***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Kamisama Hajimemashita. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
Due to the irresponsible adults in her life, Nanami Momozono (voiced by Suzuko Mimori) has found herself homeless. The young high schooler is at a total loss of what to do and has nowhere to go. Though in a bind, this doesn’t stop her from coming to the aid of a rather odd man.
The man thanks Nanami for her kindness. As a reward, he gives her ownership of his home, a local shrine. Before departing, he catches Nanami by surprise with a simple kiss to her forehead. Unbeknownst to her, this one act opens an unimaginable door.
With no other choice, Nanami decides to head to the shrine. Upon arriving, she learns of an unexpected reality. Gods and demons do actually exist. And the ones at the shrine tell Nanami that she has become the new God of the area.
The news is too massive to believe and Nanami is beside herself. It doesn’t help that one of the shrine’s servants isn’t the least bit happy about the situation. Annoyed to have a human as his new master, the fox demon Tomoe (voiced by Shinnosuke Tachibana) refuses to accept Nanami.
The relationship that forms between Nanami and Tomoe isn't the friendliest. At first. Yet over time, they grow close. So close, in fact, they realize they may have found the most important person they will ever meet. Series Positives
Kamisama Hajimemashita was a ton of fun. It was sweet. It was funny. It was all around fantastic. I had a great time with this series.
That could be the end of the review.
We will keep going, but this was one of those shows where I lost myself. I got caught up with everything that was happening. To the point where I forgot I was supposed to be reviewing. While that does make it difficult to write, it was wonderful to watch.
Before moving forward, I need to admit something. Recently I reviewed the series Gamers. There I mentioned it being a solid romance. I went even further and said it was one of the better examples of the genre I have seen. I bring this up because I feel the same way towards Kamisama Hajimemashita. To raise even more eyebrows, this series was much better than Gamers. By a large margin.
This puts me in an awkward position given how much praise I gave to Gamers. It is happenstance that the next romance reviewed outdid my previous comments. I stand by what I wrote last time, but I realize how fishy this situation is.
That out of the way, let’s talk about why Kamisama Hajimemashita was so good.
For starters, I loved this series’ art style. It was by no means a spectacle of animation. I wouldn’t even say this was that ambitious. There are dozens of shows that are way more impressive.
Regardless, this was pleasant to look at. There was an undeniable charm that’s hard to express. With the lack of anything more concrete, Kamisama Hajimemashita boasted a relaxing atmosphere.
This series was hilarious and relied on a ton of visual humor. Alongside that, this show got quite heartwarming. Something the style complimented well. And alongside that, there was a number of moments that would glue any romance lover to the screen. The art enhanced this too.
For starters, I loved this series’ art style. It was by no means a spectacle of animation. I wouldn’t even say this was that ambitious. There are dozens of shows that are way more impressive.
Regardless, this was pleasant to look at. There was an undeniable charm that’s hard to express. With the lack of anything more concrete, Kamisama Hajimemashita boasted a relaxing atmosphere.This series was hilarious and relied on a ton of visual humor. Alongside that, this show got quite heartwarming. Something the style complimented well. And alongside that, there was a number of moments that would glue any romance lover to the screen. The art enhanced this too.
Yet it was the character designs that had me the most enchanted. This is a rare day when I bring something like this up, but I liked how everyone looked. Particularly Nanami. She was really pretty. Although this wasn’t the main reason why she is my favorite character, it didn’t hurt. Well, get into more detail about this in a moment.
So why talk about the art with this series and not others? I’m not sure about that myself. To guess, it would have something to do with it being one piece of a much larger picture. If you were to read this story as a novel, I’m confident you would get a lot out of it. At the same time, though, you would be missing a huge aspect of Kamisama Hajimemashita. The animation of this series helped enhance a core idea that was already powerful enough on its own.
Nanami and Tomoe
I was going to discuss several characters here. But this series didn’t have that big of a cast. With only a few exceptions, most everyone was background filler and inconsequential. Perhaps that will not be the case later on. There is a season two after all. The only secondary characters worth mentioning are Kurama (voiced by Daisuke Kishio) and Mizuki (voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto).
I don’t want to indicate the wrong idea. Kurama and Mizuki were fine and added a lot to this show. They were similar in that they hated how close Nanami was with Tomoe.
Should this series decide to go the harem route, the foundation does exist. It would not be the worst thing in the world. It would not be the best thing either since it would forgo the main point that made this show what it was. This is a standard romance story. But don’t let that fool you.
Should this series decide to go the harem route, the foundation does exist. It would not be the worst thing in the world. It would not be the best thing either since it would forgo the main point that made this show what it was. This is a standard romance story. But don’t let that fool you.
There wasn’t a whole lot of fluff. The situation was clear and straightforward. Things never got complicated or outrageous. Yet because of that, this allowed Kamisama Hajimemashita to focus the entirety of its energy into a single element. That being Nanami and Tomoe’s relationship.
Nanami was a fantastic lead. I already mentioned how she is my favorite character of the series. She wasn’t a generic personality that was interchangeable. There was more to her. She wasn’t a perfect, do-no-wrong kind of high schooler. Nor was she an average wallflower. Her school life, which is often prominent in this type of show, was secondary to her.
For Nanami, life had not been fair. She had to deal with a ton of nonsense that was out of her control. As well as suffer the consequences for other people’s mistakes. She never brushed this off like it was nothing. But she wasn’t cynical either. Her attitude was as positive as you can be given the circumstances. This allowed her to be a good listener.
