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Kare Kano is unique in many ways amongst Shoujo anime, even exclusive. On the face of it Kare Kano is or should be a light hearted Shoujo romantic comedy, the kind that in 2013 has been done many times already. However it is not. Many of the anime's greatest strengths and weaknesses have rarely been seen in anime since. This will be less of a review and more of analysis of Kare Kano.

Spoiler Inclusive

Good points:

1. Back in 1998, Shoujo series followed the format of either Rose of Versailles or Sailormoon. Those were the big too but Kare Kano broke out ... with the third format that more than half of all Shoujo animes since followed - wacky fun romantic comedy. Gone was the drama and magic, in was the crazy comedy of highschool romance. It might not seem like much as Shounen romance had already begun this shift long ago with Urusei Yatsura in the 80s but for Shoujo anime it was a big leap. And even now, 15 years later, Kare Kano can hold it's head as being one of the funniest Shoujo animes in history.

2. A number of cliched plot points or settings in Shoujo anime was created by Kare Kano, the main one being that a girl has her secret found out by a bishounen, who proceeds to tease her until they start dating. Also Kare Kano started one of Shoujo mangas dreaded trends - after the main couple form, the story focuses on only two things. Firstly on having superficial drama from random love rivals and misunderstandings, which are neither clever or inventive nor interesting. Secondly by having every single character with more than 10 lines find a soul mate as well. This trend is in Lovely Complex, Kimi ni Todoke, Special A, etc. Many good Shoujos that were extended endlessly by this stupid idea. However Kare Kano did not fall into this trap initially. As most of the series occurs after the couple forms, the story maintains its interest with a strong selection of characters and believable problems with proper drama and character development. It's astounding that the original could do what it's copy cats failed to do.

3. Hideaki Anno and Gainax are both Kare Kano's strength and weakness. Getting to the weakness later, the strength they brought is by turning a popular Shoujo series into a Shoujo version of FML, in stylistic view. This was Hideaki Anno not long after finishing End of Evangelion. It might sound impossible to imagine how he would tackle a Shoujo romantic comedy but it is actually very simple - he did exactly what he did for Evanglelion to Kare Kano, while adding Gainax's typical zanniness for comedy. This is what Kare Kano has that few Shoujo since has. It is as brooding, melancholic and thoughtful as it is fun. Hideaki also brought is artistic style for static thematic backgrounds with him, which adds flavor to the series, at first. Hideaki's touch made Kare Kano into something the manga was not, which is both a good and bad thing.

Bad points:

1. Kare Kano's problems start and end with Gainax. I don't know who managed the company's accounts in the 90s but they should have been fired after the fiasco that was episode 25 and 26 of Evangelion. Gainax's budget problems were as legendary as their most famous animes and it reared its head throughout Kare Kano. After the first 3-4 episodes it becomes clear that Gainax realize they are going over budget, so in pops 2-3 minutes worth of recap at the start of each episode. These recaps are at first done with variation in style and voice acting but soon become extremely poor with actions on the screen not matching the speech through the speakers. Entire episodes dedicated for recap and extreme recycling of scenes proceed.

2. Hideaki Anno gave Kare Kano something different with his brooding style, his flavor. However as the budget he had to work with grew smaller his use of that style as a flavoring turned excessive to the point where all one saw was Anno being Anno, like a soup with a little hot sauce becoming only boiled hot sauce. This is a light hearted Shoujo romantic comedy not Evanglelion and the overuse of Anno's sense felt like a mismatch. It doesn't feel right but no one was going to say anything because Anno was able to manage the budget until...

3. The mangaka herself calls up Gainax and says WTF. Her beloved work was being turned by Anno into something it wasn't. She didn't complain when his style improved it at first but thankfully she did when it was starting to ruin it. The result was Anno quit, the recaps and lack of direction followed and all this and a complete breakdown in relations between Gainax and the mangaka lead to Kare Kano getting cut.

Kare Kano is still one of the most unique and interesting Shoujo animes out there but like anything great Gainax did (with the sole exceptions of FML and TTGL) it was hampered by Gainax's lack of planning. In many ways it's a study of taking things too far is bad.

Story 8/10 - Original at the time and still better than many of its iterations.
Art 6/10 - Visually realized at first but grows stale and recycled later on.
Sound 9/10 - A strong voice cast keeps the series and its many recycled scenes alive.
Character 8/10 - Develops characters with Hideaki's touch and thus surpasses the original at first.
Enjoyment 7/10 - a 10/10 for the first half but after Hideaki's resignation and Gainax's cash flow problems it's hard to ignore Kare Kano's failings.
Overall 7/10 - A potential masterpiece by Gainax brought down a lack of communication, budget and planning. Typical Gainax.

