Anime: KimiKiss Pure Rouge

Seven girls. Two guys. One school. A lot of romance. I won’t blame anyone for flinching at what those words imply, since the high school romance genre is done to death. But I’m not jaded enough to start bashing unoriginal stories just because they’re unoriginal; any story can be good with enough care. But instead of talking about entertainment philosophies, let’s look at Kimikiss ~Pure Rouge~.

The story opens with a quick scene of a lass arriving in town, followed by a scene where main lead Kouichi wakes up from a dream he can’t remember. But as he wakes, the doorbell rings with that lass standing at the front door, who promptly settles down in his house as if she knew him. But Kouichi doesn’t know who she is, until his friend Kazuki shows up at his house as he and the lass quickly recognize each other. The lass is their childhood friend Mao, back from overseas and staying at Kouichi’s house for the time being.

But this event is bound to cause waves, as Kouichi has been trying to build a relationship with his classmate Yuumi, while trying to make a film with Kazuki and their other friend Akira. But Kazuki is worse off, working on that film, being forced into soccer practice with Asuka, and kissing experiments with Eriko! Meanwhile, in the senior class, Mao sparks an odd friendship with Eiji. And in the first year class, Kazuki’s younger sister Nana and her friend Harumi go on...udon cooking adventures.

Well. That complicated quickly. Before going any further, it’s worth noting the udon subplot is pointless but takes a good 15% of the show’s screentime anyway. It serves as comic relief with no impact on the story, which is a shame since the leftover 85% is indispensible, tightly written, and believably blends together like Very Berry Ramen.

Okay, maybe only Eriko would like that flavor. There’s a running joke throughout the show about her lack of taste, but otherwise there’s a lack of humor about her that keeps most people at bay. Kazuki and Eriko share a mutual growth throughout the show that moves Kazuki from indecision to finality, while the ice wrapping Eriko slowly defrosts without changing her aloof attitude. Her laugh at the ramen stand is barely visible but undeniably there, she starts to join Nana and Harumi for lunch, and that stoic face can’t hide her agitation when Asuka confronts her.

The spunky Asuka herself is the one who pushes Kazuki to do his best. He doesn’t know whether to seriously pursue Eriko at first, but thanks in part to the way Asuka pushes him on the soccer field and off it, he decides to go for it. And not just with Eriko, but everything he does in life. His newfound vigor drives him on the soccer field but as it does, he accidentally hurts Asuka’s leg and she’s sidelined from playing for a while. It’s a fitting scene, since it’s more than Asuka’s leg that’s hurt as she soon learns.

The downside to Asuka’s progress is how different she acts before and after her injury. Going from a drill sergeant to a blushing pile of goo after one scene is jarring enough as it is, but here it’s only made worse because of everyone else’s subtle progress. Unfortunately, that subtlety is also taken too far with part of Eriko’s progress, since the reason she’s doing these experiments comes too little, too late. Everything else about Eriko’s progress is otherwise solid and connects well with the rest of the story in the few times they connect.

This connect shows in a recurring scene where Eriko and Mao relax and talk in the school nurse’s office. At first, Mao crashes the nurse’s office just because she’s not a morning person, but later goes there after her personal reasons develop. On the other hand, the genius Eriko goes there just to skip class, but later on even she doesn’t know how to face her feelings. Eriko and Mao’s mutual growth parallel each other like the beds they rest on, with the former experiencing love and the latter being afraid to lose it.

Mao herself is the big sister figure to Kouichi and Kazuki, and always seems on top of everything. Like being the matchmaker for Kouichi and Yuumi, or pushing Kazuki to go after Eriko. But she’s also rounded out, often barging into Kouichi’s room for a round of video games, or her attempts to befriend her classmate Eiji. But as the show goes on, her face denies her actions, and her actions deny her feelings. It could be easy to dislike her for being dishonest, but it can also be something to appreciate. In other words, she’s a believably flawed character.

Then, there’s the somewhat flawless but still compelling Eiji. His aloofness is the most noticeable thing about him until the aesthetics take care of the rest. He’s a late-night jazz saxophonist working at a bar with muted lighting. There’s no word of his family throughout the show, and his teacher criticizes him for focusing too much on music and not enough on his studies. He lives a strange life, but this doesn’t faze him much nor does he develop from it. But that’s not a bad thing, as he’s mature beyond his years as he plays the voice of reason for Mao AND Kouichi.

