Kamigami no Asobi Review | Episode 1 & 2 (Spoilers)

(right to left) Takeru, Tsukito, Apollon, Yui, Baldr, Loki, Hades

Another anime I was looking forward to was Kamigami no Asobi - a series focusing on pagan gods as the love interests for Kusanagi Yui as they try to conquer high school for the future of both gods and humanity alike.

Initially, it was exciting to get two reverse harem anime in one season and honestly, the first episode was a let down but it picked up again by episode 2.

Episode 1 commences dramatically with gods fighting with one another and Yui, the protagonist, attempting to stop them. Apollon then makes his entrance and undergoes such a mahou shoujo transformation into his god form...it was hilarious since all that happened was removal of clothing and growth of hair.

Apollon Make-up!

Afterwards, it had a better paced screenplay with introducing Yui and her normal life. We know she is learning/doing kendo, has two brothers and parents, and lives in a shrine which is maintained by her family. It is probably due to this spiritual connection that she is chosen by Zeus for the mission.

Later, she and 7 gods are transported to a floating island. All of them are obviously confused and we go through an incredibly slow, 15 minutes as each of them are introduced through interactions with her.

A lot of shounen/yaoi material was also introduced as Norse, Greek and Shinto gods are featured and all have prior relationships within their folklore. The most interesting one was Baldr since he was so very clumsy and I sense a dual personality coming about...

Finally, Zeus summons her and they talk about the declining future of both the gods and humans. There was attempted comedy following the conversation but...it was kind of forced, as are most comedic scenes in the series so far. 

The purpose of the academy was to teach the gods humanity and save the future. At the end of the episode, we meet the 'default' male - the one with who the majority of scenes will take place with. 

Now, the animation is wonderful as it really focuses on lighting, shading, details, etc., as can be seen below:

It also had great promise of a strong female character and the difference was noted in her voice, where it is much deeper than other MCs of the same genre. Then it is revealed that she doesn't have a love life so she'll be the same as any other girl - completely inexperienced, leading to 'innocently seductive' scenarios and maintaining a confused/shocked facial expression at all times.

Kusanagi Yui

The downfall was the slow pace. I was just waiting for it to be over! 

Moving onto the second episode, it become a bit better with the opening sequence setting a pace - something the first lacked. It was also packed with a number clips focusing on enlightening the audience of the relationships already in place.

There wasn't any original clips with the MC & god as they were animated from the CGs:

It's always interesting to see the changes, especially in art (the game accommodates more western features whereas the is very Japanese) & Loki's personality is toned down a tad bit.

The main conflict in this episode is that not all the gods are up for participating in Zeus' plan. Each god reveals an aspect of his personality and by the end, the team formed for success consists of Yui, Apollon, Baldr & Tsukito. They do their best to convince the others to join the campaign for success!

The episode then ends with a lovely sequence of the main gods synced with the song. Here's a clip as a farewell:

It's a little difficult to watch the interpretations of the gods since Marvel dominated Norse folklore through Thor & Avengers whereas I've studied a great deal of Greek mythology. Nonetheless, it's still entertaining, even the take on Hades, who in mythology is a trickster/malevolent personality but a...misunderstood man in the anime.

The plot is forced but for the sake of reverse harem, it works. So until next time!