Itazura na Kiss Episode 14 Review

I was waiting for this episode before continuing my reviews for Itazura na Kiss. I was getting tired of regurgitating all the usual love drama junk that happens before the moment everyone is waiting for. This anime also tends to be rather difficult to find decent screenshots for…it just isn’t that kind of show.

Itazura na Kiss 14 was full of juicy moments that I imagine a fair number of girls would melt through the floor for. I thought this would be the season finale until I found out on wikipedia that Itazura na Kiss is actually a 26 episode season. That’s cool. It’s rare that animes show beyond the moment of love declaration or first kiss or whatever; with 12 more episodes left, we actually get an animefied version of marriage life with klutz Kotoko and super genius Naoki without it being left to our imaginations.

Naoki’s proposal killed me. It was utterly un-romantic; he never even actually proposed to Kotoko, he just took it for granted that she would say yes. I think most girls would be so furious that they wouldn’t marry a man if he did that. But Kotoko is completely wrapped around Naoki’s little finger so it all works out.

I don’t know if this follows the manga or not, but they got married really freaking fast. A two week engagement, if you can call it that.

Irie mama (whatever her name is) is hilarious as always in Itazura na Kiss 14. Everybody is on the lover’s side and everything looks like it’s going to work out happily ever after. Even Blondie Blue Eyes is lolling about lapping up the sight of Kinnosuke. I’m not quite sure how they managed it, but once again, nothing quite feels overdone. Everything is charming and sweet with moments of light comedy interspersed to spice things up. It’s like a fine dish coconut basil chicken. Bloody excellent.

I’m really looking forward to next week’s episode, more out of curiosity of where they will take this than anything else. I read that the original canon ending will be used for the anime, which was not present in the manga.

Itazura na Kiss has exceeded most of my expectations in so many different ways. I am tempted to read the manga but I don’t feel like take the chance of spoiling it for myself.