Deaimon

Ten years have passed since Nagomu Irino left his home to pursue his dream that ultimately failed. He finally decides to return after hearing that his father—owner of the Kyoto sweets store Ryokushou—has been hospitalized. Worrying that no one would inherit the shop if his father passes away, Nagomu prepares himself to embrace his family's legacy and the art of making sweets⁠.

Unsurprisingly, Nagomu discovers that his father has already chosen a different successor—a 10-year-old girl named Itsuka Yukihira, who was abandoned at Ryokushou by her father for reasons unknown. While she has since become a part of the family and is now the shop's poster girl, Itsuka still longs to see her father and follows all possible clues that may lead her to him. Sympathizing with Itsuka's situation, Nagomu's mother asks Nagomu to act as Itsuka's father, hoping that Itsuka will open up to him and relieve her pain, even if just a little.

Starting on bad terms, Itsuka and Nagomu gradually learn more about each other, realizing that they are more similar than they had thought. Connected by their mutual love for both Ryokushou and its confections, their relationship as child and father figure begins to make lives around them a little bit sweeter.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Irino, Nagomu Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Yukihira, Itsuka Main

Yuuki, Kozue Japanese

Matsukaze, Kanoko Supporting

Takahashi, Minami Japanese

Horikawa, Mitsuru Supporting

Suzuki, Minori Japanese

Kisaichi, Hiiro Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Yukihira, Tomoe Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Irino, Heigo Supporting

Koyama, Rikiya Japanese

Nacchan Supporting

Ueki, Shinei Japanese

Kazuyan Supporting

Yamashita, Taiki Japanese

Noi Supporting

Matsuoka, Misato Japanese

Kawando, Kenjirou Producer

Yoshioka, Takuya Producer

Hayashi, Eisuke Producer

Oizaki, Fumitoshi Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Jun 22, 2022

KIOSHI_17

Recommended

Deaimon is a really wholesome and easygoing anime. It's probably one of the best Iyashikei's I've seen. (Even tho it's not tagged to be one on MAL). Since it's one of the lesser known but great anime of spring 2022, I thought of making a review on it.
Here it goes:-

Story:
The storyline is pretty simple and easy to understand. Being mainly based around a wagashi store (Japanese sweet shop) called "Ryokushou", story revolves around the members of it.
"Nagomu", the shop owner's son who went to Tokyo to follow his career decides to come back and help at the store. He later finds out that they ... have adopted a little girl named "Itsuka" and is asked to be a father figure to her. The plot progresses depending upon the events occurring in Ryokushou store.

Characters:
Characters in Deaimon are very likeable. They are conveyed in a great way. Tho Nagomu and Itsuka are focused more often since they are the main leads. Interactions among them are one of the best things about this anime. They are really fun and wholesome to watch.

Artstyle & Animation:
Artstyle is decent. As for the animation, it's really clean. One thing I'd like to mention is that the way they showed the wagashi making process was really good. It was depicting all the things which are done in making actual sweets in real life. Another good thing was that they also share some factual knowledge about it time to time.

Sound:
All of the OSTs, opening and ending fit so well with everything. The ending is sure one of my favourite. I actually never skipped it. It's calm and soothing to listen.

Pacing:
Nothing to complain about here either. It's well paced and they show a decent amount of content in every episode. Everything shown is easily understandable.

Overall,
It's a great anime. Following the theme of the series, it has a healing effect and calm atmosphere. I watched it every week while it was airing and it was a great experience. Definitely worth a try...

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 22, 2022

Drangerous

Mixed Feelings

Slice of life lovers, welcome! Anime watchers, proceed with caution.

I always like to start a review with some background or context. Slice of life is one of my favorite genre in anime. I'm a sucker for a good story and emotional impacts. During every anime season, I mostly watch shows that I will follow weekly or that I believe I will complete. Deaimon was my top pick for spring 2022 and was the show I gave my utmost attention. After its first couple of episodes, I truly believed it would end up being a great or even excellent anime. To put it simply, Deaimon is ... a rather average series that leaves alot on the table.

One of the major gripes I have with this anime is how much of it is a setup for a story we might or might not ever get a follow-up. This anime ends up having accomplish next to nothing in terms of plot advancement. The only real thread of story we have is teased time and time again. Then, by the end of the 12 episodes, the one thing we expect to happen sooner or later never does. We leave Deaimon knowing there is more to it than a single season. However, that doesn't excuse that this season alone doesn't really stands on its own which make this a rather poor anime.

