天下制覇

Ha HA! Self-referentiality!

Impressions:

I have to admit that I was all geared up to hate this episode, but it was actually very well done and I absolutely loved the Yumi scene. I love it when anybody can be mature enough to sigh and say "I want you to be happy, thank you for giving me a chance, I’m a grown up and realize that breaking up is not the end of the world." It’s just so damn rare in media of any kind outside of the American sex romp sitcoms where everybody ends up sleeping with everybody else eventually. I’m still not wholly on board with the Mao thing, but I’m glad that they ended the show with a kiss and didn’t explore anything afterwards (I say knowing that there’s a DVD episode on the way.) Kai and Yumi definitely deserve better than Mao and Kouichi anyway. Misery can enjoy its own company.

Also, dammit Kuryu… why were you not a main character? You provided some badly needed violence and blushing. If they had replaced every shot of the frogs with Kuryu alternately pouting or blushing, this show would have been 18 times better.

Final thoughts at the bottom.

Kazuki’s tries calling… but Futami’s phone is turned off.

The frog brats see off a customer. Kazuki runs up to them, asking if they’ve seen Futami anywhere. No luck for Kazuki. Nana is suspicious that Kazuki might… GOOD WORK, DETECTIVE NANA. Kazuki runs off though.

He searches through the school, her lab, the roof, everywhere… but there’s no Futami to be found. He gets ready to go back inside and thinks about Sakino… and then realizes that Futami may have misunderstood things.

Yumi and Kouichi ‘enjoy’ the fair. They’re both depressed and there’s no dialogue here. They no longer hold hands as they walk around either. Yumi turns to Kouichi… and he asks about crepes. SMOOTH.

They visit Mao’s classroom for crepes. Kai is in his frilly pink apron and sees Kouichi come in. Kouichi takes the opportunity to ditch Yumi and ask about Mao. SMOOTH.

Mao’s off advertising their crepes to random people through the school. Kazuki asks if she’s seen Futami. What? A date? Did Mao ever even learn Futami’s name? Mao hasn’t seen her so Kazuki goes running off.

Kouichi left something at the crepe place, so runs off. Mao comes up to Yumi and the two have a very awkward talking. "Having fun?" "Yes." "Aren’t things nice?" "Yes." "You should enjoy yourself with Kouichi." "…" Yumi’s a bit stunned.

Mao holds out her hand and the two shake. Mao hugs Yumi and tells her that she’ll leave Kouichi in her care. Way to go for the killing blow, Mao.

Mao’s classmate finds Kouichi’s cellphone. Kai gets excused from his frilly apron and immediately runs into Kai. Jazzman isn’t happy with Kouichi… but Kouichi says that he’s with Yumi. Kai shares his own feelings, but Kouichi can just stammer like an idiot, so Kai leaves him to it.

Kazuki asks cateared Mitsuki if she’s seen Futami. The two make small talk briefly and Mitsuki cheers up the Kaz-man and tells him how wonderful things are.

Sakino walks home, thinking about Kazuki thanking her and smiles to herself. She sees depressed Futami sitting on the swings and asks her why she’s not with Kazuki. Sakino angrily tells Futami that Kaz is waiting for her. Futami tells her that she’s scared of the feelings and would rather forget them. Sakino gets on the swing and tells her that if you’re always afraid, nothing can ever start.

The festival ends… but Naru makes one last udon batch for the chefs. Kuryu helps Hiiragi clean up. She’s just doing it as a classmate though, obviously. Hiiragi invites her out to the campfire together. She gets pissy, but like the only true tsundere in the show, accepts his invitation with a blush and runs off. I LIKE YOU KURYU, WHY WERE YOU NOT IN THE SHOW MORE?

Mao’s class cleans up too. They try to get rid of Mao. Frilly Kai talks to her. She’s got to study tomorrow, and he’s got parttime work. She says that she’ll keep him company, but he tells her that this is her time and she needs to try her best.

Kazuki runs around while thinking about Sakino’s words. He passes the playground, but the girls are already gone.

