Story & Characters
This is a Review of Kannagi :
Story Introduction :
Mikuriya Jin , a high school student who had used wood from a Sacred Tree which was chopped down due to construction
work for a memento of his childhood to craft a resemblance to a girl whom he had met when he was a child , was in for a
surprise. The a girl suddenly broke out of the sculpture he worked on when he took it outside and from the on , lots of
comedic events took place for Jin.
Terminology :
Impurity :
Something that would pose a negative impact upon humans if they take the form of a bug or animal , usually bringing them
calamities or misfortune if it stuck itself onto a human. ( Or rather , possess them )
Mikuriya Jin :
A typical high school student whose also part of the Art Club. When he decides to bring his sculpture to school he was
shocked by the appearance of the girl that literally broke out of his sculpture. However , due to various circumstances
, he agreed to let her stay with him for the time being.
Personality :
He was generally accepting of the girl's sudden appearance , acknowledging her claim of her being a God without any
forms of hestiation nor protest. Jin is also generally what you call a typical high school student and he does sincerely
worry about Nagi's well being once in a while.
Nagi :
Nagi is a self-proclaimed Goddess that had appeared before Jin's eyes as she broke out of the sculpture. Upon the
understanding of the fact that her orginal vessel , the Sacred Tree that resides within the shrine has been chopped down
due to construction issues , she decides to live with Jin in order to clean out all the "impurities" within
the area but requires his help as she cannot touch them and her powers has weakened.
Personality :
For a God , she's definitely unexpectedly immature and aggressive :O
One way or the other , she's quite prone into bickering with Jin most of the times and she throws a tantrum like a
kid and in every sense she's just like your typical every day girl , though with the looks and the lack of the
understanding of how the world functions. ( Though she starts to understand stuff like the television some time later...
)
Suzushiro Hakua / Zange :
Hakua is another Goddess of a tree that shares a connection with Nagi's tree so they are essentially sisters.
However , Hakua's tree had remained intact and resides within a church but she had possessed a girl called Zange
under her consent. She is also a rising idol in the media.
Personality :
Well , I can't say much about Zange since I'm not sure whether her personality did take over or not but Hakua
have two different personalities. One is that of a sweet , gentle and innocent girl but the other was a somewhat
seductive and relatively dangerous and aggressive personality.
Aoba Tsumugi :
She is the childhood friend of Jin , also his acting-guardian and a girl whom have a crush on him. Tsumugi easily gets
worried about his well-being and she understands Jin extremely well , seeing that they had been together ever since a
tender age. She also delivers meals for him often ( Though it only compromises of eggs...vegetables...eggs...fried
vegetables...and more eggs... )
Personality :
As I had said , Tsumugi is sensitive about Jin's personality and can notice a change in him and understands him
well. She is also like any typical girl whose in a crush , getting jealous at times but she does contradict herself by
attempting to shake off the negative thought in her head.
Hibiki Daitetsu :
A large and somewhat frightening looking man whose actually a high schooler. He is also part of the Art Club and in fact
, he draws extremely well.
Personality :
Daitetsu , despite his stature and appearances , is actually a loyal and kindly friend. He is extremely concerned with
Jin's well-being , often treating him in a way that resembles a big brother than anything else. He is also
surprisingly timid at times.
Meguru Akiba :
A blonde male from the Art Club. He enjoys drawing and producing Mangas he drew himself but he insists that the reason
he did not join the Manga Club due to the "lazy Otakus" that resides there and he was offended by how the fans
were all lumped together as "otakus".
Personality :
Other than his great love for Anime , Manga and GAL games , his also , predicatably , knowledgeable about all the terms
in the Anime and Manga world. Once prompted , he may speak long speeches about these terms though others may just end up
ignoring him since it's too long winded.
Okuchi Shino :
A motherly-looking student from the Art Club. She doesn't seem to do much but she's a senior compared to the
rest of the students in the Club.
Personality :
Well , her way of speech is as motherly as her appearances that's for sure. In fact , you might want to consider
her a "taller and more adult-version" of Mugi of K-On! :O
Anyway , she is unusually sharp at the personality and behaviour of the males in the club.
Takako Kimura :
The president of the Art Club. She enjoys teasing Jin for some reason and she have a rather open weakness for cute girls
, as well as showing slight signs of Yuri and Yaoi fanism at times.
