Anime 51417 Engage Kiss Reviews

While Lycoreco dominated the headlines and got praise for being an A-1 masterclass, I fell in love with the world and characters of Engage Kiss more and think it was the better of the two A-1 anime originals.

Engage Kiss’ very first episode hooked me. Waifus, great action scenes, Grade A hentai quality kisses, it was love at first watch. But it’s not just fanservice that kept me. The story and world are very interesting and remind me quite of bit of Toaru, Strike the blood, etc. with the island city created for research trope. It’s always a major plus for me when there’s an MC ... who isn’t afraid of women and can handle himself competently around them. Shuu is just that type of person and while he may have a bland design, I really enjoyed his personality and banter with the girls. I also loved how despite being a normal human, he doesn’t just sit on the sidelines and is an active participant in the action scenes.

Of course you can’t discuss a harem without the girls. Engage Kiss gives us 3 unique flavours of women to suit a diverse taste palate. The cute pink haired yandere who will do anything to keep her man safe. The blue haired ex gf who is still madly in love with the MC. And the blonde hot nun. While Kisara was pretty annoying to me, the other two waifus are among some of my faves in recent memory. There’s a waifu for everyone here and they’re all very well written. I really enjoyed how the show doesn’t take itself too seriously and allows for some pretty funny moments of jealousy between the girls. Nothing like a good old cat fight.

Speaking of fights, as you’d expect from A-1 as of late, the sakuga in Engage Kiss is pretty impressive. There’s some real talent working on this series behind the scenes and it showed in some of the big set pieces. Although it’s actually quite hard to tell which got more effort, the fight scenes or the kiss scenes.

Engage kiss is my anime of the season and I will definitely miss it. It’s a fun wild ride with great waifus, fights, an interesting story and a really cool and likeable MC. I have absolutely zero complaints with the show. I’ve been pushing this agenda for months and I wish more people would give the show a chance.

If you’re able to sit down and watch things without looking for Beethoven or DaVinci level art in everything, I think you’ll find Engage Kiss to be a blast.

Engage Kiss gets 10 demons out of 10.

You guys ever watch Takt.OP?,A show that deemed to be a “waifu bait’’.now hear me out,that anime is not 100% a waifu bait.This one however,absolutely DOES.

But the question is,is Engage kiss a good waifu bait?

From the latest episode I could say it actually does…kinda.
The story starts very very straight to the point,not like Takt.OP that basically trynna introduce the concept behind the entire origins and concept of the anime,Engage kiss straight up shows us a young boy with a young girl live in the same room and acts like a married couple,this is also a reason why I said Takt.OP is not 100% a ... waifu bait while this one actually does,in Takt OP,the anime doesn’t instantly encourage us to like Destiny or Anna but rather make us grow fond to them as the story progress cause in the beginning we don’t even know exactly what kind of person Destiny is,Engage kiss in the other hand quickly encourage us to like and love the heroine by showing that she good at cooking,doesn’t afraid to get naked (if only that towel or blanket doesn’t cover her in the first episode) and basically any other criteria that makes her a “waifu” which is the main selling point of this anime.

The other aspect that also make this anime a fully waifu bait is the fact that the writer decide to give us a fanservice scene where the two MC have a very wet kiss to somehow refill the heroine powers and solidify that this indeed a waifu bait,I mean I don’t dislike it but first episode? Wow,that kiss belongs to some echhi anime.

The story is also very simple and easy to understand,it’s even easier to understand than the dialog between character.There’s a demon and there’s an organization that kill demon,kill the demon,saves the world.Sounds familiar ? yeah cause it is indeed similar to Takt.OP and other hundreds animes as well,but originality never matters to me.So is the story interesting ? yes,eventhough the repeated concept of story is quite boring for some people,I do found the concept of demons in this anime quite interesting,cause instead of using the “IT CAME FROM THE SKY’ tropes it decides to pull Kamen Rider Revice’s Inner demon and possessed by demon concept which I absolutely prefer.

The Character that plays the most important part for me also made very well,despite the overused design that appeared which is very understandable,I still grow very fond of them.

Ayano looks like Mona from Genshin Impact and any other anime chara with that kind of hairstyle

Kisara looks like a combination of Kaos Moeta from Comic Girls,Yuno Gasai from Yume Nikki and that damned Yandere girl from Happy Sugar Life which by the way not happy at all,and what more surprising is the fact that Kisara also have some Yandere side as well.Pink haired anime girl really terrifying these days huh.

Shuu which is our male lead is basically the combination of Naofumi from shield hero and basically any other basic anime MC with a personality of a less boring and less dramatic version of Kimihiko from Tantei wa Mou Shindeiru.

The female MCs are very interesting and it’s obvious since they’re the main selling point.

The writer decide to make our male MC a smokers and if the purpose of making him a smoker is to make him look cooler than the writer failed miserably,it’s infact doesn’t make him looks cooler,it just make him looks like my jobless uncle.
This anime is not recommended if you are the type of person that easily bored and likes a heavy story anime,not really recommended to people that already watch Takt OP since the story is pretty much the same with less drama and more lewd but if you wanna watch it still,im not gonna stop you.
Very recommended to people that can like a show just cause a single character like me,also recommended to people that likes watching a ‘’lewd-ish” couple action…like me.

Overall,8/10
9/10 if they add even more fanservice.
A very good waifu bait anime,wouldn’t surprise if they make a mobile game out of it just like it’s predecessor which by the way haven’t release even after roughly 7 months of the day it last airing.

Imagine taking a French fry, and putting sugar on it. Imagine getting a bowl of cereal, and pouring orange juice into it. Imagine eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but the jelly was replaced with mayo. Now grab a plate, and put all these foods together and eat it all. Are you utterly confused by what I just said? That's how much I felt confused watching this show. This recipe is what I call the “Engage Kiss”, which was a plate of every trope imaginable in the most nonsensical and dumb ways sometimes, plus a lot of plot points crammed together. Harem, check! Cute ... girls, check! Demons, check! Dumb waifu wars, check! Ecchi, check! Little sister, check! Rip-off Naofumi, check!

Say hello to yet another A-1 Pictures original airing this summer season, and once again, the animation and music did not miss. Everything else though, had its share of frustrating and generic moments. This show really does not start well in my opinion, and because of that, it really lost me for a good chunk of the series, except for a few very good episodes, which made this a passable series overall. If you were wondering which A-1 Pictures original from this season was better, it would easily be Lycoris Recoil. Funny enough, I’d thought for sure it’d be the other way around, but guess I was wrong.

