Engage Kiss Season Review

“Take them… My memories… Shave them away to the absolute limit!”

Engage Kiss feels oddly like a throwback. Newer anime fans might not recall series like Get Backers or Black Cat, which served as narrative grab-bags where anything could happen. I’m talking about the types of shows which take an anything-goes approach, where halfway through the season, out-of-nowhere, a combat-nun with sentai demon armor shows up to wreak havoc. Generally, I haven’t been a big fan of those types of titles, but Engage Kiss proves to be an impressively competent, and dare I say it, good rendition of this rather retro approach. It doesn’t completely shed the trademark flaws of those types of shows, but it weaves a fun blend of supernatural action and procedural mystery. The scattered elements of its plot can appear disconnected and dissonant when viewed on paper, but the narrative is surprisingly effective at weaving them together into a semi-cohesive whole. I was pretty confused by the opening installment at the beginning of the season, but I’m glad I gave Engage Kiss a chance. This title isn’t going to be anyone’s new favorite, but it’s not aiming to be.

The show follows Shu Ogata, a perpetually broke exorcist in a ratty coat with an array of exes who tends to leech off of anyone who’s willing to stick around him… Wait a minute! Is he anime’s John Constantine!?! As dark a comparison as that may be, it holds up surprisingly well against scrutiny. Shu is partnered with Kisara, a demon whom he forged a contract with, and together he hopes to discover more about the deaths of his family members when he was a child. Rather than offering his soul as payment, he leverages his memories in exchange for her power. This offers an intriguing thematic dilemma, where the cost of vengeance is ultimately the very reason you desired it in the first place, memory. Calling the show existential might be a stretch, but it touches upon some surprisingly weighty topics without feeling farcical or childishly pretentious. That doesn’t prevent it from hitting a brick wall constructed out of tonal dissonance from time to time, but we’ll address that later. Shu and Kisara live in Bayron City, a floating city constructed in the Pacific Ocean, which is home to both the mines for an energy resource called Orgonium and a strangely high number of demonic incidents. With a pressing need to keep the demonic incidents under wraps and internationally imposed weapons restrictions tying their hands, the island’s government has enlisted the aid of PMCs to combat the demon attacks. This is where Shu and many of the people in his orbit come in.

Going back to that dissonance I mentioned before, the show seems to split itself between being a dark, supernatural mystery and a romcom. It does a better job of balancing those two wildly different genres than I would think possible, but there are still plenty of moments where I found myself wishing it’d reduce the emphasis on the comedy. That weird sense of humor plays heavily into the show’s throwback nature, but it wasn’t my cup of tea. Now that I’m reflecting on the show, I find myself asking the age-old existential question that has plagued it for eons, “Is this a harem?” On paper, there are enough female characters who have romantic ties to the protagonist that you could make a strong argument for it falling into that genre. I think I’d lean on the side of saying no, but I’m more than willing to defer that decision to more interested minds. The mystery side of things isn’t spectacular, but there were several well constructed twists. Some of those rug pulls I saw coming and some I didn’t, but there weren’t any that I felt were poorly implemented. If there is a key criticism that holds the show back, it’s that it does a poor job introducing itself and takes a few episodes to find its footing. In my First Impressions review, I cited the show’s limited world-building as a notable issue, given the number of moving parts. I specifically called out the fact that the events of the first episode might make sense in hindsight (they do), but they didn’t effectively explain what was going on or foster investment in the characters.

A-1 Pictures is a studio that provokes interest from me, but not confidence. The quality of their work can stray wildly, and while I enjoyed what I saw of 86, it’s actually been a decent number of years since I finished one of their series. Engage Kiss offers an odd dilemma for me, as it looks quite good, but the art, much like the genre-match up they’ve employed, is silly, dissonant and not to my taste. Shu, for example, has a rather standard appearance that works fine with all aspects of his character, but he’s contrasted with characters like Sharon Holygrail (yes really), an assassin nun who wears a sentai outfit with high-heels and tentacles. It’s fortunately a bit less ecchi than it sounds (only a bit), but those creative decisions can still be head scratching. The opening and ending are pleasant and memorable enough, but once again, they are often in conflict with the material around them. They were bright and poppy to a questionable extent in the first half, but as the show starts getting a bit more focused and darker, they become whiplash inducing.

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• I wouldn’t call the ending satisfying per se, but in a season that has featured the epilogues of both Love All Play and, more egregiously, Yurei Deco, I’ll take a moderately competent ending as a win. The final scene might also mark the first time the show’s romcom hijinks struck me as being notably funny.
• I’m not thoroughly confident in my ability to throw out any more reviews from this summer season. I’m behind on the other 3 shows I’m following, and I’m not confident I’ll get around to finishing them, much less reviewing them. I guess we’ll see.
• Since early in the season, I’ve been struggling to figure out how I’d summarize, pitch or condemn Engage Kiss for audiences. It may seem like a cop-out, but I’m awarding Engage Kiss with the “Most Okay” award for the season. It’s fine. Not great. Not bad. Worth watching. It’ll kill a couple of hours.
• Watching this show somehow made me feel slightly nostalgic for a collection of anime that I don’t have fond memories of. I mean, Black Cat was NOT a good anime or manga, and wasn’t the power of one of the Get Backers that he had impressive grip strength?