Kouichi, the main lead, breaks away from the milquetoast quality that’s too easy to fall into. Though he needs a push from Mao to really go after Yuumi, he shows qualities that make it believable why Yuumi would like him. His strong work ethic, like working on the film, is where he and Yuumi spend a lot of time together. And his dreams of being a novelist come from a certain plot point, that lies with a certain someone, who’s with him less and less as the show goes on. Kouichi can’t help but be concerned for this certain someone, and Yuumi can’t help but notice his concern.

Yuumi herself is meek, but she doesn’t shy away from conflict. She takes bad news pretty well, and from to librarian to film maker has a work ethic of her own. Unfortunately, she’s static compared to the rest of the characters. There’s a lack of reaction on her part despite being in love—her incessant blushing doesn’t count—and her role in the story is underwhelming despite being so important. Still, she does nicely build the story in the show’s film subplot.

Because past the romantic drama is a film being made by the honestly devious Akira. But what starts as a waste of time slowly shows itself to parallel the story in many ways. There are script lines that recite themselves in real life, and casting decisions between Yuumi and Mao that are hard to pay mind to, until the story fully plays out. At the end, Akira screens the film, and congratulates himself on making it a tear jerker. Sound melodramatic? Well, the in-show audience’s reaction to the film is tearful but muted. It’s a frighteningly believable response, and shows how strong understated storytelling can be.

This is because the show’s storytelling is restrained. It hardly tries to tell the viewer how to feel, letting dialog and character progress rule each scene instead of a loud soundtrack. This restraint lets the story be serious without being heavy, and lets the lighter scenes exist since they don’t become full-on comedy. These restrained aesthetics show the story’s confidence in its storytelling and its viewers to know the characters, with often superb results.

Let me describe some of those results. When Kouichi and Yuumi are talking after an exam, the viewer can see Mao watching them like the matchmaker she is, but the slight slant to her eyes is a sign of things to come. During an experiment between Kazuki and Eriko in the middle part of the show, a blush and a tremble cross Eriko’s face, while Kazuki is noticeably calmer. And when someone tries to return something to someone else, the viewer WILL know what it means at that point. It’s scenes like this that are powerful, mostly quiet storytelling moments where Kimikiss ~Pure Rouge~ is purely divine.

Unfortunately, when the show heavily relies on music, half the time it makes a muted scene try too hard. When someone shares bad news with another, just having the news foreshadowed and the viewer’s connection to their relationship is enough. Or in the couple of scenes where someone is trying to confide in another, half the time those scenes work and half the time they don’t. The show is 3/4 quiet and 1/4 loud. There’s nothing wrong with a loud scene to show emotion, but it’s a gamble the show loses half the time.

But when the show wins that gamble, it wins big time. When a scene where someone is confiding in another works, the music is perfectly timed. When the second major kiss in the show happens, the first ending number, ‘Negai Boshi,’ perfectly caps the moment. The music itself is often understated and doesn’t stand on its own, but it always sets the mood, rarely failing to be subtle but effective. This is part of the storytelling’s restraint, which also shows its hand in the visuals.

Quite oddly (or quite thankfully!), for a show with several heroines, there’s no overt fanservice. Save for one shower scene and one beach scene, the show uses intimacy to show off its bevy of beauties. Often times after a kiss, there’s a heavy emphasis on the heroine’s lips. Not body. Not mouth. Lips. The lips are shown as is, without any attempt to dress them up, since these girls are quite lovely already. This show knows its heroines are the cover attraction, but plays up their appearance sparingly, gracefully, and with dignity.

The art design itself is lively, brightly colored despite the limited color palette, but nothing great. Its real strength is WHAT happens with the art itself. A second-long flashback followed by a dark, empty apartment implies everything important about a certain character. Or another scene where a bedroom door is framed between two characters, to show the disconnect between what they think the other one thinks. Or really, any time a character’s face tells the story, from Eriko’s denial to Eiji’s intuition.

Of course, strong filmic direction doesn’t mean anything without good pacing. And even counting the pointless udon subplot, the show’s pacing is very solid. There’s always a sense of time for what plot thread is happening when, and they’re not mashed together but connected by mutual characters. The story is multi-layered but still easy to follow. Maybe too easy to follow for its own good.

