Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: KamiNomi, Kami nomizo Shiru Sekai, The World God Only Knows, TWGOK

Japanese: 神のみぞ知るセカイ

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 26

Chapters: 271

Status: Finished

Published: Apr 9, 2008 to Apr 23, 2014

Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural

Themes: Harem, Otaku Culture, School

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Sunday

Authors: Wakaki, Tamiki (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.46¹ (scored by 57,997 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #185²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #131

Members: 113,234

Favorites: 9,222

Resources

Wikipedia

8.46

Ranked #185Popularity #131Members 113,234

MangaShounen SundayWakaki, Tamiki (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /26

Chapters: /271

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Synopsis

Keima Katsuragi is a high school student better known online as the "God of Conquest," the man who can obtain the heart of any dating sim girl. In his opinion, real life is an awful game; three-dimensional girls are annoying and false representations of how a real girl should be.

One afternoon, while taking a break from cleaning duty, he stumbles across a strange message that goads him to conquer a girl. On a whim, he accepts, and his consent summons a girl named Elucia "Elsie" de Lute Ima, a denizen of hell tasked with capturing runaway spirits that have festered in girls' hearts. Keima is shocked and tries to escape, but Elsie tells him that failure to fulfill the newly formed contract will result in the termination of his life!

Tasked with capturing the runaway spirits, Keima uses his expertise and knowledge of dating sims to obtain the hearts of girls in real life.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

On the week of January 13 to January 19, 2009, the third volume of Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai became the fourth highest-selling standalone book on the Oricon Comic Chart with over 50,500 copies sold.

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Characters

Katsuragi, Keima

Main

de Lute Ima, Elucia

Main

du Lot Herminium, Haqua

Supporting

Kosaka, Chihiro

Supporting

Shiomiya, Shiori

Supporting

Nakagawa, Kanon

Supporting

Takahara, Ayumi

Supporting

Ayukawa, Tenri

Supporting

Nikaidou, Yuri

Supporting

Goidou, Yui

Supporting

Reviews

Jun 8, 2014

GonzyChan

Recommended

There comes that one manga you find at the corner of your eye to where you can enjoy it whether you like the genre it consists of or not, all in the essence of parody and satire. It can be a challenging comedic flavor to pull off correctly. Writers have to analyze the aspects of the things they are trying to parody in the first place, but they have to make all of the things that make good comedy work. These things include great comedic timing, sharp jokes that don't feel forced, and excellent pacing in-between comedy segments. It can be quite a difficult task ... for a manga focused on comedy, but luckily with manga, you can go buck wild with the stroke of your drawing utensil and think of what works best. It takes a man like Tamiki Wakaki to make it seem like an absolute cakewalk to envision a perfect parody with The World God Only Knows.

The two things that best describe how the parody works in The World God Only Knows come down to the writing and the actual artwork that Tamiki has within his talent. The jokes all span out, dealing with familiar otaku tropes that are funny and sometimes insightful. They pick apart. Other times it pokes fun at it, almost mocking it without being too clever with its jokes, and they all add great humor. The artwork comes into play with the dialogue's comedy because Tamiki's drawing style has a very wacky ascetic to his character designs that look magnificent. Similar to how you see chibi-style formats in something like Aria whenever a comedic moment happens, The World God Only Knows plays with the same formula and never loses its steam throughout the manga.

Although the manga is generally a comedy, it does have its vast share of drama mixed in. That is not to say it still pulls in satirical themes into those segments, at least in the first arc of the story. In the beginning, we follow Keima and his partner in crime, Elsie, as they try to collect "Loose Souls" from within their psyche. It is very straightforward and generally formulaic at face value. Still, it is just how tongue-in-cheek the character interactions are and the dialogue involving how Keima plans his tactics based on his gaming otaku logic. Even when it is being dramatic in the arc, it still doesn't lose focus of what it originally intended to be: a parody of dating sims where you get to the confession scenes in those games. It is a rare instance where good drama and wacky humor feel close to a home together in one great package.

As the story goes on to the 2nd arc, where Keima has to awaken the five goddesses, we are quickly put into a scenario with a minimal formulaic structure than beforehand. Like I said before, the comedy is still hilarious throughout the entire manga, with memorable scenes that all go down into straight-up hilarity. The story is still active and even emotional in some places, introducing a heartwarming romance between Chihiro and Keima and great chemistry between Haqua and Keima when they both become buddies for the time being. But then, after that plot arc was done and we got to the last two arcs, it all went a slight downhill in terms of pacing and comprehension. I have the feeling that Tamiki didn't know where he wanted the story to go, so he pulls up random plot conveniences that don't add up once you sit back and think about it for a second. Though the later plot arcs were not terrible, the new characters were still funny, and they do not follow up as anything other than weak.

