Ranked #437

Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Tenri-hen

When life gives you lemon, you make lemonade. So, what do you make when life gives you the responsibility of dealing with runaway spirits? Well, first of all, kiss your carefree life goodbye. In fact, your new life won't be the same again especially when your childhood friend shows up and starts explaining things in ways that are strange. Oh but that's not all as she seems to have another personality. Talk about double the trouble. Yes, it definitely will be busy around this year for a certain addicted pro gamer. His name is Keima and this summer, his dream of a relaxing vacation can go straight to hell.

Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Tenri-hen (also known as The World God Only Knows: Tenri Arc) are two OVAs bundled with the 19th and 20th volumes of the manga. For you diehard manga readers, it is based on Tenri Ayukawa (given the title), a girl with two sides of herself – one of them being shy and reserved, while the other is...well, the entirely opposite of that.

Though short, these two episodes captures a nice way of story telling in less than a span of 1 hour. The 2 OVA episodes connect with each other in a way similar to a mini arc focused on the start of the promotional poster, Tenri. Kaori Nazuka (Spice and Wolf, To Love Ru Darkness, True Tears) plays her voice acting quite well as she is known for portraying characters with a shy or reserved personality. On the other hand, there's Keima, the boy who has a genius intellect with a paranormal addiction with video games. In fact, he was hoping to spent his entire summer owning it up on the digital world but circumstances now arises to prevent all that.

Oh but that's not all because the trouble continues when a certain someone decides to take matters into her own hands and get some payback. The second half of it follows as similar suit but more insight on some childhood scenes between the duo. There's problems to be solved and the problem solver Keima is here.

The supporting characters are rather blend in these two OVA episodes. They just seem to be part in the background, in particular of a main character from the original series. However, unlike many of the OVA episodes we see in today's industry, TWGOK presents its romance aspects and drama right. In other words, there's no pointless fan service splattering all across your screen in the duration of the hour. In fact, it's more about a construction of friendship and how childhood days can bring people closer together in the future. TWGOK did this right and still retains its theme of dealing with spirits out on the loose. It's Keima's mission to help others in need but at the same time, he realizes that sometimes, it might be more than just about that. In these two OVA episodes, he reflected his words through with his actions especially in the second half.

Manglobe certainly does not disappoint this time around. In the artwork department, everything seems to still fit within the theme of the series. The lighthearted backgrounds mixed with the theme of gaming graphics occasionally (as a parody of Keima's gaming habits) are there. Beyond that, there's the chibi comedy scenes and some of the more serious drama reflected by its artwork. Tenri is not portrayed as some bishonen trying to impress the audience with her figure but rather as a girl who is reserved and creates a sort of balance between the confident Keima and herself.

The OST and soundtrack of the series is also performed well. While it's nothing too special to note, it fit the theme of these OVA episodes in ways that reminds us TWGOK's style of working its rhythms. While it lacked an opening theme, the two ED songs both performed by eyelis are well orchestrated and gets to the point especially related to our star Tenri in these two episodes.

Ultimately, I found these two OVA episodes quite enjoyable. Fitting two episodes from a highly anticipated series is never easy but this time around, Manglobe hits the bulls-eye just like how Keima scores his wins. It mixes in romance with supernatural themes along with comedy and drama all at once which gives the viewers a chance of examining these two episodes in a variety of ways. That way I saw these two episodes were sort of an experience on what's to come later on. Season 3 is on the horizon and definitely something to think about it. But first, check out these two OVA episodes because it's worth it. read more