Another problem I have, Deaimon has alot of ideas that are barely presented or worked upon. While the core of the series is the interpersonal relationship between the cast, most of it is either resolved or put forward in a shallow/straightforward way. Personally, I think a good slice of life needs layers and/or consequences to justify handling mature themes. A concrete example of a poorly explored relationship is Nagomu (the protagonist) and his father. To make the story short, Nagomu was supposed to inherit his family business since birth but along the way he discovered music and left his family to pursue his dream. The anime starts when he comes back to the family business because he received a letter telling him that his father grew ill. Misunderstanding aside (the father had a very minor back injury), Nagomu and his father never really mend their relationship or we don't get moments to see them talk their differences and grow closer again. Instead, like almost every characters, Nagomu's relationship with his father is a comedic plot device to create laughter. I believe it's truly a shame how the main character of the series is always used as a punching bag for comedy while the show also tries to make him have meaningful relationships. The formula of the show is mostly Nagomu helping the person having trouble for the episode in a serious heartfelt way. Then when it's over and done, everyone goes back to laugh at quirky and how much of a klutz Nagomu is. It becomes tiring real fast.

I'll just quickly say that Deaimon has alot of potential if it becomes a multi-season anime and finally delves deeper in its themes. As of right now, it's a shallow, heartwarming and interesting anime. With no payoffs as of yet, Deaimon has a frustratingly abrupt ending and doesn't offer much outside of an okay slice of life show.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 22, 2022

Gween_Gween

Not Recommended

*This review contains heavy spoilers of episode 3 and 10*
Kamichu! is an anime aired in 2005 that tells the story of Yurie, a middle schooler who becomes a kami overnight. The structure of the story develops into multiple episodic adventures where Yurie must approach her new responsibilities and solve human problematics and wishes, all that while being an actual middle schooler with middle school worries and ambitions. Kamichu is a truly sweet experience with a memorable soundtrack and a vibrant soul that manifests through each one of its frames, with characters that you cheer for, an exquisite sense of nostalgia, and a surprising innocent fully-fledged ... romance, accompanied by an award-winning direction. Why would I mention Kamichu here? Because Deaimon fails at basically everything that Kamichu does correctly, and its own basic structure is basically the same as Kamichu. If you somehow liked this anime, then watch Kamichu. If you are about to watch this anime, then just watch Kamichu. It is just day and night, and it shows at every single corner.

Deaimon intent is to create a relevant relationship between traditional Japanese sweets and the conflicts that each character present in an episodic manner. Every episode presents a sweet related to a meaning and a problematic, and it tries to tie both cohesively. By incorporating Nagomu, a middle-aged man who just left his band to work in his parent’s shop, the anime intends to create healing moments by applying his selfless and empathetic nature to the cast, which would be equivalent to an emotional savior. Nagomu face his own issues too, he suffered a breakup and the apparent rejection of his family. However, Nagomu still can reach the others to provide help, the series install the idea of helping to grow, a bidirectional relationship of care.

Here is the first downfall of this anime, and this is an honest question for anyone who watched this anime, who the fuck cared about the sweets? Were the sweets anything but mere decoration and white noise for a vapid metaphor? Every single dialogue about the sweets is an awkward infodump with a bunch of nonsense words that tries to expose the meaning or origin of the sweet. This is supposed to be a promotion to Japanese sweets, but the anime would be the same without the sweets, hell, it would be fucking better. You have anime like Super Cub, Yuru Camp or the ceramic anime that actively do an effort to incorporate their product into the plot, this anime just doesn’t, it just throws a bunch of dialogue, showcase the sweets like a low-quality ad, and then continue with the story like nothing happened.

If you ignore the shoehorned sweet aspect, then the anime is just an insipid collection of typical dramas. The only salvageable aspects would be Itsuka and Kanoko stories, as they both have some sort of engaging development (Mostly because they last more than half an episode). Itsuka juxtaposition of being a middle schooler and being obsessed with the idea of rejection and responsibility creates sweet sporadic spotlights, while Kanoko regrets create an interesting storyline to watch for of self-searching. The problem of the series is not that there are not some good healing dramatic moments amongst the 12 episodes, the problem is that it is full of shitty scummy garbage awfully inserted stories that have no substance at all.

There is a character that arrives as a new intern for Ryokushou for half an episode to portray the theme of striving for perfection, which plays an interesting contrast to Nagomu lack of professional abilities. This character appears, creates a drama that completely breaks her implied character, proposes absolutely nothing to the main plot, and then vanishes from the series to just be a grandpacon comedy device after having a lazy resolution. That happens almost every single episode that is not based on Kanoko or Itsuka, I’m not even lying.

