Asuka bitches out Eriko for being a cold bitch. And the frogs are working on kiss #49340 and 49341

And finally, watching how happy and innocent Kouichi and Yuumi are together, Mao starts to feel… what is it, remorse? Jealousy? Considering her bubbly personality and what a dumb oaf Kai is, she’s probably wanting just some of what Kouichi and Yuumi have, which is to say, not much, but at least they like each other. Mao and Kai? Kinda tough when you’re trying to compete with a freakin saxophone.

Preview

Some shows take risks with their material, and it either goes well or ends up sucking. Kimikiss takes zero risk, so while it never actually sucks, the fact that it’s incapable of being good makes it unbearable on an entirely different level. This ep had people stressing over their exams. And explained why Mao didn’t like studying anymore, even though she was an egghead in middle school. Don’t get your hopes up – it’s a totally retarded reason.


Thoughts

Yaawwnnnnnn. Something tells me nothing will come of this Mao uneasiness. At the most, she’ll bitch out Kai, go emo in her room for a few days while demanding attention from Kouichi, then Kai comes around and takes her back after half an episode of persuasion. Meanwhile, Kazuki finally gets Eriko to open up, if just a tiny little sliver. As for Kouichi and Yuumi – even holding hands seems like a long way away at this point, doesn’t it? Props to the writers for having the balls to let it drag out this long.

But seriously. Something HAPPEN already.

Captions up

35 Comments

  2. Mao pining for anime Kouichi? That makes as much sense as Lunamaria falling for Shinn. If it was manga Kouichi it’d be far more believable.

    And is it sad that two puppet frogs are getting more action than the entire cast?

    Freeter
    Reply

  7. “Looks nice this week.”

    That is part of the problem, animation wise its look good but its just the wrapping … it incredible shallow in terms of plot, it have a slow pacing and calling those characters “stereotypes” is a insult to stereotype character and even if we keep watching because “it looks great” there is no other reason.

    Drakron
    Reply

  8. She is not really Jealous in my opinion but more like regreteful! This happens is every anime where a character plays cupid. That regret has the potention to become Jealousy in the future which makes sense. The way she look at Kouchi before averting her eyes was not of a friend.

    golthin
    Reply

  9. Yamada, Tanaka – Generic family names
    Tarou – Generic male name given to the first male child ( Yamada Tarou is like the equivalent to John Doe )
    Hanako – Generic female name ( Think Jane Doe )
    Kazuo – Generic male name given to the third male child

    Kaito
    Reply

  12. The source material doesn’t give them much to work with.

    For what it’s worth, this adaptation is considerably better than that mediocre manga (Kimikiss Various Heroines) fanboys seem to love. The anime is slow and cliched, but I still find it relaxing to watch.

    “So wait, is this show 13 or 24-26 eps total?”

    Apparently, it’s 24-26 episodes, hence the slow pace.

    MikeW
    Reply

  13. @Kaito:
    I’m fairly positive it’s Yamada Tarou, then Satou Hanako, and finally Tanaka SUBURO on the scoreboard rather than Kazuo.

    But I do agree with you, it gave me a chuckle to see generic names on the exam ranks xD

    mewmew
    Reply

  15. It really really shouldn’t be 24 or 26eps long. It’s not even a matter of the slow pace, it’s just the way the characters are. Unless we get into more Mao and Koichi d0rama from now on, that might change things. But I still think they’ll just give us little hints of it here and there until the last 5 or so eps before it gets full blown.

    GP
    Reply

  18. The various heroines manga is totally stupid and wouldn’t work in a manga. One volume the guy gets with one girl and then the next volume it’s another story and he gets with another girl. Blah. I don’t really see the problem people have with this show. It looks nice. It’s stereotypical yes, but what isn’t? 1/2 the shows this season are the same damn thing. Would fanservice make it better? It’s not anything ground breaking, but it’s a cute romance/school life show.

    ann
    Reply

  19. Now that I read those manga chapters with Mao I really wonder how the anime’s going to end. Right now it’s rather pointing to an ending with Kai+Mao & Kouichi+Yuumi, which in my humble opionion is rather unsatisfieing, can’t stand Kai 😉 Although at the current pace it’s already hard to believe to even see the latter hold hands before maybe episode 200 which will most definitely never be.
    However one other hope has died now that I read those chapters, I would have hoped for some nice character development but it seems they’re gonna be as dull in the end as they’re right now, not much depth in the manga :/ Still nice to view for that little entertainment, at least I enjoy the series until now.

    elba
    Reply

  22. Since the Mao and Kai pair started off so early It won’t last, these are like a sign really. It’ll be like this until, with time and 20eps, Mao and Koichi get together in the end. You’ve seen hints of her showing signs of liking him more than just a little brother. And she only went out with Kei because of what Koichi told her before. Remember how when Kei asked her out it shows a flashback of what koichi said. It’s more of a knee-jerk reaction of hers to do something since Koichi is at this point.

    Anyways, that’s just how I see things happening. and if we’re going to get any drama in this, that’s the only way it can go down really. If things stay how they are then the show will totally fail and be boring.

    GP
    Reply

  27. I CAN FEEL THE SISSYNESS COMING…….MACHIGAI NAI….NANIKA SUGOKU OKASHIZO GA KURUZO!!!
    ( GUNDAM NO PILOT NO SENSE ) = ” ——— ”

    Mao nechan is coming to the dark side of her past….koichi you lucky bastard…now you taste both of their meals….. 😛

    TENSAI OTAKU
    Reply

  28. with the show slated to run for more than 20+ episodes, almost anything can happen at this point.

    as for the ~various heroines~ manga, volume 3 is on Mitsuki. I haven’t seen any chapters on Yuumi yet, and I’d love to see how they’ll portray that arc in the manga. I thoroughly enjoyed volume 2, which is on Asuka, but not quite so with the Mao and Mitsuki arcs.

    usagijen
    Reply

  31. remember the famous HINTS from canvas2. This is the first hint with Mao, Also Kouichi concern with Mao being late. I think the writers are started to drop those types of hints. Is kai a made up character for the anime or was he in the games?

    golthin
    Reply

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