Anime Hajime Review: Kamisama Kazoku

Series Synopsis

Living a quiet life with his family, Samatarou Kamiyama (voiced Daisuke Kishio) must learn as much as he can about the human world. This knowledge will be beneficial when the time comes for him to succeed his father. While he may look like one, Samatarou is not your average teenager. He is in fact the son of God.

Aiding Samatarou is his best friend Tenko (voiced by Ami Koshimizu). On the day Samatarou was born, Tenko was called down from heaven to serve as his guardian angel. It is her responsibility to watch over him until the day he is able to care for himself. Though faithful in her duties, Tenko has developed strong feelings towards her friend.

Along with their divinity, Samatarou’s family is a lively bunch. Albeit caring and loving parents, Samatarou’s father, Osamu (voiced by Masashi Ebara), and mother, Venus (voiced by Nanaho Katsuragi), are very playful and childlike; often to the embarrassment of their son. Contributing to his parent’s antics are Misa (voiced by Yumi Touma) and Meme (voiced by Akemi Kanda), Samatarou's older and younger sisters respectively.

One day at school, a new transfer student enrolls in Samatarou and Tenko’s class. Instantly falling for her beauty, she becomes Samatarou’s first crush. Seeing this, Tenko suddenly must come to terms with her feelings towards Samatarou, while at the same time perform her duties as his guardian angel.

Series Positives

When it comes to anime and me, it is truly rare if I don’t find myself enjoying a show. Even when one has its fair share of problems, there is usually something that I can get behind. Kamisama Kazoku is no different.

Samatarou

While not the greatest of series, it does have its moments. I can honestly say that the show is not boring.

The Voice Acting

It's worth mentioning that Kamisama Kazoku does have a strong cast. With this being a rather average show, the voice acting is able to shine brightly through the monotony. You can hear the effort that was put into the performances; adding a much needed layer of believably.

Tenko

Like any anime comedy, Kamisama Kazoku does have expressive and exaggerated emotions. So it's really good to have a cast that is able to match that same level of visual energy in their voice work.

While I do think that all the actors do a fantastic job, it sounds as though Nanaho Katsuragi and Yumi Touma, the voices of Venus and Misa respectively, were having the most fun with their roles. Another worthy mention is Akemi Kanda, the voice Meme.

The Second Arc

There are few shows that are able to really surprise me. Although I may not always predict what is going to happen, I can usually think of all the possible outcomes. Surprisingly to the show’s credit, the story goes down roads that I've never seen before. There is some genuine uniqueness to this series.

In thirteen episodes, Kamisama Kazoku is able to pull off three story arcs. While the third one is okay and the first one is…problematic, the show finds its stride in the second.

This is where the series hits all the right notes and pulls all the right strings. It’s funny, dramatic, heartwarming, sad, and even creepy at times.

I'm not going to spoil anything but this is where Kamisama Kazoku really surprised me with the story. You get to see the growth in both Samatarou and Tenko’s personalities and relationship. I wish the entire series was centered around the events in the second arc, because it rectifies many of the problems seen in the first few episodes.

Series Negatives

All of the positive aspects of Kamisama Kazoku have a hard time reinforcing the show because more often than not, the series is always trying to dig itself out of a massive, self-incriminating hole. Then when it seems like it's finally going to get out, it falls back in.

Character Models

I don’t know if I would say that the art style and character models look horrid. I have seen way worse, but I have also seen a lot better. The first time you see what everyone looks like, something just feels off.

Everyone looks very flat, uninteresting, and possess a noticeable lack of emotion; which is in direct contrast to the great voice work.

By the final episode you get used to it and looking back it's hard to see why it was a problem. However, that initial thought lingers and it's always a reminder of that poor first impression.

A Rough Beginning

Bad first impression is the hallmark of the first four episodes. If you find yourself tempted to pass on Kamisama Kazoku after watching for a while, I implore you to stick it out. However, me just saying that is not a good sign.

The main source of this is Samatarou, who can best be described as being an unintentional tool. While most male characters in romantic comedies are dense, they don’t come close to his level of ignorance.

Tenko, although not fully honest with herself, is not what you would call subtle about her feelings. Because of this, some of Samatarou’s actions are downright cruel at times. Again this is never intentional, but holy hell is it hard to watch.

Another problem with the beginning is how the show does a sort of reset after each arc, and I cannot even begin to describe how much I hate this. Any event, any character building, any lessons learned within arcs one and two are simply erased away; usually because Samatarou did something stupid. What this does is prevent growth of any of the characters. Part of the fun of a story is seeing how everyone is going to handle the consequences of certain events, but the show never does that. Therefore, everything that happens has no point.

The last thing that may cause many people to give up on Kamisama Kazoku is how the first arc ends. Before I go any further, the show has a great ending. Samatarou sees how big of a jerk he is and realizes that the person he cares most about is Tenko. It's really well done and it shows how Samatarou has grown as a person. The only problem with this ending is that it happens in episode four. The actual ending of the series is just okay.

This the culmination of everything wrong with the first few episodes. Samatarou does learn his lesson, but forgets it all by the third arc, and because of the reset, no one except God and Samatarou knows what happened. This is incredibly unfair because before realizing what his true feelings are, Samatarou shatters Tenko's heart and now he no longer has to deal with the fallout from that.

But like I said, if you can get passed the first four episodes the show picks up really well.

Final Thoughts

To sum up Kamisama Kazoku would be to say it's average. It has its fair share of ups and downs. At times I was really enjoying myself and the story. Other times I would be lost in the many inconsistencies and mistakes.

For a romantic comedy, it's just okay. If you watch as much anime as I do and you haven’t seen this show, don’t worry you’re not missing much. But if you want to add another series under your belt and you have some free time, by all means check it out.

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