Kamisama Dolls

Since time immemorial the worship of higher powers has been a cornerstone of human civilization, but as mankind's understanding of the universe grew, so did his technology, and many ancient beliefs were gradually replaced or discarded by one means or another. Not all of them fell by the wayside though, and while some religions adapted their rituals and practices in order to survive in the ever-changing world, others were carefully hidden to keep the old ways alive, or to protect their secrets from being misused by humanity.

Originally a manga by Yamamura Hajime, Kamisama Dolls begins with a rather nightmarish scene in which three children are being chased by a strange creature that can fire beams of energy from its mouth. The kids appear to have some kind of "robot" that tries to protect them while the brown-haired boy tries to carry the little girl and his friend to safety. Unfortunately the creature is too strong, but before it can land the final blow the brown-haired boy and the "robot" somehow manage to destroy it.

Years later, Kuga Kyouhei moves to Tokyo to attend college, and to escape his traumatic past.

It all sounds very exciting, but while the rather dramatic opening suggests that Kamisama Dolls is an action series, that isn't actually the case. Although combat does play an important role, it's often incidental to the main thrust of the narrative, and the plot is geared more towards character drama than anything else. In addition to this the series is refreshingly straightforward, but alongside this simplicity is a surprising degree of depth as the personal histories of the leading characters and the politics of the three priestly families play a major part in the story.

That said, while the simplistic approach makes everything easy to understand, it also exposes the fact that Kamisama Dolls can sometimes have difficulty deciding what it should be. This is mainly due to the rather slipshod manner in which the action and drama are meshed together, but the addition of some rather inane comedy and the inability to maintain a steady narrative progression don't help the show at all. To further compound matters there are several scenes that don't actually fit anywhere in the story, and because these all seem to include Shiba Hibino in some kind of compromising position, it's more than likely that they're only designed to promote merchandise involving her.

There's a surprising mundanity to the visuals that may cause some viewers to assume that Brains Base simply didn't care care enough about the series to make it look good, but it should be pointed out that a part of this is due to the limitations that come with any adaptation. The characters, background imagery and settings are decidedly "average", and there's a startling lack of anyone who is truly outlandish or flamboyant. In addition to this the animation is rather utilitarian, and while the basic ranges of movement are handled well, it's the combat between the Kakashi (the "dolls" that are considered gods), that really steals the show.

Which brings up an interesting point.

For many viewers it can often seem as though all of the creativity and imagination has been applied to the Kakashi, but Kamisama Dolls has a surprisingly subtle visual contrast at work that suggests that the somewhat bland designs and the straightforward animation are purposeful measures. Many studios feel an almost habitual need to exaggerate the characters in some way, but in order to promote the idea that everyone in the series is an average human being (including the Seki - the "priests" who control the Kakashi), Brains Base have approached the design with normality in mind. Sadly, they went a bit too far with the everyday look, and without anything extravagant to balance things, many people may find this a visually dull series.

Thankfully the same can't be said of the acting.

At first glance it may seem as though much of the dialogue is rather bland, but in truth this is nothing more than a continuation of the drive to depict the characters as normal, if flawed, human beings, and in a very real sense it works. The script is filled with conversations that only peripherally include the viewer, and although explanations about past events can sometimes become a little heavy handed, there's a logic to the serious parts of the dialogue that is missing in many other shows. The seiyuu are thus able to deliver some good performances, and the usual elements of cheese and ham have been toned down in favour of "normal" reactions.

That said, the slightly banal comedy does cause a few problem, and some of the actors seem to have difficulty coping with the rapid change from seriousness to humour.

One of the surprising things about Kamisama Dolls is the musical choreography, even though the majority of the series is free of any instrumental accompaniment. The few tracks on offer are usually reserved for tense scenes, comedic moments or action sequences, and their usage is generally rather subtle - by necessity. The haunting, ethereal songs of the Kakashi add an extra dimension to the background music that, at times, is almost religious in its effect, and the inclusion of these strange little pieces adds a completely different element to certain scenes. While the timing of all of these different audio strands isn't perfect, it's clear that attention has been paid as it would be all too easy for everything to degenerate into a cacophonous mess.

