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Mai: Who are you, anyway?
Mikoto: I'm Mikoto!
Mai: I know that! Ugh...how could I have given up my first kiss to this girl?
Mikoto: Fine! I'll give it back! (She kisses Mai.)
Mai: No, wait! Mikoto!
This is not so much an Anime Trope as a Japanese cultural trope, but it appears in a number of anime. Whether they're a boy or a girl, a Japanese teen's first "adult" kiss on the lips is a momentous occasion. It is something to be built up to and shared with a very special person — something that is remembered for the rest of one's life. A spoiled or stolen first kiss is an occasion for profound angst and even anger. Consequently, in any anime plotline involving teen romance, the first kiss is an important milestone in the development of both self and relationship.
This is mostly because kissing is seen as an extraordinarily intimate act by the Japanese. It is not done in public (anime characters who do kiss in public are either shameless or extremely daring), and parents do not kiss where their children can see them. In effect, the first kiss is the harbinger of a teenager's entry into sexual maturity.
Immature characters will be hesitant to even share drinks or do CPR on someone, for fear that this counts as an Indirect Kiss.
This attitude does exist in the West to some degree, but it is not nearly as significant as it is in Japan, especially for boys. Western culture has the first kiss as a proud "rite of passage" and sometimes a cause for celebration even if it was with a complete stranger.
Examples
Anime
- Ranma's first kiss in Ranma 1/2 is the occasion of great violence, when a self-absorbed playboy iceskater steals a kiss from girl-form Ranma. And when we say "violent", we mean 518 punches; by the time he's done, the skater in question is unconscious on his feet.
- Akane's first kiss was also 'taken' in a similarly crazy fashion, as Ranma kissed her after sitting on her lap while under the influence of Cat Fu.
- The female-turned-male protagonist similarily has her first kiss stolen by a girl in Ultra Maniac. Gender-swapping unkissed would seem like a particularily bad idea if it ever was a good one.
- In Love Hina, Keitaro, Naru and Mutsumi all share mutual first kisses while stranded on an island. When an robot invention of Kaolla's goes on something of a... rampage... Motoko gets her first kiss. She doesn't take it well.
- The series even has an entire episode dedicated to Shinobu's first kiss.
- In Vision Of Escaflowne, Hitomi is about to receive her first kiss when Van first appears and interrupts it. Later, Dornkirk's magic manipulates Allen Shezar, Van's rival, into kissing Hitomi. Dornkirk achieves this in part by having his minions Eria and Folken roleplay what may be their own first kiss.
- The first kiss between Yukino and Soichiro in Kare Kano is a milestone in their often-rocky relationship.
- On Naruto, Sakura and Ino vie for the affection for Sasuke, and both hope to give him his first kiss. Unfortunately for them, in the third episode Naruto gets knocked into Sasuke, and the two end up locking lips. Naruto and Sasuke are disgusted, and Ino and Sakura (and many of the other girls in class) are mad as hell.
- Oddly, Sasuke doesn't seem too upset about it.
- An example of indirect first kiss: When Nina in Mai-Otome learns that her roommate Erstin administered CPR to her after a near-drowning, the excessively sexualized image of the "CPR" that flits through her mind (and her peeved expression) make it clear that she considers her first kiss lost.
- Likewise, Mai of Mai-HiME furiously insists to herself that CPR doesn't count as a first kiss after she delivers it to Mikoto.
- More on the topic of CPR: one of the episodes of Blue Seed is titled "Innocence! Love! My First Kiss?!". Guess what it was actually about. Momiji does initially reject the idea that this can count, but in the next episode decides that it was her first kiss — pretty much confirming that yes, she does have feelings for Kusanagi...
- Alice is profoundly shocked when Rin spits his gum into her mouth in Please Save My Earth — it's her first kiss, and Rin is only eight. (Well, sort of.)
- Nozomi in Yes! Precure 5 likes to go on at length about how she envisions hers, usually involving snow and a Christmas tree.
- Most of the Kanon scenarios include one.
- Due to clumsiness on the part of Tamaki, Haruhi of Ouran High School Host Club gives up her first kiss to another girl; Haruhi is not nearly as fazed by this as Tamaki. Later, Benio is shocked to learn that someone else beat her to Haruhi's lips.
- In both the Tokyo Mew Mew anime and manga, Momomiya Ichigo accidentally receives her first kiss. In the manga she trips and inadvertently kisses her crush Aoyama Masaya. In the anime, this doesn't happen, so she reacts even more angrily when, later on, Kisshu just flies in and kisses her without any warning.
- In the Girls Love series Kannazuki No Miko, the protagonist Himeko Kurusugawa believes to have received her first kiss from Souma Ougami but in reality, it's Chikane Himemiya who steals it while Himeko is unconscious in the first episode.
