Itazura na Kiss - Episode 18

Considering that Kotoko and Naoki got married about half a dozen episodes ago, it seems a little late to be introducing a full-on love triangle to proceedings, but that's exactly what has happened here.

As ever, Kotoko is completely useless at being a nurse, and Naoki is similarly useless at being anything approaching a decent human being. But what's this, a nice character in Itazura na Kiss? This can't be possible! Yes, after eighteen whole episode, we finally have a male character that you might not want to set fire to and then bury alive in an anthill in the form of Keita. Or rather, you won't want to do that to him for the first few minutes of the episode, until he considers kissing Kotoko while she's passed out a little later, before propositioning her and telling her to leave Naoki at the end of the instalment.


Now, I'm all for causing Naoki as much misery as he's piled on others throughout this series, but then again adultery is hardly a recommended step on the to-do list, and anyone who brazenly suggests it regardless of the situation in hand is... well... probably just as much of an asshole as the bad husband who brought about that situation in the first place. Thus, once again in this series we find ourselves without anyone to cheer on as such (aside from Kotoko perhaps), and instead end up hating the entire world that surrounds her, from arrogant son and interfering mother to Kotoko's ever-changing but always irritating friends.

I must be sounding like a broken record now, but can we not have one, just one, balanced and likeable character in this series? I suppose I should be grateful that Keita is at least a step in that direction, but I still can't find it within myself to like him either, leaving Itazura na Kiss to remain in my eyes as a world of shocking male behaviour towards women amongst other gaping flaws that turn the show from simply not very good into actually slightly unpleasant.