Okay. After mentioning it the other day in my lengthy post about hentai, I feel compelled to talk a little more about the anime KissXSis, since I’ve watched a few more episodes of it now and am about halfway through the complete run.

KissXSis is, let’s not mess around here, not a fine work of art. I am finding it entertaining, certainly, but I question as to whether or not it’s “good”. It’s certainly not something that everyone would appreciate, given that it’s riddled with gratuitous fanservice throughout and actually gets a whole lot racier in certain episodes than I thought it was going to.

Speaking completely honestly and frankly, though, this is quite refreshing in a strange sort of way. It’s a show that has absolutely no shame whatsoever — in its subject matter; in its gleeful celebration of eroticism; in its acknowledgement that teenagers — both male and female — are horny little fuckers. While I’m well familiar with this side of Japanese culture from eroge, this is, I think, the first show that actually goes noticeably further in this direction than others I’ve seen.

Let’s back up a mo just in case you’re unfamiliar with this series — and let’s face it, unless you’ve specifically sought it out for one reason or another, you probably are. (I’m actually fuzzy on exactly how I came across it in the first place, to be honest; I think I may have stumbled upon it on a fansub site or something.)

KissXSis is a slice-of-life anime (there, that’s probably enough to put a bunch of you off; as regular readers will know, however, I’m a big fan of this sort of thing) in which the male lead Keita is constantly harassed by his twin stepsisters Ako and Riko. Keita — initially at least — knows that despite the fact he is not related to his sisters by blood — and despite the fact his father (his blood parent) is seemingly desperate for him to get with one or both of them — it would probably be a bad idea to do anything inappropriate with them. That doesn’t stop them from trying, however, and indeed the temptation proves to be a little too much for Keita on more than one occasion — though the show consistently interrupts anything truly outrageous happening before it gets out of hand.

If that were all, the show could have probably hobbled along as something of a one-trick pony for twelve episodes or so, with Ako and Riko concocting increasingly elaborate plans to seduce Keita — and indeed it looks as if it might go that way in the first couple of episodes. As the series progresses, though, the cast gradually expands and Keita’s relationships become more complex. We have his awkward relationship with the quiet, shy librarian girl Miharu whom Keita regularly ends up accidentally and unintentionally doing totally inappropriate things to, usually as an indirect result of the twins’ interference; we have his “childhood friend”-type relationship with his underclassman Mikazuki, a loli with an pantsu-flashing fetish whose innocent appearance belies the fact she’s actually far more mature than her 23-year old sister; and, in the arc I’m just getting into, said 23-year old sister — also Ako’s homeroom teacher — turns out to not only be a closet otaku, but also a bit of a pervert herself, much as she’d rather deny that fact to herself and everyone around her.

It’s a horny little show, much of whose humour revolves around sexuality and inappropriateness, and it’s perhaps for this reason it’s not all that well-known over in the West — I don’t believe it’s had an official translation or localisation, which might explain the hack job on the subtitles in some of the episodes I’ve watched so far. It’s oddly endearing, though, and like a good eroge it knows when to turn up the heat and when to relax. It’s a massive prick-tease for a significant proportion of its screen time, and if you’re as shallow a pervert as I am that will doubtless be enough to keep you watching. However, alongside all this is an amusing — if occasionally uncomfortable — tale about teenagers coming to terms with themselves and their feelings, told by a genuinely memorable cast of characters. Ako and Riko in particular are both genuinely loveable characters and I’ve found myself rooting for them to get with Keita even despite the inherent “wrongness” of it all.

So, then, while it’s not a show I’m going to recommend specifically to you or to anyone, I’ll just say that I am enjoying it as a bit of a guilty pleasure at present and leave it at that. You may do with that information as you please. (Except blackmail. I hate blackmail.)

(Oh, and it has one of my favourite ending animation/song combos I’ve seen. Super-simple, but super-effective. I’ll leave you with it.)