The Reverse Harem with a Twist: Kiss Him Not Me

Synopsis

Meet Kae Serinuma, an otaku fujoshi who spends her day, watching her favorite series, buying merchandise and pairing off her male classmates and concocting romantic fantasies about them. But upon the death of her favorite character, Serinuma goes into shock and doesn’t go to school for a week, Upon her return, she has gone through a completely unexpected change.

Gone is the overweight girl with less than stellar looks, in its stead comes the beautiful young woman who has attracted the attention of not one, not two but four males. Now how is she going to go about her otaku and fujoshi ways with the attention that she garnered?

The Good

First and foremost, the art and animation, while it may be similar to many popular shoujo productions today, the colors, details on the characters were well delivered and appealing to the eyes. Then there is the plot to note on, overall, it is a very balanced story of romance and comedy, it didn’t focus too much on certain aspects of its themes and genres but when the focus was on it, the plot generally worked out and is something that both reverse harem and non-reverse harem fans can enjoy.

What really brought the anime together however, like many other anime, was the characters. After a variety of similar typed characters in many reverse harem anime, the realistic aspects of these characters, both good and bad are a refreshing change of pace. This most especially applies to the main protagonist, a figure that has been criticised by many in the past due to their lack in personality and impact to the story. Not only does the anime bring in a dynamic female protagonist, but they also develop her as well.

The same can be said about the love interests of the series as well. Most often the males of reverse harems present a sort of one dimensional personality with a dramatic past. Not this time; more than being the romantic interests of the main lead, these characters are teenagers who simply want to enjoy their time as teens and it can be honestly relatable to the viewer.
There are many to be said about the characters but overall the listed points are the main things to look forward to in the series.

The Bad

While the art and animation is good, it could have been better. One of the main things to notice is that while much detail has been placed into the effects and characters, not much can be said about the background.

Another point to take note is something that many have debated on in the past, how the anime follows the manga it may be based on. While many have made complaints on some anime veering too far off from its source material, these series may have needed a bit of that. There are some points when it seems that rather than watching an anime, the viewer was watching the manga in color and motion. This is something that could have been worked on as there is much creativity that could have been explored in the animation.

While the plot itself is unique, it is also somewhat generic in certain ways as well. There is the general factor that a young female suddenly garners the attention of various males because of a certain quality t her that inspired them or in this case she underwent a complete change. What’s more you get the generic episodes of shoujo that everyone knows of, the Valentine’s Day episode, the beach episode, the festival episode, and the list goes on.
Overall, more work could have been done in turns of the presentation of the work which the series is based on.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a refreshing new look to the reverse harem genre with relatable and loveable characters then this is the work for you. It’s an easily enjoyable series even if more could have been done for it. You can easily relate to certain characters and you get to enjoy not only their romantic moments with the main character, but their general interactions with one another as well. Overall, this is a refreshing take on the genre that could have been better but overall did well.

Rating: 7/10