Engage Kiss

[neflight86]

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"Bayron City ― a Mega-Float type city in the Pacific Ocean, which doesn't belong to any particular nation. As the mine for Orgonium, a new energy resource, this city is the most noticed in the world right now, and here special cases caused by demons called "D Hazards" has been occurring frequently.

Only a handful of people know about the existence of D Hazards. They are handled by PMCs (Private Military Companies). Shuu is a young man living in Bayron City who runs such a company, but his company is tiny. On top of that, he cherry-picks his jobs, so he is always in a bind for money. His life, both publicly and privately, is being supported by the beautiful high school girl Kisara who attends a school in Bayron City. And there is one more person that keeps him on her mind: Ayano, an employee of a major PMC that Shuu used to work for and Shuu's ex-girlfriend. Kisara finds her unpleasant.

At the root of Kisara's strong attachment to Shuu is a contract signed between them. Her true identity is a demon. Kisara supports Shuu's lifestyle, and even assists his demon extermination based on their contract. The price is a dangerously sweet kiss. Their uncertain bond teeters between love and contract. Where is their destiny headed...?

Source: Official Website"

Genre(s): Comedy, Action, Harem, Romance, Supernatural, Sci-fi

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1-2

It's impressive for a show to have me livid within 5 minutes of starting, but I think I really hate Shuu. He is established very early on as a youth with no goals, no plan, and no personal responsibility as he mooches a free meal off a previous work associate who is complaining to him about those things and is met with the most eye rolling of devil may care attitudes. Me really no like that guy. On the other hand, I had an immediate connection with this series; seething hatred of the main character who is destined to succeed in spite of himself because of his position within the story. I'll be rooting in vain for all of the forces that work against him.

I look forward to complaining about this so long as the rest of the shows elements can keep my attention.

The rest of the setup is passable, bordering on interesting. Floating super city is the center of global economy with a slight demon infestation. Commodified PMCs bid for the right to battle people-turned-demons with contractual obligations, operation budgets, and other bureaucratic abstractions, presumably. I enjoyed that stuff, but of course, with a waste of functioning organs like Shuu involved, bids are thrown way off and even the other companies are complaining about how he only seems to come in sporadically and underbid the more reputable organizations when his electricity is turned off. He has this latitude, of course, because his beautiful high school girlfriend is... drumroll... actually a super strong demon that fights with him to enable his wretched lifestyle... er confirm their love or contract or something. They kiss and she gets strong.

Speaking of love interests, I have tragic sympathy for Ayano, the (busty) daughter of the head a rival agency who still cooperates with Shuu because reasons. She is cursed to care for Shuu by the fickle spirit of kuu/tsun-dere and will never be free from his unknowing grasp, it seems. I wish her the best... or at least better than Shuu.

Production wise, this looks pretty good, though it is a rough look when cuts from episode one make it into the OP. I thought that died out in 2004. Fights had the lights, and just a little choreography. Nothing to write home about.

Overall, I can't recommend based on what trope ridden tripe I've seen so far.

Because there is nowhere else to complain about them, a few scenes that really rubbed me the wrong way include Shuu pretentiously declaring he would only do work he wanted from now on only to come crawling back one episode later begging for 'any' work because he ran low on funds. It was cathartic having that thrown in his face. Also the scene in ep 2 where they were discussing purchasing capture equipment to hand a demon over to authorities even though Kisara had headlocked this demon not four minutes prior. Don't get me started on how the permeation worked. I'm better understanding where his financial situation is coming from...

I don't expect much traffic in this thread, but here it is.