Kiss Him, Not Me!

私がモテてどうすんだ (Watashi ga Motete Dousunda)

3.8(2)

OtakuDen

6.9(246,535)

MAL Score

Ranked #5272

Popularity #532

Comedy
Romance
Otaku Culture
Reverse Harem
School

Episodes: 12
Duration: 23 min per ep
Aired: Oct 7, 2016 to Dec 23, 2016
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

Kae Serinuma is a kindhearted second-year high schooler and an avid otaku with a not-so-secret passion for boys’ love stories. She happily daydreams about her male classmates pairing up, even as she’s mostly known around school for being noticeably overweight.

After her favorite show delivers a shocking blow—the death of the character she loves most—Serinuma sinks into a week-long slump and barely eats. When she finally returns to school, she’s lost a significant amount of weight and is suddenly seen as strikingly attractive. The change draws the attention of four boys she’s long known, each eager to get closer to her—while Serinuma can’t stop wishing they’d fall for each other instead.

Otaku Consensus

Kiss Him, Not Me! lands as a brisk, chemistry-driven shoujo comedy whose best asset is Hiroshi Ishiodori’s willingness to let Kae’s otaku imagination interrupt the romance rather than simply decorate it. Brain’s Base and series composer Michiko Yokote keep the 12-episode adaptation light, reference-heavy, and bingeable, with the BL daydream gags and ensemble banter drawing more praise than the actual romantic stakes. Its lasting caveat is the body-image premise: many viewers enjoy the farce, but the show’s realism and treatment of attractiveness remain its most legitimate point of discomfort.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Kiss Him, Not Me! if you want reverse-harem chaos filtered through a fujoshi’s brain rather than a straight wish-fulfillment contest. It scratches the same candy-colored comedy itch as Ouran High School Host Club and the meta gag rhythm of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, but swaps host-club polish for BL shipping, anime-reference riffs, and a mixed-gender field of admirers. The 12-episode run is built for a weekend binge: quick reversals, ensemble bits, and daydreams that let Kae be ridiculous without turning the show into misery. Best for viewers who like romance as social comedy and parody, and who can handle a body-image premise that remains the show’s most uncomfortable caveat rather than something it fully interrogates.

Key Characters

K
Kae Serinuma(VA: Yuu Kobayashi)
Kae is memorable less as a passive shoujo heroine than as a full-throttle otaku whose shipping instincts keep hijacking the romance she is supposed to be starring in.
A
Asuma Mutsumi(VA: Nobunaga Shimazaki)
Asuma functions as the gentle, low-drama counterweight in the cast, giving the comedy a rare admirer who does not feel built only for rivalry.
Y
Yuusuke Igarashi(VA: Yuuki Ono)
Yuusuke brings the polished classmate archetype into the harem, and his appeal comes from how often that confidence has to survive Kae’s fandom logic.
S
Shima Nishina(VA: Miyuki Sawashiro)
Shima is the character who most visibly widens the show beyond standard boy-chases-girl framing, adding tomboy energy and a mixed-gender harem angle.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
Brain’s Base produced the 12-episode adaptation, and the studio’s approach favors fast reaction comedy and clear character acting over glossy romantic melodrama.
2
Series composer Michiko Yokote structures the anime around recurring otaku interruptions, which is why reviews repeatedly single out the anime-reference jokes and fangirl digressions as part of the fun rather than side decoration.
3
The opening theme is performed by male cast members Yuuki Ono, Nobunaga Shimazaki, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, and Keisuke Koumoto, turning the harem itself into part of the show’s musical packaging.
4
The AniList tag profile is unusually specific for a shoujo rom-com: Male Harem at 95%, Otaku Culture at 86%, Mixed Gender Harem at 82%, Parody at 80%, and LGBTQ+ Themes at 75%.
5
The adaptation’s critical split is easy to trace: viewers praise the pacing, cast chemistry, and binge-friendly humor, while the body-image setup is the recurring objection that keeps the series from being an uncomplicated recommendation.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: Original creator Junko had a background in yaoi and boys’ love manga, which helps explain why the show’s romantic comedy is built around a heroine who consumes and imagines BL scenarios rather than merely reacting to suitors.
Fun fact 2: Kiss Him, Not Me! aired as a single cour from October 7, 2016 to December 23, 2016, matching its reputation as a compact weekend-binge comedy.
Fun fact 3: The ending theme is performed by Rie Murakawa, while the opening leans on the male voice cast, giving the soundtrack a split identity between character-showcase marketing and conventional anime theme performance.
Fun fact 4: Its reception numbers show a widely sampled but divisive title: MAL lists it with over 246,000 votes and a 6.92 score, while AniList places it at 66/100 with 1,557 favourites.
Fun fact 5: The show’s tag mix includes Tomboy, Femboy, School Club, and Crossdressing, which signals how much of its appeal comes from playing with shoujo and fandom archetypes rather than simply arranging dates.