Kamisama Dolls had all the trappings of a great show. A fantastical setting, an evil cabal which rules the world behind the scenes, and widespread insanity. Yet it failed miserably. Why?
I usually try to begin my reviews with a paragraph summarizing what the show is about. You’ll notice that this time, though, I left it out. That’s not because I’m lazy (although I am); it’s because I couldn’t summarize Kamisama Dolls. What is the show’s focus and purpose? I couldn’t even say, and this is the show’s biggest problem.
It’s just utterly pointless. What is the main conflict? There is none. We just follow Kyouhei around Tokyo, and stuff happens to him. He ogles Hibino’s breasts. Utao gets jealous. Kyouhei yells at Akio. Random people from the village come to town and attack Utao. People get tasered. More crazy girls show up. There’s just no rhyme nor reason to any of it. Nothing fits together, and each of the pieces appears to be added on the creators’ whim.
In the same vein, the main characters have no sense of purpose either. Kyouhei just sits around getting angry. Instead of coming across as neutral, like your typical harem protagonist, he actually comes across as negative, self-righteous, self-centered and unlikable. I’m not sure if that’s what the creators were going for. Next comes Hibino, whose defining characteristics are her disgustingly large breasts and propensity for being kidnapped. Then is Utao, Kyouhei’s sister with a huge brother complex. At the end of the show, Utao’s sole motivation for fighting is because her enemy accidentally stepped on the cookies she baked. Seriously, guys?
Kamisama Dolls had an interesting setting. It had one of the best OPs of the season. But what’s the point? Why should I care about these characters, who don’t seem to care about anything themselves?
- Plot / Script – F – What’s the point?
- Characters – D – Points for insanity, but little else.
- Production – C – Radically inconsistent animation. But great OP / ED, I guess.
- Overall – D
Recommendations – Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, Star Driver, Mai HiME
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I dropped KamiDolls in the 3 chapther, Utao was annoying and Kyohei was useless. Brains Base is much more concentrated in Penguindrum and Natsume, to bother with this.
Also, great performance by Kana Hanazawa is nice see her doing somenthing completely different.
True, at least they are doing well with Penguindrum and Natsume. I’d much rather have one excellent show than three decent ones.
And yeah, Kana Hanazawa as Mahiru was nice. It’s a shame that a character who came out of nowhere on the third to last episode for a story that went nowhere was one of the highlights of the show….
They couldn’t have executed this show any worser than this. The manga was decent, but the ideas didn’t exactly translate on the screen. Animation really didn’t pick up to the end and speaking of the ending, proabably a huge WTF for people unfamiliar with the manga. Sadly, it was going toward the better end with the manga, yet we won’t see another season anytime soon, since the manga is like up to nine chapters and they used like seven just for the Anime.
I haven’t seen the manga, but I can’t imagine they would have adapted it if it was this bad. Honestly, I don’t particularly want to see another season anyway…
I’m not sure if that’s what the creators were going for.
I’m not sure if the creator’s even knew what they were going for.
Natsume was fantastic and Penguindrum is doing great but it seems like Kamisama Dolls has deluded itself into thinking that we’re at the edge of our seats for a sequel. I– what?
I don’t know what they’re thinking. I doubt it will even get a sequel.
The show wasn’t totally pointless, but it was unfocused. The main idea is that Kyohei and Aki, in their own ways, are trying to get away from their past and the village, yet they both realize that this is impossible for them. The direction the story took to get there was just too distracted by Utao/Kirio and Hibino.
I doubt this will get a sequel outright, but they should try to put in a proper ending in the disc release.
They were so distracted that they forgot to focus on the main idea at all, except as an afterthought.
I kind of doubt they could fit a proper ending in on the disc release— a single episode or two doesn’t seem like it would be enough.