The introductory song, "Fukanzen Nenshou" by Ishikawa Chiaki, has a decidedly Latin flavour that fits rather well with the stylized character montage used to open the show. In contrast to this the ending theme, "Switch ga Haittara" (by the same artist), is a bittersweet yet melodic piece that plays out alongside a rather interesting take on the traditional closing sequence. While the ED does feature images of the more prominent character, some of them are merely patterned silhouettes until they appear in the series proper. In addition to this a few of the more important scenes from the episode are recapped in the "eyes" of the Kakashi, which may be a metaphor about how the "gods" view the actions of man, or it may just be a case of aesthetics.

At first glance many of the characters may appear to be nothing more than bland variations of certain stereotypes, but while there's an element of truth to that perception, it only really applies at the beginning of the series. There's actually a decent amount of characterisation from the outset, especially where the lead roles are concerned, yet while these do make a reasonable platform upon which a character can be "grown", many anime fail when it comes to the underlying logic of this process. In that respect Kamisama Dolls deserves a little praise, in particular for the manner in which Kyouhei's apathy and Aki's desire for revenge are justified as both mesh with a few small, but important, threads in the plot. In addition to this the supporting characters offer a nice mixture of personality types, and there are occasions where they are used to cleverly foreshadow some event that will happen at a later time in the storyline.

That said, certain developmental aspects fall on the shallow side because the show has difficulty getting to the point, and more importantly, sticking to it. More often than not a scene will offer some insight into the reasons for a person's actions or behaviour, but this is quickly ruined by unnecessary fanservice and bland comedy. While these moments do visibly decrease towards the end of the series, they do a lot of damage to the viewer's perception of the characters.

Kamisama Dolls is one of those anime that tries to give the audience a little bit of everything, and because of that it fails to deliver on some of the more important aspects of the story. As a concept, the series has a lot to recommend it, but at a mere twelve episodes there's simply not enough time to develop the plot or the characters to the degree necessary to make the narrative work. In addition to this the emphasis on "normality" may cause people to assume that the show is nothing more than a healthy dose of tedium.

Patience is a virtue though, and the rewards can sometimes be surprising. The series really does take things up a few notches towards the end of the show, and the clarifications and justifications begin to make much more sense. It also becomes clear that the first twelve episodes are merely the first portion of a larger story, and in all honesty if the follow up maintains the pace and progression that occurs at the end of the first series, then the second season could well be one to watch.

While this anime does have many flaws, unlike many other shows it can also redeem itself, but only if the next installment lives up to the true potential of the concept.

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I have finished this series and this is an update on my original 4 ep review

Story: 8/10
The story is pretty good. Though i admit when i first read the summary i didn't think it would be. I expected more of a chill anime without any killing, mass murder, psychopaths, and rival clans but i was wrong. It moves at a good pace and development has been very good imo. They're cliffhangers so it makes you want the week to go on by faster. All 13 episodes are either decent or pretty good. The main plot is kind of vague though and that's one thing i don't like about it.Even though the plot is vague the story is still going somewhere. It isn't the best story out there but it is unique and interesting though sometimes the fights that happen in the anime are provoked by really stupid reasons or something really cliche happens.All in all the story is something that makes you wanna watch it even if there are some obvious faults to it but nothing is perfect.

Art: 7/10
Not much to say here. I'm not really bothered or pay attention much to the art style. All i can say it's average. The art looks pretty good for me and there is nothing annoying about it.I have notice that the animators have used a couple of very creative tricks to minimize their workload. For example in the OP it isn't animated much but they use moving lines to make you feel that their is more to it than still shots of characters and some animation.Imagine the OP without any of the lines and you can see that it would be boring.

Sound: 6/10
Again not much to say. The characters sound okay. There are a couple high pitched screams that might pop some eardrums but there seems to be no one with an annoying voice so yay. The bgm's does help with atmosphere and as for corny music i haven't notice any since I'm really tolerant of sound. The op and ed sound good but nothing special.There are also themes to each "doll" (depending on the character that uses the "doll") that the "dolls" sing and they sound really catchy to me because it seems that the tune represents the characters personality.

Character:9/10
The characters are pretty damn good. I would say they have depth in them and character development have been good too imo. There are badasses ,weirdos, and sissys. Our main character kyouhei (not sure if i spelled it right) is a sissy on the outside but glimpse of his past and a couple of character development scenes prove otherwise. Some characters might seem useless but after a few episodes you see where they fit into the story. The main characters do develop a considerable amount towards the end of the story and they go a bit deeper within our main character Kyouhei.

