Engage Kiss

[neflight86]

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"Bayron City ― a Mega-Float type city in the Pacific Ocean, which doesn't belong to any particular nation. As the mine for Orgonium, a new energy resource, this city is the most noticed in the world right now, and here special cases caused by demons called "D Hazards" has been occurring frequently.

Only a handful of people know about the existence of D Hazards. They are handled by PMCs (Private Military Companies). Shuu is a young man living in Bayron City who runs such a company, but his company is tiny. On top of that, he cherry-picks his jobs, so he is always in a bind for money. His life, both publicly and privately, is being supported by the beautiful high school girl Kisara who attends a school in Bayron City. And there is one more person that keeps him on her mind: Ayano, an employee of a major PMC that Shuu used to work for and Shuu's ex-girlfriend. Kisara finds her unpleasant.

At the root of Kisara's strong attachment to Shuu is a contract signed between them. Her true identity is a demon. Kisara supports Shuu's lifestyle, and even assists his demon extermination based on their contract. The price is a dangerously sweet kiss. Their uncertain bond teeters between love and contract. Where is their destiny headed...?

Source: Official Website"

Genre(s): Comedy, Action, Harem, Romance, Supernatural, Sci-fi

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1-2

It's impressive for a show to have me livid within 5 minutes of starting, but I think I really hate Shuu. He is established very early on as a youth with no goals, no plan, and no personal responsibility as he mooches a free meal off a previous work associate who is complaining to him about those things and is met with the most eye rolling of devil may care attitudes. Me really no like that guy. On the other hand, I had an immediate connection with this series; seething hatred of the main character who is destined to succeed in spite of himself because of his position within the story. I'll be rooting in vain for all of the forces that work against him.

I look forward to complaining about this so long as the rest of the shows elements can keep my attention.

The rest of the setup is passable, bordering on interesting. Floating super city is the center of global economy with a slight demon infestation. Commodified PMCs bid for the right to battle people-turned-demons with contractual obligations, operation budgets, and other bureaucratic abstractions, presumably. I enjoyed that stuff, but of course, with a waste of functioning organs like Shuu involved, bids are thrown way off and even the other companies are complaining about how he only seems to come in sporadically and underbid the more reputable organizations when his electricity is turned off. He has this latitude, of course, because his beautiful high school girlfriend is... drumroll... actually a super strong demon that fights with him to enable his wretched lifestyle... er confirm their love or contract or something. They kiss and she gets strong.

Speaking of love interests, I have tragic sympathy for Ayano, the (busty) daughter of the head a rival agency who still cooperates with Shuu because reasons. She is cursed to care for Shuu by the fickle spirit of kuu/tsun-dere and will never be free from his unknowing grasp, it seems. I wish her the best... or at least better than Shuu.

Production wise, this looks pretty good, though it is a rough look when cuts from episode one make it into the OP. I thought that died out in 2004. Fights had the lights, and just a little choreography. Nothing to write home about.

Overall, I can't recommend based on what trope ridden tripe I've seen so far.

Because there is nowhere else to complain about them, a few scenes that really rubbed me the wrong way include Shuu pretentiously declaring he would only do work he wanted from now on only to come crawling back one episode later begging for 'any' work because he ran low on funds. It was cathartic having that thrown in his face. Also the scene in ep 2 where they were discussing purchasing capture equipment to hand a demon over to authorities even though Kisara had headlocked this demon not four minutes prior. Don't get me started on how the permeation worked. I'm better understanding where his financial situation is coming from...

I don't expect much traffic in this thread, but here it is.

[neflight86]

The only thing more eye-rolling than an awful protagonist who acts entitled is a story that caters to them.

Another clumsy 'the adults are useless, its up to this cool kid to save the world' monster battle where it is revealed that Shu spends his memories to power up his demon partner and bail him out from underbidding... In the show's credit, there was more kickback on the bidding scene this episode when his usual stupid bid was nullified (ASMR to me hearing him whine about that) when 'new facts' reclassified the job. Sadly, though, the show was all too eager to demonstrate that the actual winner was unable to do the job while exposition characters dumped more worship on how Shu is so great that he had to defeat a large rival company to get permission to set up business in the first place (cuz society is so unreasonable, huh guys?), in case we weren't sold on buying his merchandise quite yet. Blech.

Ayano remains the best part of this show, being an ideal xxx-dere and remaining rather cute while devoting herself to a dangerous job and expecting nothing from Shu (rightfully so). It is a bit sad that Shu is implied to still have feelings for her, though those memories are being erased battle by battle, and she seems like the kind of girl who is/was a net positive influence on Shu's self destructive lifestyle.

Speaking of, Shu, like an edgy teenager has taken a worrisome liking to the Memento plot point of having written instructions on his own hand and deciding to follow them in pursuit of an objective he... doesn't remember? I hope I'm misunderstanding that. Lets also forget about teeth bullets...

Now I'm wondering if Shuu will ever reach Kirito levels of prererential treatment by the author.

[neflight86]

4-6

Shu, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways...

