Let's start with the plot. The main protagonist Katsuragi Keima is an avid dating sim gamer and as such is disconnected with reality and the people around him. One day he receives a message from a fellow gamer, a message that turns out to be a contract between him and a female demon called Elsie. Through a certain condition of the contract, our young Katsuragi is now faced with a prospect of capturing loose souls that reside within girls' hearts. The setting - your average Japanese high school in some city, with the characters occasionally appearing elsewhere in "one-off" locations.
Elsie and Katsuragi set off on a quest to capture all the loose souls and the story focuses on those two and the girl they're attempting to "capture" most of the time. The overwhelming majority of secondary characters (there aren't many of those) are just there either for fanservice or humour purposes. The first shortcoming is that Katsuragi's female companion Elsie, is a bit of a shallow character. While certainly having distinct personality traits which differentiate her from other shallow fanservice-ish characters here, this season doesn't give us enough background information on her. She's a demon... sent down to collect souls and that's pretty much it. The first season could have given her a bit more time.
Secondly, I felt that the humour at times was a bit cliche. Katsuragi's mother and his targets are the perfect examples. The good mother with an evil side and teenage girls pelting affectionate guys with various objects? These are known archetypes and this type of humour is a bit overused these days. That's not to say that this series completely lacks good humour. There were moments of brilliance and novelty such as Katsuragi's gaming shenanigans in the 12th episode which managed to squeeze a few laughs out of me.
Now the highlight of this anime and perhaps the quality that truly sets it apart from piles of other bland harem&romance series is how it's all presented. Katsuragi has to use his gaming knowledge and apply it to real life situations which often has awkward results at first. An introverted dating sim geek capturing girls is something new in the harem&romance genre, as I usually expect the male lead in this kind of a story to be confident and suave, or at the very least perverted. Katsuragi is neither of those and treats it all more as a profession. Especially interesting was Katsuragi's capture of the librarian ( Shiori Shiomiya ) as both him and her are fairly timid and reserved. What followed had actually more to do with philosophy and psychology than romance and the way Katsuragi helped her to open up to the world and challenge her fears was genuinely intriguing and it was the part that I enjoyed the most. In fact that was the single greatest chapter in this entire season of this anime as it engaged the viewer intellectually rather than emotionally which is something you'd not expect out of a romance.
As for the art, it is absolutely staggering. The characters are all drawn precisely and the light effects on Katsuragi's PFP ( a play on the 'PSP' handheld console) and how his games are presented while he's playing is extremely authentic. All the static objects, buildings etc. were nicely done and you can see that a lot of effort went into the visual aspect of this anime. Likewise the music was enjoyable; some of this series' OST pieces feature classical music so it gives the viewer a soothing and enjoyable experience. The opening song was very catchy and in sync with the atmosphere of this anime.
Summing up, a good anime with a decent story and certainly plenty of originality but plagued by shallow characters and perhaps also being a bit dull in the humour department, save for a few episodes. However, it's still a recommended watch considering the plot's originality and the more interesting, intellectual take on romance.
'Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai' gets 7 points from me.
