I’m going to miss you, Kimikiss Pure Rouge.

It was only six months, but I feel a little like I’m losing a close friend. A close friend I didn’t pay nearly as much attention to it as I should have. The past year has been a good one for romantic dramas, embodied in gems like Clannad and True Tears, but what of Kimikiss? In many ways, it was the plain girl in a room full of cheerleaders. However, if you’ve watched enough high school romantic comedies, you probably know by now that the plain girl typically gets the boy in the end.

In the course of its run, Kimikiss never bothered much with pretension, nor did it make any extra effort to impress. That was its charm, I suppose. Yet, despite its homely nature, the show’s characters, relationships, plot, and emotions were just complex enough to make it something special. As romantic dramas go, it was wonderfully paced, and even though the climatic and emotionally charged ending may have seemed trite upon close examination, I was still smiling like an idiot when the ED theme kicked in one last time, our cast of characters finding some measure of happiness in their own particular way, in that brief moment of time. That’s how you end a show like this.

Of course, fans could argue and disagree until the sun comes up about the choices and decisions each character made in the end. And they should. Audience participation is a big part of what makes shows like this so much fun to watch. Our own experiences color our opinions of each character: what would I have done in that situation? What did I do in that situation? What should I have done in that situation? Kimikiss may very well be the perfect ren’ai game adaptation, for it compels its viewers to ask those very questions of themselves. The only thing missing was the multiple choice test.

And did our would be selves choose wisely? I think so. Take the final scene between Kazuki and Eri, for example. The entire time, thoughts of, “Damn, this guy is smooth,” were running through my head as Kazuki said one right thing after another. The reason he said the right things, however, is because he thought the right things. Kazuki was never smooth. But he was in love. And he was willing to say so. In a lot of ways, Kazuki stands out as the admirable half of the show’s fractured male protagonist, having stayed true to himself from the beginning and having treated the two girls who loved him with the dignity and respect they deserved. Eri is a lucky girl.

What about Kouichi? As tempting as it is to call him out for being a coward, I think he too made the right decision in the end. Anything else would have been an insult to Yuumi. After all, she found the strength and confidence in herself to acknowledge and accept that their relationship wasn’t meant to be. And Kouichi responded in kind. Of course, in a lot of people’s eyes, his pledging his undying devotion to Yuumi was the proper and “manly” thing to do. Mao clearly saw it that way.

But, if you ask me, Kouichi is far more a man for having swallowed his pride and having been honest with Yuumi about his feelings for Mao than he would have been had he chose to continue stringing her along in an effort to keep a promise that they both knew shouldn’t and couldn’t be kept. He may have made a fool out of himself, and he may have hurt Yuumi along the way, but he still did the right thing. And Yuumi? She’ll do just fine.

Which brings us to Mao, the little heartbreaker. All I can say is that I couldn’t help but laugh when she gave Kouichi the stink eye when he told her he had broken things off with Yuumi. “Onee-chan is going to have to teach you a lesson!” She’ll keep him an honest man, mark my words.

Sometimes, you just have to give people the benefit of the doubt. Sure, the imperfect characters in Kimikiss practically beg for criticism, but I think it’s best to remember this simple fact: in multiple choice tests, there’s a higher probability of choosing the wrong answer than there is of choosing the right answer. And “all of the above” doesn’t come around to save your ass all that often.

At its core, Kimikiss may have been little more than a high school soap opera, but there’s something in its approach that allows it to connect with viewers in a way more refined shows never do. It’s only fitting that some of the same team responsible for adapting Honey and Clover for anime had a hand in Kimikiss as well. Honey and Clover had a way with connecting with its viewers, too.

And just as Honey and Clover reminded us of what it was like to grow up, Kimikiss reminds of us of what it’s like to be in love. And I think people like to remember what it’s like to be in love.

I know I do.