My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20

STORY: 9.8/25

To give a quick overview first, this show takes place in Bayron City, a rather futuristic and extravagant looking place that strives to give every citizen a lavish lifestyle. However, for wannabe Shield Hero MC Shuu Ogata, that is not the case. He struggles to make ends meet, and is taken care of by his demon partner, Kisara, who holds down the fort and takes care of chores. These two work side by side along with the military forces to take down demons who pose the biggest threat to the city. In order to gain enough power to defeat these formidable creatures, Shuu and Kisara must kiss for her to turn into a more powerful being. This arrangement comes at a cost for Shuu, and it whittles him down bit by bit throughout the story.

So this seems interesting right? So it seemed, but this show has quite the identity crisis in that instead of having some world building for us to understand how the city works and why the demons are here, it focused a lot of the romance aspects instead, of a lazy deadbeat and his harem who for some reason are smitten with him. To be honest, an exposition dump of why the demons were here would have been better than whatever was presented. In a show like this, you would expect that the romance would come second, and the story come first, but nah, let’s just have girls getting jealous for a big chunk of the show.

There are some good parts about the story, and some emotional bits too, and while the emotional scenes were honestly executed well, if everything was developed properly, it would have hit even harder. Otherwise, the plot is quite ambitious, but because of a lack of world building, nothing felt very significant, it just felt like many things crammed together in an attempt to make a good plot, but felt like a pile of things that didn’t mix well, just very messy.

ART: 8.9/10

The animation is quite worthy of praise. The action is fluid and the character designs are decent, except for Naofumi 2.0. The colour palette also works well. Lots of pinks that give the show its uniqueness.

MUSIC: 8.4/10

The sound is pretty solid too. The OP and ED were both great songs, and the soundtrack fit well in each scene.

CHARACTERS: 9/20

The character development in the show was quite abysmal, because first of all, there was so little backstory, so we had no idea how why all the girls like Shuu, and that made it hard to justify their motives. Kisara was the cute character, and helped Shuu make ends meet, and was also the military’s biggest weapon in countering the demons. Ayano was the more mature character who also played a role in fighting the demons. Some of the supporting cast felt more well developed than the mains honestly, especially Miles, who was Shuu’s caretaker when he was little.

Shuu, while he starts out being extremely frustrating to watch, ends up being a solid character in my opinion, but all his goodness came at a point where I already lost most of my interest in the characters.

ENJOYMENT: 8.7/15

There were good moments in this show, but few and far between. I did enjoy the action sequences too, but not much else. Pretty average throughout.

THEMATIC EXECUTION: 8/20

Like I have mentioned throughout, the lack of world building made a lot of the themes dull, and the plot points insignificant and I just found myself not caring a whole lot. The show attempts to make you feel a wide range of emotions, but it doesn’t work out very well.

OVERALL: 52.8/100

There is some minimal enjoyment to be had here, but there wasn’t a whole lot to enjoy except for the action. If you like waifus, go ahead and give this a try, but the dysfunctional plot had me bored at times, although there were a few great moments in this show. I don’t exactly know what we were served up here, but it ends up just feeling messy and tropey.

Engage Kiss is my favourite type of show. Not a really interesting synopsis, and has very mediocre ratings, turns out to be probably the biggest surprise of the season. Engage Kiss got its flaws, but definitely is rated way too low.

[Story - 7]
I can't tell I don't have objections about the storyline. The show is mixing too many themes at once, and sometimes it's hard to tell, what should you focus on more. Engage Kiss isn't a typical rom-com, as MAL suggests. There's much more action than comedy (fortunately), but when comedy is present, it doesn't help the show at all. Sometimes this comedy aspect ... in Engage Kiss is fitted poorly, so it ruins any meaning and mood of the moment. There are few emotional scenes in the story. This was something that honestly couldn't have been better, and made me love this show, but because of unnecessary comedy, being put before or after mentioned scene, it's hard to take it seriously. It was something that annoyed me the most during this anime. Action, along with romance is the crucial element of this show, and is good. The fight scenes are presented really well, with a proper approach, and because of that whole anime isn't boring at all. There's a love triangle at the beginning of the story, to become a harem, after introducing Sharon. As far, as I got no issues with Kisara and Ayano since their competition made the anime much more interesting, the existence of Sharon is pretty much useless, and because of that Engage Kiss follows the path of every generic, mediocre rom-com harem. The theme of fights with demons is pretty common in anime, but here I have really little, to no issues with it. The story in the first episode reminded me of SAO. A few episodes later, it was rather Date A Live (defeated enemies become allies, and sometimes even a harem). Kisara is basically Yuno from Mirai Nikki, but much more likable. Even though Engage Kiss is a mix of many things one can imagine in the anime, it's still reasonable and doesn't lose overall sense, which is praiseworthy.

[Art - 9]
Engage Kiss can easily be a flagship product of A-1 Pictures in the art category. This studio is making amazing work, when it comes to visuals, and Engage Kiss is no exception. Characters are looking really good, colours are fitting perfectly, and environments are reproduced correctly. There are little to no flaws in visuals throughout the whole show.

[Sound - 8]
Really good job with the sound. Even though I didn't find the opening theme that catchy, the soundtrack fits really well. In more serious scenes, it keeps the mood pretty well. It also builds up tension properly. The sounds during the fight are good and so is the voice. Can't complain!

[Characters - 7]
It should be higher and could be a higher rating if the show didn't end up being a generic harem, as I mentioned in the story section. Even though I found introducing the crazy nun, quite bad, what can be said about Shuu's sister? I honestly don't know how to treat her character, cause it looks like she's also about to be part of the Shuu's harem. So basically another loli, so that Engage Kiss won't be much more different, than every harem, by an accident. End of the rant, let's examine the main characters.

