Engage Kiss Collector’s Edition Review

Set in a world where humans have been under the assault of monstrous demons, protagonist Shu finds himself the last in line of one of the world’s most powerful exorcist families after an incident in one of Baryon City’s precious Orgonium mines seemingly killed his mother, father and younger sister. Now as a young adult, Shu has made a contract with the demon girl Kisara to form his own private military company (several of which are contracted to keep Baryon City free of demons) where the two of them offer rock bottom prices to take on whatever demon pops up. Shu though has ulterior motives – to find out the truth about what happened in the incident when he was a kid, and to find his younger sister whom he believes is still alive.

Engage Kiss was first conceived as part of a larger mixed media project by Aniplex envisioned to become the next big science fantasy hit, with anime, manga, games and more all in the works. Ultimately, the franchise didn’t break out as its creators expected, with a manga adaptation that only lasted two volumes and a mobile game that sank without a trace after only a year. Despite this however, I still think the anime is worth a look even though it does have its quirks.

The basic setup is a bit of a mishmash of different genres and tropes, with mysterious magical girlfriend, supernatural action and romantic comedy all rolled into one. While the show often struggles to really grasp what it wants to be, these three at least work surprisingly well together in the way the characters interact with each other.

Kisara is Shu’s main ‘weapon’ as such, as with being a demon she can unleash her supernatural powers and wield a giant sword to obliterate the demons they are battling against. However, activating her power comes at a cost, as Shu must sacrifice his memories, given through very erotic kisses, to feed her. It’s not the most original concept and honestly comes across as slightly corny when presented in the show, but it does serve the purpose of kicking into gear its love-triangle rom-com side.

Shu’s jealous ex, Ayano, still has feeling for him, so witnessing any show of affection between him and his new partner really sends her off on one. This happens a lot, as with her being a demon hunter herself, she often gets pulled in to help sort out their mess, and honestly, putting the three of them together does work.

It’s fun seeing Kisara and Ayano fight over Shu and getting all competitive, all while blasting demons to bits, and it’s really these two that I found myself becoming most invested in during the early half of the series. Kisara has a real sense of mystery about her but is the centrepiece of the show’s stylish action scenes as she transforms from a sweet and innocent high school girl to a demon-killing machine with her massive glowing pink sword. Ayano on the other hand is more grounded and cautious, but she has strong values in wanting to protect the people she cares about and will get into harm’s way to do so. She’s also quite the tsundere, so even if she does get a bit mouthy, you know it’s with good intentions.

Shu however is very much a mixed bag and for most of the series is the weakest of our leading trio. He’s initially shown as this down-on-his-luck loser who is dependent on having Kisara to look after him, and he doesn’t even treat her well, being eager to get into the pants of any woman he walks by. He’s sly, manipulative and overall just not a nice person. Ultimately you spend most of the series not caring about him until he completely swings around in the final third as the main plot of the series finally ramps up.

Having the focus on the relationship between the lead characters creates an easy introduction to the show, but things begin to get more complicated a few episodes in. Here it starts throwing in a lot of different side characters each with their own plot threads, and sadly not all of them work.

The one that does is the buddy cop duo of Miles and Tetsuya, who are investigating the sharp rise in demon attacks from the police perspective. They can’t get directly involved due to the city’s legislation on the carrying of arms (which is why the private military companies are there to do the dirty work), but for a couple of episodes you really get pulled into their investigation as it becomes apparent the demon attacks are being coordinated by somebody or something. I won’t spoil what happens here but it’s an intense tale of suspense, heartbreak and betrayal that I enjoyed a lot more than some of the other bits of the series!

On the other hand, you have Mikhail, whose character and story arc is very inconsistently told. He starts as an irritating side character who is a bit of a creep and seems to have a thing for Kisara, then is pushed in so many different directions you don’t really get what he stands for. Is he a friend, trying to help Shu out? Is he an antihero, trying to do what’s best for the city? Is he a villain, trying to use the situation to consolidate power? It feels like they have rolled multiple characters into a single personality and he is just so confusing to watch.

Thankfully, the addition of the amusingly named Sharon Holygrail makes up for it. A nun from a secret organisation of demon assassins who comes to Baryon City to investigate the surge of demon attacks, she initially wants to eliminate Kisara but ends up becoming a key part of Shu’s team. There’s also some history between her and Shu where it tries to double down on the rom-com side; however I don’t think this was strictly necessary as it just cements the bad impressions you have of Shu as a bit of a playboy.

The main problem with all these character storylines though, is that you can feel the series throwing everything at the wall to find something that sticks. You can take each character on their own and they kind of work, but putting them together creates a lack of cohesion and focus in the storytelling. It aims wide but hits shallow, and it suffers from a lack of depth in both its world and its characters.

It’s only when we are deep into the show’s second half does it seem to find its feet and connect everything together. Once it has worked out the story it wants to tell – a guy trying to save his sister from a terrible fate – it becomes a lot more compelling. There’s a sense of urgency in the pacing and Shu becomes a character of self-sacrifice rather than the pitiful womaniser he’s initially portrayed as. I think having some upfront context would have helped to paint him as a guy who has lost everything whom you can sympathise with, rather than someone who rubs the audience up the wrong way.

After seeing all that through, the final few episodes are surprisingly good with some superb action scenes and meaty bits of character development. Despite this coming out at the same time as Kaguya-sama: Love is War and Lycoris Recoil, A-1 Pictures still delivers on the show’s production values despite it arguably being the lesser of the three. The show is generally well animated with some sharp, fast-flowing fight sequences, while scenes are appropriately set with good art that conveys the mood well, from the more comedic to dark and moody. This is also backed by a pretty decent score by Yoshiaki Fujisawa (notable for the background music in the most recent Love Live! entries of Superstar!! and Hasu no Sora) which pops off in both the action scenes and tender romantic moments.

Engage Kiss is brought to us via MVM in a collector’s edition Blu-ray set with three discs carrying all 13 episodes in both English and Japanese with English subtitles. Subtitle options can be toggled for just on-screen text or on-screen text and dialogue. Voice acting is good with some solid performances in both languages which quite closely match each other. Kisara is sickly sweet, voiced by Saya Aizawa (Luna in Clevatess) in Japanese and Kayli Mills (Emilia in Re:Zero) in English; Shu’s switches from cocky and overconfident to apologetic are nicely captured by Howard Wang (Cikiapasi in Golden Kamuy) in English and Soma Saito (Tadashi Yamaguchi in Haikyuu!) in Japanese; while Ayano’s tough exterior is brought to life by Lynn (Liana in Wistoria: Wand and Sword) in Japanese and Suzie Yeung (Vladilena Milizé in 86) in English.

The discs replicate the Aniplex of America release with some nice-looking menus, episode selection divided into chapters, and on-disc extras including web preview trailers and clean opening and closing animations.

Overall, Engage Kiss is a series I enjoyed more than I expected to. Critically, it is messy and unrefined, with hit-and-miss characters, shallow worldbuilding, and a need to throw down a bunch of different plot threads and themes in order to figure out what it is good at. Yet once it finds its focus, it becomes genuinely entertaining, with some strong action scenes, occasional but effective character moments, and some rom-com hijinks you can laugh along with. It’s definitely not stellar, but give it time and this turns into a show you can have a bit of fun with.

Our review copy was provided by MVM.