Kamisama ni Natta Hi (The Day I Became a God)

Dressed in a conspicuous outfit and armed with an eccentric spirit, Hina Satou goes around insisting that she is the Asgardian god "Odin." When she crosses paths with a boy named Youta Narukami, she uses her precognition abilities to warn him about an impending catastrophe threatening the end of the world. But being a teenager preoccupied with his problems, Youta finds it hard to believe such a preposterous claim.

Somehow forced to tag along with her antics, he witnesses the effectiveness of Hina's skills with his own eyes and realizes that she truly is capable of divination. Nevertheless, despite her persistence in being a god, Hina is still a child who desires to see and experience the wonders life has to offer. With the world ending in 30 days, Hina, Youta, and their friends venture forward to create lasting memories they will cherish forever.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Kamisama ni Natta hi is the third original anime written by Jun Maeda after Angel Beats in 2010 and Charlotte in 2015. Moreover, Yoshiyuki Asai, the director for Charlotte returns as this series' director.

Episode Videos

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Kamisama ni Natta Hi

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Characters & Voice Actors

Narukami, Youta

Main

Hanae, Natsuki
Japanese

Satou, Hina

Main

Sakura, Ayane
Japanese

Takajou, Joujirou

Supporting

Mizushima, Takahiro
Japanese

Izanami, Kyouko

Supporting

Ishikawa, Yui
Japanese

Narukami, Sora

Supporting

Kuwahara, Yuuki
Japanese

Suzuki, Hiroto

Supporting

Shigematsu, Chiharu
Japanese

Jinguuji, Hikari

Supporting

Terui, Haruka
Japanese

Kokuhou, Ashura

Supporting

Kimura, Ryouhei
Japanese

Tengan, Kako

Supporting

Shimamura, Yuu
Japanese

Narukami, Daichi

Supporting

Shingaki, Tarusuke
Japanese

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Toba, Yousuke

Producer

Yamamoto, Akira

Producer

Asai, Yoshiyuki

Director

Iida, Satoki

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

"Kimi to Iu Shinwa (君という神話)" by Jun Maeda x Nagi Yanagi (eps 1-11)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Goodbye Seven Seas" by Jun Maeda x Nagi Yanagi (eps 1-4, 6-8,10-11)
	2: "Takaramono ni Natta Hi (宝物になった日)" by Jun Maeda x Nagi Yanagi (eps 5,12)
	3: "Natsunagi (夏凪ぎ)" by Jun Maeda x Nagi Yanagi (eps 9)

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Reviews

Dec 26, 2020

Ryuseishun

Not Recommended

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

Jun Maeda is practically a broken record at this point. It’s honestly a tragedy that the aforementioned quote quite accurately defines the repeat criminal offenses of the all-too-familiar and infamous writer, whom also co-founded the visual novel studio known as KEY. Having previously created and put much of his work into previous popular titles like Kanon, Clannad, Little Busters, Angel Beats, and Charlotte, Maeda unveiled yet another product of his continually recycled method named Kamisama Ni Natta Hi (also known as The Day I Became A God), promptly ... declaring that it would be one of the most heartbreaking anime series of all time. Considering the kind of reputation, for better or worse, that Maeda has had in the past, it’s no surprise that there would be a large number of people who would become curious about another similar-looking series.

Unfortunately, the result of this new project was just a perplexing and tiresome disarray of poorly handled tropes and cliches with one of the most ponderous final stretches I’ve seen from the anime medium, quite contrary to what the overconfident Maeda had previously promised. Instead of a wonderful display of utilizing and combining emotions, drama, friendship, and other associated themes, Kamisama Ni Natta Hi was a literal debacle due to sticking to a redundant and repetitive formula that Maeda has continued to implement adamantly. When considering how the same recipe has had a lot of success for some of his previous series in the past, one may wonder: what in the world happened here?

