Itazura Na Kiss

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Itazura Na Kiss (Mischievous Kiss) is a shojo manga series created by Kaoru Tada. Unfortunately the manga did not have a proper ending as the creator, Kaoru Tada, died before she are able to complete the series. Despite so, it is still a long running series with a total of 23 volumes. This is a story about girl-likes-guy-and-guy-hates-girl stories. This manga has been translated into 'Itazura Na Kiss' a Japanese Drama spanning 9 episodes and a Taiwanese Idol Drama titled It Started With a Kiss spanning 30 episodes.

This is the only series wherein the story extends past high school, though college and after college. Moreover, it extends even to married life, which shows that there is life after happily ever after. Despite the fact that the creator passed away before completing this manga, she did give her readers some closure on the series.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Aihara Kotoko had a crush on Irie Naoki for two years. Unfortunately, she couldn't have chosen a more unattainable object of affection. Naoki is known as the school genius and belongs to the top class. Kotoko on another hand is in the bottom class. Her class was given flyers for job instead of universities.

The story starts with Kotoko declaring her love via a letter which Naoki flatly refuses immediately. The whole school then started buzzing about how Kotoko set her sights too high and that's where you'll finds out just how brilliant Naoki is and how stupid Kotoko is.

Later that same afternoon, Kotoko's friends accompany her to home to cheer her up. Then there was a slight earthquake and her house collapses. Fortunately, her dad, Sai has a good high school friend that can take both of them in while their house are being rebuilt. This good friend turns out to be Naoki's father. To make matters more complicated, Naoki's mother absolutely loves Kotoko (she had always wanted to have a daughter and dresses Naoki as a girl when he is young) and his brother, Yuki, absolutely hates it (it does not help that Kotoko took over his room and he had to share Naoki's room).

Kotoko and Sai's stay with the Irie family was supposed to be temporary, but it carried on for a while. Actually, it became permanent at some point. Naoki's parents (especially his mom) and Kotoko's dad set their hearts on Naoki and Kotoko getting married. They even talk about renovating the house with Naoki and Kotoko's bedroom and their baby's bedroom.

Of course, Naoki would hear nothing of getting involved with Kotoko, let alone marry her. However, he wasn't very consistent in his resolution and would come to Kotoko's aid every now and then, like when she wanted to prove to him that she's smart enough to get into the top 100 for their upcoming test. Naoki ended up helping her study and when the results were posted, he rushed to the board to see if she made it. And she did.

It is not that Kotoko's totally undesirable. One of her guy friends, Kinnosuke, is really into her. The problem is that she couldn't look at anybody else but Naoki. Even worse, everytime she tries to stop herself from liking Naoki, he does something to raise her hopes. At one point, Naoki went as far as kissing her at their graduation party and then smirking as he told her to then try and forget him. Which then shows that he's doesn't dislike Kotoko as much as he let everybody think.

Naoki and Kotoko ended up going to the same university. He was perfectly eligible and smart enough to go to Toudai (Tokyo University) but his heart wasn't into it and he ended up skipping the exam to take Kotoko to the hospital when she collapsed. He really had no idea what he wanted to do for a career, until one day Kotoko told him that he would make a great doctor. Hence, Naoki became a doctor and to be with him, Kotoko became a nurse.

Their college life was full of the same drama as their high school life, with Naoki spurning Kotoko, Kotoko bouncing between liking and (pretending) not liking him, girls trying to take Naoki away, and guys trying to take Kotoko away. At some point, Naoki decided to go into an arranged marriage. Kotoko, heartbroken, started dating Kinnosuke. But when Naoki found out that Kinnosuke proposed to Kotoko, he lost it and finally told Kotoko that she can't like anybody else but him. The whole scene was very dramatic, with Naoki waiting for Kotoko in the rain and her yelling at him that it doesn't matter that she likes him because he doesn't like her anyway. That same night, Naoki asked Sai for Kotoko's hand in marriage.

Their married life had drama similar to their college life. Well except this time, Naoku makes it pretty clear that he loves Kotoko.