Ranked #349

Kannagi

"A great series that started with a bang but could have ended better."

A first glimpse of Kannagi will make you think the anime is overly simplistic and cliche. Don't be fooled! The everyday comedy throughout the early half of the show, plus the references to certain other anime/show, makes Kannagi a good one-day-marathon candidate. In fact, I would recommend even to those who are not interested to just spend a few hours to watch the entire series (takes no more than 5 hours of your lifetime).

As to be expected from a 13 episodes series, the story was a bit lacking, especially when attempting to clarify who Nagi really is at the end. Surprisingly it did not feel like the show was rushed, however the lack of explanation and the blurry conclusion really hurt the show near the end. As expressed by a fellow MAL member, "...and true the series did take a nose-dive when things got too serious [in the latter half]." - Master_M2K

But from a comedy anime perspective, Kannagi was an outstanding piece of art. Of course, there are other factors that also contributed to the overall success of this show as this review continues to break it down into components.

Perhaps the first thing that caught your attention about Kannagi is the high quality animation and superb soundtrack in the OP. Later you may find that the scenery too, are of exceptional quality. But strangely, there seems to be some slight inconsistency with the level of animation throughout the series leading to some attractive looking characters end up looking rather ugly at times. Fortunately, for the most part the background animation quality remain unchanged.

The CV of Kannagi, while most of them being fairly new to the industry, did a fantastic job in performing each character to their fullest. But if you are knowledgeable in the seiyu world and and are looking for big names, then you will probably be disappointed (well Mai Nakahara being perhaps the only exception, but her role in Kannagi was pretty limited in many ways).

The main casts have a decent amount of character development in the show at the expense of the side/supporting casts. Most of these developments were through daily interaction with one another as the viewers slowly take a deeper understanding of the general concept of the show. However, it gives the impression that the sidelined characters are somewhat "hollow" as very little was actually revealed about them. For instance, it would have been great to actually get a clear view of how Shino actually look with her eyes open.

Overall, Kannagi has proven its worth as one of the more entertaining show of 2008. While it may not top the chart in any particular category, it is still one that should not be missed by any anime lovers or hardcore otaku. read more

There will be no comparison between this anime and the manga

Kannagi is a 13 episode series that drives its plot through comedy and character interaction. When the fall season started, I originally wasn't going to watch this show since the whole goddess popping out of nowhere fiasco has been done numerous times. Once I saw the OP however, I decided to take a look at the first episode and I was definitely glad that I took this up. It takes the conventional "boy meets girl" theme and builds it up with plenty of interaction, parody, and drama.

Story: The plot starts off rather strong and fast with our protagonist, Mikuriya Jin, encountering a goddess called Nagi that has taken its vessel out of a carving Jin made from the local shrine's holy tree. The plot contains no action packed scenes of Nagi trying to banish great evil impurities but it instead drives the plot with comedic devices. The comedy is the show's main driving force. The interactions between the characters are all amusing even if they're bickering over the simplest things. The pure randomness of the humor adds in the extra feel that makes the comedy even all the more funnier.

The original plot unfortunately gets lost in the middle of the series with several episodes dedicated to nothing but comedic interaction between the characters but it ends with a strong finish in the last two to three episodes.

Art: The animation is not exactly the most crisp and clear cut state-of-the-art work but it's the way the animation flows seamlessly together that makes it great. Each scene has many small intricate movements such as a flick of hair waving about or background characters that actually move to even the sleeve of a shirt moving about in the wind. This makes the scenes appear to be natural and alive, not stiff and lacking.

Sound: The soundtrack is not a great memorable collection of BGM that'll have you scrambling for the OST. The high points of it would have to be both the OP and ED. Both of them shows a sharp contrast in how the anime is driven. The upbeat OP details the slice of life and comedic moments while the mellow ED details the seriousness and melancholy of the show.

The VAs are great too in bringing out the emotions in each scene, whether it be comedic or serious. Tomatsu Haruka not only does a great job at both OP and ED, she truly brings out the character of Nagi straight off the paper.

Character: There are only very few characters who actually receives an ample amount of development but the great supporting cast just brings everybody together. The various dialect between the characters just seem natural and it shows a lot of personality to all of them even if they don't have any large amount of development given to them.

And not to mention the main male character is actually pretty damn normal (except for his strange ability to see impurities). He's not a hot-headed brawns-over-brains idiot. He's not an annoying arrogant bastard. He's not a self-righteous piece of shit. He's just a completely normal guy who goes to high school. Nagi is a great character herself. She may appear to be slightly arrogant but the way she goes about doing things is just pure hilarious. She'll go off on how she's a great goddess and doesn't get all bitchy when Jin will occasionally smack her upside the side.

Kannagi has a great cast of supporting characters too. The supporting characters have some of the best lines in the whole show. From Akiba's "It's a Sony" line to Takako's karaoke concert, the supporting cast gives great development towards the main characters.

Enjoyment/Overall: Kannagi may have had its plot get lost somewhere in the middle, but its comedy more than fulfills its part. It's supported by a great cast of different characters and the different little scenarios they get themselves into is great. Kannagi is a fun little show with some very lulz moments and is able to deliver a strong finish too with its plot. read more