Review of Kiss Him, Not Me!

There were a lot of things I really liked about Kiss Him, Not Me. Some expected, and others that pleasantly surprised me. I think Kae herself is a good example. On one hand, she's pretty much what we were promised. A crazed fujoshi fangirl who can't quite separate her love for fictional characters from her everyday real life. But at the same time, there was more to her than that. I found her to be quite likable. She was generally a very kind and caring person, passionate about various issues when she saw them. (Spurred on by the Saturday-morning cartoon sort of justice that's beeninstilled in her throughout the years.) And she was capable of interacting with her classmates as real people. I guess it just felt a little... refreshing. I'm used to seeing otaku characterized as being so socially awkward that they can't even function on a day-to-day basis. The only time Kae really fits that bill is when she's face-to-face with her new friends' romantic intentions. As the series goes on, it was nice to see Kae stay true to herself. I feel like she learns and grows a little with each experience, but never really changes, and I liked that. Simultaneously, I liked seeing her suitors grow to accept her for who she is-- even the craziest parts of her-- more and more as they had more adventures together. And I found all of the main cast to have their likable points. I do wish most of them had been developed a little more, but I there was no one I truly disliked, no one who brought down every scene they were in.

On top of that, it was interesting to see the series occasionally tackle serious issues. The main plot itself comes into question-- addressing the boys only liking Kae for her appearance when she gains the weight back in one episode. This, thankfully, ends on the note that she's the same person on the inside no matter what she looks like. (And the manga actually addresses this issue multiple times and is more outright about the message the author was trying to send.) There's also an episode that takes a serious look into sexual assault, and Mutsumi's relationship with his older brother looks into sibling abuse and toxic family relationships... Honestly, the story with Mutsumi isn't addressed as completely as I hoped it would be, but I felt the sexual assault storyline was handled tastefully, and I really liked that the writers weren't afraid to discuss something so serious with no real barriers between the audience and the message they were trying to impart there. (Basically, it's a very quick moment with Kae and one of the love interests who's delirious with a fever at the time, but no one tries to brush it off like it wasn't a big deal, and Kae was reasonably affected by it, which I really appreciated. Too often in anime, those sorts of scenarios are brushed off like they're not a big deal-- or worse, played off like it's romantic in some way-- and it was just... very refreshing. Kae even goes back through her manga to reevaluate her opinions on those types of stories.)

On a lighter note, I can't remember the last time a show had me laughing this hard from start to finish, almost every single episode. There's definitely a lot to love here for long-time anime fans, a lot of references and just... otakuisms that they managed to simultaneously poke fun at and indulge in. I do think that you'll probably know from the summary alone whether you'll enjoy this show, though. I don't really feel like it's the type of show that can deviate from its intended audience, and it's not something I'd recommend to new anime fans. But I personally enjoyed it just as much as I thought I would, and if it sounds interesting to you, I'd definitely encourage you to check it out!