“Kabe-don” ranked among Japan’s top anime buzzwords of 2014. Facing a woman with her back on the wall, the man places his hand on the wall beside her with a “don!” (the Japanese sound routinely used to represent something hitting a hard surface), with his face close to hers. This situation common in girls’ comics is also frequently seen in TV dramas and movies, and many young women who watch this scene dream of finding themselves in a similar situation with the object of their affections.
But is the ago-kui set to be 2015’s kabe-don and among its most-used phrases?
A new “Mune-kyun” (heart-thumping) action is being talked about all over Japan right now. Using the thumb and the forefinger and lightly lifting somebody’s chin, a move known as “ago-kui” (ago means chin, and kui is an onomatopoeia for the sound of lifting the chin), this small gesture is a romantic step ahead of kabe-don, and gives the impression that a kiss could be just seconds away.
Nozomi Maeda, also known as “Mae-non” and who is a model of the popular magazine POPTEEN, recently received attention for posting her own “ago-kui” photo on Twitter. Fans immediately commented, “Mae-non’s ago-kui is so cute!” and “I’m in love with Mae-non’s ago-kui!”
Along with “Kabe-don”, it seems like many women quite like it when the men whom they are already attracted to are slightly – but only playfully – forceful. The reason why ago-kui is popular, it seems, is because it is much more likely to happen than kabe-don. Some girls have commented online, saying, “Ago-kui is one step before kissing, so that’s what makes it exciting,” or, “I get a tingle just by having my face lifted up by him.” Others felt that ago-kui is infinitely more moe than kabe-don, making it a shoo-in for becoming one of this year’s weird little trends.
Why don’t you try this one with your girlfriend and see what her response is?
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