anime kiss

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The anime kiss is a trope of romance anime, one of the many genres of the very popular Japanese style of animation.

Emerging after WWII with the work of artist Osamu Tezuka, anime was introduced to the US in 1963. Subsequent anime cartoons over the decades, particularly in the 1990s with shows like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and Pokémon, have made the genre a massive hit—and an extensive subculture—among Western viewers.

The anime kiss has appeared in romance anime since at least the 1970s. An early example is from Toei Animation’s 1975 anime adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.

By 2008, forum threads on Crunchyroll—a US-based website streaming East Asian content, especially anime—were sharing nominations for best anime kiss, though some folks complained they are often too tame. Apparently, those folks have never seen this steamy number (or ever heard of hentai):

In 2013, the topic of “no one ever kissing” in mainstream anime came up in a Crunchyroll thread. One commenter noted that open displays of affection, like kissing, are not the norm in the Japanese culture. The anime kiss, however, soon after became a more prominent feature of romance anime, with producers increasingly appealing to Western adults interested in erotic content. 

By fall 2014, anime kiss peaked as a Google search term. That September, an episode of Glasslip (Gurasurippu) featured a long-awaited lip-lock between protagonists Touko and Kakeru.

Fall 2014 also saw the release of an installment of the series Kissxsis, an erotic anime about a boy named Keita whose twin step-sisters, Ako and Riko, love to kiss him and vie for his attentions.

For fans of romance anime, a very popular expression of enthusiasm online is a top countdown of “best,” “hottest,” and “most passionate” anime kisses “of all time.”