Kisara is by far my favourite character in the series and the fact that I find Engage Kiss enjoyable. Viewers may see her as manipulative, controlling, and not worth the trust, but her real side can be seen at the moment she gives Shuu back all of his memories, even though it means losing her own. She also genuinely cares and loves MC. Kisara always wants the best for Shuu, even if it means, she'll lose out on it. Kisara also shows respect to Ayano in some situations, since she knows how much Ayano means to Shuu ("You are willing to embrace a woman you do not love, to get your objective. You even discard memories of the woman you love, so you can save her"). If viewers dive deeper into her character, it can be easily seen, Kisara is a very nice, helpful, and respectful girl, which makes her really likable. This respect is shown also for Ayano, even if she's her "enemy".

Ayano is another girl in Shuu's harem, or rather his ex-girlfriend. Her feeling, however, didn't change at all. She's still in love with her ex-boyfriend. Ayano is a pretty unlucky girl, since her boyfriend supposedly left her, because of the contract with a demon (Kisara). There's not much more about her backstory, other than that, Shuu was pretty irresponsible in many situations in the past. The whole thing with the harem wasn't her fault, but rather the immature behaviour of Shuu, but that's probably a topic for another discussion. Even though they broke up quite a while ago, Ayano still genuinely cares for him and tries to get him back. She's very stubborn, outgoing, and confident, which suits perfectly the role she has in her mother's business. Since her character is written on a really surface level there's not much more to be said.

The main protagonist Shuu is a character about which I got mixed feelings. At the first sight, he seems to be pretty likable. After a while viewers can feel, he doesn't really care about other people's feelings. Yet, he uses a demon girl, only to reveal the truth about his family's death, and to find his lost sister. He also left Ayano, for the same purpose. But he's doing this all for his family? So he's justified? Well... Not really. At least in my eyes. His behavior can be seen as a little obsessive, and I know, it is hard to deal with losing your parents, or even your whole family. Unfortunately, it doesn't justify hurting other people. But hey, it is just a rom-com anime, and Ayano is pretty naive, so whatever. Besides that, Shu shows genuine respect for Miles (who is actually a pretty decently written character) and is motivated to fight every demon he encounters in Bayron City since his family died because of them a few years before. He seemed to have the best character development throughout the series.

Sharon is the most unnecessary character I could ever imagine. As far as she was a decent enemy, during her first appearance in the anime, her backstory, and behaviour toward MC are at least funny. Just another girl to the Shuu's harem, but this time it's a hot nun, with pretty crazy combat skills.

[Enjoyment - 9]
Even if the story got some smaller or bigger flaws, I still enjoyed Engage Kiss. There's much romance and much action. Sometimes, viewers were able to witness some more emotional scenes too. I loved Kisara's character. Ayano was really good too. I liked some supporting characters I didn't mention before as well. The story was interesting, and I genuinely wanted to know, what will happen next. Engage Kiss did not bad as a rom-com, but unfortunately, there are many signs, that it is just another harem anime, which are countless in the market already. I still call Engage Kiss pretty original, since it does many things better than other anime from this genre. This show wasn't far from being extraordinary.

Summing this all up. Yes, Engage Kiss is a mix of everything. This mix, however, is pretty tasty. There's a bit of everything here, so at the end of the day, everyone will find something for themselves. I wish more people would taste this title. Not only it is not popular, but it's also really underrated. What I can do, for now, is give an honest 8/10, so it will lift the rating just a little bit.

There is a weird vibe when it comes to this show. As if it's two shows in one, which honestly can work to some degree. If you take how it's presented at face value, it looks super light hearted, but then the rest plays, and you'll see there is a more serious tone that'll sprinkle on top of it. Which adds a bit more flavor to the shows quality.

Story and characters: 7
The shining light of the series, where things truly push and stick. Even if it's comedic undertones can be hit or miss at times, it's entertaining enough, to make the show stand out and ... work. Even if there seems to be a few tropes within it's cast members, if anything, that works to the advantage of the show, and it's cast. It's better that, then some plain and boring characters, that make a cool concept, seem less interesting. Thankfully, that's not the case here. Kisara is adorable, but also very concerning. Ayano is very pretty, and badass to boot. Shuu is a good MC, that isn't a wuss. Which is great to see. With good supporting cast, to really boost them even more so.

If you're honestly looking for something weirdly fun, then you've got the sow right here.

The story comes across as a weird and fun love triangle, which also deepens, when you realize what some of the cast members are. It builds interest, and makes you wonder what'll come of these characters in the long run.

Art and sound: 8
There is a lot to like when it comes to it's style. I really do enjoy the colours, and the lighting in every scene. No matter how characters are reacting, and acting. The entire set up looks really good, top notch stuff all round. It's one really great thing this anime does super well. With the sound fitting in, with each scene, to match real good.

Engage kiss is a weird fun mess, that is also a very fun watch. A good show to watch for sure.

It's ambigious to say exactly what Engage Kiss appeals to for its target audience. Most people will probably watch it for its romance context while others may find interest related to its sci-fi storyline. Engage Kiss strikes to me as a risky project because it tries many elements at once. Whether it's trying to engage in relationships with its main cast or tell a colorful story, Engage Kiss does earn its reptuation for what it sells.

Perhaps the most obvious is how much romance context the anime throws at the audience from the start. From the promotional poster, preview videos, and even title itself, it's easy ... to designate this anime with a romance genre tag. Videos on the Internet have spawned memes for this show, so clearly there's a target audience. The premise of the show speaks for itself that follows the lives of characters Shuu, his partner Kisara, and former co-worker and girlfriend Ayano. As you'd imagine, a love triangle is practically set up from the start between the three. That's however the least of their worries. For in this anime, it takes place in Bayron City, where we are introduced to demons known a 'D Hazards'. They threaten humanity and it's up to Shu and his partner Kisara to take care of business.

Engage Kiss' first episodes clearly doesn't hide its intentions. As the title suggests, we are greeted early on with how much Kisara adores her partner. Even though they have a contract between each other that requires kissing, it's also plainly obvious that she enjoys kissing him beyond such reasons. Similarly, Shu's former co-worker Ayano displays degrees of jealousy and it shouldn't take rocket science to realize she still harbors feelings for him. From this viewpoint, the show may feel like it's also setting up for the 'three episode' rule. That means for this anime, the first three episodes can make or break for its viewers. Let me just say that if you're not a fan of generic love triangles or science fiction stories, then this anime may be worth dodging a bullet for.