This is my first manga review so go easy on me. I first started reading Nisekoi about a year ago. It felt like the spiritual successor to the dozens of other harem romcoms that have trespassed Shounen Jump for years and I thought from the first few chapters it could go very well. While lacking in ecchi of those series, a la To-Love Ru or Ichigo 100%, it had some fun characters and ideas. It seemed liked competition for the likes of The World God Only Knows and Hayate no Gotoku. However after a while I stopped reading, this is ... why:

(Spoilers inclusive)

Story 4/10
A boy named Raku, who likes a classmate called Kosaki and has a Yakuza group for family is forced into a fake engagement with a girl named Chitoge, whose family are the Mafia. Due to this and Raku's past a number of other girls join the harem and other characters try to expose the sham for what it is. From the start the story was as predictable as the Scottish Premier League. There was only way the story would go forward. This though was not a bad thing as a combination of good humor and amusing characters kept everything fun, though hackneyed plot twists didn't achieve the same interest they were expected to. The fun of the series lies with its very obvious slice of life harem antics. However like with any series of this type it grows stale and fast. The mangaka tries to liven things up with sporadic character inclusions and plot twists but it comes off as very weak. The humor is also only related to harem antics so its nothing special like Hayate no Gotoku. That's the main reason I stopped reading, it got boring. Of course this is not a general consensus as the manga is still going strong in Japan and has a high rating on most manga sites. On the former point though I think that Shounen Jump only keeps it there because it has attracted an Otaku crowd back to Shounen Jump and is thus a cash cow they can pump out like crazy. On the latter point, well all harems grow boring but some people like the characters to care.

Art 9/10
The mangaka's art has always been good and he's polished it even further with Nisekoi. It's very easy on the eyes, gives the girls a more slender moe look like Hayate no Gotoku than the buxom style of more ecchi series. He handles action scenes, romantic scenes and comedic ones well too.

Character 6/10
The main reason people enjoy harems is because they have a boner for one of the girls, or even multiple ones. This love evolves into rage on forums over which girl should get a happy ending. So the girls of Nisekoi are they any good? Well you get the full range, though the Yandere one is played as a little less Yan. There are two tsunderes, one nice quiet girl. No imoutos and Onee-san types up to the point I read but considering the popularity of these archtypes I expect them wander in at some point. Onto the guy, Raku. He's pretty plain, a good tsukkomi, damn lucky, a good cook and the typical nice guy that gets all the honeys (this doesn't happen in real life unless you look at least good enough for a model audition, just saying but that's fantasy). There's a few side characters that try heating things up constantly like Chitoge's butler, Raku's typical idiot unlucky buddy and Kosaki's best friend. Nothing overly interesting but a good mix for a while.

Enjoyment 6/10
This is sort of an aggregated scores as I grew steadily bored with how this series progressed. Simply put I enjoyed the initial comedy but that has a very one pattern style and so gets dull without much difficulty. If you enjoy slice of life and moe this is for you. If you want something funnier than there are a lot better options, if you want something ecchier there are better ones and if you're looking for a romance that is constantly compelling then I suggest Seo Kouji (he might be a massive ass but at least we hate because of how much we liked it at first). Nisekoi plays everything at a very for the whole family level and that takes a good setup of plot and characters and makes it quite dreary later on.

Overall 6/10
I won't pick Nisekoi back up from where I left off. Unless there is a major shift in the romance department I don't feel very interested in it anymore. Some people surely will and this series is tailor made for the modern Otaku needs... too bad I'm more into Fujoshi tastes (not the homo stuff though) or comedy.

Let's get to the point - you are watching this because you like moe. There simply is no other reason for anyone to watch it. The story is barely coherent and the plot twists are more like back flips induced by characters to maintain a harem, create an opportunity for hit and miss comedy and create an explosion, LITERALLY AN EXPLOSION, of moe.

Since we now know why you are watching let's get to the good, the bad and the moe.

Story 4/10
There is no story, or not at least one meant for any decent inspiration or contemplation. It exists only so that there ... are ways for moe to be exploited like a gold mine from the girls. Which is why I won't mention the characters as you can guess that there also just for moe and harem antics, no development you haven't seen or even care to see. Of all the LN adaptations in the Spring of 2013, none have as badly cobbled together a piece of plot as it (even the awful Oreimo S2). Clearly a bad, but not a con because who watches moe for story.

Art 7/10
The man behind the art of the series is a genius, well known in Japan for how f****** adorable he makes anime and manga girls. Those sparkly eyes, beautiful slender bodies and triangular faces are the thing of legend. The animation is the stock of JC's B team and not worthy of much mention other than thank god it's not like Aku no Hana. It's average at best.

Sound 10/10
I could listen to both the ED and OP on loop for an age and still feel the buzz of moe, it's that irritatingly good. Surely everyone (even guys) have sung Carly Rae Jepsen's 'Call me maybe' and just as that is stuck in our heads so is HenNeko's songs. But that alone would not garner a 10/10. What did though is the shocking moe, made for the role, brilliant voice acting of all our leading ladies. My personal favourite is Ishihara Kaori's Azuki Azusa. The other great thing is that Kaiji Yuki is not Kaiji Yuki from Guilty Crown and thus not an annoying youth who shouts garbage like a dump truck. He talks more like a regular human and thus cannot annoy people off.

Enjoyment 9/10
I hate K-ON, I hate Oreimo, I hate effectively every single moe blob show of the last 4 years but I like HenNeko. I haven't converted or anything but the sound and art so damn moe that I am enticed like a drunk virgin to a beautiful prostitute. I just can't help it. I don't get annoyed the same way as though shows because I have accepted the purpose of the show is to ultimately wet my pants and buy some BDs (which I will).

Overall 6/10
If I love it so much how can I rate it just a 6? Because I realize that as an anime its crap but its crap that somehow I love. Plenty of other people who have not been seduced will know its crap and its better they do. But as I have explained its crap that I don't mind smearing my face with.