‘Kiss him, not me’ and how it relates to shipping

I discovered the anime, ‘Kiss him, not me’, directed by Hiroshi Ishiodori, when I was looking for something to fill the void that was created after I finished another anime. The title was certainly intriguing and I’m going to be honest and say that is why I clicked on it. The story focuses on Kae Serinuma and her preference for boy love manga and her obsession with shipping fictional boy characters with each other. This morphs into her shipping her male class members together. She ends up getting pursued for a romantic relationship by four of her male schoolmates, Mutsumi, Shinomiya, Nanashima, and Igarashi. The last two boys, Kae ships with each other. Later, a female schoolmate is introduced as a suitor, which is Nishina. Now that the premise of the show is established, I’m going to focus on the points that resonated with me as being somewhat part of the fandom world, which were the established ships in the anime, shipping, and when shipping becomes problematic.

Part 1: Established ships in the anime

The ships that Kae establishes in the show are Nanashima with Igarashi and Shinomiya with Mutsumi. However, some ships are presented to have more potential than others. Nanashima and Igarashi make it clear on multiple occasions that their relationship with each other is strictly platonic, whereas, with Shinomiya and Mutsumi, it appears more complex. In episode four, the group is at Comiket and Shinomiya keeps losing Mutsumi in the crowded building. Mutsumi’s solution to this problem is to hold onto the back of Shinomiya’s jacket. Further research shows that this is a romantic gesture in Japan. According to Skdesu.com (n.d), the gesture of taking hold of the back of one's shirt is synonymous with taking their hand and is a way to win their affection.

Another example that seems to hint at this ship being canon is during episode five when the group goes over to Nishina's house. Nishina asks the boys to pair up so she can take some intimate photos of them as inspiration for her Doujinshi. As expected, the pairings are Nanashima with Igarashi and Shinomiya with Mutsumi. The latter have to pose where Mutsumi is hugging Shinomiya from behind and Mutsumi says this unpromoted, “Shinomiya, you use the same laundry detergent that I do.” Then inhales the scent deeply and goes on to whisper, “it smells so good.” According to Hofer and Chen (2020), clothes smelling usually occurs between romantic partners because the scent is comforting. This interaction between Shinomiya and Mutsumi could be conveying Mutsumi sees Shinomiya as a potential partner and therefore recognizes Shinomiya’s scent as calming.

The last example that I will address is in episode seven. The group are crossing a lake in boats and are once again paired off. This time, however, it is Kae with Igarashi, Nanashima with Nishina, and Mutsumi with Shinomiya. During the trip across the lake, Nanashima and Nishina notice that Kae and Igarashi are having a romantic moment in their boat and Nanashima and Nishina decide to interrupt them by ramming into the back of Kae and Igarashi’s boat. This worries Shinomiya and Mutsumi takes the opportunity to comfort him by saying, “it’s okay. How sweet, they’re having fun.” Then he turns to Shinomiya with a smile and goes on to say, “let’s enjoy this.” It cuts back to Shinomiya looking at Mutsumi blushing and putting a hand to his chest. He replies, “your kindness relieves me.” This is paired with the caption, “ba-dump”, which conveys romantic feelings. This observation is further confirmed during episode nine when Kae and Shinomiya are interacting and he begins to blush and the caption, “badump” appears again. Shinomiya’s romantic feelings for Kae are canon in the anime.

After all this evidence, it would seem that endgame ships would be Mutsumi with Shinomiya and Kae with Igarashi. That, however, is not the case (spoilers for the manga ahead) because Kae ends up with Mutsumi and Shinomiya ends up with Nanashima. When I learned this, I was shocked because I was so sure. Kae and Igarashi had the most romantic interactions out of all her suitors. Their relationship seemed to be the only one progressing further than the others. Mutsumi and Shinomiya had all those supposed romantic interactions with one another that none of the other suitors had with each other. In finding out who were the endgame ships, I started to wonder if this misdirection is done on purpose. The anime/manga has a main theme of remembering the difference between fiction and reality (Kakooshi, 2018). It conveys this idea that just because you ship two people does not mean they will end up together. The fiction is how these two ships are portrayed in the anime. Whereas, the reality is that relationships are more complex than what is shown on the surface. Nanashima and Shinomiya’s relationship is portrayed as one of dislike. Nanashima is always antagonizing him, mostly about his age. He calls him “baby face” and asks him about “snack time”, even though he is only a year younger. However, knowing that they end up together in the future proves there is something deeper.

