Kamisama Kiss and the Dangers of Self-Hype

Production

I quite liked the technical side of Kamisama Kiss. In fact, there’s nothing special about the show’s production really. It’s competent in all aspects but neither flashy nor striking. But on a completely personal level, I happen to like the character designs. They look very shoujo. Ironically, it’s the style I tend to find the least attractive usually but for some reason, nostalgia maybe, I thought they were great this time around. It could also be because the art style is what I would have imagined for this sort of story. I don’t know, it just seemed to fit.

Actually, wait, there was one element that did stick out a bit. Well at least as far as I’m concerned. That’s the voice acting. The voice acting was really solid throughout and the chemistry between the characters could be heard. I do believe this elevated the series considerably. I’m not sure how this translates in the dub but if you want to hear some so realistic sounding it’s almost cringey, high schoolers in love, try the sub! I’m saying it’s good.

Story & Characters

I find Kamisama Kiss deeply frustrating. Let me try to explain. I love the premise. Ordinary High School girl becomes a minor god. That’s almost perfect. I would watch this story over and over again. It’s a magnificent premise in my book. And Kamisama Kiss uses it pretty well.

I also really liked all the characters. It was hard to narrow it down to just one favourite, and I didn’t! I will say, there isn’t that much in way of character evolution but I don’t think that matters much here. It’s a plot-driven story where seeing Nanami adapt to her new situation, and how she affects those around her is really where the interest of the story lies. As such we get to know the characters a bit and even though they don’t change much throughout the two seasons, they remain likeable and entertaining.

As for the actual events of the show, lots of them are great. I loved seeing Nanami try to play her role by meeting another god for the first time or putting together a festival to bring more people to the temple. Of course, I loved the supernatural stuff like a time-travelling adventure to get a dragon’s eye to free Tomoe or going back to a Tengu village with Kurama to save everyone. All of those were just as fun as they sound.

In fact, I liked almost everything about Kamisama Kiss except the romance. The romance is like half the show. And unlike other shows I have seen recently, it’s not because Nanami and Tomoe make for an awful couple. I mean, they got some issues to work out, that’s for sure, but I don’t think they’re too bad together. And I like them both a lot individually as well. Moreover, it’s not like I hated the romance aspect. It’s not bad in fact, a little repetitive here and there but generally pleasant.

And yet for some reason, every romance scene bored me half to death. I can’t explain it. I’m having a great time sailing along and then suddenly a character starts to talk about their feelings and it’s a chore for me to finish the episode. I almost dropped it a number of times but then I get a comedy or action scene, or just a glimpse of what’s coming up next and I’m like, no that’s awesome…

Part of me thinks I would have really liked Kamisama Kiss if I hadn’t arbitrarily decided that this was going to be my show. Like in my top 10 for sure, probably even top 5 and the show I could point to say, I like these types of romances. I must have been a bit disappointed on some level that I was constantly thinking how much more I would like it if it wasn’t a romance. But you know, that’s entirely on me!

You might like this anime if:

You will probably like this show. Unless you hate romance anime but if what you read so far sounds interesting to you, go ahead and give it a watch. Kamisama Kiss is one of those anime that I can say is pretty good, but just not for me. Or like 50% for me.

I save all my screencaps on my Pinterest and you can find more there if you are interested. But I still like to show you a few in the post. If you’re like me, screencaps are something that really helps you decide to watch an anime or not.