A romance anime exclusively streaming on HIDIVE, Real Girl, completely deviates from most rom-coms by the first episode and continues to upset this well-established status quo far into the two-season series. The love interests – an otaku named Hikari Tsutsui and the beautiful troublemaker Iroha Igarashi – actually kiss, and more than once.
While there are many anime that buck this trend, most of these instances are sullied by various implications that cast doubt on whether they ever mattered or count, for example happening as the result of a fluke or accident, like in More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers.
This isn’t the case in this adaptation of the original manga series by Mao Nanami. This twist might only appeal to casual viewers who are tired of series drawing them out into highly anticipated moments that sometimes never occur, but romance fans who can’t get enough of this trope will greatly appreciate the nuances that follow.
Real Girl Is not Afraid of Kissing
Based on the manga series by Mao Nanami
When Iroha first kisses Hikari for heroic actions he uncharacteristically takes on her behalf, the importance of the moment is only amplified by what happens before and afterward. Hikari’s heroism for someone like Iroha was already a massive turning point for his character based on their earlier interactions. Meanwhile, Hikari’s initial coldness towards Iroha gives her kiss more emotional weight because the intimacy behind such an act more accurately captures how much she must have been moved by his heroism to forgive his past actions.
Incredibly, the kiss actually takes place halfway through the first episode. Hikari initially rejects Iroha’s show of affection because of how its implications go against his views on life, so his eventual decision to return to her arms becomes the real highlight of the episode. The second kiss adds much-needed poignancy to their relationship, which already has a time limit. The stakes wouldn’t feel as high if they never connected as deeply as they have.
Even when no scenes of such intimacy occur, the knowledge that they’ve happened helps add additional context to moments when the two protagonists have trouble communicating or hurt each other unintentionally. If they never kissed and only spent time wondering if the other liked them, any form of miscommunication would only justify their fears, resulting in them wallowing in the knowledge that they would never get close to their love interest, like in Rent-A-Girlfriend. Instead, Hikari and Iroha are able to worry about how they’re changing, possibly losing what they already have and succumbing to jealousy as opposed to just sadness.
Although keeping “the kiss” always out of reach can help build anticipation in romance anime, Real Girl on HIDIVE has proven that showing them can amplify something simple as a hug, add poignancy or additional context to other emotional moments, and allow its characters to experience more emotions than just wallowing over whether their love will ever be returned.
Real Girl is streaming on HIDIVE
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