Nazo no Kanajo X - Mysterious Girlfriend X

NAZO NO KANAJO X

(Mysterious Girlfriend X)

A 13 part Anime series taken from from an ongoing manga. 

OVERVIEW - At first glance, Nazo no Kanajo X is a simple high school romance tale, but it has a rather unique quirk to the relationship. That is that the male and female leads share a "bond of saliva", a physical connection that draws them together, deepens their relationship and provides plenty of comical situations in the process. The series is only 13 episodes and one OVA (unreviewed here) long, but the manga has run for 6 years so far, so a second season seems likely. 

REVIEW - My initial impressions on reading the basic info about this anime were "this seems kinda gross", as most places describe the relationship as being based around "drool" or saliva. It follows a boy in high school, Akira Tsubaki and the mysterious transfer student who joins his class and sits next to him, Mikoto Urabe. Quiet, her face hidden behind her hair she refuses all interactions with her classmates, spends most of her time on breaks sleeping at her desk and was noted as "weird" due to suddenly breaking into hysterics in the middle of class on her first day. By chance one day after school Akira finds her still asleep in the classroom and wakes her, after she leaves he notices a puddle of drool on her desk and, for reasons unexplained and even a mystery to Akira himself, he decides to taste it.... 

Finding it surprisingly sweet, he suddenly realises how odd he's behaving and goes home, and begins to have odd dreams about Mikoto, but becomes sick over the following few days, unable to attend school. At this point Mikoto comes to visit him, and states that what he has isnt a flu, then asks him if he tasted her drool. When he confirms this she puts more saliva on her finger and shoves it into his mouth, which appears to cure his illness. Mikoto then goes on to explain that what he was experiencing was in fact withdrawl from her saliva, Akira asks if there's some kind of bacteria or virus in her saliva, causing Mikoto to burst out laughing. She explains there's nothing special about her saliva, its simply that Akira had fallen, or begun falling in love with her, and what made him sick was "love sickness" from wanting to taste it again. She leaves, and Akira returns to school the next day, finding Mikoto waiting for him after school to walk home with him, she gives him some more saliva, so he doesnt end up sick again and tells him she'll do the same every day from now on. 

This carries on for a few days, as Akira slowly realises he has fallen for Mikoto and eventually confesses to her and ask her to be his girlfriend. Mikoto asks for a romantic gesture to confirm his feelings, but rejects the "generic approach" of him going to kiss her and asks for something unique, that only he can do. He then has an idea, and pulls out a picture of the girl he had a crush on since middle school (about 4 years, as they are in the second year of high school) and tells Mikoto that he'd never had the courage to ask this girl out, and never got over her even though she went to a different high school. He then says since the day he licked her drool that he'd not even thought about her, or taken the picture from his wallet. He then rips up the picture and throws the pieces into the wind, stating that this was his "romantic approach" to Mikoto. She responds with a huge drool explosion from her mouth, explaining that his sudden action had caused it, because whenever "happy things" happened to her, that was the reaction.

She then reveals the truth behind her notorious laughing fit in class, that being that she heard a voice, from no-where, one that she cant explain and doesnt understand, but it told her that Akira was going to be the person she would lose her virginity to. She also says that since that day she'd been waiting for Akira to tell her he wanted to be with her. She then heads off home, but turns to shout to him that from that day on, she will be his girlfriend. 

Going on from there, the pair try to keep their odd relationship from their classmates, and more odd traits appear, such as Mikoto's frightiningly scary ability to cut almost anything with a pair of scissors she always keeps tucked into the side of her panties, or that emotions, thoughts and dreams are sometimes transfered along with the saliva. Its also revealed that under her hair, Mikoto is actually quite a stunningly cute girl, that she is exceptionally athletic and that she is also very shy. By chance Mikoto befriends another girl in the class, who is the secret girlfriend of Akira's best friend, and apparently shares a similar "saliva bond" with her, found when Mikoto accidently transfering her injuries one day after drinking from the same bottle. Akira's attempts at trying to get closer to Mikoto normally end in her shredding something with her scissors but the two slowly become more intimate and like an actual couple, as well as their classmates begining to warm to the previously shunned Mikoto, often to Akira's annoyance. 

