Itazura na Kiss FINAL THOUGHTS

Itazura na Kiss Final Thoughts

While being more or less stranded in my apartment for the weekend, I managed to watch all of Itazura na Kiss from episode 06 to the finale. I wouldn’t have been able to do this if the plot wasn’t so engrossing. I will tell you now, and this is coming from someone who is rarely touched by anything presented in the media, that I shed a fair share of tears over the course of this series. Despite some flaws, this show was effective in following through and establishing growth for all characters involved. Let’s start from the beginning, and I will try and build my points from there.

Kotoko starts as a high school student in F class, a class for those with very low grades, with a crush on Irie Naoki, from A class who is extremely intelligent but cold. He rejects Kotoko but their fathers are good friends, and they end up living there when Kotoko’s house collapses in an earthquake. Irie tries often to avoid her, but Kotoko’s dense clumsiness starts to win him over and make his easy life more interesting. Kotoko loves him wholeheartedly for 5 years, even into college, with nothing to show for it but a teasing kiss. When Kinnosuke, a boy who has liked Kotoko since high school, proposes, Kotoko intends to accept since Irie is about to go through with an arranged marriage to an English girl.

Irie realizes how he needs Kotoko and finally tells her that he loves her, and proposes. She agrees and they are married only two weeks later, after Irie’s mother rushes the ceremony. Irie decides to enter medical school and Kotoko decides to become a nurse. They attend classes in the same department and Kotoko makes new friends. After she graduates, they work in the same hospital together and after being married for four years, Kotoko becomes pregnant. They have a girl named Kotomi, and settle into a happy life.

This is a pretty short summary of 26 episodes, there is a lot of drama with minor characters showing up that are interested in either Kotoko or Irie, but it’s actually more often Kotoko. A lot of emotion is shown between Kotoko, Irie, Kinnosuke, Chris, and Keita. I would say, more often than not, Irie is usually the one at fault. I might be biased because I’m a woman, but I could relate to Kotoko in ways that most people might find to be almost too coincidental. Let me start by saying that I am married to a guy more or less exactly like Irie, except with a better sense of humor. I’m also rather similar to Kotoko in the fact that I’m clumsy and somewhat prone to simple misunderstandings, our academic intelligences are quite different, though. So, I could sometimes relate what it’s like to be married to a cold man who is poor at speaking his feelings, on the other hand, to some degree I cannot help but think that you have to have self-esteem issues to settle for a man as extremely cold, insensitive, and unromantic as Irie Naoki. He makes me grateful that my husband’s faults are nowhere in the range of his.

Irie shows his good points, but not often enough that I would think any woman who wasn’t prone to abusive relationships would put up with him. I was often cheering for Kinnosuke or Keita, because I felt Irie deserved to lose Kotoko with how rarely he promoted her good points. He got better at it when they married, sort of, and only seemed to get rid of it after she was pregnant. I felt bad watching and knowing how many years of Kotoko’s life were spent being disappointed, teased, and disregarded. I didn’t hate Irie, probably because I saw some of my husband in him. He also, as a career individual, was admirable, but as a lover I thought he was awful. The only good thing I could say he brought out in Kotoko was determination. She succeeded in things that were difficult for her because her love for him gave her determination. She also, though not often enough, stood up for herself when it got too far.

I enjoyed watching Itazura na Kiss, even if to some degree it was torturous. The rare moments when they were good to each other seemed like a reward for all the hardships you watched them go through. Just remember, if your husband refuses to bring you flowers during your college graduation ceremony, he’s kind of a dick.