Enjoyment: 9/10
I love it. It's very enjoyable and something to look forward to watching. Most people will like it unless you are really particular about the anime you watch. I believe that enjoyment is the most important factor so i will describe my experience. The first episode was enjoyable though i look at it and said ok where are you going with this. As the story goes on i notice that the dialogue is a bit awkward and some scenes are really unnecessary, for example some of the comedic moments seem really out of place. The end is a cliffhanger and i was disappointed but itching for another season. Not the best ending in the world and kind of sucks imo. Even with all of its faults it was a enjoyable watch so I will guarantee that you most of you would like it so give it a TRY.

Overall: 8/10
If i could compare it to another anime it would be like higurashi no naku koro ni. Why? Because there is also a messed up village with some weird traditions, moe girls, and lightheartedness followed by blood or anger but it isn't as extreme as higurashi. So it's higurashi to a lesser degree. Some people might actually find it generic (in some ways it is) but it isn't. It's above average. In a sense that it's not in the "DAMN this is good" category but in the "hmmm this is pretty good" category.I liked it because even with a restricted budget the studio was able to produce a wonderful but not perfect anime.

So yeah it is an above average anime with a pretty good story, okay art and sound, interesting characters, enjoyable, and overall pretty good.

I would recommend this or at least try one episode and you would be hooked. Its better than most anime in its season (maybe the best) imo. Manga time =) no cliffhangers for me.

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I just read some review about Kamisama Dolls, and, yeah, I saw the score too. It was quite funny so I'll talk my mind here.

Kamisama Dolls, at first it seems like a good anime. Art okay, Sound that you don't even hear -which is neither good or bad-, story seems great... Well, the characters are pretty shitty but Aki is here so you kind of find some comfort.

That's what you think when you've finished to watch the first episode.

But... You keep going on to just find out that while Kamisama Dolls makes 13 episodes, it could have be only 4. You're overbored most of the time, you have episode who just shows the characters who aren't even worth a penny, others that are just here because of some psychological disorders from most of the characters, other are here to show us a new guy come in the game.

The thing is, all this don't even have a point.

The hero is a dumbass who goes all red for nothing, his sister have a brother complex and in the first episodes she makes all sort of sound (what is she thinking?), the hero's lover is limited to a pair of tits, etc, etc...

You know what is really sad ? It's the story. It isn't that bad it's just that when you don't know how to use the interesting points of your anime, you don't make it.

It can be a good anime to watch, but in this case, just watch the first, sixth, tenth and maybe the last episodes. The rest is just trash and even the end isn't a end. Kind of religious guy the producer to hope a second season when he has such an anime.

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So, the name of this show was Kamisama Dolls, so I thought it would be light hearted like how Kamisama Kiss was. Boy was I wrong and looking back on it now; I’m not sure why I thought it was like that. We started out with a really haunting depiction of a chase scene that had a large monster going after what I thought to be three children. It was surprising but also a little intriguing in the sort of morbid way. Then again, after the title screen we were into a bar with people drinking. These sorts of jumps just make me wonder what I got myself into.

Our main character, Kyouhei Kuga (Generic first name is generic), is pretty much a normal guy. At least, normal as a main character can be. He’s clueless, bland in his personality, considered a wimp, all the things that seem to make up a good main harem love interest… I mean main character. Sorry, but he just doesn’t stand out except when he is looking back at his tragic past. Sadly, because of this tragic past, he acts like a tragic hero. The only thing that seems important to him is his little sister Utao. He is always trying to train her so that whatever happened in the past wasn’t going to happen in the future. Now whatever that one thing in the past was is a spoiler because they never come right out and say it for a long time. I do wonder, how is it that in a guy from a village where there can be names like Utao and Hibino, names that are actually not normal at all, how the heck did he get one of the most generic names out there?

Utao is his rather cute little sister, and for some reason she is seen as the one that has the most to lose more then any of the other kakashi controllers. She is clumsy, ditsy, and a little bit selfish but is pretty much the normal young girl that is in every show. The only odd thing is that she is the character that I would have considered to be the main character as her dealing with controlling the massive Kukuri would have been more interesting. Sure the whole back story about what happen with Kyouhei is alright, but it’s been done before. The wars between a small town and its religion, also been done. Little girl with a surprisingly strong power, been done but I have never really seen it with something that is so close to being a god like this. The only thing that I don’t like is how the ending segment is basically puppet her and Kukuri puppet being goofs.

