Kimi ni XOXO: "Pretty Boy" Magically Transforms to "Gorgeous Ghey"... I mean "... Guy"

Hugs and Kisses For You

By Mizuno Tohko

Masamune: I have a crush on senpai.... but I look so girly... I'm sure she won't like me.
Echo: Then I'll transform you into a manly bishie!!!!
Masamune: Wah! The hamster is talking!
Echo: I'm not a hamster, you idiot! Now, let's get this started!

RATING: C- (SO-SO! Started good but kept getting worse)
FAVORITISM: 3 Hearts ---> LIKE (3.5 Hearts to the antagonists xD)

There had been a lot of fantasy series with girls magically transform into someone more powerful (and fancy). It's not common to see a male version of that ;D Kimi ni XOXO is one of those few~

It had an interesting start. It told about a boy (who looks like a girl) who wants to confess his feelings to the girl he likes, but unfortunately he thinks he's too underserving of her because of his weaknesses. So when an opportunity comes when he could transform into someone manlier and stronger, he grabbed the opportunity (even relunctantly).

It was a nice story about accepting and appreciating yourself for who you are, and also in gaining confidence. Physical appearance isn't a big deal; it's the inside that counts (The main characters present that lesson nicely). It's a story with magic that tells you that love could be found even without magic.

The common ending to this kind of series would be having his crush to fall in love with the real him (or both), not only his better version. But it appears that this series decided not to follow cliche.

I'm cool with that. But unfortunately, cliche seems to be better than what the series decided to do =/

It has something to do with the character development. It would be spoilery if I go specific, so I'll say it this way: The crush suddenly changed personality; no development seen. The leading guy had no change in personality; no development at all. The chibi magical girl's personality became worse; should've have bothered to develop at all.

The sudden shift of the story from a boy with a crush to a one-sided romance of a TSUNdere magical girl to the naive hero degraded this series a lot. Echo was already fine the way she was, I don't understand the necessity of making her tsundere to the highest level.... making her annoying instead of confusing (Wah!!! I miss the shipping perverted!Echo ;_;).

It also saddens me that though this series has interesting supporting characters, we never get to know much about them. Heck, we weren't even able to learn their names (like the leading guy's brother)! I don't get why the mangaka didn't bother to give more background, development, or screentime to the non-annoying characters! T_T

Those two are my favorites. Magical girl's stalker may be quite unfair, but his actions, no matter how crazy, proves so much on how much he's in love with her. His mask makes him a mysterious character... I'm certain that he's actually waaaaaay more good-looking that the transformed Masamune (who, by the way, looks really GHEY! I don't get what makes him manly. He can pass for the uke role in a yaoi manga!).

My other favorite is the dark haired dude with the sword. He didn't do much, but it's amusing that he extremely sucks in locating people though he has the looks of a smart and cool guy, haha!

Speaking of swords, the leading guy had a sword too. He's even mentioned to be a great fencer/swordsman/whatever-the-term-was. However, we never saw an actual fight scene with him using his sword. (GREAT FENCER MY ASS!!!) All the actual fights that occured in this series were only mentioned. Is the mangaka incapable of drawing fight scenes? They really felt skipped.., intentionally....which sucks (what's wrong with shoujo with a fight scene?! Aaargh).

This series had promise but unfortunately goes downhill on each chapter. The ending doesn't even seem like an ending... it left too many things unexplained. I wish the mangaka didn't just run out of ideas, but whatever the reason, it ended really badly. What a waste. This series got me so disappointed.