Itazura na Kiss

Itazura na Kiss (イタズラなKiss) is the popular, unfinished shōjo manga series by mangaka Kaoru Tada. Itazura na Kiss began to be serialized and published in 1991 by Shueisha through Margaret Magazine. It became successful very quickly and became the manga series that Tada became known for in Japan. The manga became so popular that two live TV series have been made so far in 1996 and 2005, with a sequel of the 2005 drama in late 2007. Despite its success, the manga was never completed due to the unexpected death of the author in a house accident while she was moving to another house with her husband and son. However the manga series continues to be published with the permission of the late artist's husband.

A drama CD series was released in 2005-2006 and a 25 episode anime adaptation aired in 2008. In an interview, the late author's husband, Shigeru Nishikawa, revealed that the manga's intended finale was to be conceptualized in the anime for the first time. Scripts regarding the plot of the anime closely followed the late author's planned ending.

On January 27, 2009, Digital Manga Publishing issued a press release announcing the acquisition of the license to publish Itazura na Kiss in English. They will be publishing the series in 12 omnibus editions; the first two are scheduled for November 2009 and March 2010, respectively. .

Plot
In the romantic comedy story, a high school girl named Kotoko finally tells a fellow senior named Naoki that she has loved him from afar since she saw him on their first day of high school. However, Naoki, a haughty "super-ikemen" (handsome male) with smarts and sports talent, rejects her offhand. Fate intervenes when a mild earthquake ruins Kotoko's family house. While the house gets rebuilt, Kotoko and her dad stay at the home of her dad's childhood friend...whose son is Naoki.

Main

 * Kotoko Aihara (相原 琴子 Aihara Kotoko; Seiyū in drama CD and anime: Nana Mizuki; Actress in TV Drama: Aiko Sato) - The female lead. She has been in love with the handsome and intelligent Naoki Irie since their first year in high school after hearing his speech at the opening ceremony. After their new poorly constructed house was destroyed in a mild earthquake, she and her father moved into the Irie household, her father being a very close school friend of Naoki's father. It is eventually revealed that Naoki has also been in love with her. Kotoko is not very smart, having been in Class F all through high school (Class F is the lowest) and a low status department at her university. She is however very spirited. She usually ends up in trouble and Naoki always saves her. After coming back from her honeymoon with Naoki, Kotoko decides to become a nurse, so that she could work alongside him.


 * Naoki Irie (入江 直樹 Irie Naoki; Seiyū in drama CD: Daisuke Namikawa; Seiyū in anime: Daisuke Hirakawa; Actor In TV Drama: Takashi Kashiwabara) - The male lead, and the eventual husband of Kotoko. He had no goal in his life. But later, because of Kotoko's encouragement and advice, he decides to become a doctor. He is considered very cold, having an IQ of 200 and always being number 1 in all exams. He is also a very good cook and an excellent tennis player. It was revealed that he has always been in love with Kotoko, showing it with a kiss to her.

The Family

 * Kotomi Irie (Seiyū in anime: Tomoko Kaneda) is Naoki and Kotoko's daughter. She was born in episode 24 of the anime, and does not appear in the manga. She inherits Naoki's looks and intelligence, but Kotoko's personality. She tends to compete with Kotoko for her father's attention (winning most of the time), and has a strong father complex. She, like her father, is also very smart. Also Kotomi has a fatherly complex towards her father rather than her mother.
 * Yuuki Irie (入江 裕樹 Irie Yuki; Seiyū in drama CD: Mayumi Tanaka; Seiyū in anime: Romi Park; Actor in TV Drama: Ryotaro Akashi) - Naoki's younger brother. He didn't like Kotoko at first, but eventually learns to accept her. Although he hides his acceptance by continuing to bully her. Yuuki was the first person to figure out Naoki was in love with Kotoko, after seeing him kiss her while she was asleep. He starts to go out with Konomi, a girl with a similar personality to Kotoko, when he is in middle school.At first Yuuki didn't want anything to do with Kotoko, but learns to accept her for who she is.
 * Machiko Irie (入江 紀子 Noriko in anime) (Irie Machiko; Seiyū in anime: Naoko Matsui; Actress in TV Drama: Miyoko Asada) is Naoki's super-controlling and naïve mother. She often makes plans that only she thinks are good for her children, including finding love for them. She uses various disguises during the anime to spy on her children. She believed that she was a 'matchmaker' for Naoki and Kotoko.She has always taken pictures of Irie's and Kotoko's dates often ruining the mood between the two.
 * Shigeki Irie (Masaki in TV Drama) (入江 重樹 Irie Shigeki; Seiyū in anime: Takashi Nagasako; Actor in TV Drama: Yuu Tokui) is Naoki's father, he manages a toy company. He once had a heart attack after hearing that Naoki did not want to inherit his company, but in the end he accepted the fact Naoki wanted to become a doctor.
 * Shigeo Aihara (相原重雄 Aihara Shigeo; Seiyū in anime: Bin Shimada; Actor in TV Drama: Takashi Naitou) is Kotoko's father. He owns a restaurant and has been Kinnosuke's teacher and boss for years. He raised Kotoko alone since his wife died many years ago.
 * Chibi (Tiny) (小小) is the family's dog. In the manga, Chibi was given to Yuki as a gift from his classmate. However, in the anime Chibi belongs to Sudou-senpai and is a watchdog for his villa.