If you managed to get through past the first three episodes, then do be prepared for a somewhat deeper story that's been told on the surface. For intance, we learn more about Shu's past and how he's linked to Kisara and Ayano. Later on, we are introduced to Sharon, a young woman who dresses like a nun and has her own history with Shu. When watching this show, it seems Shu attracts from the opposite sex without him realizing it. Some fans may designate the anime as a 'harem' and to be honest, it does give off such vibes at times. Nonetheless, the anime does make it clear that he deeply cares about his friends. On the other hand, the relationship dynamics of this anime can be mixed. The show tries its best to sell character relatinoships, in particular between Shu and Kisara. However, Kisara's character personality often comes off as childish and even impulsive. I know the anime plays it for jokes for her occasionally yandere-like reactions, but it's hard to get behind her character when she practically throws herself at Shu whenever she gets the chance. Ayano also suffers from character development despite her connection with Shu. Being more mature than her love rival, she also displays moments of insecurity and characteristics related to a tsundere. On a fundamental, she does have geninue feelings towards her ex-boyfriend in the present timeline. In one particular episode, it's clearly obvious that she loves him but hey, Shu's got more to worry than about dating.

It's hard to come into this anime with high expectations when we have Tomoya Tanaka as the director. Upon checking their resume, their most recent work 'Visual Prison' left little to be desired. Even with an established company such as Aniplex behind its marketing campaign, Engage Kiss felt like it was overshadowed by some of their recent lineup. That is to say, this anime is better watched at how you want to than what it shows. In other words, you need an open mind to truly enjoy this anime and adapt with how the relationships are protrayed. But to be honest, none of the main cast is any unique by writing standards. They're set up to carry their role as how the story protrays them to be. Furthermore, Engage Kiss supporting cast and antagonists are heavily overshadowed by our main trio protagonists. Yes, even Sharon, the badass nun we see is no match for the lips of Kisara or Ayano when it comes to getting television time.

Animated by A-1 Pictures, you can tell right away it's from their studio. Let's face it, character designs does look fluid but often lack the 'wow factor'. By anime adaptation standards, I had expected this show to at least make the D Hazards look unique. Unfortuantely, it falls short and the action scenes doesn't truly impress either. However, if you're looking for some fan servicy kisses, then look no further. As the title states, you're going to see a lot of kisses being engaged between the main cast. Oh and sometimes, there's also saliva because the anime wanted to the kisses look more engaging.

Engage Kiss knew its intent from the start by engaging a show about an unsettling utopia, demons, and a whole load of kisses. Mind you, that's not a flaw and it's actually quite a catchy way of getting our attention. But sometimes, you have to wonder how much is too much. Those kissing segments can be very distracting and even in later episode when the plot deepens, you sometimes forget what the anime's true purpose is about. That is, Engage Kiss is still watchable but you're not going to get a masterpiece from this folks.

Engage Kiss, also known as Project Engage as the very Japanese Wikipedia page calls it, since it is a mixed-media project that got an anime, a manga and an announced game at the same time, this is definitely not the first time you see something similar to a mixed-media project that works exactly this way, and if you were tuned in for the Fall 2021 season then you should have heard of Tatk Op Destiny, I think I learned that too late. So, for a short TLDR, when you give a semi-interesting plot to an insufferable cast of characters you get what Engage Kiss is.

Shu ... is probably one of the least likable MCs I have seen in a while, when watching him for the first time you can see that he is some kind of lame scrounger guy that everything he does is beg people for favors and apologizing to them while being also extremely poor for making the lowest bets possible in demon hunting which irritates the other demon hunters. But then you discover he is a scrounger that is fine with leaving everything behind including his memories as long as he can know the cause for his parent’s death and to save his sister that he thinks that is still alive due to some dreams he has, doing all of this without caring about the girl that he himself admits to love (even if it doesn’t seem that much, but more about that later) or literally not caring if he remembers anything at all because the thing that powers up Kisara is losing part of his memories.

Also, I wonder if this series can stop for a second to show me how much of a Casanova Shu is really, first we get that Ayano is Shu’s ex-girlfriend and that he lived with her, not long after breaking up with her he got into something with Sharon having sex with her but after dumping (read as: poisoning) her he got Kisara who he named by the name of the first girl he kissed. Also apparently he had sex after drinking and paid the hotel he and the girl stayed in with Ayano’s credit card and probably many more that weren’t mentioned, this series really went through such lengths to mention that he was with any girl on existence. And for some reason girls like Ayano are still crawling on their feet to be with Shu that she goes on her way to have sex with him again because he is just that “awesome” to have girl after girl going for him, I want to say that I feel bad for her but she is the one that is trying to keep going with that no matter how many times Shu disappoints her. No, showing your character having sex doesn’t make him suddenly good or cool, I don’t need his sexual relationships thrown down my throat as if he were a hentai protagonist.

I started watching this series because a friend of mine said “hey, you like Date A Live watch this series, they are similar”, so I decided to take a watch because why not? And by the end of the very first episode I realized that this series is not like Date A Live at all. I don’t want to engage in too much DAL talking, but since it was basically what made me watch this series I’ll make a little point, just take a little comparison to the main character of Date A Live, Shidou and the main character of Engage Kiss, Shu. Shidou is a guy that lives with his sister, they are basically alone since their parents seem to always be busy, he is the one that takes care of domestic labor in the house, his power is to kiss a Spirit and seal their powers, he is a playboy that keeps around his girls to have them happy. Meanwhile with Shu the girls he knows have to do everything for him from cooking, paying his debts, etc and this is not only done from 1 girl but for 2 girls, his contract with Kisara makes it so that she gets stronger with a kiss, he is also a playboy but one who has basically no problem dumping the girls he has been with if he already did his objective with her. Now, I’m not saying that I want every MC to be like Shidou or that he is a masterclass protagonist, but really, he is far better than what I’m watching in Shu.

I think the funniest joke of this series was in episode 12 when they said that Kanna, Shu’s little sister, never matured emotionally past the age of 3 and wants to kill the girls that are around Shu because she was apparently connected to him all this time in his dreams and saw how he had sex with them and that's why she is angry at them, it was definitely hilarious... but then I saw how everyone on screen was dead serious on that, I had to stop the episode for a moment to realize that it was actually 100% serious and that it was sadly funnier than the other jokes this series did.

