Kamisama Hajimemashita: Kako-hen

While playing in the snow one day at her shrine, the land god Nanami Momozono witnesses her familiar—the fox youkai Tomoe—collapse, with dark markings appearing on his body. Tomoe's former master, Lord Mikage, appears after his long absence and places Tomoe into a magical pocket mirror in order to stave off his ailment.

Mikage explains that long ago, before he and Tomoe had met, the fox youkai was in love with a human woman. Seeking to live as a human with his beloved, he made a deal with a fallen god, but he only ended up cursed and dying. When Mikage discovered Tomoe, the god made the youkai forget his human love as a quick solution. However, something has changed recently to reactivate the curse; Tomoe has fallen in love with his new human master, Nanami. Since there is no way to stop the curse, Nanami wants to stop Tomoe from getting cursed in the first place by traveling back through time, even if it means they may never meet. As Nanami travels back hundreds of years to save her precious familiar, she discovers that she is far more closely bonded to Tomoe than she previously thought.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tomoe Main

Tachibana, Shinnosuke Japanese

Momozono, Nanami Main

Mimori, Suzuko Japanese

Mizuki Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Kurama, Shinjirou Supporting

Kishio, Daisuke Japanese

Akuraou Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Mikage Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Numa no Himemiko Supporting

Horie, Yui Japanese

Kotetsu Supporting

Ookubo, Chika Japanese

Sukuna Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Onikiri Supporting

Matsui, Naoko Japanese

Daichi, Akitarou Director

Hanae Theme Song Performance, Theme Song Lyrics

Suzuki, Julietta Original Creator

Yamanaka, Junko Chief Animation Director, Character Design

Reviews

Dec 4, 2016

Sumirerireri

Recommended

To speak about this OVA it's important to acknowledge first of all the huge difference between the manga of Kamisama Hajimemashita and it's anime adaptation. The adaptation has never been completely faithful to the manga, and the same happens with this OVA. If you haven't read the manga, this OVA is just a great addition to the anime. However, if you already read the manga, you won't be able to help feeling a little disappointed.

The OVA is very well done, just like the regular anime; good art, good cast, good rythm, good everything. The love between the main characters is reinforced and some ... secrets are revealed. BUT! (And this is a huge "But") The feels one gets in the manga are 300% more intense than in the OVA, so as an adaptation, it's just mediocre.

I'll try to explain briefly what we are missing in the OVA without giving any explicit spoiler:

First of all, the time-travel logic is far better depicted in the manga, and Nanami goes through way more hardship to accomplish her mission. Besides, with regard to the whole story, it is in this Past Arc where we are supposed to discover most of the important information about the nature of Tomoe and Nanami's relationship, as well as Tomoe and Yukiji's, which is not explaind in the OVA at all, when it really shoud have been because it is by far the most interesting part of the story and it really changes everything. (It is there where you finally say "Hey! This is clearly not Inuyasha!" ) But not trace of it in the OVA.
Last but not least, within this arc of the manga, Nanami gets to know quite well Akura-ou, who becomes a major character in the following arcs, and the absence of the Akura-ou part in the OVA, added to the fact of condensing everyone's favorite part of the manga (4 volumes of it actually) in barely 4 episodes, only makes me fear that there might not be next anime season in the future.

The past arc of Kamisama Hajimemashita has been one of the most pasionate stories I've read in a manga, and one of the most coherent time-travel stories I've ever come across. So it saddens me considerably to see it cheapened like this.

However, as I said at the begining of the review, if you haven't read the manga, go ahead, the story is undoubtably enjoyable and sweet.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 9, 2016

Cindy_ASI

Recommended

I fell deeply in love with all the episodes of Kamisama Hajimemashita from Season 1 to 2 to its OVA version. I love the development of the two main characters; from enemies to friends, and eventually, to lovers. Unlike, the many animes that I have seen, the streak of independence, wit, kind-heartedness, positivity, and charm in Nanami was a welcome change from the dimwitted and damsel-in-distress qualities that female leads in this genre have been stereotyped with. Same with Tomoe, who, though initially had difficulty wearing his heart on his sleeve, still managed to overcome the usual cold and steely demeanor, which often characterized anime ... male leads even when they are, supposedly, in the euphoric and passionate state of being in love. Though, I must admit, that compared to Takumi Usui of Kaichou wa Maid-Sama, Tomoe still came across as a bit restrained. But that's understandable, considering the different plots and conflicts from which their characters were anchored on.

Moreover, I like how some of the loose ends were tied together in the OVA version. How the premise of having just one true love for youkais was faithfully kept even when the name Yukiji cropped up. I've seen hints of how this would be resolved through Mizuki's time-turning incense and when the wind god, Otohiko, mentioned about the great intertwining bonds in Season 2 but how the two factors would come together to weave a tight story, was of course, entirely of Ms. Julietta Suzuki's doing.

For me, Kamisama Hajimemashita is one of the few anime I would never ever get tired of watching (fact is, I've watched it just a little less than a hundred times already), while hoping that there'll be more in Nanami and Tomoe's story, that it'll continue until both are old and grey.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Aug 11, 2021

Odd-yssey

Not Recommended

TW: S*xual assault.

I have other issues with these OVAs but my main one is that everyone talks about this anime, and no one ever mentions that in Kako-hen they make the romantic interest an abuser???? He literally 100% was going to r*pe the protagonist and that is never acknowledged by the characters afterwards????????

Only writing this because I wish I had been told before I decided to watch it.

I am just so tired and done with content, specifically content whose main audience is young girls, making light of -and even romanticizing- s*xual abuse.

Gross and unnecessary.

...

Below is the rest of my review because they won’t let me post it if it has less than 500 characters. Awesome.

The rest of the series (what came before) is very enjoyable and fun, the premise of the OVAs was interesting too, and the beginning of it was promising. I find, however, that as this story unravels there is quite a lot of back and forth; that things that didn’t need to be carried out got too long, and other things that could be explained further, never were. Hopefully, the manga handles this better.

There are some other points which made the series not as good as the previous seasons, in my opinion, such as how they handled the protagonists’ relationship. So far in the series, Nanami had made it a goal of hers to make Tomoe trust humans again and fall in love with her for who she is, and the story choices made in these OVAs feel at odds with that. Also, the characters we’ve known and love so far are left behind in order to introduce new ones that are never fully developed or given proper closure. Kamisama Hajimemashita had side characters that had such a good dynamic and were very likeable, so it is kind of sad leaving that aside this season.

The time traveling is well handled at least, there are no inconsistencies as far as I can remember, I can give it that. I also appreciate how the new female character was nice and badass and not vilified, the way shoujo sometimes does. Also, the animation is consistent with older seasons, so there are no complaints from me there, however, other than that, I honestly don’t think Kako-hen has a lot more going on for itself.

All in all, this instalment of the series, while managing to tie some loose ends, doesn’t fully deliver. It changes the tone and underdelivers in the comedy aspect, which was one of its strongest suits before. The pace and character development are… a little all over the place. Most importantly, in my opinion, they ruined the love interest by making him assault the protagonist and never apologize or have them talk about it. Unfortunately, this whole arc is a step-down for what Kamisama Hajimemashita was so far in almost every aspect, which is only made worse by the fact that this is the climax of the story and the beginning of the end.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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