Kiss Him, Not Me; Not Your Everyday Yaoi Reverse Harem

So, this show has earned me flak from Kenny and Marc for watching it and to be fair, it does seem to be at first some generic Yaoi bullshit. That is where you would be wrong. Also, you would assume this is some generic reverse harem bullshit. You would be mostly wrong there. Whereas I don’t make it a habit of watching either category, I’m fairly aware of the concept of Fujoshi (chicks who dig dudes digging other dudes) since one of my two best friends is one and my other best friend is a dude who digs other dudes.

Background semi-disclaimer about what this show is referring to, here’s the plot synopsis. Kae Serinuma is a pretty standard female neckbeard otaku/fujoshi. She’s obsessed with the thought of hot dudes digging other hot dudes to the point it’s almost self-aware of how stereotypical it is. She has glasses, is fat, has that chunky voice and pretty much screams that girl. But at her heart, she’s actually quite a nice person and has a strange combination of self-esteem issues and Yaoi fetishes that leave her thinking that a prince should never be with a princess, but another prince. With the princess looking onwards creepy from behind a tree.

But let’s get to the real meat of the story, how she loses that meat and what it means for Kae. Kae’s number one waifu (out of thirteen, again I shit you not) is a character named Shion of the (hopefully fictional) series Mirage Saga. When he dies, she DESTROYS her phone and goes catatonic for a week. Finally, her brother and mother kick down her door and she comes out looking absolutely beautiful after a week of not eating. Having done the practice of going a week not eating I can attest this is not how it works, and you should be dead if not horribly ill after such a gambit. When going back to school no one recognizes the now hot Serinuma. After a bit of hilariously awkward realizations, she finds three distinct yet stereotypical characters now vying for her attentions. Yūsuke Igarashi, the clichéd everyday guy who has that smile and laugh and ends up with the girl because he was the slightly above average boy next door. Nozomu Nanashima, who serves as the bad boy type who actually bullied Kae a significant amount, which she didn’t really care about but Igarashi defended her over (not for romantic reasons but because he’s a nice guy and who wouldn’t stop some jerk from teasing the fat girl).  Hayato Shinomiya, who is the younger cute guy with a very effeminate appearance but can be a bit of a dick at times. Lastly, there’s Asuma Mutsumi who is the senior to Kae and head of their History club who seems completely asexual for the first 90% of the show until he is comically introduced to the concept of romantic love but also was the only one who immediately identified Kae for being her after losing the weight. Outside of this is my personal choice, Shima Nishina who is a perfect storm of being another otaku/fujoshi and even a doujin artist that Kae respects greatly. She’s rich, clever, and an all-around perfect kinda gal but hilariously gives off the appearance of being a guy during her first meeting with Kae while cosplaying and drawing the ire of the four male protagonists.

With the characters set, we look into occurrences during the show. After losing the weight, Kae goes on a date with all four guys trying to hide her inner desire to see them all together (which is hilarious to see her completely freaking out). In a moment reminiscent of Spongebob Squarepants, she fights the urge to let on she’s an otaku and practically chants “I don’t need it… I don’t need it…” until finally, she sees limited edition Mirage Saga merchandise and flat out goes “I NEEEEEEEEED ITTTTTTT!” Upon finding out she’s an otaku the guys basically say “IDGAF” and eventually find the depths of which her fandom lie, including mountains of yaoi doujin, body pillows, sheets, and even cutouts of her favorite waifus, especially Shion.

Now, the humor from this is drawn from how absolutely insane Kae tends to be but to be fair, its plot is rather well done. Each boy has their own episode focus where they are developed as real people and there’s even a point where their interest in her is challenged when Kae gains back the weight and especially when you see Igarashi challenged in that episode on why he cares about Kae. Nanashima is revealed to be not that bad of a person even going so far as being very into magical girl fandoms because of his little sister. Shinomiya comes to terms with the fact he’s just the most beta bitch of the group but still strives to fight for Kae even though he’s rather klutzy. The ending of the season is capped with Mutsumi coming to terms with the fact he deeply cares for Kae, even going so far to fight his pansexual brother for her (in a card game but still). With the four guys and Nishina finally telling Kae how they feel and asking her to choose one, they each go on a date and wait for the decision. Kae in a choice that surprises likely none of them in the end, chooses Shion because apparently he’s slated to come back in Mirage Saga. I can’t wait to see how this show goes on for the next few seasons because of its self-aware enough to keep my interest and between the art, audio, plot, and humor I feel this is a show I’d recommend to just about anyone.