Personality :
I did say she have a weakness for cute girls...She even nosebleeded in certain scenes :O ( Shouldn't that be the
guys' role? :X )
Anyway , she seems to do things that may appear to be for the good of the members at times but she usually have a hidden
agenda behind it. ( Nothing sinister , she just wants to stare at cute girls...But then again , that IS considered
sinister for all the cute girls out there )
Overall :
To be honest , for most of the episodes , it's nothing but comedic sequences and the average school life of a
student , though exaggerated to a certain extent.
However , the storyline only starts to kick in 'round the 11th episode or so , but when you'd think it's
too late , things went on pretty smoothly and unexpectedly enough , the audience does actually feel quite a bit for the
characters despite the lack of serious story-events. ( Though I suppose humor-events work better )
The romance is fairly vague as well , between the two main leads , in fact , Jin was unaware of his feelings for Nagi
though doing things that surprises even himself at times due to his concern for her.
As for character development , nothing really had changed within the characters through out all the episodes , in fact ,
they stayed the same through out the plotline , though certain dialogues hint the slightest of change within Jin.
Overall , there isn't really much to say about the storyline , though there is a slight plot twist near the end and
things get fairly emotional between the main leads. The thing to note is that the side characters weren't ENTIRELY
left out but...hey , their like translucent or something.
Rating: 6
Art
Artwork Review :
I really like the artstyle of this Anime. It kinda reminds me of a cross-over of Brave Story and K-On! :O
Anyway , for those who had watched K-On! ought to know that Yui's hairdo have a mysterious property of floating up
into the air when she's happy right? In this Anime , when the characters are embarassed , particularly Jin , his
hair will float up as well :O
Also , the way the characters move their limbs was surprisingly realistic yet retaining the Anime artwork style and the
characters are extremely expressive during conversations as well. ( Moving their face and hands in about every scene :P
)
The opening was really cool as well , the dance moves of Nagi was really moe :O Though the sequence was a bit misleading
=.= I was under the impression that the story was going to be about a rising idol or something.
As for the ending sequence , it's pretty much images...only , the artwork style resembles it's Manga counter
part.
One way or the other , the details , coloring , texture and concept of the artwork is fairly pleasing to the eyes.
Rating: 9
Sound
Music Review :
The Opening was a...love song , predictably enough. Though if my memory serves me , I vaguely remember something about a
plain romance , so I guess that does work out well for the concept of the Anime. ( Though things does get fairly Harem
at times =.= )
But I definitely don't remember Jin pretending to be big and manly at times :O ( In fact , his aware of how
un-manly he is :P )
List of Openings , Endings and BGM :
Motto Hade ni ne! ( Opening )
Musuhi no Toki ( Ending I )
Shirigeya no Theme ( Ending II )
Rating: 8
Presentation
This is a Review of Kannagi :
This is perhaps one of the best comedy / romance mix. Other than the storyline , I think this Anime pretty much scores
well for the other sectors , though the romance part may be a bit lacking for people who are intent on those type of
"love love" romance , but it's kinda refreshing since this is more focused on the "crush" level
of romance rather than the typical types you see in Anime , where things ALWAYS end up blooming and all.
As for the comedy content , it features a combination of dialogue comedy , visual comedy and a bit of parody... (
Wait...in one of those episodes...It can't be!? )
Overall ( Others ) :
Age Recommendation : 13+
Genre : Comedy , Fantasy / Supernatural ( Light ) , Parody ( Light ) , Ecchi ( Extremely Light :P )
Romance :
The romance content is relatively soft compared to other romance Animes. Like I said , it's still in the state of a
crush and the person in question is relatively unaware of his own feelings. Well , the Anime does get a bit Harem at
times though.
Humor :
The humor content was relatively constant through out the Anime , though things doesn't actually peak up , it
doesn't die out either , in contrary to most Comedies where the humor is at the peak in the first few episodes and
dies down later. There are occasional parodies once in a while.
Fan-Service :
For comedic purposes and it's pretty light , nothing serious to be honest. 'Nuff said.
Trivia :
-This originates from a Manga of the same name , which is still ongoing which may indicate a Season II. ( Unfortunately
, the author may need rest due to health issues )
- There is a Light Novel adapted from it
- There is a Special Episode ( Episode 14 ) for it , don't miss it out!
Reviewer's Comment :
That is all , hope you enjoy the Anime! :D
Rating: 9
Final Verdict
7.8333 (good)
Reviewed by z827, May 10, 2010
