Kiss Him, Not Me Episode 1: A Prince with a Prince [First Impression]

When the anime adaptation of Watashi ga Motete Dousunda, or Kiss Him Not Me, was first announced I anticipated it would be difficult for it to be done justice. A controversial manga in itself Kiss Him Not Me succeeds by constantly throwing the story on its head. An otaku, specifically a fujoshi, finds out her favorite character dies in an anime and doesn’t eat for a week. Due to the trauma and stress Kae Serinuma loses all the excess weight on her and becomes one of the most attractive girls in the school. This premise sets up a lot of questions immediately: how will the anime handle the weight topic, are the guys only shallow, what message does it send to people who struggle with their weight?

That is why I think it is important I am covering this show. I read a good portion of the manga and while the anime’s beginning might deceive you, this show has no intention of forgetting that Kae was overweight and no intention of forgiving every love interest for their issues with her before she lost the weight. As long as the anime keeps the touch of the manga that it was written from, the show will be a much more interesting surprise than the summary alone gives.

I was worried from the start because shoujo anime tend to get weird adaptations. Orange changed a lot about the art style for some characters and had moments of genuine breath taking animation followed by some serious let downs. Kiss Him Not Me offers stunning animation and really good seiyuu work: hearing Kae freak out about yaoi in both her heavier self and her stereotypical shoujo self were absolute treats. What will sell you on this anime in the first episode has very little to do with what will come and all to do with the fact that Kae is one of the most relatable and interesting shoujo protagonists ever written. She’s nice, sure, she’s not mean to anyone, sure, but deep down her most defining feature is blogging about anime and obsessing over characters. (I am not self inserting here, nope!)

I give this anime my current recommendation both because I know what is coming and because what we already have is good. Even if you decide all the guys who originally rejected her don’t deserve her there is still one OTP in the show that works the entire course: Asuma Mutsumi. Asuma knows it’s Kae immediately, barely notices she lost weight, and likes her either way just fine. So that being said if you hate the shallow characters just stick it out for how amazing both Kae and Asuma are. He literally has a scene where he comes to talk to her at the same time all the guys come to ask out her out, only he just came to borrow a book and gave in to peer pressure because he didn’t want to be left out.

Kae is my spirit animal. Join me, animu fangirls, we must unite in celebration. (Look, I owned a Makishima body pillow before. I buy custom plush dolls of everything. She is my spirit animal.)

Possibility of Watching: Yas plz, slay 

Oki