So, he finally has a motivation for his foolishness that borders on reasonable. The revenge for his dead family fell pretty flat, but the possibility that his imouto could still be alive lends some more empathy, at the least. Still hate his useless, constantly apologizing devil-may-care attitude, though. Strange that Kisara apparently hasn't touched the painful memories of loss that are fueling Shu's self destructive campaign, since we find out she gets to choose which memories to eat, and she isn't portrayed as a bad guy (yet).

These episodes were more enjoyable by moving focus away from Shu and onto other characters more and began developing some intrigue, finally. Why they waited until episode four/five to begin hinting at a larger narrative is beyond me; I almost didn't make it. Apparently getting anonymous information from someone that you aren't paying is somewhat fishy and might warrant some suspicion. We'll chalk that up to life experience, yeah? I half expected the reasonable assistant inspector to be some sort of double agent because he was an order of magnitude more competent and helpful than any adult has shown to be in this show so far, but to my great surprise, he seems like a legitimate investigative asset and I believe Shu has another decent ally now. Good for him!

Amidst the monster of the week, we get some more insight into just how screwed Ayano is for still being head over heels for the walking Darwin Award known as Shu. She is till a great screen presence, and they even awkwardly transition into playing the forbidden pattycake during a spell of downtime at a safehouse, as exes sometimes do. Strangely, shockingly, that scene is put to use narratively in both showcasing a divide in how Ayano and Kisara view their relationship with Shu, and prompting a future separation plot point.

Ayano sincerely wants him to be safe and happy, and perhaps with her, if that's not too much to ask. He simply has a consuming desire to achieve his stupid objectives (less stupid now that he might save a life with them) that is fueled, tragically, by spending his memories of the one decent thing in his life, his courtship with Ayano, making him ever more distant. Ayano is finally clued in on this mechanism and has the appropriate contempt for Kisara now that it is known, though they remain 'frenemies/rivals'.

Kisara, on the other hand, is in love with the concept of being with Shu, and his personality apparently doesn't factor in, like at all. She has that blind devotion you see so often in anime where affection is less appropriate than worship. There's history there and a ducking like imprinting on the first person to be nice to her or something similarly anime... She states that she is entirely glad to babysit Shu's brainless/Alzheimer's husk of an existence once he's spent all of his memories with no reduction in her 'love' for him. Now I believe she is a demon. She does possess a jealousy though, since she is specifically erased Shu's memories of pattycake mere hours old for her next battle and pouts that she can't rightfully be mad at him for being seduced when he doesn't remember it. Complex, but ultimately evil and petty.

Then we have the battle nun, staple of many supernatural anime. Can't say her episode and introduction did much for me. Has history with Shu and suggests she two may have partaken in the forbidden transference of cooties back in the day and is of course annoyed when he doesn't remember her. Any woman of the cloth would be. No, the real draw in episode six was the fair attempt at confronting the mystery information broker who predictably gives our gang the slip while providing more information, just not to the audience. That's still probably the most interesting plot thread going on right now in this.

As much as I despise a certain character, I must admit this is a pretty well put together show so far. The story beats are paced well, the action is silly but flashy, and there is enough mystery to keep me wondering.

Some random thoughts:

Good use of Shu's memories being eaten to justify an exposition dump about the church and its role in the fight against demons; you don't always get a convenient way to subvert the 'why are you telling them what they already know' complaint, so bravo for capitalizing on it.

If Kisara wanted to, couldn't she eat Shu's memories of smoking to perhaps reduce his addiction? It might help him quit cold turkey and definitely improve their household finances if he's bringing some 4-6 cartons each week. He'll also probably live longer.

Ayano 10/10 lounge wear.

[neflight86]

6-11

When the show pivots away from Shu having screen time, the rest of the characters and story are actually competent.

We're supposed to feel sorry for Shu's predicament in trading the memories as he gets closer to the truth, and there are some actual gut punches, like the inspector's death and Mile's backstory... but I just aren't invested enough for them to reach their full potential.

I'm glad the actual mystery wasn't teased until the last two episodes, but the story, as it stands, doesn't have anywhere to go other than another 'final confrontation' with little sis.

Animation has taken a step down as well, and Shuu's personality never ceases to grate me, even when his memories are shaved to the bare minimum. The gut is just made of icky stuff, and the way he has ultimately treated every woman he's been with comes as little surprise. He mooched and ran from Ayano to search for 'power', then he poisoned Sharon during sex to only get what he wanted from their deal (to be fair, she was going to maybe kill him, but I don't believe he is smart enough to have guessed that), and even tried to slip in advantageous conditions to his contract with Kisara (that thankfully backfired on him). I hate this guy.

Also, the random reveal that the bonde kid is actually a high up police brass is so anime that I had to roll my eyes and forget, for just a moment, that Shuu is the worst thing about this show...

My only hope is for a not happy ending to one of the worst protagonists in living memory.

[neflight86]

12-13

Sorry to any shows I didn't finish this season, because this was worse than you.

Tanks firing their cannons at the flying loli was the first sign of the tripe to come. As I feared, we got two episodes of worthless air-fighting, platitudes about never giving up, and somehow even more catty fighting over Shu as if he were worth having. All ending in a non-resolution of 'and things went on', and a moe-moe tri-girl face off for Shu's custody breaking into the final ED. What a waste of time.