First Impression – The World God Only Knows S2

Otamegaaaaaaaaa!!!

Kyokai: Oh, can I say, I actually missed Keima?! Well, I did. I so totally fangirled his ingenious methods the last season of freeing girls from well, their problem of loose souls. More of that and hopefully some punky singing by Hiro Shimono.

sassy: Yesssssss. YESSSSSSSS. It’s here. This is my most anticipated show this season due to a combination of manga love and KANAE ITO. Plus the awesome soundtrack from the last season makes me excited over what new music they’re going to add this season.

No time to waste! By calling a bunch of delinquents the curious name of parsley, Keima starts the season with our favorite event, the “get yourself beat up” flag.

This triggers the next event, “getting rescued by the next target. Kusunoki Kasuga steps in to save Keima’s wimpy little ass and shakes Keima up a bit before storming off to do some manly things.

Who is this Kusunoki? Well, just the heir to the Kasuga dojo and their style, the Life and Death technique. Also a 3rd year at Keima’s school (Keima is a 2nd year, by the way).

It’s the clash of the titans…

Well, no better time to start capturing than the present! Keima goes ahead and begs Kusunoki to let him join the girls’ karate club so he can be her minion.

SCOWL SCOWL SCOWL SCOWL SCOWL

There, he learns a few things about Kusunoki. She hates cats, she hates weak people, especially people like Keima, and she’s likes strength. Or so he thinks.

WHOOPS! Looks like Kusunoki doesn’t hate cute things as much as she claims. Can you see the ending, yet?

Like Kanon, Kusunoki seems to be manifesting some supernatural powers as a result of the loose soul inside her. In her case, her alter-ego, “I love cute things” Kasuga, appears as some sort of ghost-thingamajig when overstimulated. As a fix-your-problem man, Keima suggests that she confront her other self by doing the weakest, most girly thing she can think of.

After some meddling from Elsie, Keima and Kusunoki find themselves going on a date.

MORE PICS

Yeeeah Haqua

Even the wind won’t escape her wrath now.

Jeet Kusunoki Do

Keima is rewarded for his brilliance.

END THOUGHTS

Kyokai: This was a brilliant start of the season two with a strong girl and the usual Keima mindlessness and of course Elsea is around to add her moeness. I can bet you are watching either for the fact that you have watched season one or have been following the manga. I still haven’t touched the manga unlike sassy so I have pretty anime-only knowledge. That knowledge however points to the conclusion that in this season too, Keima will be freeing some interesting girls from their misery of being ruled over by loose souls.

Now that we have gotten that aside, this is a perfect arc-based anime with multiple girls and a harem king. Who doesn’t want their own harem, huh? Of course, Keima gets the troublesome kind, starting from a tsundere, yandere, moe, loli, etc. and ad nauseum. My favourite arc was of Shiori from last season, yeah I have this soft corner for book girls (refer to Bungaku Shoujo). In contrast to that I’m liking Kasuga a lot as her dere is so CUTEOO! She might kill Keima in the process of getting rid of her loose soul but hey, who can PWN him anyway?

Keima has been working as one smooth operator and even when in danger, he supplies the right dialogue to get out of trouble. Not so close there being beaten up by bullies but he’s learning and his victory will remain to be winning many a girls’ hearts. I’ll definitely be following this and enjoying too. Now, I’ll leave to sassy for fangirling over Itou Kanae. Ja ne~

sassy: Holy crap guys I love the music in this series. The background music that played during Kusunoki’s first appearance is totally new and kicks so much ass. I’m already waiting in anticipation for the season two soundtrack, which is probably not going to come out for like five months (RAGE). The new OP is also pretty good, and I’ll probably grow to love the new ED after listening to it over and over again on the character CDs. Speaking of which, we’re getting at least four new character CDs featuring, you guessed it, Haqua (Saori Hayami), Kusunoki (Ami Koshimizu), Chihiro (Kana Asumi), and Jun (Aki Toyosaki). I hope you guys are excited because whether you care or not, I am going to spam the Metanorn front page with this stuff sooner or later.

Truthfully I’m not really a big fan of Kusunoki as far as Kaminomi capture targets go because I think she’s a relatively boring charcter, so I’m kind of enduring the current arc until it gets to the more interesting girls. That being said, there are two characters that make this episode (and the series, for that matter) so much win! Obviously Keima and his “don’t underestimate me, I’ve done this tons of times (in games)” moments are some highlights of the series in both the manga and the anime, plus his overall inability to distinguish certain differences between the 2d and 3d worlds. And then there’s Elsie, who’s basically the best comic relief in any series ever because of her overwhelming incompetence and Kanae Ito Kanae Ito Kanae Ito Kanae Ito Kanae Ito.

Compared to some viewers (including Kyokai, apparently), I have the disadvantage of already knowing how the plot goes because I follow the manga very closely, but it actually turns to not be such a big deal after all. Like the first season, I was a little worried that knowing the events would pretty much ruin the anime for me, but I overlooked this tiny little detail: the Kusunoki arc happened a looooong time ago. Like, years ago. The anime ends up being a refresher for past events as well as bonus Kaminomi material for those of us who keep getting annoyed at all the freaking cliffhangers in the manga lately. So if you’re the type who won’t watch anime if you already read the manga (and admittedly, I am one of those types… screw the Bakuman anime), stop making excuses and watch this series right now.

PREVIEW

Obviously, Keima is going to see the ending!