Female

 * Jinko (小森 純子) is one of Kotoko's best friends. She is a tomboy, and dates a musician.
 * Satomi (石川 理美) is one of Kotoko's best friends. She gets married after she gets pregnant and has a daughter named Kiseki, who seems to be very attached to Yuuki.
 * Reiko Matsumoto (Yuuko in the anime) (松本 裕子 Matsumoto Reiko; Seiyū in drama CD: Akiko Kimura; Actress in TV Drama: Maju Ozawa) is one of Naoki's many love trials. She has been interested in him since before college, but decides to give up after Kotoko and Naoki get married. After graduation, she starts to work for a computer company.
 * Ayako Matsumoto (松本 綾子 Matsumoto Ayako; Seiyū in drama CD: Yu Asakawa) is the little sister of Reiko. She liked Naoki at first, but eventually fell for Kotoko's admirer; Takendo.
 * Konomi (好美) shares the same personality as Kotoko; both are as naïve and caring. She has liked Yuuki since junior high, but he refused to be her friend. After a while, Yuuki has a change of heart.
 * Sasuiko is the granddaughter of an old CEO of a successful company. She was arranged to marry Naoki to help fix his father's company's problems. But when she understood that he was in love with Kotoko, she gave up. In the anime adaptation, she does not appear at all and Chris is the one who dates Naoki.
 * Ogura Tomoko (小倉 智子) is Kotoko's classmate in nursing school. She is sweet and kind and gentle like an angel, but is also crazy about seeing blood, which makes her somewhat scary.
 * Shinagawa Marina (品川真 理奈) is Kotoko's classmate in nursing school. She went to study nursing to marry a doctor. Eventually, she becomes involved with Funetsu, although she keeps trying to get close to other guys.
 * Christine "Chris" Robbins (克莉斯) is a foreign exchange student from the United Kingdom who has gone to Japan to find a Japanese boyfriend. She falls for Kinnosuke, and after a long dedication finally wins his heart. In the anime adaptation, she is the daughter of the bank involved with Naoki's father's company. Sasuiko does not appear and Chris is the one Naoki casually dates. She is voiced by Yūko Gotō
 * Rika is Naoki's and Yuuki's cousin. She moved to America five years ago. When she comes back, she tries to break Naoki and Kotoko apart but eventually fails. She also turns out to be Naoki's first kiss, but it was against his wishes. She does not appear in any of the other adaptations.
 * Akiko (秋子) is a handicapped patient that Keita was assigned to take care of when he went on an internship. During that time, the two of them fell for each other. Because she lost faith in herself, she stopped trying to walk. However, after an unexpected fright from Kotoko, she walks again.
 * Yoshida-san is an 80 year-old lady which is picky and gives nurses problems especially towards Kotoko. She was looked after by Kotoko and Yoshida-san loves Naoki. She eventually realises that Kotoko is a hard worker and gives her less of a hard time.

Male

 * Kinnosuke Nakamura (池澤 金之助 Nakamura Kinnosuke; Seiyū in anime: Shuuhei Sakaguchi; Actor in TV Drama: Shinsuke Aoki) is the guy who has liked Kotoko ever since high school and didn't give up until Naoki confessed that he was emotionally involved with her as well. After a year, he meets Christine and marries her, thus ending his devotion to Kotoko. However, he and Kotoko retain their friendship.
 * Sudou (須藤; Seiyū in drama CD: Mitsuo Iwata) has liked Reiko since college, but hasn't been successful in winning her heart in the Manga.In the Anime he is shown to have married Matsumoto in Episode 24. Kotoko describes him as someone who has a dual personality. He is very kind when he's not holding the tennis racquet, but once he holds it, he becomes vicious and competitive (most especially to Naoki, but he always loses to him).
 * Takendo (中川 武人) is one of Kotoko's few admirers. He met her in college and tried to date her, but eventually fell for Ayako, Reiko's little sister.
 * Ryo (高宮 良) is Satomi's rich boyfriend and later husband. Because he is a very obedient boy, he had a hard time defying his mother who was against his marriage with Satomi, but after a little support from Kotoko, decides to follow his heart.
 * Kamogari Keita (鴨狩 啓太) is one of Kotoko's classmates in nursing school. He is very passionate about nursing and can therefore be very fierce if things don't go right. Naoki was jealous because of Keita's and Kotoko's relationship. Keita liked Kotoko once, but after he realized how much Kotoko and Naoki loved each other, he gave up. Finally, he met the handicapped Akiko during training and fell for her.
 * Kikyou Motoki (桔梗 幹) (Motoki in the anime) is Kotoko's classmate in nursing school. He is born a boy, but prefers to be a girl. Of all the guys that Kotoko knows, he is the most girly one. He is the president of Naoki's fan club.
 * Funetsu (船津) is Naoki's rival in medical school. He tried to beat him since ever, but never once succeeded as Naoki was always the smarter one. He claimed that he didn't like to date, but eventually fell in love with Kotoko's classmate, Marina.
 * Kimura Nobuhiro (阿諾 Non-chan in anime) became Yuuki's friend when he went to the hospital. This boy has a kidney problem and was unable to live with his parents. Years later, his parents are divorced and he reappears as a young and famous singer known as Nobu, but has given up on life... until Kotoko and Naoki give him hope again. He is Yuuki's best friend while he is in the hospital. Kotoko offers him hope and he turns into a kinder person.

TV Dramas
Itazura na Kiss was first adapted into a live-action TV drama in Japan in 1996. It was later made into two shows in Taiwan, It Started With a Kiss and its sequel They Kiss Again.

Anime
Itazura na Kiss was adapted into a 25 episode anime by TMS Entertainment and shown on TBS from April 4, 2008 to September 25, 2008. The opening theme was "Kimi, Meguru, Boku" by Motohiro Hata, and the primary ending themes were "Kataomoi Fighter" by GO!GO!7188 and "Jikan yo Tomare (Stop Time)" by Azu featuring Seamo.