agokui

In Japanese, agokui 顎クイ refers to a romantic scenario: when a guy holds a girl's chin up for a kiss.^{(dic.pixiv.net:顎クイ)} This romantic move is a trope found in manga, anime, and dating sims, similar to the kabedon 壁ドン. When both occur simultaneously, it's called a kabekui 壁クイ.

Left: Ayuzawa Misaki 鮎沢美咲
Right: Usui Takumi 碓氷拓海
Anime: Kaichou wa Maid-sama!, 会長はメイド様！ (Episode 2, Stitch)

• Meaning in Japanese
• Examples
• References

Meaning in Japanese

In Japanese, agokui means:

• ago
  顎
  Chin.
  (body part.)
• kui
  クイ
  The quick and small movement pulling, fishing, or pulling something to one side.
  (mimetic word.)
• ago wo kuitto mochi-ageru
  顎をクイッと持ち上げる
  To hold [someone's] chin up "with a kui" (i.e. with a pulling movement).

Given the above, one can guess it's called ago-kui not because the guy simply "holds" the girl's chin, but because he "pulls" it up, and he pulls it up because girls are shorter than guys in general, and he wants to align mouths for a kiss, or just stare directly in her eyes, or something like that.

Left: Ayame Himuro 氷室菖蒲
Right: Shinya Yukimura 雪村心夜
Anime: Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita. 理系が恋に落ちたので証明してみた。 (Episode 1, Stitch)

• Context: two intellectuals discover the ideal angle for agokui is the same angle used in artificial respiration for some reason.

In spite of this, there are some examples where the chin is simply held, too.

Like the kabedon, it's a cliché romantice move that has been parodied a lot, and that's sometimes used when a character is threatening another, since these are two moves that try to force someone to confront someone else face to face.

Most agokui examples are done with the thumb under the girl's lips, but the exact hand gesture doesn't matter so long as it holds the chin up.

Examples

For reference, some examples of agokui in anime.

Left: Iijima Yun 飯島ゆん
Right: Takimoto Hifumi 滝本ひふみ
Anime: New Game!! (Season 2) (Episode 5)

• Context: a senpai reprimands her kouhai for being a bad girl.

Left: Giorno Giovanna, ジョルノ・ジョバァーナ
Right: Leone Abbacchio, レオーネ・アバッキオ
Anime: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Part 5: Golden Wind, JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Ougon no Kaze ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の風 (Episode 11)

• Context: a senpai reprimands his kouhai for being cheeky.

Left: Asaka Karin 朝香果林
Right: Ayanokouji Himeno 綾小路姫乃
Anime: Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai, ラブライブ！ 虹ヶ咲学園スクールアイドル同好会 (Episode 11, Stitch)

• Context: Karin learns Himeno is her fan.

Character: Kasahara Konomi 笠原好
Anime: Iwa Kakeru! いわかける！ (Episode 8)

• Context: a kabekui (kabedon plus agokui).

Left: Katsuki Yuuri 勝生勇利
Right: Victor Nikiforov ヴィクトル・ニキフォロフ
Anime: Yuri!!! on Ice, ユーリ!!! on ICE (Episode 3, Stitch)

• Context: an anime studio explores the closest a character can get to kiss another without actually kissing them.
• chikai
  近い
  Close. (as in distance.)
  (i-adjective.)
  
  • tojiru
    閉じる
    To close. (as in
    (verb.)

Left: Tatsumi Koutarou 巽幸太郎
Right: Drive-in Tori Company President, ドライブイン鳥社長
Anime: Zombieland Saga, ゾンビランドサガ (Episode 5)

• Context: the legendary producer Tatsumi Koutarou uses his legendary negotiation techniques.

References

• 顎クイ - dic.pixiv.net, accessed 2021-06-14.