To start things off, Kamisama’s story takes place in an unspecified rural region of Japan, and centers around a high school teenager named Yota Narukami, who encounters a strange and peculiar young girl named Hina Sato with an annoying surname complex and a preference to be referred to as Odin. She claims to be a god with omniscience and declares that the world will end in 30 days. Right from the get-go, the story already starts out in an inane and predictable way. Aptly noticing that Yota and his family have names related to gods as well, HIna continually follows him around and is also conveniently welcomed by Yota’s parents into his residence, thus becoming regularly involved with Yota and his friends’ daily livelihood. It really bewilders me as to how she’s allowed to do this and go about as she pleases, even from strictly fictional standards. For about 7-8 episodes, the series is centered around Yota and Hina going around solving other people’s issues, which includes that of his friends and family. The whimsical random and ludicrous ventures ranged from participating in a mahjong tourney to filming a movie to playing a baseball game (Maeda and KEY sure have a thing for baseball, huh?). As dumb as they come, these episodic segments are meant to develop the characters and their relationships for a final dramatic stretch; however, with how each problem or issue is approached and effortlessly solved with Hina’s “god powers”, and how every “character-of-the-week” conveniently becomes a friend, or suddenly has more trust and faith in Yota, feels quite cheap and doesn’t pertain much to any overlying narrative structure at all. As a result, the segments come off as pointless filler and don’t really add much, if at all, to the plot.

Jun Maeda usually starts out his works with a very lighthearted and comedic first half, and when it comes to comedy, there will inevitably be a lot of subjectivity depending on the type of comedy used, so it’s understandable why many people would hate him for this habit. That being said, I think many people can agree when I say that the comedy here in Kamisama is not only dreadful, but also detrimental to the story itself. It’s bad enough that the comedy comes off more irritating, noisy, and unproductive, but the comedic segments themselves take too much of the spotlight within the episodes than any genuine character work that does occur. Comedy is supposed to highlight the development of friendship, not block it out entirely. Time and time again, these overplayed farces continually obstruct any attempts for more down-to-earth or simplistic straightforward approaches to actually progressing important story elements that would’ve been essential in terms of prepping the cast and the story for when the most dramatic stretch comes around. Instead, the series is consequently left with no substantial footing, the characters are not fleshed out to make them endearing or memorable, and the plot comes off overly stagnant and unprepared by the time that “emotional” segment unfolds. In a narrative where consistency and buildup are absolutely essential, 8 whole episodes were completely wasted. In all honesty, though, if all of the series was simply consisting just these folly moments of Hina and Yota playing helpers for other people, perhaps it would’ve fared better; even if it doesn’t turn out complete or necessarily good, it probably wouldn’t have fallen hard as it actually would later on.

Another thing to point out is that there was a recurring bit regarding Yota wanting Hina to help him woe his childhood friend Kyoko Izanami (whom is also aptly named after a god). It was a somewhat regular and rather entertaining gag, but to me, it honestly felt like an actual legit story element at the time. While it could’ve been quite overbearing, there was an opportunity for the series to go off the beaten path and establish what would’ve been a very interesting case of a love triangle. Instead, Maeda put it to the side and simply went with the case of Yota and Kyoko’s friendship improving. It doesn’t help that opportunities like that are shafted by the episode limit and Maeda’s stubbornness to stick to the same old method.

While the majority of the first half was a mess, episode 5 did have at least one actually good segment regarding Kyoko. In fact, I’d even go out and say that it could’ve been watched as sort of a standalone presentation. Sure, like with the other episodes, the setup was pretty cheap and rushed, but there was actually genuine emotion there, and it was without a doubt probably the best thing the show ever got. From there, it was a really good opening to further develop Kyoko with future episodes, and considering the type of character she is, her being likely an important point in the story wasn’t out of the question at the time. Perhaps it’s just me having a soft spot for characters like her, but nevertheless, I felt like this was a severely missed opportunity for Maeda to perhaps try something different, instead of then just casually tossing Kyoko’s role to the side to just her being a mere supporting character of the “nakama” boat.

By episode 9 was where the “real drama and emotions” in Kamisama were supposed to begin. Prior to this, there were small segments throughout the previous eight episodes that were hinting to a big reveal, but the way they were delivered felt so jarring and overly serious that it’s hard to take them seriously even at just face value. As for the actual final segment itself, not only did it leave me so perplexed, but also completely disappointed and displeased by how uncreative it was. Hina was, of course, not really a god and is actually afflicted with a fictional terminal disease. Yes, a made-up severe illness, conveniently set up by Maeda in an attempt to tug on the heartstrings and try to make the audience get emotional. This kind of writing nowadays is way too outdated, and there was no weight to the dramatic moments due to lack of any decent buildup prior to it. Furthermore, her omniscience ability is based off some silly and convoluted sci-fi foolery where said context was keeping her alive. Yota and Hina also suddenly having apparent romantic feelings for each other plays up more on the overdramatic context. With the way Hina and Yota were interacting for the entirety of the show, this just didn’t add up.

