Kinky and I are finally making our way through the entire list of anime openings this fall, and this week I saw a generic opening for some romance bullshit that looked horrendously uninspired. My focus honed in on one shot where some generic hot guy grabs the female MC and holds her chin for several seconds in the opening. It was awkward enough to make for a hearty laugh at the time, but then the wheels in my head started to turn. “You know, don’t I see that a lot?” I pondered. And after a quick bit of research, god damn the chin grab should actually be copyrighted by anime couples at this point. A Google Image search produced a vast amount of results.
Now this is my style.
As a man with no romantic experience whatsoever, I asked Kinky (also with no romantic experience) whether the chin grab was something that should stay in anime forever. He said yes and we compared it to the head pat: a common move in anime where a guy will “pet” a girl on the head for doing a good job or to express gratitude. Obviously in real life if you try that shit, you are likely to get your hand broken, stabbed, or shot off. It’s incredibly patronizing and it’s pretty universally understood that most girls would hate it. So ladies and gentlemen, are we correct in our assumption that chin grabbing falls into this category? Is it too forward and corny to ever use in real life? Or is it a move that has its time and place and can be used effectively if the mood is right? Turning the situation around I don’t think I’d mind if my girlfriend went for a chin grab, but I do wonder if I’d be able to take it seriously or if my prior knowledge of countless times I’ve seen it in anime would make me laugh and ruin any previously built sexual tension.
Prepare for trouble and make it double.
It’s crazy what small details you notice over the years and years of watching anime. Some tips and tricks can transfer over to your real life and help you, but most are deemed better to stay in fiction. What's your opinion on the chin grab? Have you noticed how often it’s used by couples in anime? Have you ever used it in real life? Stare into your lover’s eyes, pull them close, and grab that chin with an iron grip in the comments below!
