By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting

Watashi ga Motete Dousunda, also known as “Kiss Him, Not Me,” is a romantic comedy manga and anime series that follows Kae Serinuma, a high school student who is a fujoshi (a female fan of boys’ love). When one of her favorite anime characters receives an on-screen death, she locks herself in her room and refuses to come out or eat, causing her to lose a significant amount of weight in a short period of time. The change in weight seems to automatically make her more attractive to her classmates, resulting in four of her male schoolmates to begin to compete for her attention, even though she is still more interested in watching boys’ love anime and fantasizing about the male characters.

It is the kind of series that markets itself as exploring themes of love, self-discovery, and acceptance but is criticized for its depiction of weight-related issues and aestheticism through the ways in which three of the four love interests only start liking Kae after losing weight and only accept her hobbies out of wanting to stay near the attractive female lead.

While still funny at parts, I reflect on the ending of the series and its extra, published in the creator’s other work Star⇄Crossed, as one depicting both good and bad relationship building.

In Watashi ga Motete Dousunda, readers see the main character, Kae, end up with Asuma, one of the male characters who has been pursuing her throughout the series. Asuma, unlike the other three romantic interest and Kae’s friends/family members, recognizes Kae without being told it’s her after she loses all the extra weight.

While Kae initially seems more interested in the other male characters who are vying for her attention, in particular showing her aesthetic appreciation toward Nozomu because of his close appearance to that of Shion (her beloved, favorite anime character), the show and manga depict a clear connection between Kae and Asuma as the story develops.

Asuma is the one who truly understands and appreciates Kae for who she is, regardless of image, and he is supportive of her hobbies and interests, just as she is regarding his. Moreover, he is willing to go out of his way to make her happy rather than try to trick her or manipulate her into doing something she’d be uncomfortable with for the sake of himself or the male group that is surrounding her. He is not interested in her for her looks or popularity—they were friends before that. Throughout the series this is solidified by him showing and telling members of the group about her qualities as a person, recognizing her and her efforts moreso than her appearance.

Therefore, it makes sense that the ending of Watashi ga Motete Dousunda has the two of them getting together in a satisfying conclusion to the story’s themes and character arcs. Kae and Asuma’s relationship feels earned and believable, and their mutual understanding and support make them a strong and endearing couple. Perhaps because of this endearing love story found in Watashi ga Motete Dousunda, I saw Star⇄Crossed‘s extra (6.5), which features Nanashima Nozomu and Hayato Shinomiya dating each other, to be a strange addition to the completed work. I’m not against it, mind you, but even after reading lots of blog posts explaining why the pairing becoming official made sense, I struggled to see how. (Side note: If you want to read one such example, I recommend “Nanashima and Shinomiya (7×4/4×7): The Real BL Couple of Kiss Him, Not Me” by Tumblr user kakooshi.)

The BL couple formed a questionable relationship, and I think that some of the evidence pulled from the main series by many fans was more of a stretch than “hard evidence” because it seemed like the development of a friendship rather than a relationship. I’ve read enough romances (heterosexual and otherwise) to give me a baseline of how to judge, and this pairing just didn’t make it for me. Particularly after looking at some of the author’s other yaoi-based works for comparison, such as Mio and Yugi (Kasa No Shita, Futari) or like Ken and Yuu (Walking With You). Short works compared to Watashi ga Motete Dousunda, certainly, but ones that establish the potential for a relationship pretty quickly and create the opportunity for love and dating.

Nozomu and Shinomiya are close friends, roommates, and maybe more, but their love story just didn’t feel earned in the same way that Kae and Asuma did from Watashi ga Motete Dousunda, or like the couples from some of JUNKO’s other work. The long, main work never said or clearly hinted to Nozomu and Shinomiya having potential romantic chemistry, but did develop their strong bond as friends. Some argue that because other characters forcibly shipped the in the series, it was the author hinting their relationship, but those same characters shipped other same-sex couples from the people around them too, and so I couldn’t see that as a clear hint from the author that they would be a couple in the future. It didn’t make sense to me, and perhaps it didn’t make sense for others too, hence the one-shot being added to the ending of a different series by the same author (though I can’t find confirmation of that). Regardless, for me, the stories showed how one couple works while one doesn’t, which I think says a lot about how you frame relationships in a story. Because I was viewing them as rivals turned friends, since more of the group were rivals that became friends, I didn’t recognize any potential for these two to develop into something more. Even Star⇄Crossed had them still being friends until the very end when we’re told they start dating. The framing didn’t work for me, and I think that’s why I view the extra as more like a doujinshi than continuation when it seems to widely accepted as canonical… but, what do you all think? Let me know!

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Copyedited by: Katherine Cañeba | @kcserinlee