If you are looking for a TV series that is not dark, deep, perverted or violent you’ll enjoy the anime series, “The World God Only Knows”. Fun, entertaining and recommended!
Image courtesy of © 2012 Sentai Filmworks, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: The World God Only Knows: Season One
ANIME RELEASE: 2010
DURATION: Episodes 1-12 (300 Minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0, 1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, Full English Subtitles/Songs & Signs
COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks
RATED: TV 14D
RELEASED: January 24, 2012
Originally created by Tamiki Wakaki
Directed by Shigehito Takayanagi
Series Composition by Hideyuki Kurata
Music by Hayato Matsuo
Character Design: Akio Watanabe
Art Director: Ayumi Sato, Kayoko Tokou
Anime Production by Manglobe
Featuring the following voice talent:
Hiro Shimono/Chris Patton as Keima Katsuragi
Kanae ItÅ/Elysia de Lute Ima as Elysia de Lute Ima
Aoi YÅ«ki/Hilary Haag as Mio Aoyama
Ayana Taketatsu/Kaytha Coker as Ayumi Takahara
Kana Hanazawa/Hilary Haag as Shiori Shiomiya
Nao TÅyama/Brittney Karbowski as Kanon Nakagawa
Ai Nonaka as Library committee chairman
Atsuko Tanaka/Elizabeth Bunch as NikaidÅ-sensei
Hidetoshi Nakamura/Chris Hutchison as Mio’s father
Keima is a dating sim champion. Cute girls are rendered powerless by his irresistible game playing techniques. Too bad things aren’t that way in the real world… that is, until his tempting game playing causes a real live – and very bubbly – cute demon hunter named Elsie to materialize! Now Elsie wants Keima to help her free hot girls from sneaky demons who secretly possess them.
In 2008, manga artist Tamiki Wakaki created the series “Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai” (The World God Only Knows) which was serialized in “Weekly Shonen Sunday” and is still ongoing today.
In 2010, an anime adaptation of the series featuring 12-episodes were created and featured anime produced by Manglobe (“Deadman Wonderland”, “Samurai Champloo”, “Ergo Proxy”, “House of Five Leaves”). The series is directed by Shigehito Takayanagi (“Galaxy Angel”, “Kanamemo”, “Trigun”), screenplay by Hideyuki Kurata (“Bamboo Blade”, “Excel Saga”, “R.O.D. – the TV-“), music by Hayato Matsuo (“Saint Tail”, “Transformers Armada”, “Saint Tail”), character design by Akio Watanabe (“Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko”, “Nurse Witch Komugi”, “Akiba-Chan”) and art direction by Ayumi Sato (“Sacred Blacksmith”, “CANAAN”, “Hell Girl: Two Mirrors”) and Kayako Tokou (“House of Five Leaves”, “Heroman”, “Angel Beats!”).
The series revolves around Keima Katsuragi, a high school student who is obsessed with dating simulator videogames. And because he is so good with these games, he is known on the Internet as “The God of Conquests” in which many all over the Internet would come to him for advice on how to handle situations in how to approach girls on these games.
But while he is a master at getting girls on the video games, because he is introverted, he has not been able to have any real girlfriends. In fact, because he is constantly playing video games even in class, many in school regard him as an otaku.
Meanwhile, in Hell, there are problems as spirits from Hell have escaped and have possessed several girls. And now, a demon from Hell and new Spirit Hunter named Elsie has been chosen to find someone in catching these spirits. And because Keima is known as “The God of Conquests”, Elsie feels that he is the only person that can help her.
So, she sends him a contract for his help but for Keima, he thinks its an invitation to a video game and agrees.
Immediately, he is greeted by the cute and bubbly demon named Elsie and finds out from her that he has signed a contract, breaking the contract can lead to him being beheaded and killed. And in order to complete the contract, he must help catch runaway spirits that have hidden inside the hearts of girls. The only way she can get these spirits if Keima uses his method in “conquering” girl’s hearts and make them fall in love with him, thus filling their heart with love and pushing the spirits out of their body.
As Elsie adapts to the human world by becoming Keima’s illegitimate sister and attending his school and vouching for him (she has no idea that people think of him as an otaku), together they work in conquering a girl’s heart in order for her to catch the spirits and bring them back to Hell.