At this point, this recurring process of utilizing plot, romance, and drama-orientated narratives and combining them with supernatural and/or sci-fi elements has grown quite tiresome. Yes, people, it’s literally the same old Maeda formula again: a comedic first half, a romantic middle segment, and a dramatic final stretch. The biggest reason it didn’t work here at all was because he wasted too much time highlighting the comedic horseplay instead of having the lighthearted segments actually add sufficient context to the story, the characters, and/or even the very setting itself. Coupled with missed opportunities and disjointed, hamfisted character interactions, Kamisama ended up as one big excruciating and clumsy stumble to the finish line. The fact that it ends with a very convenient sort of conclusion with no sense of payoff or satisfaction doesn’t sit well with me, either, and it hurts to know that many people will easily get suckered into such flimsy wrap-ups like that.

With most of the production being handled by P.A. Works, a studio usually under much scrutiny, due to their association with drama writers like Jun Maeda and Mari Okada, and known for its high-quality artwork, recurring slice of life / drama elements, and collection of mostly anime-original shows, which are honestly hard to come by nowadays, one can expect Kamisama to look really good in terms of audiovisual department. The artwork looks fairly nice all around, using very bright color tones and border lines to illuminate the rural backdrops and attempt to represent the story’s initially lighthearted atmosphere. At times, though, the colors and lightings may get too bright and seem very out of place in some scenes, even in a setting where sunlight is in full effect. The character designs are fine but nothing particularly special to really go into detail about. There are well-placed subtleties and points of symbolism throughout the series, but they honestly would’ve amounted to so much more if there was better writing involved. While the backgrounds do look nice at first glance, they often seem too plain and uninteresting for the first place, and lack the liveliness to give the viewers a more immersive experience. The soundtracks are really good for the most part and do help set the appropriate mood whenever needed, but aside from a few theme songs sung by Nagi Yanagi (who also did the opening themes for the Oregairu series), none of them are particularly memorable. As for the voice acting, I won’t say it’s bad, but the majority of the dialogue, especially during the more emotional parts feel really forced or even half-hearted. I’m not really surprised since I can imagine even the seiyuus finding it hard to truly get emotionally invested into it to say their lines with the way the show took its course.

The character department for the most part is quite abysmal and void, due to the aforementioned issues regarding Maeda’s formula. Nearly every single notable character is quite plain and don’t really get any genuine sense of development. There’s nothing to really make them seem important or momentous to the series. While they do have distinct personalities, the characterization is very black and white. I found Hina Sato absolutely annoying and detrimental to the show. She pretty much forces herself upon everyone else and expects them to look up to and praise her for her abilities. Yes, her abilities did help people, but with the way her character is, just going around contributing to society in some way just doesn’t really cut it. Her comical segments involving Yota and the others are just awfully cringe, and are highlighted much more than necessary. The fact that she’s the center of nearly all the comedic segments makes the experience even worse, and she herself doesn’t actually get much meaningful development, if at all, unless you wanna count the whole forced romance parts. Yota himself is basically your typical selfless male protagonist who is conveniently a friend (and chick) magnet, and rigged to be Hina’s savior and hero despite the story starting out with him having feelings for someone else. Otherwise, he would be merely an insignificant component. The only character, as I mentioned before, that I personally did like and saw a faint glimmer in, was Kyoko Izanami. From whatever background the series did provide, and whether or not people will care about that episode 5 or not, she was someone that I thought truly had the best opportunity for actual growth compared to literally everyone else in the series, due to her introvert personality and how she became as such in the first place, even if she was not a main character. With the way episode 5 went, it gave me more reason to believe so, and it’s quite tragic that Maeda didn’t consider other possibilities, so her focused segment simply became another broken toy tossed aside and thus ends up coming off as overly mawkish and cheap. Because of numerous misdemeanors like this, we are left with a very overall poor showcasing in terms of character work, something that this show should've prioritized more than anything else.

In terms of enjoyment value, I can say that for the most part, it was ruined a lot by the comedic segments. Sometimes I may get some laughs and crack some jokes here and there early on, but as the series wore on, the experience became quite tiresome and laborious. Many times I really wanted to skip through the comedic segments knowing that they’re likely not contributing anything important to the story, anyways, plus they’re just...simply not funny to me. Other than some of the soundtracks as well as the segments involving Kyoko, I couldn’t really find much more value in terms of pure enjoyment. Having been exposed to the Maeda formula several times before and being rarely ever impressed by it, I found myself basically kinda going through the motions for the most part. It got even worse when it came down to the “big reveals” and the “real drama” parts. Episode 9 in particular had me besides myself because of how lacking, superficial, and fabricated the “emotional” parts felt. By the end of the trip, I was left in a mixed bag of emotions, not knowing whether or not I should feel extremely mad or sad at how discombobulated this whole trip went.

