If you are very aware of the 'Harem' genre, then you may know how a harem anime works. They're mostly about a guy who is faced with a situation of sorts that leads him into perveted situations with various stereotypical girls who eventually join in on the guy's ever growing harem while only makng slow story progression throughout the show. This is not the case in this particular anime, actually.
The World God Only Knows is about Keima Katsuragi, a 17-year old highschooler who is known throughout the internet as the "God of Conquest"for his success in dating sims, while in the real world, he is known as a Dating sim otaku, who has no interest towards anything concerning the real world. One day, he recieves an email that asks him to capture a girl for the emailer. Interpreting this as a challenge, he accepts the supposed challenege, but unknowingly, he has signed a contract with the devil, who asks him to capture the loose souls that escaped from hell, and have hidden themselves inside of a girl's heart. If he were to fail on his mission or violate the contract, he will then lose his head.
The story of the anime is simple and somewhat plain, but it also has an interesting feel. The show's common theme of it is obviously dating sims, and it parodies the common sterotypes of dating sim girls from the athletic, track-and-field girl, to the quiet and shy librarian, to even a student-teacher. But I do have to point out that the anime only has covered up like about up to 40 chapters of the manga, while the manga is currently at the 200s right now. And the real story development doesn't start until around chapter 60.
For the artwork, well, this is first for me since I never really focused on the art styles of animes, but I do have to say that the art looks great. I don't really know what else to say about the art, but I guess the animation on the show is great too.
The characters are very likeable, especially the main character, Keima. Everytime the show goes into a new arc (or a new girl), I always thought to myself "How in the world is he going to capture this one?" The reason why I like Keima so much is that he isn't like most harem leads of other animes. He isn't completely stupid and useless like most leads, but instead, he is a very cool-headed person when it comes to his captures, and he has character development as well. His devil partner, Elsie, is the one who is in charge of the cutesy stuff on most of the show, and each girl has their own reasons on why they have a loose soul inside of their, making them more interesting.
I just loved the music of The World God Only Knows. I actually sat through the openings and endings of both seasons and have listened to the various versions of the endings many times. The OST is also my favorite, especially the music when Keima is about to capture a girl. The music is incredibly fitting on each scene on the show, whether it'd be funny or dramatic, I just loved it so much.
I enjoyed The World God Only Knows very much. Although if you were to read the manga (which I highly recommend), then you may have noticed that some of the arcs were either extended or shortened for the sake of the 12 episode mark on both seasons. But all in all, the anime is a good watch for those who would like to step back from the various, repetative harem animes, and watch a harem anime that is completely different.
Welcome to The World God Only Knows!