This is because Kimikiss ~Pure Rouge~ is a romance story through and through. It doesn’t really do anything new for its genre, but it doesn’t need to. It just needs to tell its story well, and it far surpasses that mark despite its flaws. Despite some characters being better written than others, most of them are sincere to the story. Despite being heavy-handed at times, it’s otherwise powerfully quiet. It doesn’t pass with flying colors, but a kiss needs only the color of ~Pure Rouge~.

Kimi kiss is a romance/harem about two guys and the girls that enter their lives. I picked this series up pretty much randomly, but it ended up being surprisingly good.

This series is all about character development. There is very little action (unless you consider soccer a lot of action...) and no magic or aliens or supernatural elements. It's just ordinary humans trying to figure out their emotions and feelings.

The pace of the series is a bit slow but it allows for wonderful character development. However, when the series does pick up slightly after the halfway point, it required marathon mode.

This is definitely one of the better romances out there in its realism and overall plot development.

Animation:
As pointed out by other reviewers, this is one of the weaker aspects of the show. The animation isn't very crisp nor are colors very vibrant. It looks a bit washed out and certain areas could use a bit more detail. None of these really seriously detract from the enjoyment of the series though so overall it is fairly good.

Sound:
The OP/EDs were fair and the overall BGM was adequate but nothing outstanding. It is interesting to note how the change in the ED fit very well with the changing mood of the series. The VA's do a good job (especially Mao considering how much energy her character takes). The only real annoyance with VAs is the two younger girls with the frogs. They are annoying * e^pi^2.

Story:
At the beginning of the series, we find the two main male characters, Kouichi and Kazuki, meeting Mao, who had just returned from France. In the first few episodes, Kouichi, Kazuki, and Mao all find matches and all seems well! But since the entire show is two dozen episodes long, we know this is not the end of things.

The three of them all go to high school and eventually all become involved in making a student-made movie (reminded me of Ichigo...).

Expect a lot of interesting love triangles (some completely unexpected) to pop up in addition to a lot of plot twists.

This series differs greatly from some other series in that the main characters already have set relationships that start to shift throughout the story in ways that keeps the watcher guessing as to who will end up with who.

The tension increases greatly in the second half of the show almost to a Da Capo-ish level. I must warn that the second half of the show may require marathoning as there are fairly significant cliff hangers at the end of each episode. Overall, the story starts slow but picks up the pace fairly quickly.

The two slight qualms that I have with the story are the two younger girls (mentioned before) and the actual conclusion for Kouichi. I didn't find his conclusion very... believable, though I guess it works. Kazuki's conclusion was much more straightforwards. As for the younger girls (Kazuki's sister and another girl), they are just annoying at times. A sizable amount of the anime shows the two girls playing with stuffed frogs, which is not what I was watching the show for.

Character:
Expect a LOT of character development.

Kouichi is a somewhat typical, shy guy who has a crush on a girl named Yumi Hoshino in his class. Fortunately enough (?) Yumi also has a crush on Kouichi. However, both are shy to the point of not being able to look at each other. Enter Mao, the "older sister" figure to Kazuki and Kouichi.

However, as the series progresses, we find that everyone, even the "I know best" sister figure has problems that they don't know how to resolve. A large portion of this show is how the characters deal with their situations.

I must also mention that even minor characters (such as the class president Megumi), despite not having a lot of air time, have significant development. It shows that a good deal of thought was put into the development of the series and the characters.

If I haven't mentioned it enough yet, the two little girls don't really contribute much to the series other than extending the length of the show by about one whole episode.

Value:
Overall, the show's animation could use some work and there are two really annoying little girl. But aside from those, this is a very solid work with a lot of good development. There's enough depth to it that a second watch is reasonable.