Other than the normal high-school secret romance style comedy situations, there's a lot of humour, drama and intrigue surrounding Mikoto's odd saliva bonds. For the most part she appears fairly stoic, very unemotional but around Akira, and later her female friend she begins to show a lot of emotion. Its not explained why, but it seems to me at least that her emotional behaviour is caused by feeling the emotions from the saliva bonds she has, as this has been shown to affect her behaviour and skills. There are several points where the anime touches on the dillema of teenage couples regarding intimacy, aided by the strange behaviour and responses of Mikoto who honestly doesnt seem to understand much at the begining, but towards the end of the series shows signs of becoming aware of not only her own feelings, but Akira's as well. One of my absolute favourite parts is an example of this, with Akira accidently seeing Mikoto naked, he becomes flustered around her because he wants to hold her, but she doesnt allow it, with any attempt previous resulting in the scissor attack. When she realises this she samples his saliva by shoving a finger in his mouth, resulting in her feeling the same "heat" in her body. Her response to this is the thought "He really is a horny bastard" (at least thats how the translation i saw put it XD). The next day during another scissor attack moment she accidently cuts him for the first time, upset and quite distraught at the fact, she insists he let her clean it up at her home, and in doing so confirms her normal attack has lost its accuracy. While she's doing that, Akira, who is waiting in her room, notices her pillow seems damp. Mikoto returns, begins cleaning up his wound and apologies to him once again, telling him that she thinks her loss of control is due to a "weird dream" she'd had the previous night (the day she tasted his saliva and privately thought of him as a "horny bastard"). Akira then asks if her damp pillow is involved in her "weird dream", to which Mikoto allows Akira to taste her saliva to understand her emotions. This causes him to feel like he did the previous day, and he tries to leave, knocking her to the bed, turning to apologise and tripping up. Worried he's going to land on her and hurt or offend her, he manages to change the direction of his stumble and smacks his head worse. When Mikoto asks what happened and he explains that he didnt want to upset her by hugging her through falling on her, she hugs him (for the first ever time) and tells him that he shouldnt risk hurting himself over not randomly hugging her. This clears the odd "foggy headed" feeling that had been affecting the pair, and she finishes cleaning and covering his cut and now bruised head. Akira goes home after Mikoto tells him her "weird dream" had him in it and refusing to say more while blushing and goes to her room. after testing her scissor skills have returned she falls back on her bed, realising her pillow still carried the scent of "the previous night" she admits to herself that "I may chastise him a lot... but i'm pretty horny too"

Its this Strongly sensual, scent, feel and taste-based aspect to the series that I feel really gives it an honest sense of how teenages experiencing their sexual awakenings while in a relationship can be. Trying not to act purely on carnal desires while obviously submitting to them to a degree, the emotional and physical aspects of relationships either romantic or platonic are shown, hightened in their importance by the slightly gross aspect of showing them via swapping saliva on fingers. Most animes tend to go too heavily in one aspect or the other, either being completely non-sexual in how the relationships are shown or acting like everyone is constantly shagging everyone. Its a nice change of pace to find a show that does such a great job of showing the balance between the two while retaining a uniqueness and humour. 

The mystery of Mikoto is not cleared up in the first season, why does her saliva have such an odd effect on certain people, why is she so closed to anyone she doesnt have a bond with, her family situation, as she appears to be living alone in an apartment, how she is so stunningly skilled with those scissors and anything about her past is left completely unexplained.. though as she is the "Mystery Girlfriend X" of the title this is somewhat to be expected. That said, given the "cute" UFO's she seems fond of (one on her pencil, one on her bag), the many sci-fi referances in the show over anything supernatural (notice the star wars poster in the first episode? I did) and the "B-movie" style choice of title I think she may in fact be an Alien, or part alien, possibly an alien ninja... I hope some of the mystery is revealed in the (yet to be announced but very much hoped for) second season.

