plasticolive

I am kind of scared to admit this, but Kiss Him Not Me was the first anime I ever watched. It was what got me into anime and I have seen that series more times than I even want to remember. Now, I have not read the manga so I can't say how things get handled in the actual source material for this film but I do not remember the anime adaptation ever being this misogynistic and fatphobic. This film is a completely different beast compared to the anime, which already was not great when it came to the topics concerning weight and weightloss. Every bit of the campy fun of the anime version (which again, has it's flaws) is gone from this movie adaptation.

There was absolutely no reason to make this film as misogynistic as it is. Every male character in this film adaptation, except Mutsumi, is a raging misogynist. Especially Shinomiya. The things that literal spawn of satan spews out of his mouth are actually inexcusable. Basically, when the main character, Serinuma, gains back her weight after initially losing it, he takes it upon himself to berate her every chance he gets and his excuse for it is that "it's natural for women to want to be beautiful" so he is just "helping her become beautiful again". Also the whole added plot around the school play makes things even worse. The drama club wanted Serinuma to play the main role but they immidiately dropped her after she gained weight again because she "wasn't beautiful anymore" and "didn't fit the role". In the anime at least, after some of the guys are initially quite fatphobic and only liked Serinuma because of her looks, they later realize that they like her because of her personality and that she's beautiful regardless of her weight.

What also really pissed me off was that they basically cut the character of Nishina. Yes, she was in the film for like one scene but in the anime and in the manga she is a part of Serinuma's harem and is pursuing her. I know that some things had to be cut from the movie but I honestly wish they had cut one of the male love interests in her place. It feels really weird when an actual queer character gets cut off from the story but they have no problem playing into the male on male queerbait of it all by having two of the guys act as gay princes in the school play. I understand Serinuma is a fujoshi and that was what she wanted to see, but why couldn't the play feature a fat princess?

In conclucion, this film is terrible. If the premise sounded interesting to you, I would recommend the anime or the manga instead of this garbage. I can't believe this shit came out in 2020...