Just when you thought you've seen it all, there's KKPR. NO SPOILERS[br][br]Intro:[br]KimiKiss is a story that deals with the mixed feelings between one young man and his search for truth and honesty in a relationship which intertwines with his childhood friend Mao Mizusawa, and his high school crush Yumi Hoshino. Through in and through out he must come to realize what love really consists of and what it takes to confirm one's true feelings. [br][br]Discussion: Dealing with childhood friends has always been a subject in various romance animes but with KimiKiss it's different in away such that the sole focus of the story is on the effects that love (a relationship) can have on oneself and the people around you, for example Kazuki's form of love was reckless (used in the series itself) since he was always chasing after Futami and not realizing that Sakino was waiting for him the whole time when in the end he could have lost both girls. The thing that makes KimiKiss a nice watch is that there was very little filler (from what i saw) throughout and had one goal from start to finish (that is the school festival...). Each episode left me thinking "wow what's going to happen now?" (not to mention the transitions with the ED were great). EAch episode served a purpose and further provided the viewer with information needed to come up with their own opinion on who would end up with who in the end. Which leads me to another topic on how the series was not all that predictable. I'll admit at first it seemed predictable but towards the end I was just as confused as the protagonist. [br][br]Conclusion: The character development was very nicely portrayed(as expected from the director of honey & clover and nodamecantabile) and well thought out. Not one character is left with regrets in the end (so it seemed...). I won't give away who gets with who but i'll just say i only approved of 1 ending relationship in the end and that was Sanada's. Would i watch again? Yes but it'd be a long time. Would I want a season 2? Yes, to find out what happened after high school. Where the characters stereotyped into their roles? YES but at least they did a good job of it, a damn good job i might add. [br][br]Recommend: I'd recommend this title to viewers in favor of childhood friend type scenarios and also newbies (due to the stereotypes). [br][br]ps: "Love is not born from an experiment"[br]

eltimsy has written a very good review of Kimi Kiss Pure Rouge (KKPR) above and I recommend you read it. I didn't like KKPR nearly as much so I felt impelled to write my own, far more negative review.[br][br]Animation: I generally don't care about animation. Story and characters are paramount to me. That said, KKPR's animation is pretty horrible. I can't think of a modern series with comparably bad animation. Lack of detailed backgrounds, minimal animation, perspectives that always seem skewed and off. It's just a mess all around. The low quality of animation is the first indicator that no one involved in KKPR cares much about delivering a "quality" series.[br][br]Sound: An underwhelming intro is probably the high point. No, I take that back, the ending song isn't too bad. Everything else is forgettable background noise.[br][br]Story: With one novel exception, KKPR is the most cliched and stereotyped school-romance love-polygon show you are likely to ever see. It's almost as if they set out to make a parody of the genre by including as many hackneyed elements as possible...and then decided to make a serious series instead. What is the one novel exception? Instead of following ONE loser and his love-polygon they also follow the loser's best friend (also a loser) and HIS love-polygon! Brilliant![br][br]Actually, I'm only 75% sarcastic when I say that. The introduction of a second main character and plot thread helps fill out the show and make it feel like there isn't quite as much filler. It is, at the very least, a backhanded recognition that these recycled plotlines aren't enough to fill out an entire series. It has the side benefit of allowing them to introduce more female characters without it having an overwhelming "harem" anime feel.[br][br]Still, though, at the end of the day you have the usual "I can't believe everyone is this fucking stupid" love polygon storylines. You know, if you were to believe anime you'd think no one in Japan has sex until they are at least 30, given how hard it is for them to even hold hands. The reality is, the average Japanese loses their virginity only 3 months after the average American. And they lose it earlier than the French, Swiss, Irish, Spanish, or Italians. Clearly they aren't quite as pathetic as these anime make them out to be. I realize these anime are targetted at the loser males they employ as protagonists but some variety every once in a while would be nice.[br][br]Why do I subject myself to watching these shows when I hate 99% of them? Clearly there is something very, very wrong with me. I love-school romance but hate love-polygons. I am sick in the head and need counselling.[br][br]And, as a post script, slight breezes do not make your contact fall out. I can't believe they tried that.[br][br]Character: There are a lot of characters and most of them get very little development. Many of them are quite annoying. Three hold some initial promise that generally goes to waste. Mao-neechan was the one who disappointed me the most because she had great potential to be bold and forthright and cut all these damn Gordian loveknots. Having a lot of characters is a mixed blessing: it means there is a better chance there will be SOMEONE you like, but it also means no one character is likely to get a lot of screen time.[br][br]While I hated the cliched plot, the characters were the real Achilles heel here. I can (sort of) suspend disbelief about a guy and girl who are oblivious about one another's feelings. But when a third-party hooks them up and they continue with the "if it's not too much of a bother could I walk you to the station" bullshit after MULTIPLE MONTHS I seriously begin hoping for Godzilla to eat all of Japan just so no shows this horrible ever get made again. (And what kind of "friend" doesn't help a brother out when he's being so stupid and tell him just to jump her bones because she's obviously into you?)[br][br]Value: I've never known what this category really means. You get 20-whatever episodes. You should know what you're getting into. That's over 10 hours of "entertainment" all for the low, low price of an illegal bittorrent download. You won't find anything great here, but if this is your bag, you'll find several hours of bag.[br][br]Enjoyment: In case you hadn't figured it out by now I did not like KKPR. At all. Maybe you will. But I doubt it. It is a pretty generic show. If you have time to kill and have watched everything else better, then give it a whirl. But don't come crying to me afterwards if you don't like it.[br]

