Kamichu! Episode 2 - Please, God

July 12th, 2005

OP - Hare nochi HARE! (Maho Tomita) - no animation yet (ever?) but we’ve got an OP of sorts at least - I kind of like the song, although here’s hoping it gets a decent animated background.
ED - Ice Candy (MAKO) - ick, MAKO should not be singing. Please, never again. Peppy tune, sure, but the vocals are entirely uninspired.

Matsuri plans a special festival to celebrate Yurie’s godhood, and also decides she’s going to become her shrine’s new deity - the old one, Yashima, vanished three months ago, and Matsuri’s dad (Miko is little sister) has decided to give up being the head priest of the shrine. They decide to go searching for him, and Yurie crafts special ofuda to allow her friends to see spirits too - one short, oboe-laden montage later, and they’ve given up for the moment, until some friendly “fishermen” point them to a mountain top and a gods-only entrance
. Yurie journeys through the land of the gods and eventually finds Yashima, who decided to get out of small town boredom and try and start a rock band! Anyway, Yurie convinces him to come back, they have the festival, and everybody blushes a disturbing amount.

One of the things I disliked most about ROD The TV were the stupid blushes on all the characters, and perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised by their prevalence in Kamichu! given the creative team. I don’t get why they all have to be so embarassed all the time! Anyway, while not quite as immediately grabbing as the first episode (less action, obviously, although we still got some great visuals in the land of the gods) I still quite enjoyed this episode of Kamichu! - I’m not quite sure what Kurata intends to do with the storyline, and I think that’s where my interest will lie. I don’t know if I like the characters enough for them to support a slice-of-life show that much - Yurie and Miko in particular are waaaay too moe for my liking. If we get some decent focus on Yurie and Kenji’s relationship (or lack of one!) and some more exciting moments like last episode’s typhoon I should be pretty happy methinks.

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Kamichu! Episode 1 - The Unkindness of Adolescence

July 4th, 2005

Last night, Yurie Hitotsubashi became a god. Unsurprisingly, her best friend Mitsue doesn’t really believe her, but the hyperactive Matsuri decides to do so, and tries to get Yurie to perform a miracle. Yurie accidentally conjures up a typhoon that threatens her home town and the spirits who live there - although she manages to stop it, how is she going to juggle her life as a middle schooler with being a god and trying to win the heart of Kenji, the head of the calligraphy club who can’t even remember her name?

Like everyone else has said, wow, the animation in Kamichu! is incredible. It really feels a lot like Studio Ghibli - mainly because of the storyline, which has cutesy spirits living amongst everyday people and a very Chihiro-esque heroine (plus the whole typhoon scene with the flying and all that was particularly inspired by Miyazaki, methinks). On top of this it’s actually quite engaging; nothing especially new, this first episode actually reminded me a lot of Windy Tales (before it got boring, anyway), but still pretty damn good. Definitely looking forward to the next episode!

Incidentally, you DID all catch Yomiko Readman at the back of the classroom at the beginning, right?

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