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I like
the part when Kana's little sister answered the phone, and when she found
out it's Yoshihiko, she promptly invited him to the family outing. I was
struck at how close the family is to Yoshihiko. Wow, the guy certainly
won't have in-law problems when he marries Kana ^_^
The
opening title read: First Kiss: It All Started With A Kiss. What do you
make up of an anime with a title like that? Something mushy, I bet. The
cynic in me thought this anime's probably all fluff and no substance.
Of course, my taste is composed of 75% fluff and 25% substance, so I watched
on.
First Kiss is based from a 2000 computer game. While I haven't played the game, people say that the anime is more or less true to the original. Lovestruck people involved in long-distance relationships might find this anime interesting, too.
Synopsis
Kana Orikura should
have been a happy girl. She has a boyfriend, Yoshihiko, an older guy who
used to be the Orikuras' tenant. But Yoshihiko has to move away to attend
college, and was swamped with work that he seldom has time to see her
anymore. Worse, it's Kana's college entrance exams, and she hasn't made
any effort to study at all, what with wicked thoughts of Yoshihiko probably
cheating on her occupying her mind.
Then Shogo Hayakawa came into the picture. He's a temporary student-teacher for Kana'a class. He's also a distant relative of the Orikura family and eerily resembles Kana's deceased father. As if that weren't enough, Shogo is now the Orikura's new tenant, moving into Yoshihiko's former room. Kana, with disturbing thoughts of Yoshihiko's loyalty everyday when she doesn't see him, finds herself liking Shogo. And when Yoshihiko finally found the time to see Kana again, he's bothered at how close Kana is to Shogo. Will he relinquish Kana to Shogo? How will Kana take this? And what's Shogo's say on this?
Review
I wonder how the First
Kiss computer game works? Does it go: "Press yes if you want Yoshihiko
and Kana to break-up; press no if you want them to work out their relationship?"
^_^
The opening scene shows Kana's mother urging Kana not to let the chance slip by and tell Yoshihiko her true feelings. So Kana ran after the departing Yoshihiko, admitted her attraction to him, and they shared their first kiss.
I found it weird that the mother would be the one to urge her daughter to go follow her heart and watch from afar as her daughter kisses another guy. Mothers usually are protective of their daughters, and are among the first to object (after the fathers) when their daughter gets a boyfriend. Anyway, moving on...
First Kiss is a story AFTER Kana and Yoshihiko had that dratted kiss. They tried to maintain a long-distance relationship, and seems to be failing miserably. Enter Shogo, who deceives us into believing he likes Kana. He even made a remark to Yoshihiko that he should look after Kana or he'll lose her to someone else. Now what the heck did Shogo mean by that? Does that mean he's interested in Kana himself?
The story is clear and to the point. People whose loves live an ocean away may relate to the anime very well. The only thing that bothers me is Shogo. His presence is meant as a decoy to challenge Kana and Yoshihiko's relationship, but he played the decoy part well. If First Kiss has a follow-up OAV, I wouldn't be surprised if it's about Shogo, come back to lure Kana's affections.
The art is sharp and average, and suspiciously composed of computer-generated cells. First Kiss is also short, about as short as Baby Love, so anybody who has a tendency to get hung up on an anime may find no danger with this one.
If you've played the First Kiss game, this anime is a must see, just for comparison's sake. If you haven't played the game (like me), you have to see it anyway. It's only about 30 minutes long, just long enough to eat lunch. But if you're unable to download it off the Internet, it's not really worth splurging money on.