Now, now, not everything is bad, the part of the story that addressed Miles and Shu’s relationship was pretty good, I think it was nicely done the way they showed the bond between people that are not blood-related but who can have a parental relationship. The animation is also of nice quality with the sakuga going around across the fights, and the kiss scenes are really well done and animated, as I supposed you should expect from a series that has kiss in its name.

Engage Kiss tried to be a normal romcom with action at the beginning, then it tried to be more serious with its plot but it failed miserably doing so by the point that even at the final battle they are making terrible jokes and even the serious stuff being unintentionally funny. The characters alone make me not want to take a look at this series since aside from Shu’s lameness and his harem they were pretty vapid to me, there’s a reason I didn’t even touch the side characters on this review, they might as well not exist and not much changes. Really, the only thing you will get from this series is some eye candy with the cool animation, but at the end of the day this is just a 3 hours commercial for the game that is still waiting its launch at the time of writing this.

Thank you for reading.

okay so this review isn't going to be super in-depth or anything but i just wanted to put my opinion out there,

so Engage Kiss isn't the deepest anime ever but it sure is hella entertaining, and i'm a little bummed that the first episode or two has given a lot of people the wrong idea, sure it's got a bit of fanservice here and there but with the first episode and the title it feels like it's appearance is that of a highschool dxd type show, and it's damn far off,

first of all, what everyone is talking about, the animation- it's amazing, there's no ... world where a show like this should have animation like this but i'm all for it, the show is gorgeous from the fight scenes to the uh... *special scene* in episode 5, there's no way anyone can complain about the animation

the characters whilst not the deepest ever are all entertaining, from the mc who for the first 2 episode comes off as a little bland & probably being the weakest out of the main 3 characters, yet still being hella entertaining to see on screen, to pink haired yandere esc character, who at first literally just seems like yuno gasai, while not too far off the mark she has a fair amount of development and her design is still pleasant (even if it does wear it's yuno inspiration on its sleeves quite literally from the outfit), and finally, the best and most fun character, Ayano, who at first just seems like an uptight tsundere slowly is shown to not be very tsundere and instead just a straight up good character with a fun personality
- i'm not the best at describing characters but they're basically all entertaining even if they're all built off either a trope or another character they're still unique enough in their own way to get me to enjoy watching them

and finally what i'm going to talk about is the plot so a little bit of spoilers here,
as i've said already the first 2 episodes are what will make people drop the show after thinking it's just a super fanservice show but then you're rewarded so much for watching till episode 3 when you start to get the plot and details gave to you and it's so good, not too deep but deep enough to keep you engaged and you get even better rewards for watching till episode 5 where the show genuinely makes you feel sad and sorry for the characters which i was not expecting at all, so if i had to summarise the show in a single sentence to get people to watch it, it would probably be
- watch yuno gasai, better wrote naofumi & best girl ayano in jujutsu kaisen love triangle edition

(At the time of writing there are only 3 episodes out)

Engage Kiss is currently one of my favourite anime this season. The animation is smooth, there’s good quality waifus and it's got a relatively decent storyline. Could it get any better?

Story  9/10 -
The story revolves around our protagonist Shuu. He’s a brokeass guy who lives with a pink haired yandere girl named Kisara. (Unfortunately, many people are put off by Shuu because of the controversy surrounding him. However, if you push past that, there’s a good chance that you’ll still enjoy this anime.) Anyways, in this world there are creatures referred to as “demons”, who ... are so far, the main antagonists of the series. People such as Shuu and Kisara get paid to stop these demons from wreaking havoc in their area. Genre-wise, it’s an action packed rom-com with a few elements of sci-fi. It’s interesting to say the least. 

Characters 5/10-
Our main characters include Ayano, Kisara and Shuu. All three of them are pretty basic and can be easily narrowed down to one trope. Nonetheless, they don’t make the anime any less fun to watch.

Art 10/10-
I’m sure that nobody watching can deny the fact that the animation is smooth as fuck. The fight scenes are absolutely gorgeous and you can see how much effort was put into this show. It’s incredible! 

Sound 10/10-
I have nothing to complain about when it comes to the sound. The opening/ending songs are fire and the voice acting is on point.

Enjoyment 9/10-
I’m enjoying this show a lot more than I thought I would. I had quite low expectations when I first started watching but oh boy, this is great. This anime gets a 9/10 from me. I can’t wait to see how it ends! 

Set inside a fantasy world, Engage Kiss tells a tale of the dysfunctional relationship between a demon who harbors unrequited love, and a human who is so obsessed with revenge that he goes to extreme lengths to achieve his goals.

Engage Kiss is an anime that requires the audience to be cultured enough to approach the show with an open mind and not be offended by fictional anime characters even if you disagree with the way they act. The characters have been purposefully made to have a few unlikable traits and flaws; especially the male MC whose relationship with the heroine starts off as a toxic ... and manipulative one. If you cannot agree that not every MC needs to be perfect for self-insert or morally flawless, then you are not the target audience of this show. I also need to caution potential viewers that despite the show being advertised as a slapstick romantic comedy, it is not the case for a good chunk of the show where it contains a significant amount of melancholic drama that is brilliantly executed to tug at one’s heartstrings. Now if you are still mentally able to accept this show, then you will come to appreciate Engage Kiss as a hidden gem of Maruto’s work.

Shu is a demon exterminator who is in hot pursuit of the demon responsible for his parent’s death and finding clues to search for his little sister whom he believes to still be alive. To accomplish his goals, he needed power that significantly exceeds the capabilities of himself and his then-girlfriend, Ayano. Hence he left Ayano to form a contract with a powerful demon, Kisara. In their time spent together, Kisara has grown to love him more than anything, but her overpowering feelings are not being reciprocated by Shu who only treats her like a tool. Using Kisara’s demonic powers also comes at a terrible cost that is destroying him bit by bit, which creates a dilemma for Kisara and a strong rivalry with Ayano, who is against Shu’s method of doing things but has to accept her helplessness at the situation.

The premise of Engage Kiss has been well set up to deliver a love triangle where both heroines have their own compelling reasons for the audience to empathize and root for, and to delve into the mysteries surrounding the male protagonist's tragic past. The execution of the show is excellent, and as an anime original, it has been directed in a way that takes full advantage of its weekly episodic format and lack of source material to maximize the audience’s engagement and anticipation.