Part 2: Shipping

‘Kiss him, not me’ establishes this idea of shipping wars and how it focuses on who is the dominant partner in the pairing. Episode six, entitled ‘let the shipping wars begin’, focuses on exactly what the title suggests. Kae and Nishina get into a “shipping war” because neither can decide who would be the dominant partner in their one true pairing. It causes a massive rift between them. Kae’s best friend, Amane, explains, "which character holds the reins in a romantic relationship can be a big issue. Don’t take shipping wars lightly”. Now, I couldn’t find any concrete evidence about this issue in the fandom I looked into, which was the ‘One Direction’ fandom. However, there is strong evidence of Amane’s next point, which is that “this stuff is serious business. Proud fan girls will always stand by their pairings”.

There are multiple ships featured in the One Direction fandom, but there is one that immediately came to mind when I watched the all-out war that occurred between Kae and Nishina: Larry Stylinson or Larry, which is where Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles are shipped together. However, the fans that ship Larry Stylinson are complex. They fall into two categories: Larry Stylinson shippers and Larries. According to fanlore.org (2019), Larry Stylinson shippers are those who ship Styles and Tomlinson, but they have an understanding that they are not actually in a romantic relationship. According to cuethetommo(2016), Larry Stylinson shippers enjoy writing and reading fanfiction and looking at fanart, while maintaining the idea that this relationship only exists in fiction. I see Kae as this kind of shipper because her views on the Lord x Arkane ship do not affect the characters. Larries, however, are convinced Styles and Tomlinson are in a romantic relationship. Larries spend their time trying to prove Larry Stylinson is real by analyzing Styles’ and Tomlinson’s behavior around each other. Mellin (2021) states that Larries "have spent years compiling pictures, gifs, and messages as evidence of Harry and Louis' everlasting love." Larries are the shipping group I will be focusing on during part three of my analysis.

Part 3: When shipping becomes problematic

Previously I stated that a main theme in the Anime is remembering the difference between fiction and reality. In Kae’s case, it is that she ships the fictional male characters in the Anime she watches together, which is fine. However, she also ships her classmates, Nanashima and Igarashi, together. It is stated by them, that they are just close friends. In the show, Nanashima and Igarashi get a bit frustrated by the idea of them being shipped together. However, it is not portrayed that is taking a toll on their friendship and they remain close friends.

The same cannot be said for Styles and Tomlinson. While Larries work to find proof of their relationship, they unintentionally drove Styles and Tomlinson apart. According to Devoe (2017), the constant shipping of them together made their friendship awkward because they couldn’t interact with each other without it being overanalyzed by fans. Tomlinson is quoted saying this about his friendship with Styles: "It created this atmosphere between the two of us where everyone was looking into everything we did... It made everything, I think on both fences, a little bit more unapproachable."

This statement from Tomlinson about how their interactions with each other were overanalyzed by fans, highlights how Larries gather evidence to prove “Larry is real” (fanlore.org, 2021). This can range from what they view as proof within videos or theories that have been concocted. A YouTube video titled, ‘BIGGEST LARRY PROOF (how r u still an anti ew)’ by Drawnuniverse (2017) was edited in a way to show evidence that "Larry is real". At 1minute 1 second of the video, it shows the band on stage and Styles looking off somewhere. The caption states, "Harry completely fonding while looking at the big screen." This implies that Styles is watching Tomlinson sing on the big screen.