For a story that wants to be self-absurd with an atmosphere that wants to be fun and energetic in its humor, characters should be the one characteristic that should reign most important. The World God Only Knows us a wide range of characters that exceed way above 20+ of the main cast. They give everyone the significant development and personality to make them equally memorable. Usually, a story that attempts to bring a sizeable main form has a habit of not having an equal amount of focus for some characters, making them forgettable in the long run. While someone could make the case that the manga does that in the later arcs, where we're mainly following the other central girls in Keima's conquest, that shouldn't be a negative in the sense that we've already had enough development for those characters from the very beginning where the writer introduced them.

Here's why The World God Only Knows sets its greatness to new heights is lovable but also hated in a few cases, the protagonist, Keima Katsuragi. With great clarity and logical precision in how Keima was written, he is one of the best harem protagonists due to his role's sheer value of heart. Even when there are moments where Keima might act irrationally against what many would consider typical attitudes toward how romance is like, we still want him to succeed in his conquest. One main reason this is so is that Tamiki writes his dialogue in ridiculous ways that make him so full of charm and wit in how he grows as a character, both in a comedic and general one.

As for Keima's main sidekick, Elsie, she has excellent chemistry with Keima with her cutesy personality that manages to stay consistent and not overbearing to the point where she becomes a nuisance after several chapters. The other soul-capturing buddy is the hilarious tsundere devil, Haqua. Almost as equally lovable as Elsie, but with a different twist: She's more intelligent on the level of Keima's intellect. For that reason, Keima and Haqua prove to have a little better chemistry with one another than Elsie because Haqua still becomes the bumbling sidekick despite her intellectual stature compared to Elsie's.

This manga is one of those instances where even if you are not a fan of the harem genre in general or if you love it to death, there are still many elements to The World God Only Knows that can be looked at by anyone with great enthusiasm on either side. Its wonderful characters leave an excellent joy ride into hilarity thanks to the fact that they all have their unique characteristics to enhance their significant presence in the story. Plus, its satirical nature adds so much depth to the layer of comedy that can be conceived in this manga, even though the plot never reaches that same level of greatness as one could've hoped for with the first arc building up so much potential. Nevertheless, there is still plenty of wonderful humor in The World God Only Knows, all in the name of the God of Conquest.

Grade: A-

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Aug 20, 2022

Dracolitch

Mixed Feelings

TL;DR: Started off great but unwrapped plot points and rushed ending ruined the experience for me.

First and foremost, this is the first-ever review that I have made that does not recommend the piece of media. With that said, this review is going to be split into two parts, one part a spoiler-free review of the series as a whole, the other being a rant on the myriad of plot holes shown in the series which will most definitely spoil everything. Read it at your own risk.

The world god only knows is truly a world that only god knows about, this is because, the massive amounts ...

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Mar 29, 2024

MisterK

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (120/271 eps)

I've started reading TGWOK back when it was still going.
Revisiting it decade later was a mistake.
You can't enter same river twice, and you can't enjoy bad series when older.
As a kid, it was a silly time filler, and my taste in Japanese comic books was really bad apparently.

The story is that Keima, a young sociopath impassive in common life, just wanting to play his simpleton dating sims, bumps into Elsie - a bottom dreg demon from hell who's mentally challenged.
"Hilarity ensues" as the unconventional duo deals with shenanigans, dating "real women" (other teenage girls), and it just drags for ages instead of ending in a ...

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'Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai' to Receive Manga Spin-off

The official website for Weekly Shounen Sunday announced that the completed manga series Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai will receive a spin-off manga series titled Kami No...read more

Sep 14, 2014 12:54 AM by tsubasalover | Discuss (48 comments)

Manga 'Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai' Ending [Update 4/12]

Tamiki Wakaki's manga Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai (The World God Only Knows) will be ending its sixth year of serialization and will be finishing with 26 volumes. The a...read more

Mar 17, 2014 2:52 PM by tsubasalover | Discuss (167 comments)

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The World God Only Knows Manga (English) Zibraz - Feb 13, 2014	10 replies	by Manticore57 »» Nov 12, 2024 3:23 AM
The world god only knows finally got dethroned from the highest rated harem manga/manhwa DeeDeeDanis007 - Oct 1, 2024	5 replies	by KayKimii »» Oct 3, 2024 4:06 PM
Similar Manga? Juto1 - Sep 6, 2023	3 replies	by DeeDeeDanis007 »» Oct 1, 2024 10:25 PM
I'm a bit disappointed.(Spoiler alert!!!!!) Chainsaw_Heart - Nov 13, 2023	9 replies	by removed-user »» May 28, 2024 1:26 AM
Poll: The World God Only Knows Chapter 53 Discussion Nayah - Jul 4, 2009	27 replies	by YN_ON »» Apr 21, 2024 6:38 AM

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