His love interest, Hibino Shiba, seems like an average girl herself being a very old childhood friend from the small village that Kyouhei is from. She is surprisingly calm about everything that is happening… except when someone asks if she is dating Kyouhei, then she freaks out. Geeeeee… wonder why? Anyway, I consider her more along the lines as a filter for us viewers since she knows nothing of her village or the temple (which seems really surprising since she is from the same village). Kyouhei and Utao feed her the information and then spoon feed it to us. It is my belief that is all that she is for since she seems to force herself to be in a lot of different situations where she really doesn’t have to be. Oh, and FWI, get used to everyone calling her the stupid woman with the big tits. Everyone calls her that throughout the whole show and they don’t even try to hide them.

Aki is basically our main villain of the show… at least I first thought he was. This is partly where the story gets to sound like every other story before it. The main character is betrayed by his friend and so moves away, his friend seeking revenge goes after him. It doesn’t really matter that Kyouhei isn’t the one controlling Kukuri; Aki just goes after him and kills anyone in his path. And then there are some odd things that happen that make me wonder exactly what he is. Again, he is another character that I would have been really happy to have as a main character then the one we did get. I think his back story would be more interesting and have enough action to be fun.

The village that these characters came from has a large secret and no, it’s not a spoiler. They come right out and say it mostly in the first episode. They have Gods that they can control although I believe them more to be living dolls with strong spiritual powers. I guess that is a really awesome idea if the episodes didn’t always seem to end up with a slice of life bit thrown in. I can understand that they were trying to show how different the characters were to one another, the way they grew up and so on.

The animation is actually very interesting, I wouldn’t say the same as most of the stuff out there in this time frame, but on the other side it does have its own takes. I don’t know if it’s just me ending up watching all the childish bubbly sort of anime that makes this one feel different, but it does. The designs of the Kakashi (The dolls with god powers) are actually rather unique and I really fell in love with the cute Kukuri the first moment I saw him/her/it. This was made by the same people who created ‘Durarara!!’ And ‘Baccano!’ so the art style has picked up a lot of that design. Since I liked that design from them, I also did like this one. Unfortunately, with that also comes the less awesome parts. Some action scenes actually seem to lose all manner of design every once in a while, characters lose some movement, and so on. This does not happen very often and most of it is really good, but once in a while you do get a hiccup in animation. The ending segment was a little out there, and I did not like it one bit. It was a small segment after the ending credits that are called ‘Kamisama Dolls Corner’. I don’t know what that was all about but it was seriously disturbing. Basically we got live action hand puppets of Utao and Kukuri moving about. You could actually tell where the hand was underneath Utao or the stuck under Kukuri because of how bad the green screen affect was. It was basically a slap in the face to the whole show. It broke the tension that the show had and I almost didn’t finish it because of how badly it took me out of the show.

The music doesn’t really stand out that much. Though I did like the opening song, it would be hard for me to pick it came out of no where like other animes such as Fullmetal Alchemist or Hellsing. It was cute and sweet but again, nothing that stood out. I also liked whatever cute and soft song Kukuri was singing whenever she started moving about. It was very sweet and almost had a calming affect against the harshness of some of the scenes. The voice acting was actually rather good, and I was surprised to find that one of the male characters was played by Luci Christian. She actually sounded like a guy that was the right age instead of a girly guy. I can’t tell you who it is that she voices as that is a spoiler but just trust me that it works. Aki’s voice actor, David Matranga, did a really good job having this really crazy point and then making sure it calmed down enough to sound methodical. The rest of the voice actors are really good but didn’t stand out. When everyone has a pretty good voice, then nothing really stands out over the whole.

Overall, the show is actually really interesting and I like the twists and turns of the show. The sad part is that I feel this had an ending that yelled out ‘read the manga’ with so many questions left unanswered. The series was either to short or it decided to goof around to much to give us enough information. I still have questions left unanswered and still am confused as to many things about the village and the Kakashi but since there is no second season and the manga seems to be hard to track down, I don’t know if I will have a actual answer. One last thing, the ending credits are really stupid when they show scenes that were not in the show and yet it’s the last episode.

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