Wow with the title Kimi Kiss.... They sure know how to relate the anime :). As the title suggests it is in the romance genre and really doesn't carry anything else. Its just about as stereotypical romance show you can get. Typical characters, small and slow paced development, various love triangles and etc. When it comes down to it, its NOT an original anime nor does it stand out. So now the question is why are the ratings not so bad. Well even with the uninteresting plot they still managed to make the anime good. In fact I felt that the simplicity helped the anime more then it didn't. The story begins with Mao who is the female lead returning to her hometown and begins living with her childhood friend Kouichi. Her arrival sparks the beginning of all the drama and events. The actually anime isn't just about these two but have other main characters. In fact there are 2 main love triangles and then other side stories.

Animation
The worst part of the anime. I must say dramas and romance don't need good animation but if they don't have a certain level its just bad. In kimikiss's case I really found many problems. Everything was simple and not that detailed for starters. All the colours were overly bright and not appealing. The backgrounds and extra parts aren't too detailed save a few scenes. The characters themselves looked bad. Well lets just say most of the time they faced forward it was fine. But when you got side views they looked distorted and wrong. I felt not much effort was put at all in animating the entire thing. Either way the only reason why i didn't get it a failing mark was because it IS a drama and the animation really doesn't matter that much. It wasn't soo bad that i couldn't watch but it was bad enough i noticed it. Thats why it got soo low.

Sound
Not exceptional either. The opening and ending were plain and simple. All I can say is after hearing the opening I wasn't really compelled to watch the series anymore and after hearing the ending I also didn't feel more enticed to go on. The background sound didn't play a big role either. I never found myself getting more into the anime from listening to the music. Thus in reality it just didn't stick out at all. The voice acting was normal. They did what they had to do but none of the actors stuck out in my mind either. The tone of the anime was more or less either serious or normal. The happy parts weren't REALLY happy so you can only really separate it by normal and sad lol.

Story
As i stated at the beginning the story does not go beyond the average drawing board for romance/drama. You have characters that fall in love and struggle through there loves and finally at the end resolve the issue. The actual outcome wasn't as important as how the outcome was done. Thus the story in and in itself isn't exactly the most important thing for this anime. Although this may be true that doesn't mean the story was bad in anyway. It definitely worked out for the best.

Character
The best part of the series. The dialogues and character development are very important in this series. Since it lacks in many areas without a good way to promote characters the anime would of been terrible. They choose to make the conversation more realistic making the series easier to relate to. Many of the feelings and trials that the characters go through were close to home and you could really feel for them. The struggles were also never overly ambitious and worked out nicely. Although the endings weren't completely believable its safe to say its good enough. The characters themselves came in a wide variety as well making the series more interesting. They all brought different qualities and taste to the anime and it was nice. It was also "peaceful" per say there are conflicts but never anything that turned out violent. I think this is the only thing I really wanted a bit of. A bit more conflict between friends and a harsher atmosphere. No matter what it seemed a bit too happy for me.

Value and Enjoyment
The value part works out quite well. Since they try to bring simple messages about romance its easy to follow and applicable in some cases. They aren't entirely original but the dialogue is nice enough that some parts are nice for resolutions. I would say that it IS possible to say oh if I were in that situation that would be a good way to resolve it. In terms of rewatching it can be rewatched but i don't think I would. The big problem of romance series is after one sitting you know whats gonna happen and nothing new really comes up. I guess you can watch it for the conversations but thats about it. I did enjoy the series. It wasn't bad and it was a pleasant surprise. It isn't the best out there but it is a good break from other series. I feel bad for it though because it had to compete with other romances like Clannad, True tears, Spice and wolf and EF a tale of memories. All of which have more original story lines. Either way it isn't bad so give it a go if you like Romance/Drama.