Ranked #2575

Kannagi (Manga)

It's been bothering me for a while that nobody reviewed this until now.
More than 7 years have passed since it started and no one wrote about it... weird.

Before starting with the review itself just a few considerations:
-If you watched the anime and now wants to know how the story continues you may start reading from volume 3, chapter 18. Thats where the anime adaptation stopped.
-Back in 2008 the author Eri Takenashi was hospitalized due to her illness and was submited to several exams which kept the manga in hiatus for undetermined time until Jan, 2012 when it was announced she would start working again. However, its publication depends on her health status, that's why there isn't a schedule of publication and you can't know for sure when the next chapter will be released neither if there will be one.
-Bandai Entr. also announced in the beggining of 2012 that they'd decided to drop Kannagi series and would stop translating, so now, the only way to read it is through online scanlating groups.
-Kannagi's popularity also dropped after a overreacted "otaku rage" on events that happened in volume 6 (similar to what was done with Haruhi's endless eight) ppl tearing volumes apart, flooding foruns, etc, etc... A lot of fan boys dropped the series although it wasn't smth THAT shocking.
-If this wasn't enought, the coast area of Shichigahama, the model town of Kannagi, was completely destroyed by the 2011 tsunami.
Life in the real world really sucks sometimes :/

:::Story 9/10:::
I'll do a little sumary of the story since the one here is really small. If you don't want to read it, just jump a few lines.
Kannagi's story goes around the life of Jin Mikuriya, a high school freshmen who's a little introspective and shy sometimes. He's very sensitive to spirits and supernatural stuff. When he did a sculpture for his art project, using a sacred piece of wood, it transformed into a vessel for the self-titled god of their land, Kannagi (Nagi)-sama. Nagi explains to Jin that she was in a mission in the "human world", she must clean the "impurities" that have been appearing as insects around the town and exorcise them back to where they belong. Along with that, she also needs to aquire popularity because if people start forgetting about her, or stops praying to her shrine with time her god powers will start decreasing until finally disapear.
Thats where their story together start.
[end of the summary]
In my opinion, this is one of the most interesting and original stories that I've ever seen, basically because it mixes supernatural with the "easy-going" slice of life without losing it comedy. The romance in it is also "moderated" so it doesn't turn into a romantic comedy. Right in the beggining you go straight to the point, without fillers. At each volume the characters are introduced to a new problem with very different situations, this way you never get bored of it.
There's also a lot of references to other stories and old mangas/anime.
What I like in Eri Takenashii is that she writes what is on her mind, and don't bother with what the fans are thinking or if someone wouldn't like it.

:::Characters 10/10:::
The supporting characters of this series are just amazing. If it was possible I would like to see a side-story of each one of them. The highlight of this manga would be for sure the comedy.
Daitetsu confusion over simple things and Tsugumi been jealous of Nagi and Zange made me lol for hours.

:::Art 9/10:::
I have nothing to complain about.
It's clean and really well-drawn. You have that simple "moe" style depending on the scene but also very detailed drawings.

:::Overall 8/10:::
I could (and would) give it a 10, but since you can't know for sure if there will be an ending and when will it come out, I have to stay with the 8/10 for now.
Hopefully we'll have another chapter published in the next months, it looks like thinks are moving to the ending. If so, I'll be glad to change this score.
Kannagi may be one of most underrated series in manga and anime. Once I read in a discussion board: " Kannagi is a great piece of work just with tragic circumstances. " which is true indeed.

Long review =P
I'm used to anime ones and there was so much to say... thx for reading it all, hope it was helpfull and PLEASE give Kannagi a try! read more