- Shakugan No Shana devotes a whole episode to explaining the "milestone" nature to its title character.
- In Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl Hazumu and Yasuna share their first kiss, very much to the dismay of Tomari who happens to enter the room at that moment.
- Souichiro Nagi (Tenjou Tenge) has his first kiss "stolen" by Aya. He spends the rest of the anime pissed off and avoiding her.
- "First Kiss" is the title of the first episode of Blood Plus, and the event occurs when Haji, faced with Saya's understandable refusal to drink his blood, force-feeds it to her mouth-to-mouth in order to prompt her into an Unstoppable Rage. In a later episode, when asked if she has ever kissed a boy, Saya reflects back to this event, unsure if it counts but blushing all the same.
- In Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Jeanne/Maron's first kiss is stolen by her rival Kaitou Sinbad, who is her later love interest Chiaki in disguise.
- In Code Geass, the Student Council President Millay holds an impromptu school-wide contest: Anyone who manages to catch the cat running around campus will get a kiss from a Student Council member of their choice. Two of the girls on the student council, Shirley and Kallen, team up to try catch the cat, horrified by the thought that someone might steal their first kiss.
- In Gundam00, Setsuna F. Seiei has his first kiss stolen by the Yandere Nena Trinity but pushes her away violently in response.
- In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Asuka forcibly claims her first kiss from Shinji, holding his nose while their lips are locked so that he is about to pass out by the time she lets him go.
- Subversion: in Ashita No Nadja, Nadja Applefield is mad as Hell at the Black Rose Thief for kissing her... but this isn't her first kiss. That one was given to her by Francis who happens to be Black Rose's twin younger brother, but nobody knows it.
- This trope is used to save the world in Suzumiya Haruhi.
- In another story of the novels, Kyon could have kissed his actual love interest, Mikuru. While she was sleeping, her older self offers Kyon to do it, as something of a reward. Kyon apparently doesn't do it, but who knows..
- In the manga Penguin Revolution, Yukari's first kiss occurs by accident when she goes down a playground slide, collides with Ryo, and ends up lying on top of him, lip to lip. It's just as well, since within a few chapters another boy kisses her unexpectedly anyhow, but it gives her and Ryo both a number of uncomfortable moments all the same.
- Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka has Junichi, thinking he should act like a man, decide to lay one on Yuuhi, the girl he saved earlier. Yuuhi, being pure Kugimiya tsundere, promptly kicks the hell out of him. It's not until later that he finds out she was his fiancee. Awkward.
- In Nadia The Secret Of Blue Water, Jean and Nadia's first kiss happens under the influence. Later, Nadia is angry at Jean after their second kiss because he can't remember their first.
- It took a ridiculously long time to mention episode 22 of Sailor Moon ("Romance Under The Moon! Usagi's First Kiss"). The nature of this kiss may be a controversial topic, but the scene is clearly supposed to be very romantic (and it actually is, if you are not thinking too hard). Of note, this episode belongs to the few ones that were directly based on the original manga.
- A later episode revolves around Unazuki trying to save up her first kiss. When the monster of the day steals her pure heart, she tries to give it to Makoto....
- In D Gray Man, Lenalee is beaten to the punch of taking Allen's first kiss when Road launches herself at Allen and kisses him. Allen subsequently goes into thundershock, as do many of the others.
- In Air Gear, Akito takes Ikki's first kiss, much to Ikki and his friends' horror.
- In Hyakko, Torako loses her first kiss to her best friend Suzume—which upsets her a lot, even though she said she'd like to give Suzume even ''more'' than that.
- In Full Metal Panic, Kaname Chidori's first kiss is stolen by Tessa's older brother, who is rather dangerous and volatile, and a part of an opposing organisation to Sousuke's, her love-interest. She still slaps him, and waits for him to leave before breaking down.
- Interestingly, in Sousuke's case, he lost his first kiss long ago while performing CPR on men. "A turkish soldier who took a bullet to the stomach, an old man from Tajyuku who was caught in an explosion..."
- You can bet they all enjoyed it.
- That wasn't CPR- Despite being Raised By Wolves, Sousuke understands what a kiss is and how it differs from CPR (he told that story to Kaname right after casually taking the First Kiss of Mizuki Inaba, whose boyfriend he was pretending to be), it's just that he doesn't put the same weight on it as the Japanese do. Sousuke was giving the men some reassurance that he was with them while they died. It's not without historical precendent either, especially in the military- see Admiral Nelson and "Kiss me, Hardy."