Even if one goes for the two interesting storylines, be Itsuka growth or Kanoko self-healing, the writing is just so absurdly stupid and lazy that I cannot but think that they are playing a joke on the viewers. I will just exemplify it with episode three, one should not require more than two braincells to see the absurdity:
- The episode starts with a flashback of Itsuka about a festival (Or whatever, I forgor), then it abruptly cuts to a random girl saying Kyoto (Pure foreshadowing guys! Do not leave your chair! Who this girl going to be?)
- Nagomu wants to go to a festival with Itsuka, Itsuka obviously says no. Nagomu starts to remember a promise to his ex-girlfriend (I love the subtlety on this one, I obviously cannot see what is going to happen, who said Kyoto!?)
- Itsuka leaves the store and go to school
- Itsuka takes the wrong bus because she sees someone with a guitar (This is the dumbest shit that this anime tries to pull off btw, I just buy it because I have never been abandoned by a guitar player so maybe it is believable). The scene abruptly cuts to show the concern of Nagomu to ignite the search. Abruptly is an understatement btw
- Itsuka fell asleep and didn’t even see the guitar player. Yes, the girl who is tailing her supposed father fell asleep just to put a flashback. A flashback that can be put anywhere else in the episode
- Itsuka tries to look for the guitar player in a temple by asking the people that were on the bus (??? Peak rationality here)
- The girl (Kanoko) is COINCIDENTALLY in that place and COINCIDENTALLY starts to talk with her, presenting herself to the audience (Emphasis on audience) with an alien dialogue straight out of a chatbot
- Kanoko mentions the festival that Itsuka rejected and tells her motivations to the audience (Emphasis on audience again, the dialogues are just infodumps that just connect her character to the plot), then Itsuka connects the sweet with the plot (Coca Cola open happiness type of beat), comedy homicide dialogue afterwards
- Nagomu founds Itsuka and Kanoko in the mountain JUST when they are about to part ways (??????????? You cannot make that shit up, at least make Kanoko stay with Itsuka)
- I will not write anything else, just think: What is the anime trying to do as the conclusion of this assassination? Isn’t it obvious after the anime mentions out of nowhere a random ass festival as something important? (Spoiler: The anime tries to sell this as the goal of the episode, not as something bound to happen)

Look, I don’t mind coincidences in anime, they are sometimes necessary to keep some sort of progression, but this is absolute shamelessness, like how can anyone eat this up? This is the one of the most lazy and desperate introductions that I have seen in a while. Do you know the worst thing about it? These coincidences are just fucking everywhere. Another example:
- There is an episode where a girl is having a problem with her name
- Her name was related to her grandma (Somehow she didn’t know, not going to question that)
- Her grandma did not want to reveal it as a solution (Spoiler: That solves the conflict, she reveals it afterwards, this is just to kill time).
- Then the grandchild of the grandma’s ex-lover (???) decides to go to the shop (!!!???) just when the girl is coincidentally in the shop (!!!!!!!??????) to ask for someone with the same name as the girl (Spoiler: It is the grandma, it was obvious since ten minutes ago, what is this suspense? Of course, the grandma enters the store when she is still eating). Four ridiculous coincidences, like what the fuck?

If you do not notice, this makes Kanoko’s introduction even worse. Why would you not introduce her through the shop? A random character conveniently went to the shop in the exact precise moment during that episode, why would you be afraid of doing the same with Kanoko? Why couldn’t they spawn her character there? And talk to Itsuka there? And make her surprised by Nagomu appearance after an exchange with his parents in a place where Nagomu would naturally be? It even writes itself! Introduce Kanoko and let her talk with Itsuka (The motivation of Kanoko could be changed, she could pretty much not know the store), Itsuka mentions the festival naturally thinking about her father, Kanoko starts to talk shit about Nagomu with his mother unknowingly, the parents start to agree with Kanoko, Nagomu appears, Kanoko is embarrassed, the mother starts to laugh and say “Of course! That is the Nagomu that I know! Hahah!!”, then you continue the episode by doing the conversation between Kanoko and Nagomu inside the shop, maybe shift the festival point to here so it doesn’t spoil the whole episode. How is that worse than using such absurd set of events to introduce her character? Why is this series incapable of not being stupid?

And it gets worse than that, the anime is not just satisfied by being a bland, it is not satisfied by not incorporating the intended motif correctly, it is not even satisfied by using the most absurd and robotic ways to solve or incorporate conflicts, it fucking sucks at setting the mood too. The anime for some reason has one of the worst storyboarding that I have seen, there is absolutely no space to any scene, they are continuously interrupted by a random barely correlated superfluous shots and they even have continuity errors. It is just obnoxious to watch because most of the conversations are pure background noise, they have no weight at all and introduce nothing important to either the characters or the story, it is just a downstream of mundane dialogues and comedy homicides.

The conclusion is obvious, this anime stinks. The only redeemable attribute is that it is just an inch above being frustrating because it is at least chill, but it is just a bunch of nothing with run-of-the-mill drama. Going back to Kamichu. Kamichu incorporates perfectly the traditional religious stuff. Each Kamichu conflict have a huge sense of importance and emotionality, coherently developing the cast. Kamichu doesn’t rely on random coincidences to create the situations (I’m capping here, but they are less shameless). Kamichu scenes are chef kiss, they are created with creative composition and magnificent sense of humanity, it makes you want to go the places that they are showcasing and live their lives. And it just has a shitton of magic. There is a cat that talks in Kamichu, and such eventuality is more credible than Deaimon as a whole. Indeed, that cat is more human than any character of Deaimon.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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