plasticolive

Sonya and Lookmhee deserve better series than this

I like Sonya and Lookmhee together since they have great chemistry, however, I have not really enjoyed any of their series. I wanted to like this one, since I thought a lot of the usual problems their shows have would not rise up in a rom-com but I was wrong...

My biggest problem with this show was the completely nonsensical personality shift that happened to Si at the end of episode 7. Her suddenly becoming really obsessive and jealous pretty much undid all of her great character development. I hate the "you can't talk to other women/men" charactertype in romace series in general.

What also really bothered me throughout this series was the weird lack of consent and ignoring of boundaries. There was a great moment in this series where Si told Klao that she did not like being kissed without her consent. However, not long after that, Si herself kissed Klao while she was asleep, not able to consent to the kiss. Again, the impact of the previous scene where consent was discussed in a meaningful way was basically undone. On top of that, Klao acts in a really uncomfortable way towards Si throughout the first episodes of the series, always groping her and trying to get unnecessarily close even when Si expresses that she is not comfortable. Like I said, there is one scene where consent gets discussed, however, I don't really think it covers all of the instances where Klao does not respect Si's boundaries. The relationship between Si and Klao is portrayed as healthy even though most of the moments where they are supposedly getting closer are set in motion by Klao harassing Si. With this kind of set up sexual harassment gets inevitably downplayed.

The conclusion to the plot concerning Si's ex was also not handled with enough care. Yes, this is a comedy and the scene where the ex gets beaten up by a rooster was pretty funny, but I don't think what happened to her at the end was right. I get it, she was a stalker and tried to blackmail Si, but I don't think her getting actually beaten up by Klao, tied up, and getting left in the middle of nowhere was the right way to end that plot. Call me the friend that's too woke but I don't think a woman getting assaulted and tied up is funny, even when it's done by another woman. She should just not have shown up anymore after she got hit by Klao and shat on by the rooster for the first time and it would've been fine. She was obviously in the wrong but so was what happened to her in the end. In a different kind of series it could've worked, but not in a rom-com where it's treated as a gag.

Now, what I really liked was Si's character development. She grew into a really likable character but still retained some of her brattiness which made her fun (until she did a complete 180 and basically regressed to her previous self after the wedding of course...). Klao was kind of fun too. Everybody else, though, was really bland. I would've especially liked to see more of Si's sister, Song, and how their conflict got resolved since that basically doesn't get explained at all. I think this series would've been a lot better if everything that happened after the wedding got scrapped and that screentime was dediated to flesh out Si's family conflict a little bit more.

Sonya and Lookmhee are genuinely good actresses and I am praying that their next project is better than this.

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Just watch the anime instead

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...

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The first film is infinitely better

If you've seen the first Tonde Saitama film, you've basically already seen this one as well. The plot is pretty much the same as in the first installment except this time around, instead of having peanuts stuck in his holes, Gackt gets forcefed takoyaki and has his nipples rubbed and face licked. He also emotionally cheats on his lover, Momomi, with his... brother??? Yeah. They were edging us with that incestuous yaoi. Overall though, I think the fun costume and set designs carried over from the first film to this one and I do love the campness of it all. Other than that this movie was pretty boring, since they basically copy and pasted the story from the first film. Another big flaw in my eyes was the fact that Momomi had very little screentime and was basically replaced by Gackt's brother as a love interest, well, until he wasn't of course, because they are brothers. Yeah idk man, I think this would've been a lot better with a more original story and if Gackt had made out with more random dudes.

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