High school senior Aihara Kotoko has had a crush on Irie Naoki since freshman year. But she's been discouraged from confessing to him by a few things: he's a member of "Class A," the top ranking class in school, whereas she's in "Class F"; he gets the top score on every exam; and he's so smart, popular, and handsome that he's been class president every year. When Kotoki finally musters up the courage to present him with a love letter, though, Naoki outright refuses it, telling her point blank--with a look of disgust and boredom--that he doesn't like "stupid girls." Poor Kotoko's worst nightmare! Her heart is broken, but then a change in circumstance forces Naoki and Kotoko to be together every day...!?<br /><br />Itazura na Kiss is a gem to the shoujo demographic, as it is the mother of a lot of cliches found in today's shoujo series. Despite the fact that it is 2 decades old, it still stands out as unique for it has the series follow the main characters well into their life, over a span of 10 years. It was so popular it inspired popular series like Marmalade Boy and Fruits Basket. <br /><br />However, the author had an accident while she was moving homes with her son and husband, and passed away a few months later, leaving her popular manga forever uncompleted. It was adapted into a popular Taiwanese drama under the title "It Started With a Kiss", and it even earned sequel. It was also adapted as a short Japanese drama in 1996, and an anime series in 2008, with the anime portraying the author's planned ending.