When I watch the clip of Styles "fonding while looking at the big screen", it honestly just looks like he was staring into space because the big screen is not in shot. However, Larries interpret this as Styles dreamily watching Tomlinson sing on the big screen. Keep in mind Tomlinson is right behind him, so I don’t know why he doesn’t just turn around to "fond" at him directly. That being said, Larries would probably claim that Styles can’t look at him directly because of the former band’s management team, Modest!Management. Fanlore.org explains that “Larries have developed the theory that One Direction's management company (Modest! Management) has pressured them to remain closeted because gay bandmembers would bring down the monetary value of a boyband in a homophobic industry.” Over the years, Larries have been convinced that this is why Styles and Tomlinson have remained strictly platonic around each other.

The third theory that Larries have come up with is, ‘Baby Gate’, which is a theory that Tomlinson’s then-infant son, is not real. According to Saunders (2016), Larries were claiming that the photos that Tomlinson posted to his Instagram were photoshopped. This means that the infant was photoshopped into the photos Tomlinson posted. Saunders goes onto say that, similar to the latter theory, these photos of his son being photoshopped, some fans even claiming that the baby was a doll. Larries backed up this theory by claiming that the infant's hands are always in a similar position. According to Roberts (2016), the mother of the infant, Briana Jungwirth, was receiving messages from fans of Tomlinson that she was using photos of someone else’s baby and passing them off as her own. Jungwirth replied to this claim by saying, "I've never stolen any photo. It's sickening how I've been treated throughout my pregnancy and now" (Roberts). She then proceeded to make her Instagram account private to hopefully lessen these hurtful comments.

Looking at this evidence, it is clear that knowing the difference between fiction and reality that ‘Kiss him, not me’ addresses, is important. It shows that while it is generally fine to ship individuals together, that does not mean that is the reality. Relationships are more complex than what is conveyed on the surface. As I stated before, Larry Stylinson shippers like to ship Styles and Tomlinson together. They publish fanfiction and fanart, but at the core of this interest, they know that Larry Stylinson only exists in fiction. This idea is acceptable because it is not affecting the men themselves. However, this becomes problematic when Larries take these ideals expressed in fanfiction and fanart and see them as depictions of reality. Expressing these ideas as reality has caused issues for Styles and Tomlinson, as well as others connected with them. These issues ranged from Styles and Tomlinson’s friendship becoming uncomfortable to the disrespectful comments made to Jungwirth about her and her child.

References

Nanashima and Shinomiya (7x4/4x7): The real BL couple of Kiss Him, Not Me. (2018) https://kakooshi.tumblr.com/post/175136130397/nanashima-and-shinomiya-7x44x7-the-real-bl

Japanese romantic gesture of picking up boy’s clothes. https://skdesu.com/en/japanese-romantic-gesture-of-grabbing-the-boys-clothing/

Hofer, M ., & Chen, F. (2020). Do you smell your romantic partner’s clothes? You’re not alone. https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/do-you-smell-your-romantic-partners-clothes-youre-not-alone

Larrie. (2019). https://fanlore.org/wiki/Larrie

Larrie=/=Larry Shipper. (2016). https://cuethetommo.tumblr.com/post/139488044649/larrie-larry-shipper

Mellin, H. (2021). What happened to Larry Stylinson? The direction bromance collapsed under pressure. https://heatworld.com/celebrity/news/larry-stylinson-tumblr-fanfic-news-quotes/

Devoe, N. (2017). Louis Tomlinson confirms that Larry Shippers ruined his deep friendship with Harry Styles. https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/a10350811/louis-tomlinson-confirms-that-larry-shippers-ruined

Drawnuniverse. (2017). BIGGEST LARRY PROOF (how r u still an anti ew). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXZPHRC2sSg

Larry Stylinson. (2021). https://fanlore.org/wiki/Larry_Stylinson

Saunders, E. (2016). Did Louis Tomlinson post THIS picture of baby Freddie to prove he’s not a doll? https://heatworld.com/celebrity/news/louis-tomlinson-post-picture-baby-freddie-prove-doll/

Roberts, E. (2016). Briana Jungwirth lashes out after ‘sickening’ treatment from Louis Tomlinson’s fans. https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/briana-jungwirth-lashes-out-after-7423915

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