At the (bon/camp)fire everybody is watching or dancing. The frog girls are dancing together while Kouichi/Yumi sit like wet towels on the ground. Mao stares across the fire at Kouichi, who stares right back. She finally smiles and then nods at him. Kouichi leaps right up, but Mao turns and leaves. Kouichi tells Yumi that he needs to talk to her.

In a dark classroom, he apologizes to her… he’s not going to be able to keep his promise afterall. He admits that he loves Mao.

She tells him to raise his head… she has one last thing to say. She looks at him with clear eyes and thanks him for everything. She knows how he feels and wants her last memory of him to be a smile. She looks down at her hand and thinks of Mao. She holds out her hand and the two shake. She tells him that she’ll be okay. She wants Kouichi to be happy. She says goodbye and leaves him.

Kazuki finally finds Futami watching the campfire on the roof. He admits how hard he’s been looking for her.

Futami immediately goes into her martyr routine… her experiment failed. Kazuki says that’s fine… there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore. He puts his hand on her’s and says that he’ll be with her. She bluntly admits that she likes him, and he responds in kind. With tears in her eyes, the two kiss.

IN the dark school, Kouichi’s got his head in his hands. He grits his teeth, keeps up and runs off.

He runs through town, thinking about all his memories with Mao. Montage montage montage.

Mao’s people watching from a bridge. Kouichi finally finds her. She asks why he’s not with Yumi. He admits that he loves Mao. She tells him that he has a promise to keep to Yumi… but her heart’s not in it. Kouichi says that everybody is lying. Yumi, himself, Mao, etc. He’s made up his mind. He wants to be with Mao.

She turns away from him, but she’s crying. He walks up confidently and says that he deeply loves her.

She says that she loves him too and they kiss. The ED plays. FIREWORKS!

Kazuki and Futami watch the fireworks together too.

Another montage of all the characters. Kuryu watching them with Hiiragi. Yumi sitting alone at the fountain with a sad smile. Sakino drenched in sweat out on a jog. Mmmmm sweaty Sakino. Kai’s putting out the sign for his job.

Montage of all the kisses and hugs of the series.

Kouichi and Mao watch the fireworks together and kiss again.

Final Thoughts:

What attracted me to Kimikiss in the first place is how dynamic so many of the characters and their interactions where and ultimately, that will probably be where it lives and dies for the audience. There were some truly atrocious episodes where things ground to a complete halt, but also some excellent ones where everybody really came to life.

If you’re familiar with the principle of Chekhov’s Gun, you could probably write a small treatise on how Kimikiss uses it. Basically, it states that any element introduced in a story should be used in some manner. Kimikiss used and misused this immensely. Sakino was basically a walking distraction for everybody and honestly really didn’t serve any real point from start to finish. Mao’s early infatuation was the opposite, something shown and then built and became the central focus. It’s not just mixed signals, it’s inconsistent story telling and undirected development. Kuryu and Mitsuki were another pair of cocked guns that never went off, to follow the Chekhov gun metaphor. They were around quite a bit, but they were just background noise. What is meant to be important and what is just a distraction? When your audience can’t tell which is which, then the story starts to suffer.

That’s really the only major complaint that I have with Kimikiss though. Don’t get me wrong, I could write a litany of complaints about the occasionally dodgy art, the random nonsensical episodes, and of course, the Satanic frogs, but it certainly was still a relatively enjoyable show that knew exactly how to string people along. Totali has joked a few times that you could pretty much follow the entire show just by watching the last minute of every episode, and given that almost all of them end on some kind of cliffhanger development, it’s rather true. I doubt those of you that marathon it will get quite the same enjoyment, but it was a lot of fun to follow weekly because there was almost always something to talk about… something going on… something happening. That kind of dynamic in what was essentially a slice of life show about a few different couples without any real slapstick or gag humor is definitely very praiseworthy.

And of course… there is another episode coming eventually on one of the DVDs, so I’m sure I’ll have a little more to say once things mull over in the months between then and now. Seeya then.