For Nanami, life had not been fair. She had to deal with a ton of nonsense that was out of her control. As well as suffer the consequences for other people’s mistakes. She never brushed this off like it was nothing. But she wasn’t cynical either. Her attitude was as positive as you can be given the circumstances. This allowed her to be a good listener.
Despite having to consul spirits and demons, Nanami knew how to calm people down. She knew how to tell people the things they needed to hear. Not to mention do it in a way that was easy for a person to accept what she was saying. Even if what she was saying was a bitter truth. It wasn’t hard to see why someone would fall for her. Playing with the harem idea again, she would make for a brilliant center.
Kamisama Hajimemashita did a great job of maintaining one important element. Nanami was human. She could be there for people and cheer them on. Except she wasn’t a paragon of stability. There were things that got to her. Things that upset her. When she realized she had feelings for Tomoe, she got scared. She, like most people, didn’t want to go down such an uncertain road. Especially since Tomoe was hard to read.
Also, Nanami found herself in the position of God and in a world humans aren’t meant to interact with. Due to that, there were people who refused to give her a chance. She struggled with mastering her new responsibilities. Why would anyone expect anything different? There is no way a human could grasp the weight of divinity without there being one or two hiccups. There was much for her to prove and she never considered her situation to be a game.
Then there was Tomoe. He was jerk. There’s no getting around how much of a pain in the neck he could be. He was rude, conceited, and didn’t think much of anyone. This included Nanami when they first met. He was a difficult guy. Except he was never unlikable. Over the course of the series, you see why his attitude would be the way it was.
Tomoe was proud of his shrine and the former master he served under. Thinking in those terms, why wouldn’t he be a little annoyed to be the familiar to some human. That, of course, is different from him hating humans. He didn’t like anyone, but he didn’t go out of his way to cause problems.
With Nanami, Tomoe enjoyed teasing her. It was him being mean, but he did recognize when he went too far. He liked seeing Nanami frustrated and ticked off. Yet when he said something that hurt her, he would step back.
Over time, Tomoe began to see why Nanami was the one chosen to be the next God. As such, his loyalty to her become unshakable. Then when that barrier went down, he began to see Nanami as someone much more important.
What I liked most about Kamisama Hajimemashita was the fact that Nanami and Tomoe had mutual feelings for each other. This wasn’t one-sided or underdeveloped. Both of them realized they had fallen for one another. Much of the conflict came from the two trying to figure what the other was thinking.
Through that, Nanami and Tomoe had a much more enduring relationship. It took Tomoe’s thought's some time to become clear, even to him. Nanami was a bit more open about her feelings. She wasn’t a loudspeaker and she knew unrequited love was possible. Given their straightforwardness, Nanami and Tomoe couldn’t keep their thoughts secret. They did confront each other.
Nanami’s confession scene was great. She went for broke. Granted, Tomoe did unknowingly push her into that position. Either way, it was a good catalyst for the rest of the series and their relationship.
I don’t want this to turn into a harem because Nanami and Tomoe are more than enough. Their love story is what made Kamisama Hajimemashita fun.
Series Negatives
Kamisama Hajimemashita had a narrator (voiced by Vanilla Yamazaki). I will give this show credit, this wasn’t awful. Most of the time, the omnipresent voice in the sky kept their mouth shut. When they did speak, it wasn’t too distracting. Unfortunately, this series did use the narrator in ways that do annoy me. That and I never once felt it was necessary.
In case you were wondering, this is a nitpick on my part. Unlike most other shows with a narrator, I was able to tune this one out. I only bothered to mention it because I needed a segue into the things I didn’t like about this series.
The biggest problem with this show was it abandoning a potential element early on. Nanami was training to fulfill her role as the area's new God. Why then did we never see her do any actual training? The fact she was a God seemed unimportant throughout most of the show.
It would have been nice to see her perform some of her duties. While that did happen as the finale, the series framed it in a questionable way. The thing Nanami had to do was something the previous God couldn’t.Given how her predecessor’s experience wasn’t enough, what chance did Nanami have? She had trouble with even the most basic of tasks. How does this make any kind of sense?
Also, in the beginning, Tomoe made a pretty big deal about the dangers Nanami would face. There were demons and other Gods who would try to take Nanami’s powers.This happened, for a bit. Then it just kind of stopped. I'm not sure why that was the case. We got a few good characters out of this. Kurama and Mizuki for example.
Another thing, there was one massive detail this series ignored. Nanami and Tomoe had a connection between each other. One that seems to have been around for hundreds of years.
Had the show simply not found a resolution to this, that would’ve been annoying enough. Instead, the series decided to never bring it up. Did no one think to ask why Nanami had access to something she should've had no business possessing?
Had the show simply not found a resolution to this, that would’ve been annoying enough. Instead, the series decided to never bring it up. Did no one think to ask why Nanami had access to something she should've had no business possessing?
It was these kinds of oversights that littered Kamisama Hajimemashita. Think about any time you go on a nature hike. The scenery is beyond beautiful and you’re enjoying the experience. Except you think to yourself “Who’s the jackass” every time you see a piece of trash lying on the ground. I know I can’t help but think this is such an unnecessary waste.
Final Thoughts
As stated, there is a season two. I have no idea what this series has left to do. It ended on a satisfying note. I’m not sure where a continuation can go. I hope to get a surprise, but only time will tell.
For now, this show was magnificent. Calm, charming, relaxing, the atmosphere will put you in a good mood. The characters are fun. The story is funny. Nanami and Tomoe make for fantastic leads as well as an adorable couple. This hits all the right notes to fulfill your romance fix.
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Others in the Kamisama Hajimemashita Series
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