“The World God Only Knows: Season One” comes with twelve episodes. Here is spoiler-less summary of each episode:
- FLAG 0.0: God of Conquest – An OAV/short prologue introducing Elsie as she becomes a spirit hunter.
- FLAG 1.0: Love Makes the World Go Round – The introduction of Keima and how he must get through Ayumi’s heart.
- FLAG 2.0: Demon of a Sister – Elsie becomes Keima’s illegitimate sister and both run into Mio Aoyama, a rich girl.
- FLAG 3.0: Drive My Car – Keima and Elsie learn that he must free Mio’s heart.
- FLAG 4.0: On a Crusade – Keima is hooked on the game “Crayon” but the game is full of bugs and keeps looping and requires Elsie’s help.
- FLAG 5.0: IDOL BOMB!! – Elsie is a big fan of pop idol Kanon Nakagawa, but when she goes to visit Keima’s school and finds out that he is not interested in her, she is shocked and depressed and tries to win him over to her music.
- FLAG 6.0: I’m Ordinary – Kanon is turning invisible because of the spirit is inside her. Can Keima help her?
- FLAG 7.0: Shining Star – Kanon prepares for her concert but her negative thoughts cause her to become invisible.
- FLAG 8.0:Â Coupling with with with – Elsie accidentally unleashes a Mandragon towards Elsie.
- FLAG 9.0: Inside & Outside the Big Wall – Keima wants Elsie to learn more about modern human history at the library, and while at the library she meets Shiori Shiomiya and detects a spirit inside her.
- FLAG 10.0: Inside of Me… – What strategy will Keima use in order to free Shiori’s spirit?
- FLAG 11.0: The Last Day – Shiori locks herself and barricades the library to prevent them from disposing the books, Keima tries to help her by sneaking into the library and confront her.
- FLAG 12.0: More Than a God, Less Than a Human – Because Keima has been busy catching spirits, he has a backlog of new games that he hasn’t played, so now he must go into “God of Conquest Mode” in order to play all six.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“The World God Only Knows” is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen and is presented in English and Japanese 2.0.
It is important to note that if you want the best video and audio quality for “The World God Only Knows”, a Blu-ray version of the series will be released on the same day. As for the DVD, “The World God Only Knows” is a colorful anime series featuring a good amount of the detail on character animation and art backgrounds. While I’m sure the Blu-ray version is much more vibrant with much better black levels and clarity, for the most part, the DVD quality is good, although it does have the usual softness that you come to see from anime TV series.
As for audio, both soundtracks are in 2.0 stereo and is front-channel driven. Voice acting is well-done on both the Japanese and English soundtracks. Especially the music which comes out quite cleary during Kanon Nakagawa’s story arc.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The World God Only Knows: Season One” includes the following special features:
- Music Videos – Featuring Kanon Nakagawa’s music videos.
- Clean Opening Animation
- Clean Closing Animation
Charming, heartwarming and fun, “The World God Only Knows” is an entertaining comedy series.
While the character of Keima and his passion for dating sims may not break any new ground for anime series (the anime series “Chaos: Head” takes a more darker approach to an obsessed otaku gamer), what I did enjoy about the concept of “The World God Only Knows” is its approach to Keima and Elsie trying to capture these spirits.
The series could have gone the banal route of becoming a harem anime series as Keima does use his charm in order to help each of these girls that have spirits within him, but one thing I would like to see explored is Keima’s growth as a person. The first season focuses on Keima, an obsessed otaku learning how to communicate with “2D” (real women) rather than video game girls, so you hope to see him make the transition in becoming a person from the experiences that he learns from each girl that he helps.
So, it would be interesting to see how things change with the character by season two, if there are any changes at all or if he’s literally going to stay as this introverted video game otaku, which would be sad.
As for the DVD, as mentioned earlier, if you want the best video and audio, you will definitely want to go with the Blu-ray release for “The World God Only Knows” otherwise, the DVD is still good, a bit soft on the picture quality but that is quite common with a lot of anime TV series. You do get the Kanon Nakagawa music videos which was a nice addition to the opening and closing themes.
Overall, if you are looking for a TV series that is not dark, deep, perverted or violent you’ll enjoy the anime series, “The World God Only Knows”. Fun, entertaining and recommended!
