Asagiri no Miko

I came upon this anime when I was browsing through a local comic store. As I had $50.00 on hand, I really felt that I should buy something almost purely on impulse, and that's when I saw a lovely little box set of, 'Shrine of the Morning Mist' (or, 'Asagiri No Miko.')

So, the story of Shrine of the Morning Mist is not much to get hyped up over. From my perspective, it was quite generic: A young boy (Tadahiro) who appears to be the love interest of a girl (Yuzu) who is a main character, holds a demonic power in his eye that has been ... passed on from generations of his family. As such, he attracts demons because of this. The main girl, who is a Shrine Maiden in training, vows to let no demon touch him, and with the aid of her friends who later compose, 'The Priestess Club', they attain weapons and fight demons who would target Tadahiro.

As episode 1 was nearing its end, I was fairly interested in the series. There was a villain who had a creepy yet cool-looking mask specifically after Tadahiro, and who wouldn't love monster-battling? If that wasn't enough, the comedy was OUTRAGEOUSLY funny!
There was a catch that caught me off guard by the end of episode 1, though: Tadahiro was Yuzu's cousin.
At that moment, I was really thrown off. I mean, its not exactly incest, but they're related nonetheless. Still, they remained as the main couple of the show until the very end (and they're falling in love was actually explained in better terms by the halfway point of the series, which I liked.)

The characters in the series were very likeable, I must admit. Even by the end, you'll be feeling emotionally attached to a few of the villains. Yuzu's friends were absolutely hysterical a lot of the time, as well.

Overall, I think the story could have been a little better (but I guess we would have to blame the manga it was based off of for that) but the characters, music, and comedy were the series' highest points, and if only for those reasons, I would say that you shouldn't pass up watching this anime.

Overall: 7/10

Thank you for reading!

"Morning Mist Shrine" is one of those "rare gems."

It's "romantic comedy" without stooping to the level of "cruelty towards shounen" and "garbage bin / toilet humor."

It's "magical girl themed" that keeps its feet on the ground. No magical transformations or running away from the reality that guys exist.

It's "posse themed" with an added touch of friendship, love, and the "even the bad guys are humane" sub-theme.

And it can tell within 12 minutes for 26 episodes the type of story a lot of "for the otaku" animu can't tell within half an hour for 300 episodes. Unfortunately.

I recommend this title to anybody who wants to watch ... anime for anime's coolness and not for how harsh it is against "casual / normal people."

The word bland describes this Anime well.

I don’t have issues with the art style having watched quite a few older series which employ the art style used yet utilizing such a simple style actually makes errors stand out even more. Everything feels like the characters were done by someone still learning the craft. What I don’t know is whether this is the fault of the animation staff or the creator of the Manga. There are a few beautiful watercolors, yet most of the scenes are overly simplistic and the character design doesn’t fit with the actual scenery style making the work even more jarring.

As for ... the actual characters – there is no getting around the fact they are boring. They are comprised of one or two traits, but the main characters main trait is clumsiness which makes me bring up something quite a few have heard since Twilight came out – clumsiness is a flaw. I don’t understand why the guy they’re supposed to be protecting isn’t involved with the plot more let alone why he’s not allowed to fight let alone given a method of fighting. In fact, nothing ever really gets explained. The characters get their powers easily.

On top of this the plot is high school drama with powers in addition to said drama, yet the humor is painfully cliché. I’ve heard a lot of the jokes before, they’re poorly done or just plain petty. I’m not even understanding why the yuri/yaoi fanservice ended up in the series and just comes across as creepy. In fact, the girls who are the heroes -they’re not really likable characters, yet they’re supposed to be pure of heart and have the ability to save the world.

No, the series isn’t satire poking fun of the pure of heart trope which comes up with this type of character.

Even the cultural references didn’t save the series.