Just the other day someone told me there were two 12 episode versions of Kiss x Sis, where the OVAs took a long time (5 more years, until 2015) to complete, and they were just way better, and ecchi-er.
So I gave it a chance for the sake of the old ecchi days, hoping it would wash away the old bad experience with the TV version.
I thought maybe, maybe, the TV series is the only one being trash, while this one, without the TV limiters, was the actual good product. Maybe.
One may say that this is the best ecchi ever, because it goes beyond your usual tits-in-your-face ecchi, with random panty shots and stuff, because it is not a generic harem but focuses on the main trio, because it shows plenty of extremely sexual things but without crossing the line.
My issue is exactly this. The line. It is actually okay to cross it, while being afraid of doing so and avoiding it is just...bad.
Back in the day, anime were not afraid to show characters crossing the line, even in non-h shows.
Nudity? A little bit is just fine. If I take a shower or a bath of course my nipples are in plain sight, no big deal, no need to crop stuff or to put arms and soap dispensers as convenient censoring. Nudity is not grotesque or scary. Really.
Sex? Humanly normal. Couples in relationships have sex, so a sex scene here or there, or even mentioning "having done the deed" is just average.
Heck, some NORMAL anime had uncensored lower parts, 10-20+ years ago.
But for ecchi? Nope.
Ecchi, and modern anime in general, is afraid of sex, and later it is becoming afraid of nudity too.
Even mentioning the sole act is taboo, if your show is below R rating, lol. C'mon even 7 year old kids know what sex is and that people do it.
The fear of sexuality is not the case for Kiss x Sis of course.
Here of course it is mentioned.
Here of course there are lewd acts.
But actual nudity? Oh no, none at all. Visuals are the tamest of tame anime, if we don't count implicit acts. Smooth crotches and nippleless chests, because this is how people like it! Cowards.
Sex? Heck, you show incest, that a lot of people dread as a taboo, but actual sex that should be normal? Show the former, avoid the latter.
Because all the wicked shit this show shows is normal for the writers of the anime, but sex would be too much. Yeah right, people normally would do all this stuff before having sex, or without having sex.
In reality, most of the stuff shown here would be normal in a healty sexual relationship, after having had sex, but ecchi like this show apparently work in reverse.
You take the steps in the opposite direction, and then stop before the last step and procrastinate indefinitely. I wonder if they end having sex in the last chapter of the source material just for shit and giggles, but seeing this, I have my doubts, lol.
And this is what upsets me the most about ecchi shows.
They're all in reverse.
^ and this is why hentai is better. They show everything without fearing "the big bad sex thing"
"Oh but this is for the sake of turning on"
I don't think normal people would be turned on by TASTELESS sexuality like this, at least in my opinion.
In conclusion, this show is almost decent overall, but not for its ecchi-ness.
This show can be enjoyed for the comedy and romance aspects, more than anything else.
Kiss x Sis is the perfect example of a ecchi failure.