One of the story’s charms is that it utilizes a lot of backstories to constantly reshape the narratives of the characters. The characters were intentionally made to feel shallow initially, then given more depth as their past and motivations are revealed. My first impression of the heroine is that she is a possessive yandere succubus but later discovered that she is the most selfless person who genuinely loves Shu unconditionally and put his wellbeing above everything else. I initially thought that Shu is a useless deadbeat, but later learned that he is the succubus all along with his ability to seduce any girl and even incapacitated a nun by poisoning her during sex. We also learned how tragic Shu’s past is and that his goals are noble although the manner that he carries them out is contentious, which results in a unique character that is detestable but also someone that the audience can sympathize.

The animation and voice acting are top-notch, and I have to especially give credit to Saya Aizawa for perfectly nailing her role as Kisara. From her shiver-inducing yandere voice to her soft-as-cotton gentle tone; her ability to perfectly vocalize every type of expression and bring to life a multi-faceted character never ceased to amaze me. Her devotion to playing her role as Kisara can be seen in her social network account where she constantly talks about how much she loves the character and has even made three cover songs of Kisara.

Nonetheless, the main selling point of Engage Kiss has to be the development between Kisara and Shu. Their relationship started out being one of the most dysfunctional and manipulative couples in anime and reforms towards one with genuine love and trust by the end. This beautiful relationship development has made Engage Kiss a must-watch for any romance drama fans.

From the flashy rom-com first episode to the heart-tugging drama and shocking revelations in the middle, to a smooth ending, Engage Kiss has faithfully served the audience what they wanted to see – romance, comedy, action, and drama, all exceptionally well-packaged with excellent animation and voice acting into a single series.

Recommendation: Trashy, full of plot holes and fanservice, and tonally all over the map. It's like a throwback to anime from 15 years ago and your enjoyment of it will depend on just how fond you are of that era.

Engage Kiss is Anime As Hell basically from the opening moments of the series. The protagonist, Shuu, is a loser that bums money from his demon girlfriend, Kisara, and he fights other demons by sloppily french kissing her to turn her into an edgy one winged goth girl. The love triangle between these two and the protagonist's ex girlfriend, Ayano, forms the core of the early ... series. It sometimes gets tiring watching two cute girls argue over which of them loves a scumbag more, and you learn little about any of them through all this idle bickering. This all leads into a questionable shift in tone that ends up being a constant problem throughout the series.

Around the end of episode 3, the series takes a jarring turn into tragic melodrama as Shuu's backstory and the particulars of his relationship with Kisara start to be revealed. It comes across poorly after 3 episodes of goofy romcom antics, and the series is never able to pick a lane and settle into a comfortable rhythm as it flips between these two modes for its entire run. Several episode-closing moments that are intended to be weighty and emotional are also comically undercut by the chipper opening lines of the ED crashing into the scene like the damn Kool Aid Man.

Overall, I think the show would have been better served by sticking with the silly romcom stuff rather than make frequent half-hearted attempts to Get Serious in a show with a premise that's difficult to take seriously even when it's firing on all cylinders. That is exemplified by my personal favorite character in the series, Sharon Holygrail, the slutty, motorcycle-ridin', hard-drinkin' combat nun. Her mere existence is ridiculous and over the top in the exact ways that I want anime to be. The most enduringly memorable scene of the entire series involves Shuu literally poisoning his own dick and then having sex with her to paralyze her. That is the kind of stupidity I was hoping for from this series, not the kind of mediocre angst that often brings the show's momentum to a stop. Engage Kiss is at its best when it leans into comical excess and doesn't take itself seriously rather than attempting dramatic plot developments. It's very fun in those best moments, but is too inconsistent to give an unqualified recommendation to.

Engage Kiss. The title is so uninteresting that everyone has watched this anime and hoped that this was finally a good hentai. But instead, they had watched a total uninovative, so predictable garbage. The overall quality of this anime is so shitty that even my grandmom could think of a better story and title.
The whole story is situatte on a small island with our main character being a total douchebag. Somehow he is clearing the city of all demons with his demon servant, with whom he has a contract that he has to give him *redacted*. It could be summarized as: Get to know a ... main character a little bit (They never explain the powers and shit of his), give him an amnesia and a demon servant whom he pays by giving him his memories, some girls he supposedly somehow dated and are interested in him. Let him kill some demons. Wow, now comes his family tragic story "How unexpected! *laughting on the floor*". And then let him fight his sister end. So copy paste anime. I cant say anything. Go watch better shit than this!

If you know Maruto Fumiaki from Saekano and White Album 2, you would probably be very surprised to hear that he had written an original battle show. Well, at least I was. After all, both of his most famous works were very firmly in the traditional high school romance genre: it's hard to imagine him writing something so out of his comfort zone. Right? Right...?

Well, it turns out, Engage Kiss is a very Maruto show. He is, without a doubt, a master at playing with the conventions of the romance genre in anime culture, and Engage Kiss is no different. White Album 2 asked the ... question: what happens when the high school harem protagonist grows up? While he presented a very well written, if conventional love triangle plot in the Introductory Chapter (which is the only part that got adopted into anime), in Closing Chapter and Coda he turned those conventions on their heads to present a thought-provoking tear-jerker on the meaning of love and becoming adult in modern society. On a glance, Saekano returned to those conventions, but the main heroine, Megumi, was anything but conventional. That work was a meditation on the trope characters in anime culture, and an exploration into precisely how to break those tropes. In both of his most famous works, he took those conventions that defined anime culture and bent it to his will, creating something truly unique to him.

And that trend continues with Engage Kiss. Here, the question he asks is: what happens if you put those harem tropes into a serious battle anime? In this sense, the show has a lot of similarities with Lycoris Recoil, the "other" original show from A1 this season often compared together with it. That show tries to combine yuri tropes with battle/social critique. Yet if Lycoris started on a very high note but ended somewhat blandly, Engage Kiss is the exact opposite: it started with all kinds of cliché only to end up with a genuinely good story. What started out as trope characters, including the good-for-nothing male main character and the two love rivals who are somehow mysteriously attached to said male character, were given a lot of depth to their motivations. In typical Maruto fashion, he self-consciously creates characters based on those tropes, but then laughs at them by turning them on their head.

