Last week saw Itazura Na Kiss toss a complete shutout victory. Will Itazura get the shutout again this week or will it slip from it’s dominating performances?
Rivals and Lovers
Comedy
Since both shows are technically romantic comedies, we have to grade the level of funny each show brought out this week. Which is to say not much.
Watching Special A EP 15, don’t you get the sense that the show is trying to hard to be funny. Hikari’s freak outs are becoming less and less funny and more and more annoying. And as we mentioned last week, Akira’s abuse of Tadashi wasn’t funny the first time we saw it, and it’s not funny 12th time we saw it. It’s not to say that this episode was void of comedy. A couple of scenes brought out some giggles in us. First the scene where Kei corners Hikari to ask why she stopped him from going to the marriage interview. Hikari responds by saying it was to annoy him. The second when where Sakura finds her prince in Jun. Apparently Sakura likes them young. We found this scene funny / creepy cause of Megumi’s reaction, which was to hold up a sign that read “Jun’s Mine”.
Prince Shouta?
Kira always loves it when Naoki gets marginalized or emasculated, so he found the scene where Naoki’s cross dressing pics get flashed across the screen for all to see at the wedding reception pretty hilarious. Ditto of the scenes of Naoki’s mom spying on the newly married couple incognito. Oba-sama is probably the funniest character of the bunch in Itazura. We didn’t expect her to show up in episode 15, but it was a welcomed surprise. Overall this wasn’t the funniest episode of Itazura na kiss so based strickly on the number of giggles, we’ll give this one to Special A.
Kotoko and Naoki should be happy that Oba-sama didn’t get any pics of their first time.
Winner: Special A EP 15
Romance
The biggest difference between Itazura and SA is that the scenes with romantic tension are never played out in SA, they always get interrupted in a cliché way. Case in point - the scene where Hikari stops Kei from going to the marriage interview. That scene could have been rather romantic if it wasn’t interrupted by Kei’s farther and his bodyguards. Ditto for scene near the end where Hikari is trying to answer Sakura as to what type of girl Kei likes. This episode of SA had a lot of potential, it just wasn’t carried out.
Special A’s biggest weakness is Itazura’s greatest strength. No show currently airing can do romance quite like Itazura, and it was showcased again in episode 15. It’s obvious throughout most episodes just how much Kotoko loves Naoki, so it was refreshing to see Naoki express his feelings. So while he did revert back to his sadist side just a little, he also brought out his romantic side. He dished out some very romantic lines in this episode. One near the start where he told Kotoko that he wasn’t expecting anything, so she can just be herself. And another one at the end of the episode where Naoki responds to Kotoko who had just said that she was okay just being with him, by saying that it wasn’t okay for him any more. Itazura clinches the win by having this as the episode where the two make love for the first time. We thought it was done in a very tactful and classy way, especially since the viewers of this anime may skew a bit younger. Itazura wins romance by a landslide.
Winner: Itazura na Kiss EP 15
Since when is Kotoko the same height as Naoki?
Story
This episode of special A had a decent amount of plot development. It seemed like to us that the real reason for this episode was to introduce Sakura, who might become a potential partner for Jun. So if your keeping score at home its now, Hikari x Kei, Akira x Tadashi, Sakura x Jun, Ryuu x a sloth or Ryuu x Megumi. Which means Yahiro will have to play with himself. We haven’t read the manga, so we don’t know if they all get hooked up in the end. This episode did also start the process of have Hikari confront her feelings for Kei. They coped out in the end, but it was at least a start.
The Moral Code for Special A should be to get better
Itazura out classes Special A with its pacing again this episode. Over the last few episodes it has consistently delivered plot advancement after plot advancement and this episode was no exception. For most shows the scene of the two lovebirds loosing their virginity to each other could be the climax of the series, in Itazura its just one of the peeks. And it was a great climax for the episode. Two thumbs up from us. Besides the climax our second fav scene was the one with Naoki alone with Mari-san. After learning that she faked her illness, Naoki responds to her advances by telling her even if he had met a 100 times before Kotoko, he would have ignored her 100 times. And that she doesn’t come close to Kotoko. It was a great scene as it showed just how much Naoki love Kotoko. And what made the scene better was Mari-san’s husband slapping the hell out of her. It was about time the guy manned up.
Winner: Itazura na Kiss EP 15
This Week’s Winner: Closer than last week, but Itazura na Kiss EP 15 still comes out on top
Tags: Itazura na Kiss, Itazura na Kiss 15, Speacial A 15, Special A
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