ITAZURA NA KISS (Teasing kiss)

This story is based on a Margaret Comics title by the same name.  Aihara (Sato Aiko) is a high school senior at St. Tonan(sp?) Gakuen .  She is not your studious type of student. Two years ago at their opening ceremony as sophomores, she runs in the

hallway and bumps into Irie Naoki (Kashiwabara Takashi), kissing him in the process (kind of similar to Kimagure Orange Road when Kosuke kissed Hikaru). Ever since then, AIhara has had a major crush on Naoki. Naoki is the school president, he's a star basketball player, and he is at the top of his class. He is in all respect the model student. On her 18th birthday, Aihara tries to give Naoki a love letter finally expressing her feelings for him. Naoki tells her, ' I don't like dumb girls' and leaves Aihara and her girlfriends in the dust. Aihara is crushed. That night she goes home and sees it on fire. It all burns to the ground. Her father is a Japanese restaurant cook. Luckily he wasn't in the home. It can't get any worse than this.  Later on, her father tells her that they are moving into a friend's house temporarily and will live with the family. Aihara meets her uncle and aunt, who were childhood friends of her father. The aunt (Asada Miyoko) takes an immediate liking to Aihara telling her that she has always wanted a daughter and now Aihara can be her 'daughter ' . Aihara has a room for herself but in the process Yuki (age 9) has to move into his brother's room. Yuki doesn't like Aihara because she's in his room and also he thinks she will be a big nuisance to his life. You see, Yuki is a very smart kid and he wants to be like his older brother, which happens to be Naoki. Naoki doesn't like the situation either since he knows Aihara likes him. He sets some ground rules up for her: don't come within 2 meters of his personal space, don't mention that she is living with Naoki and his family, among others.  At school , the big test for all of their subjects is coming up. In order to be on Naoki's good side, Aihara aims to be in the top 100 scorers. Aihara argues with another girl (who also happens to like Naoki too) and ends up making a bet saying that if she (Aihara) doesn't make it in the top 100, she'll stop pestering Naoki. The other girl agrees. At first, things seem like she won't make it as her studying skills are not very good. One evening, Aihara's aunt shows her some of Naoki's baby pictures. There were many pictures of Naoki wearing girls clothes and he had long hair like a girl. The aunt said that she always wanted a girl so she dressed up Naoki as a girl in his younger days. AIhara asks for a picture. The next day, she blackmails Naoki into having him tutor her for the big exam. Otherwise she will make prints and post the pictures around campus. Naoki reluctantly agrees. For the next several evenings, Naoki tutors Aihara in various subjects. Her aunt is really pleased because Naoki has never studied  before in his life (he's a real genius) and hopefully she wants Aihara to be Naoki's girlfriend since he doesn't have one right now. The aunt manages to take a picture of both Naoki and Aihara in a compromising pose. The night before the big test, the aunt gives Aihara the picture in a small bag like thing (as an omamori) and tells her to keep the keepsake with her and not to open it until after she takes the exam.  Several days after the exam, the results are posted and Aihara is not in the top 100. She walks away from the result board and drops the keepsake on the ground. She later meets with Naoki and returns the picture. Naoki tells her that 'you are not very bright but you have a lot of fighting spirit.'  Later in the teacher's office, several teachers are arguing over the test results. Actually Aihara did make it into the top 100 but the teachers of the high level classes did not want to post Aihara's name on the board since she comes from a low level class. Her homeroom teacher argues for Aihara and manages to get her name written on the result board. Aihara is elated at the news. I think Naoki is too but he kind wants to be quiet about it.  Outside, on another big board, many students are looking at something. That something is the omamori picture. Apparently someone picked it up, made a blown up copy of it and posted it on the big board. Around the picture were comments : OOHHHH what a nice couple, LOVE SCANDAL , etc.. Everyone is shocked! Both Aihara and Naoki are mobbed by the students and are pestered with questions......

STARRING: Saito Aiko, Kashiwabara Takashi, Naitou Takashi, Asada Miyoko, Ozawa Maju, Aoki Shinsuke, Tokui Masaru, Uehara Sakura, Miyauchi Tomomi and Nakama Yukie.
NETWORK: TV Asahi
THEME SONG: "Steady" by SPEED
DURATION: October 14, 1996 through December 16, 1996.  9 episodes.
REVIEWS:

If you like anime like dramas, you will like "Itazura na Kiss".  I enjoyed it a lot and it's nice to see these type of dramas when there are many other serious dramas out...a good drama to kick back and laught too.-KNDY