You can feel this from the ending theme of the show, Renai Nou, literally translated as "Romance Brain", a term often used to refer to people who are obsessed with love and relationships. The theme couldn't be more fitting for the first few episodes, yet as the show progresses, it almost feels like a prank created to laugh at the viewer for assuming things based on the tropes. This is especially true for episode 9, the definite highlight of the show. The cheerful ending theme plays right after an extremely well-presented tragic scene, as if saying "haha, got you, you thought this was a harem rom-com didn't you?"

The show itself is filled with such jankiness. Everything are cheap on the surface, and intentionally so, but, like a playful child, Maurto just piles them one on top of another because why not? Indeed, why not? It turns out 1+1>2, and the result is a show that is consistently and incredibly fun. It's nothing to write home about, but if you want a solid watch, one that blends typical Maruto-ism with a battle anime twist, you will find yourself having a good time with this show.

The Devil is a Sloppy Kisser.

Engage Kiss is another A1 original anime, this time of the sloppy make-out variety.
Set on a floating isle metropolis, the city has a slight demon infestation problem. Luckily a whole cottage industry of independent demon hunters has popped up whom the city hires to deal with demon attacks if the contractor bids low enough. Shuu Ogata is usually the one to win these contracts because he bids so low that he’s constantly broke. However, he has a secret weapon in his powerful, pink-haired demon partner Kisara who also happens to be head over heels for him. However, there ... is a price for using her powers and it’s up to Shuu to find his missing family and take revenge on the demon who was responsible before that price is paid in full.

“Engage Kiss” is a battle anime and a silly one at that. I can see this being critiqued as ‘trashy’ understandable by some, but there's a lot of fun to be had if you’re willing to raise yourself a bit above the honestly, not very low bar. The art and animation are of high quality, the action is slick and well directed, the dialogue witty and sharp, and there are not many anime where the main protagonists Yandere demon girlfriend and his tsundere ex-girlfriend fight each other to the death whilst fending themselves off from a pack of demon dogs.
Shuu himself is an interesting protagonist. He’s motivated mainly by revenge and his disregard for work plus his general attitude towards those who care about him does make him come off as an asshole, but there are also a lot of layers to the story which once peeled back add a tragic nuance to his character which explains a lot of his actions. Later in the series, I was surprised at how his character development caught me off guard to the point that I genuinely teared up at a certain scene in the latter half of the season.
The two main women in his life Kisara and his ex Ayano have beef with each other. Kisara is a total sweetheart until her man is threatened and Ayano is a straight-laced militia leader who's growing concern over what Kisara’s powers are doing to Shuu keeps her coming back to him. These two have wonderful on-screen presence and banter with each other, and they’re always a delight. Especially Ayano… for simping reasons.
I can’t say much about the other side characters. They’re certainly a weaker area when it comes to the presentation of the show. Even Sharon the demon-killing nun whose introduction was very fun and memorable felt like it came a bit too late into the season to stand out.

I overall really enjoyed Engage Kiss. The story does lose its way and it’s identity a bit towards the end which feels like another case of an original anime trying to over-egg the pudding in the space of 12 episodes, but I do think the ending makes up for that. The rest of the time it’s a very horny kiss of a time and I like my horny kisses. Also, he may be an asshole, but Shuu fucks, and he doesn’t need to buy a slave girlfriend to Stockholm syndrome to do that.

8/10 Great.

Ventured into three episodes hoping for a spark, alas, it didn't resonate with my taste buds. Yet, I'll outline my musings to guide those with akin preferences, saving them from a potential misspent watch.

Story: The aimless protagonist moonlights as a "bounty hunter," tackling demons alongside a demon companion, barely scraping by. Enter a demon girl cohabiting and an ex-girlfriend—still nursing feelings—pushing him along. Episodes revolve around missions veering off course, rinse and repeat.

Art: Credit where due—the art holds up. Engaging fights stand out, an aspect that didn't falter.

Sound: Neither exceptional nor bothersome, at least not in a standout genre-defining way.

Characters: Our MC feels like a ... diluted Cowboy Bebop version. His demon housemate echoes shades of a pink-haired, psycho-stalker a la Yuna from Mirai Nikki. Then there's the predictable hot, wealthy ex, cliché as can be. Not much to pen with enthusiasm here.

Enjoyment: Frankly, it left me yawning. The spark of originality or excitement was amiss, failing to kindle my affection.

Overall: A subpar anime drenched in clichés. Should you find solace in this genre's embrace and seek a boredom remedy, perhaps it'll suit your palate. Brace yourself for ample fan service, zoom-ins on anime anatomies galore.

*This review has been written when only 3 episodes came out*
*Minor spoilers ahead*

So... Engage Kiss. I don't like to say this, but this was unfortunately, one of the most horrible anime I have seen this year. Now, taking into account I have only watched the three episodes that were out when this review was written, I cannot say for sure whether it will get better, but even if this anime somehow becomes a masterpiece in the next 10 episodes, I will still have my gripes with this series.

Firstly, this anime REALLY does not know what it wants to be. The general rule of thumb ... for anime is that you should try to include a few distinct ideas so that your anime is multi-faceted and interesting to watch, but you should not be including too many distinct ideas. This anime is currently, at least from the first three episodes, doing that. It's delving into a weird romance triangle that doesn't even get explained until episode 3, a half-yandere female mc still attending school (high school I assume), supernatural forces, politics which implement the idea of government corruption and the idea of the MC being a mindless sheep for the government, the looming darkness of the MC's backstory, all while repeatedly reminding us that the MC is extremely poor. I am glad that the producers are trying to incorporate different ideas to make the story more interesting, but add too much and it becomes a big messy pile of ideas. I'm not a producer, so I have no right to judge, but my personal opinion is that the producers maybe should have tried removing some of the ideas implemented, and go with a simpler story. Otherwise, the anime can get overwhelming at times.

Secondly, the exposition of this anime is honestly horrible. While I get that no one likes exposition dumps, that doesn't make it an excuse for the first few episodes to be this confusing. Even if the anime picks up and gets really good, it doesn't matter because people are going to drop this anime either way. If it really becomes a great masterpiece, then people still have to sit through 3+ episodes of very bad exposition. Why its bad you ask? Well, the anime makes no effort explaining what the relationship between the characters are, or how the demons appeared, or how demon hunters (or what they're called) are formed, or how the president even got elected in the first place? While I do get that the relationship was addressed in episode 3, and maybe some of these details were not revealed so early to have more of a "shock factor" when eventually they are revealed, we are given not even given an inkling as to what the answers to these questions are, which will confuse some people and make some people annoyed.