In the end, Kamisama Ni Natta Hi is yet another failed product by Jun Maeda since the likes of Charlotte, and arguably his worst one yet. It really bothers me as to why the man himself insists on using such an outdated method of writing drama in this current era of the anime medium, as this show has been nothing much more than a disgrace to it. After this mess, I honestly would implore him personally to take a step back for a while from the anime industry to rethink things and perhaps try something new. I don’t want this vicious cycle continuing any further. Maeda is no longer the acclaimed writer he used to be. Times have changed, and its time for him to make a full renovation as well as new ventures, instead of wasting time continually manufacturing sappy soap operas like this one. As for this show, I honestly cannot recommend this to even any die-hard Jun Maeda / KEY fan out there unless they’re that easily manipulated emotionally. There’s far better options out there than this forgettable P.A. Works by-product.

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Dec 26, 2020

RiriHitosuyanagi

Recommended

"Tis pointless. We mean there is no point to you studying. The world shall end in 30 days." - Hina Satou

First of all, I'm surprised about what Hina said about the apocalypse of the world, but what could it be? Could it be a zombie invasion or could it be a nuclear fallout? Nope! There's nothing like that will happen in the anime, but what Hina announced is very mysterious!

But is it really true that the world will end in 30 days? After Hina's prediction of the weather changes and the horse racing outcomes, everything is confirmed to be true. But I feel like it's ... too coincidence to be true. If she has checked the weather report and the power level of the horse racer before she meets Youta, that will make sense. But still, her prediction ability is too mysterious to be true. Throughout the series, the story of the anime doesn't get serious until later at about mid-season. Around that you'll find the truth to Hina's Godly powers and her announcement about the apocalypse of the world. And since the anime is original, each episodes has several theories of predicting what will happen in later episodes.

For the characters, Youta is your average high school student. He later encountered Hina who declares herself as Odin-sama. Hina is a very cheerful female MC but gets frustrated whenever someone doesn't recognized her as a Goddess or someone has Godly name which is better than her current name, Hina Satou.

Also there's Izanami, who is very beautiful and also a quiet one. Youta has a crush on her and with the power of Hina's prediction ability, he tries hard to win Izanami's heart. But it all ended in a failure and got rejected. Despite that, he will never give up.

If you watched Charlotte before, Nao Tomori's VA, Ayane Sakura is also voicing Hina Satou which is great and perfect for Hina's cheerful personality. The OP song will make us feel happy when listening to it, while the ED song has a lyrics that give a lot of meaning for the entire anime. Not to mention, the anime is really colorful and shining too, especially the OP and ED of the anime. The character designs are also really nice, they really did a great job at designing Hina and Izanami.

If you know the pattern of Angel Beats and Charlotte, Jun Maeda starts their anime in comedy first before we enter a serious plot. Expect some laugh at the early series of the anime.

Just as I expected. When I heard that Jun Maeda is going to create the saddest anime of all. It was really true. To be honest, I nearly cried at the beautiful ending and also the music at the end of the anime. Probably one of the best episode I ever watched. If you're looking for a tearjerker anime, then this anime will be good for you. Have a good cry everyone!

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Dec 26, 2020

An1meDweeb

Mixed Feelings

Coming out from "Kamisama ni Natta Hi" (KS) with questions is par for the course. How on earth does an original Key anime, helmed by none other than Jun Maeda himself, struggle to barely crack the Top 10 for Fall seasonals on MAL? How did a promising premise from a strong first episode morph into a completely different show in its second week? Also, why was I OK with that? Also also, when did I stop being OK with the narrative?
What in god's name is going on?
If you're looking for answers, you've come to a terrible place; but I'll do my best to give my ...

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Poll: Kamisama ni Natta Hi Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Oct 31, 2020	168 replies	by Ker0w0 »» May 20, 2:04 PM
Poll: Kamisama ni Natta Hi Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) KANLen09 - Dec 26, 2020	301 replies	by KayMigiwa »» Apr 15, 11:17 AM
Poll: Kamisama ni Natta Hi Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Dec 19, 2020	170 replies	by KayMigiwa »» Apr 15, 10:59 AM
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Kamisama ni Natta Hi

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Narukami, Youta

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Kamisama ni Natta Hi

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