- He understands what "kiss" means and how it differs from CPR? Really? Because from the translation, it sounded like he was referring to how he tried to resuscitate them. Not only that, it's pretty clear he didn't really know what "kiss" meant, as immediately beforehand, he had to ask Kaname if it was generally about giving "mouth to mouth." And... you'd be pretty hard put to interpret Sousuke saying that as him "comforting" male soldiers by kissing them on the mouth. Especially putting together his personality from the other canonical media (including the manga), where he's shown (comedically, of course) to only imagine putting his mouth to someone who's dying in an effort to give them CPR (and not to reassure them).
- Mahou Sensei Negima has several; as the kissing is required for completing a magical ritual, it was somewhat inevitable. Asuna in particular notes that her kiss with Negi "doesn't count" because it was done in and an emergency situation, and he's just a kid anyway.
- Negi also gets his first non-Pactio kiss over the course of the manga. He notes that it was...more enjoyable when compared to the other ones.
- I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Konoka and Setsuna's Pactio was the first (real, romantic) kiss for both of them.
- In Fruits Basket, when Tohru gets out of the hospital, she and Kyo kiss. He then confesses that it wasn't their First Kiss; he had kissed her while she was unconscious. Strong reaction on her part.
- Mikoto from School Rumble kissed a girl!
 , sorta
- Miaka and Tamahome's first kiss in Fushigi Yuugi is one of the things that sets off Yui's Face Heel Turn.
- In Hot Gimmick, Hatsumi's first kiss is with Ryoki, and she tries to convince herself that that didn't count, and that her first kiss is with Azusa.
- In Paradise Kiss, when Yukari and George's first kiss gets interrupted, he nonchalantly tells her that next time they will continue where they left it and he will "kill her with pleasure". Naturally, this being Paradise Kiss, they go from "first kiss on the lips" to "kinky bondage sex" in no time flat.
- In Kodomo No Jikan, Aoki is rather upset when Rin steals a first kiss from him. Aoki is 23; Rin is a (rather precocious) 9.
- In Zero No Tsukaima, Louise is forced to complete the Ritual by kissing the totally clueless Saito.
- The first kiss between Kaoru and Aoi in Ai Yori Aoshi is all kinds of great.
- Nagasumi in [[Seto No Hanayome]] has his first kiss with Seto's bodyguard- from that point forward cliche anime love theme music plays over a close up of the bodyguard with a background of falling rose petals a few times when Nagasumi sees him.
- Mizori's first kiss in Rosario To Vampire is devastating to her, coming as part of an attempted rape. After Kurumu saves Mizori from her subsequent suicide attempt, she kisses Mizori again (as only a succubus can) to show her that "A kiss isn't so bad is it?".
- Nanoka's first kiss in Koi Kaze turns out a little ironically when she initiates a serious kiss with Koshiro and then she yells, "Aahhh! It's gone! My first kiss!"
- When the Gate — who looks like a young girl — forces Peorth, Urd, and Skuld to kiss her as part of her quest for knowledge, Skuld moans that she hadn't even kissed Sentaro (a mortal boy in whom she's shown significant interest) yet.
- Do you know how Lucia established how evil he was to Haru's group in Rave Master? He stole Elie's first kiss. Elie was devastated, and Haru was pissed.
- In the Skip Beat manga, it's made a big deal to Kyoko that she loses her first kiss (forcefully) to Shou.
- In Jojo'sBizarreAdventure, a First Kiss is one of the main plot points early on, when Dio steals the one that was rightfully Jonathan Joestar's.
Comic Books
- Extremely twisted subversion: In Green Lantern, (enemy) Sinestro Corps member Karu-Sil's origin story looks like it's leading up to this (alien girl's parents are dead, alien girl is taken in by pack of local predators, alien girl meets alien boy)...right up until she caves in his skull with a rock and splits the body with the aforementioned pack of predators.
- Although we should have seen that coming as she has no lips.
- Another subversion: Rogue from the X Men had her powers emerge during her first kiss, putting the boy in a permanent coma. Ouch.
- In a Garfield strip, Jon recounts his first kiss, which - true to his nature - ended in a catastrophe, when his braces locked with hers.
Film
- In The Goonies, Andi intends to have her first kiss with Brand but in the darkness, and with her eyes closed, she accidentally kisses his younger brother Mikey instead. She really does believe it was Brand until later, when she gets another chance to kiss him and confirms that only Mikey has braces.
- In Disney's Aladdin, Aladdin's and Jasmine's first kiss indicates their growing love for each other.
Literature
- Harry Potter, dealing as it does with seven years over the course of some teenager's lives, shows various first kisses in all their awkwardness and complete lack of glamour, no doubt to the rage of many Shippers.
- It is said that Hermione's first kiss ("snog," as Ginny put it) was with Victor Krum (a fellow who seems a perfect gentleman), off-camera.