Story- 3/10
The exposition was really bad, and the anime seems to just skip to the fight scenes pretty quickly, making the moments in between the fights seem like filler episodes to be honest. And this is mostly because there was not much exposition at the start, so the entire situation was pretty confusing.

Art- 8.5/10
This is easily the best part of this anime. It uses a palette of vibrant colours and crisp animations to draw you in, and hey, at least for me it did a pretty good job. The character designs were also pretty good, and it didn't feel like a reskin of older animes. They actually had pretty unique designs. (Lets not talk about happy sugar life here...)

Sound- 7/10
The opening was pretty good, but I wouldn't say so for the ending. This is more of a personal opinion, but the ending was pretty lackluster, especially compared to the opening.

Character- 3/10
The characters were pretty dull and the two main female MCs personalities all boil down to both of them fighting for the MC, the only difference between them is that one's a tsundere, and one's a yandere. Oh, and they also have different hair colours. Due to... you guessed it, the bad exposition, the characters were not fleshed out that much, though I think I remember some mild dialogue about one of the girl's backstories, which is okay I guess. Meanwhile the MC's character is a bit better, he's not a beta male (thank you) and actually has some personality, but is in constant, barely explained debt.

Enjoyment- 3/10
Honestly, Engage Kiss felt like a chore to watch. It was very confusing, and was a really big mess. However, it was slightly fun to watch, due to it being quite the goofy show.

Overall -4/10
The animation and art is pretty amazing, which probably is the only reason why I could continue watching 3 episodes. Also, I wanted to watch 3 episodes before I could make an unimpaired judgement. I would definitely not recommend this to anyone who wants to watch whatever genre this is, and I sincerely hope that the anime gets better in the next episode, because I will probably drop it if it doesnt.

*please note that even though I didn't like the anime that much, I still have respect for the producers, and this review is in no way shape or form ridiculing them for their work. This review just points out the good and bad aspects of the anime in my opinion.*

A story about PMC Or contractor something like that to kill or capture the demon to prevent them to kill civilian and prevent people to know all the truth about demon that the story I guess because I don't understand a single shit in this anime I don't know is it because translate or my brain The story is sucked it just like Ex girlfriends fighting over MC or some shit and just put fan service to make people want to watch it only good thing in this anime is the art is so awesome character design is good I guess the sound is average

I’m far from hooked, but I’m biting.

While the show’s premise isn’t too original, I don’t think originality always matters. It’s how you tell the story that counts, and Engage Kiss does a ‘meh’ job. It’s a procedural show wrapped in flimsy storylines that often make episodes feel congested. Each week there’s 1) a “monster-of-the-week” they have to defeat, 2) the steady unfolding of Shu’s past and the case he’s working because of it, 3) a sprinkle of corporate demon exterminators, 4) a detective breaking the rules to catch the bad guy, and of course 5) the love triangle. Which brings me to characters.

Right now they’re ... all a bit underwhelming. Yes, Kisara and Ayano are kicking ass and taking names, but there’s nothing too noteworthy about their characters. Who they are outside of Shu isn’t made clear—and that’s by design because that’s the nature of the genre/trope. But even in relation to Shu, it all feels shallow. And Shu’s charm is dwindling as more of his back story is revealed.

I did like the latest episode (5) because we got to see a genuine moment of Shu sitting with his sacrifice (literally and metaphorically), and witness how it’s really affecting everyone involved with more depth. The optimist in me considers that a promising development!

So, at the moment, I think the show is doing a decent job handling the congestion they created lol. While there’s dissonance between storylines, I’m surprised all these stories are cohesive at all.

Overall it’s a cute show but the convoluted—and unreliable—narrative is weighing it down. So I’m still not hooked, but I’m still biting!

Quick note: I really appreciate the cinematography if the visual aesthetics matter to you. The slow pans that build tension, the shift in focus to punctuate the dialogue, the quivering of the camera to convey Shu’s disorientation, etc. Love it, I think the show’s animation is beautiful. Currently not watching a show that does this as well as Engage Kiss.

Engage Kiss was one of two A1 pictures anime originals this season, and unfortunately, I have to say that it kind of disappointed me. It's not that it's bad, but there were some pretty big pacing flaws and just flaws with some of the characters and the story in general. To me, it was an anime with a pretty promising concept that failed to deliver on its potential.
Art: 8
One thing I can’t take away from it though is the fact that the art is great. I thought the character designs were a bit generic, but the animation was really stellar. Every fight scene was ... also pretty hype to watch. I do think the music was kind of just okay which is my biggest issue with the art.
Characters: 7
Personally, I’m a bit torn with the characters. I think some of them like Miles, and Ayano were done really well, but I can’t stand behind the MC. The main character is genuinely not a good person, and I think defending him is okay, but not the number of times they did defend him throughout the anime. But it's not all bad with Shu, as I think some of his choices are a little justified to a point, and his backstory is genuinely depressing, but sometimes I felt like he went too far.
Story: 5
To be honest the story felt like lost potential, too inconsistent. I think there were a lot of good moments with the story, but it felt like they tried to fit too many things within the 13 episodes. I think this anime would've been a lot better if the pacing issues were solved and it just had more episodes to really explain each event that happened because at the end of the day it just felt like the anime jumped around too much which could lead to some confusion. Overall it wasn’t a bad anime, but it could've been a lot better. 6/10

I'm just gonna be honest
Anime (9.6 so I gave it a 10)
Has Good Animation, Story, and keeps you entertained through all eps
Makes you sad and happy and gives alot of action. It's a (hidden Gem)
I think those who rate anime now these days throw shade cause it's not big 3 material.
(Don't listen to everyones reviews not even mine) WATCH THE ANIME FOR YOURSELF
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THAT BEING SAID BIAS OPINION THIS ANIME IS EPIC AND HAD ME EXCITED AND BROKEN AT THE SAME TIME!
LOVE IT NEED MORE ANIME LIKE THIS

SORRY TO THE PEOPLE WHO DONT GET THE FAN SERVICE. P.S FAN SERVICE RUINS ANIME. ... GLAD THEY STUCK TOO THE STORY... 10 OUT OF 10 FOR THIS ANIME CAUSE ITS 9.6 WHICH IS CLOSE TO 10.