Engage Kiss | Episode One and Two Review

You can definitely feel the inspiration from other anime, Engage Kiss reminded me of two in particular, Champione! and more recently Takt Op. Destiny or Guilty Crown.

Engage Kiss reminds me of Champione! because powers granted to one of the main protagonists Kisara is only accessible through a very passionate kiss. The anime also reminds me of Takt Op. Destiny or Guilty Crown because it’s a partnership, but I’d say it more so reminds me of Takt Op. Destiny because we are fighting monsters.

What I enjoyed most about episode one was that we jumped right into the action scenes. However, that can prove to be a problem because I’ve found recently (especially with the anime I’ve watched) that anime that starts out with an action sequence tend to not be very good anime. Hopefully this isn’t the case here, but I won’t be upset if that ends up being the case.

I will admit, episode one didn’t do great at introducing the anime to the viewer. In large part because we just jumped into things without explanation. That’s what episode one lacked, explanation. How am I supposed to know what’s going on if very little information about it is hinted at or given? Then I thought to myself.

“Hey, maybe they’ll do a better job at explaining things in episode two”.

And to that I say, yes and no. Yes because they mention how everyone is part of an organization that specializes in the extermination or capture of ‘demons’ but that’s all. We don’t know the backstory to these demons and we do not know why they exist in the first place. We just know that there are different tiers/levels of demons and that is about it.

Furthermore, I dislike how little we know about the characters, who is Shuu? Who is Kisara? Who is Ayano? I haven’t got a clue. How do they know each other? In what way are they connected? I understand that they ‘work’ together when taking on these demons. I can also tell that Kisara and Ayano feel something towards Shuu, but why?

I don’t remember the last anime I’ve watched where the first two episodes offer little to no information on what the anime is about or its characters. The lack thereof in terms of background information is surprising to say the least. Obviously, I would have liked it if I knew more about the anime as a whole, but right now that isn’t the case. Hopefully episode three and all the future ones rectify this because what I think is lacking right now is all around information.