- After being chewed out for never having been kissed, Ron asserts his *cough* manhood by smooching Lavender Brown after a victorious Quidditch match. Oh, so victorious.
- Harry's first kiss also happens almost off camera.
- The Amber Spyglass gives a slow, tense, and sensuous build-up to Will and Lyra's first, awkward, passionate kiss. 'Course, some readers may be turned off by the fact that Will and Lyra are around twelve years old...
- It was a pretty powerful First Kiss, though. In short, their kiss saved the multiverse.
- Seen in Garth Nix's Sabriel when Touchstone and Sabriel begin to fall under the influence of the bell Astarael, which kills all who hear it, Sabriel exhorts Touchstone to "Think of life!" and kisses him... "savagely." Because she bites his lip as she does this, their kiss is both awkward, passionate, and bloody. It's also damn romantic.
- In John C. Wright's The Orphans of Chaos, the entire matter of first kisses is fraught — especially with the Laser Guided Amnesia that is repeatedly inflicted on the main characters, so that some of them have several first kisses.
- Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade's first kiss was highly antisipated by fans. It wasn't Luke's first kiss; but, as far as we know, it was Mara's first.
- In the Whateley Universe, Jade makes a big deal about her first kiss, which makes sense since she's Japanese and fourteen and immature and loves anime. Thuban, the boy she first-kisses, is still dating her.
- In Edgar Rice Burroughs's Chessmen of Mars, this happens right after Tara's profession of love to Turan, and right before her begging him not lead her into dishonor: she's betrothed to another man.
Live Action TV
- In Drake And Josh, Josh waits before explaining a Not What It Looks Like moment to thank God for getting his first kiss, even though he had tried his hardest to repel it.
- In Neds Declassified School Survival Guide, Ned wanted his first kiss to be with Suzie- along the way he's kissed by the school nurse, the Weasel Mascot and others, reacting with a loud "That didn't count!" each time.
- In the Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode, "All The Way", Dawn shares her first kiss with a boy. From her reaction, he figures out that it was her first. She tries to deny, before admitting that it was her first, and babbling about how bad it must have been for him. He replies by kissing her again. Sadly, he's actually a vampire, and becomes her first staking.
- This troper would like to nominate I Carly episode iKiss for the cutest first kiss ever. Freddie has never been kissed, Sam calls him out for it on iCarly. Then, after sending Freddie into spiraling depression (it gets better), she publically apologizes on iCarly and admits she's never been kissed either. Then, she ends up going to Freddie, who has been on his fire escape for a week (BSOD, anyone?) and they end up sharing their mutual first kiss. This troper saw the episode more than three hours ago and her endorphins are still going.
- This troper still doesn't get why Freddie's earlier kiss doesn't count as a kiss. Sure the girl was using him but still...
- In a Friends episode, it was revealed that Monica's first kiss was with Ross (it was dark, and he has mistaken her for Rachel).
- Despite being much, much older than anyone expected to experience this trope, The Mighty Boosh's Howard Moon gets his first kiss in Party on his birthday, and over-reacts.
- Due to the nature of the show, Home And Away has featured this storyline quite a few times. The ones this troper remembers:
- Maddie spent a large part of an arc trying to get a kiss from Lucas. Fortunately for her, they were both in Colleen's lame duck of a play...which Matilda salvaged admirably.
- Geoff and Melody's relationship (and a large part of Melody's character arc) revolved around this storyline, with Nicole deliberately misinterpreting Melody's description of the kiss in order to make good on a bet.
Video Games
Web Comics
Western Animation
- Across the Pacific, there's the All Grown Up! episode "Fear of Falling". Angelica is PO'd that Tommy not only had his first kiss, but that he spoiled hers as well.
- Lisa Simpson shares a first kiss with local bully Nelson Muntz.
- Doug's first kiss was the subject of an entire episode where he was getting these mysterious Secret Admirer notes in his locker. He goes through a series of private mind games worrying about who it was, and eventually found out it was Beebe Bluff (Who is a nicer version of The Libby). It turned out that she had mistaken his locker for someone else's, but she got excited and kissed him because they could switch places in a parade; Doug got to be next to his crush Patti and Beebe next to her intended target, Doug's friend Skeeter.
- Kim Possible had her first kiss with a kid named "Walter Nelson", and their braces locked. Her best friend...well Ron's first was with a CPR dummy. So you could say it was...nah, that's too easy.
- At The Emperors New School episode The Emperor's New Musical, Malina kissed Kuzco during the musical's ending. At the credits, Kuzco and Malina if the kiss is real or not. Malina tricked him, saying that the kiss was just acting.
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