Kamisama Dolls

*English is not my mother tongue. So, I hope everybody can understand this review. *

Starting off, I would say that this anime is what you can call "underrated". This anime is wonderfully writen and directed. Not only fot It's story, But also for the character line up. You will hardly ever find another anime with such an evolving antagonist. I always like comparing "Aki" with "Shogo Makishima " from Psycho-Pass. Those characters are what it is commonly known as "anti-hero". Besides, the story disinvolve in a way that step by step it show us more about the psycology behind them. I say this because, from ... the very beginning it is shown how Aki's mind works. Indeed, in certain point of the story he make us pose "Who is the real villain?". On the other hand, the contrast with Kyouhei is sensational. Not only because he shows the most humman side from this story. But, it also deletes any idea of him being the "hero" from this story. This is why it is so similar to Aki (shearing the characteristic of persuing their goals until believable frontiers). However, the way they achieve their goals is completely different. This contrast is even shown in the opening when they are facing each other. In the opening, Aki is leapt by sunlight. In comparison with Kyouhei who is surrounded by the night.

In addition, although the story and the character line up is awesome, the OST do not get behind. The songs from the Kakashis are simply enigmatic and the opening and ending are really beattiful. However, as well as the OST, the art design from the characters, especially from the Kakashis are very well achieved.

To sum this up, if you are looking forward a refreshing mecha-style show, you should make time in your schedule to watch "Kamisama Dolls". Hopefully, it gets S2 someday.

Main protagonist with a mysterious past, check. Cute little sister with a brother fetish, check. Buxom love interest lacking the powers of other characters, check. White haired friend of our main protagonist turned enemy, check. New character with unexplained ties to our heroes, check. Cute mascot to sell toys, check. Character with unrequited love for main protagonist, check. As you can see it's very cliched and all that's fine. The characters are designed great and the animation is smooth and fluid. I enjoyed this anime way more than I ever thought I would. But I have two major issues with this anime that lower its ... score for me.

Issue one is Aki and Kyohei's tragic past being a secret. Hibino is the only character who shouldn't be aware of this tragic story. Everyone else was present in their village at the time, so even if they don't talk about it (and mind you people talk) it would have been hard to keep this a secret. This makes the secret for the sake of the viewer, which in the end is pointless as it's revelation holds no bearing on the story itself. It just justifies Kyohei's attitude towards being a seki which didn't need to be a secret from us. They could have told us in episode one and it wouldn't change our feelings to these characters one way or the other.
Issue two is the lack of any clear conclusion to this story. The end promises more, but I've yet to see it. It's like they have way more story to tell and don't. Again I ask why introduce these shadowy puppet masters if their story will never be explored? Not just the end, but also Kirio's origins are revealed, but never questioned, they just accept the explanations they're given and it's the next episode.
An interesting aspect of this show that's not explored enough is the amount of public attention and damage done over the course of the series.
Given the story they actually tell I'm certain this could have been summed up in one two hour motion picture

Kamisama Dolls initially made me think that it was going to be better than it turned out to be. I’m going to preface this review by stating that the ending of the series is completely inconclusive, and it felt like there was a massive build-up for nothing. As well as weird plot conniptions that felt like you would only understand if you read the manga, but I don’t even know if the manga really explains anything else.

• Much like Rahxephon, there are creepy mechas that sing and that add an eerie atmosphere to the series, which I liked. To be honest, most of the ... characters were forgettable other than one character trait, like: this one is the little sister character, this one is just tits, this one is the creepy glasses fujoshi, etc.

• The only two characters of interest to me were the main two, because they seemed to be foils of one another and at the beginning of the series it kept it ambiguous as to which of them was actually evil and which one was good.

• The interesting twist got turned on its head later though, and dissolved very quickly. It seemed like the series was manically trying to do far too much for a thirteen episode series, so of course nothing would be resolved. Because of this, a character that I was excited to see Mahiru, was added last minute and lazily explained.

• She’s pretty forgettable on her own, she’s like a crazier Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion. There was also a weird twin reveal in the series that left me scratching my head. Luckily, the twin reveal wasn’t nearly as spastic as Zaregoto Series’ insane EVERYBODY’S A DOUBLE TWIST.

• The only character that has any merit or depth is Aki, and for the most part he seems wedged into the moody loner archetype, but I still thought his character was interesting. Brain’s Base did an excellent job with the visualsーit is a very pretty show. I would say that if you’re fine with an enjoyable series that leaves itself open-ended, then it’s worth a watch.

• Overall, this series has a lot of good ideas put into it. It’s an interesting brain baby, I just wish the execution had been better or that it had had twenty-six episodes instead of thirteen. Like I said, I have never been motivated to check out the manga, perhaps it goes more into depth with the plot. From the presentation in the anime, I give Kamisama Dolls a 4/10.