Even Kotoko can’t lose them all…

Hi all! I’m taking over Itazura Na Kiss from blissmo this week, in spite of the fact that I am neither very young nor very a girl. I am a big softy though, so this series speaks to me. It says, “one of my main characters is an idiot and the other is a collossal a-hole.”

Kotoko really is a lovable idiot though, I mean who doesn’t like the underdog? She’s the Bad News Bears and he’s… the NY Yankees, I guess. She’s Daniel-san and he’s Cobra Kai. Sweep the leg, Irie! Yeah!

Recap

I do want to start this whole recap game by saying HEY aren’t the first three minutes of this week’s episode actually the last three minutes of last week’s episode? That is a cheap trick. Anyway, once Kotoko comes to her tragic realization that she can’t do anything about her feelings for Irie, that bastard, there’s nothing she can do but lay in her super-girly bed and cry herself to sleep. When Irie walks in her room to announce the bath is free (no knock? What a jerk!), he finds the love letter she wrote him, and finally reads it. What’s going through his ice-cold head is anyone’s guess, but he just may have softened a tiny bit.

For most of the episode, the focus is on the school’s annual sports festival, the only time that Class F really gets any chance to shine. Kotoko dons pigtails, much like the young Irie-kun back when his mother had more say in his wardrobe, but even a change of hairstyle can’t stop Naoki from being an SOB first class. Besides, it’s ponytails that are moe, right?

The sports day turns out to be an exercise in humiliation for Kotoko: she’s forced to run with Dad Irie (when she doesn’t have the guts to grab “the person she loves”). she collides with Kin-chan instead of passing him the baton (because she’s spacing out looking at Irie), and injury’s added to insult when Irie falls completely over her and has to carry her to the nurse’s office.

Back home at the end of the day, Irie takes his jerktitude one step too far by quoting her love letter to the whole family, and she slaps the smirk right off his face. In front of his mother. Who, in her typical form, ignores the slap but thinks the whole love letter thing is just kawaii as hell. What pills does she take, and where do I get some? When Kin-chan busts in to ruin the healthy character development, Irie cryptically remarks that feelings change, and someday even someone you hate could become someone you love.

Kotoko’s spying miscreant friends latch onto that and draw another splendid poster, this one with Naoki proposing to Kotoko. But this time, rather than swallowing everything and letting him pass it off, Kotoko openly and loudly recounts what he said for the benefit of the other students. And the episode ends with her at a distinct advantage over last week.

Thoughts

Hello! I am otou-san, a Taurus. I enjoy being really smart, underutilizing my own herculean athletic ability, and not studying. In my free time, I like to psychologically bully cute girls and tend to walk unannounced into their rooms at night. Don’t flatter yourself though, even if I wasn’t above the desire to peep, I wouldn’t want to peep on you. My personality traits are: cruelty, vanity, narcicissm, and egomania. To date me, push 352.

No, but seriously, I think we’re supposed to kind of be over the fact that Irie is a giant turd by now, and I do have an idea of where the manga goes, so I won’t hang too long on the subject. The good news is, though he’s pulled his most dickish move yet, Irie has proven himself to be beatable. I’m not sure about the merits of a relationship founded on this kind of trickery, but hey — their relationship is already founded on abuse. Kotoko may have a personality flaw that demands she be bullied, but if you’re watching this show you need to get behind her. And if you are behind her, watching even the tiniest victory makes for enjoyable viewing.

Next week: summer vacation, and the obligatory beach and/or pool episode.