On the production, design and technical aspects of the show, I have to comment outside of the summery due to just how well its all done once again. It seems like 2012 anime's really have it together at the moment. Of special note is the voice actress for the lead female Mikoto, who seems to be a brand new talent. Ayako Yoshitani's voice has a wonderful tone and melody to it, really adding an innocent-yet-sultry feel to Mikoto's voice that brings the character to life in a way I've only seen a few times. Its also of note that this is the only time I've ever come across an anime where both the opening and ending themes are sung by the female lead's voice actress. 

A wonderful, slightly perverted but in a good way, romance story with one of its leads wrapped in a cloak of mystery, This anime has a great blend of humour, drama, romance and perversion running at a good pace for a "slice of life" style show. Not an epic stand out anime but one i'm sure will build a strong following.

SUMMARY -

Story - Not meant to be an "Epic Tale", it works well as a "slice of life" style story, with no real conflict to resolve, no adversary to overcome its a simple tale of two people coming together.. over drool.. Its characters are lively, likable and endearing, and fixated on saliva, and as mentioned above, the writing and movement of the story really do a convincing job of the struggle of teens in a romance. 8/10

Production - Beautifully done, simplistic character designs that never deform, randomly change or even shift into other types, like a chibi-style, that really befits the story's style. Animation is slick and impressive, its small usage of CG is near-seamless and mostly based around dreams, with the occasional vehicle appearing as obviously CG. Voice casting is equally good, with the apparent newcomer cast in the lead female role doing a stunning job, able to switch from a stoic, unemotional response to an infectious giggle at the drop of a hat but in a completely convicing manner. While not using any real special effects, the saliva aspect is done very well, sounding so convincing it may make some gag but that adds to the overal anime as well. 9/10

Music - Top marks for score and themes here, as I'm a fan of letting the vocal cast perform the themes for animes, as it not only shows that the anime isnt being sold out for money/sponsership but also gives a continuity to the show. This anime's opener and ending are sung by Mikoto's voice actress, Ayako Yoshitani, its opener "Koi no Ōkesutora" (Orchestra of love) is a poppy ballad based on, surprisingly, an orchestral arrangement and fits well with the upbeat, funny aspects of the show very well. Its ending theme, "Hōkago no Yakusoku" (Afterschool Promise) is a relaxed, brass-lead piece with a feeling that sits somewhere between a good "lounge" song and a pop song, its slower time signature and smaller instrumental use give it a contrast to the opener, though both tracks could be called "ballad" types. Insert music, such as the fairground styled "Dream Theme" are mini-hits by themselves, and expertly weaved into the scenes to create and enhance exactly whats happening on screen. A masterpiece of musical scoring, the likes of which i've not seen since Macross Frontier. 10/10

Accessability -  Aaaaand the down-note. Another high school show, a passing understanding of how anime shows Japanese high schools is probably a good idea before tackling this show, as many of the typical scenes/episodes happen, the school swimming pool, the transfer student, the romance-in-a-park, the beach episode and the lunch-sharing are all present. Not as intimidating to take on as some, there will still be odd parts for the newcomers. 5/10

Overall Impression -  If you can make it past the first episode without being grossed out by the whole drool/saliva thing, I'm pretty sure you'll find a great anime here, just as I did. The Japanese have an odd take on bodily fluids by western standards, as seen here. I doubt any western story could turn drool and spit into something romantic and mystical in the same way this anime does. Never over-the-top in any of its aspects, except maybe the vicious scissor attacks Mikoto pulls off, it manages to delve into many areas a lot of other "romance" animes avoid. As the manga has run for 6 years already and is ongoing, its my hope that a second season will appear, and that we're given at least some stronger hint to Mikoto's true nature and background, because my money is definately on Alien, ninja or alien-ninja... Even if they decide to keep the mysterious girlfriend X a mystery, its enjoyable to watch the odd situations the unique romance between Akira and Mikoto. One for all to try I feel! 9/10

 
 Final Score - 41/50