What she lacks in intelligence she makes up for in determination, hard work, and a singular focus on getting her man. She is cute but not overly beautiful, ditzy and clumsy, and not very bright. She has all the attributes that one would expect. Kotoko makes for a very satisfying shoujo heroine. I mean come on everyone does not fall in love the same way you know! My only real gripe with this is that the extra romances themselves play out too similarly to the main storyline. It’s quite refreshing to see the spurned love rivals actually can be happy and not spend their lives pining away for an unattainable love.

But what is truly beautiful is seeing the characters and even the supporting characters grow and fine love and happiness themselves.

The formulaic romance plot evolves into a bit of a slice of life over the last half of the series. Most romances evolve over the space of at most a year or two where in Itazura the years pass as we see our couple evolve and move on to each new stage of their life. What we get in Itazura is something we almost never see in romance the AFTER in they lived happily ever after. Yes I know this is going to be a shocking spoiler, but Kotoko and Naoki end up together! Omigosh really! Before some of you get upset at me for revealing that, honestly what did you expect!? But what really sets Itazura's story apart is the eventual payoff to the romance. Though some of it walks to line of being unforgivable to my feminist brain, it never has some of the cruel or absolutely mean spirited feeling as I am accustomed to seeing in this genre. Kotoko tries desperately to get her feelings across despite Naoki being cold, uninterested, and mean to her. Of course in a plot twist that can only happen in shoujo, Kotoko's house is destroyed due to faulty construction and she and her father are forced to move in with his old friend, who just happens to be Naoki's father! Hilarity and hijinks ensue.ĭespite the fairly non groundbreaking premise the story remains quite funny. She finally gathers to courage to write him a love confession letter but he flatly refuses to even accept or let alone read it stating that he doesn’t like 'stupid' girls. stupid, but cute girl Kotoko has fallen in love and secretly pined for school idol and uber smart Naoki Irie. The plot for Itazura na Kiss is no different than your standard shoujo romance. While at first glance, Itazura na Kiss may not seem to be any different (though with the relieving lack of bishies) it evolved before my very eyes into the most heartwarming romance I have seen to date. First it is dominated by bishounen love interests who often look more like girls and usually have aloof or abrasive personalities that make you wonder why the heroine fell in love with them in the first place. Shoujo romance can be a bit of an annoying genre for me.

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