Itazura na Kiss - Episode 23

Watching Itazura na Kiss has become almost an episode-by-episode hate-fest for me, not so much for the series itself (although I suppose perhaps I do dislike it by association to some degree) but for the various characters on show within it. Despite Naoki's conversion into really rather a decent husband (which still leads me to suspect that the real Naoki is being held hostage by aliens), it seems that the dislike I felt for him has simply been spread around to others.


On this occasion, the main source of my irritation has to be Kotoko's so-called friends, who rile her up into a frenzy with their talk of the husbands of pregnant women having affairs - You could argue that it isn't their fault that Kotoko goes off at the deep end, but these people could at least show a little decency for Kotoko's situation rather than gossiping idly. Naoki's mother isn't much better, with her constant spying and interfering once again managing to raise my blood pressure quite substantially.

To top it all, we also see another example of domestic violence as pre-cursor to romance, as Yuuko Matsumoto gets a slap from Sudou which indirectly leads to her falling for him. This is the second time we've seen a woman fall in love with a guy who slaps her in this series, and frankly it baffles me.

Finally, with Chris and Kinnosuke still planning to get married (just how many ill-matched couples does this series want?), Chris' mother proves to be pretty annoying too.

Yes, yes, I know I just sound like "Angry of Dorset" in this entry, but if this series only had one or maybe two characters that I didn't like I could live with it. Instead, Itazura na Kiss has frequently seemed to leave Kotoko virtually alone in an unending sea of absolute assholes of different types and degrees, and I suppose the chivalrous male in me just feels that isn't on. Oh well, only two more episodes to go and then you won't have to hear me complaining about the characters I don't like in this series any more.