The World God Only Knows: Goddesses Arc – 05
Remember, DFC just means she can hold you closer to her heart~
 This episode felt a lot like one from prior seasons. While this season has had Keima interacting with a number of girls at a time, this one was pretty much all Yui, with a brief appearance by Tsukiyo at the beginning, and cameo appearances by the other potential goddesses. Now, Yui has definitely been the most fun of the girls to appear this season, notable since unlike most of the other girls, we haven’t gotten a chance to know her yet. So it was a bit of a surprise that this episode dedicated to her capture felt disappointingly banal. |
Yui got Keima to wear not one, not two, but three entirely different girls’ outfits. Kudos.
Okay, we got to see Keima cross dress, and not just in the school uniform but also in some fancier outfits at the amusement park, which was pretty cool. This boy’s got guts. It took Nitorin 8 whole episodes to get to the point where he could go to school in girl’s clothing, and Keima does it without batting an eye. It’s weird that none of his classmates said anything, but considering his regular behavior of playing games during lectures and talking back to teachers, I guess they’ve come to expect anything from him. But besides that, the date was nothing to write home about. The cliche random-delinquents-hit-on-girl event is getting tiresome, and I was hoping that Keima had staged it while watching it. No such luck. His actual staged crisis wasn’t bad, but Yui leaping to save Keima sure could have been animated better.
I’ve been hitting on the point every week, but not having shown the girl’s initial capture is really hurting the show. When Keima was trying to trigger memories of the capture in Yui, it had to rely on clumsy flashbacks and an outright explanation by Keima. And as much as I like Yui’s irreverent and outgoing personality, I just don’t know her well enough to root for her in romance with Keima. That’s not the case for Ayumi or even Chihiro, who I’ve seen gradually open up to Keima over the course of many episodes before.
The kiss really should have had more impact than it did.
At least Mars is a pretty interesting new character, in that she’s the first goddess who takes characteristics from her Roman mythological namesake. As far as we can tell, Diana isn’t twins with Apollo or good at archery, and Vulcanus isn’t a blacksmith, but Mars is indeed the goddess of war. Her fiery nature goes well with Yui (Yars? Mui? I like both!) I can’t fault Keima for wanting to hold her back, though I question the wisdom of keeping her sisters from her. Hopefully that comes back to bite Keima in the ass violently.
But let’s talk about the best girl in the episode, Haqua. I never cared much for her besides her design (seriously, she’s way too hot!) but she’s been growing on me lately during her substitution of Elsie. First of all, she’s freaking adorable emulating that girl, always overdoing the awkwardness it to make her sound like an idiot. And her cynical support of Keima has been very fun to watch. One of my favorite moments this episode was her blocking her ears as Keima was talking – even though she had to walk away anyway. I gotta admire that irreverent “fuck you” sort of attitude. And she provided the only case of violence against Keima this episode, coming back into frame after fleeing naked, just to sucker punch him. What a wonderful girl.
I love that she can’t ever seem to sit in an actual seat.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Yuri-sensei ominously spying on Keima. What’s she up to?
Now only 2 goddesses remain. Shiori, Ayumi, and Chihiro are the remaining candidates, and given how much time we’ve spent with Shiori so far, I think she’s a safe bet. Ayumi and Chihiro have been so similar in their interactions with Keima so far that I really have no clue who will be the odd girl out. I hope it’s not Ayumi. I wonder if the show will take care of the 2 remaining captures an episode at a time just like Vulcanus and Mars, which would leave 5 whole episodes to finish the season. I’m guessing we’ll get more chained fetch quests like a bad RPG.
Preview:
I guess we have to power through Shiori’s recapture before finding out which girl gets left out!
About lvlln
A math/science geek and a self-dubbed cynical optimist. I don't care if it's deep, if it can make me feel something or laugh, it's fine in my book. @lvlln
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
i like Yui’s character, but it lacked impact, it was pretty loyal to the manga, but, i liked it better in the manga…Haqua’s phrase “You’ll pay for this”,after being defeated was the best part, of course the sucker-punch on keima made the charm on the scene
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
This was messed up but in a funny way. Not one but two cross-dressers in the same episode. Interesting. How Keima didn’t lose his sanity after continually being put into more and more embarrassing dresses is beyond me. And he should do something about that over inflated ego of his. He hates being saved by a heroine… *sigh*… Honestly.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I liked this episode, and I’m enjoying the series still. I really don’t feel like we’re missing out too much with not having seen Yui before, honestly. I do fear that they’re saving the worst for last, because I thought that Shiori was the most interesting of the straight up captures before, and that Chihiro and Ayumi were both pretty dull (same assessment for the characters).
But in OTHER Megami-hen news, OMG the single for the OP song!!!!!!! (more !!!!!). For someone who likes late 70’s early 80’s concept songs and prog rock, it is ALL THAT and a bag of chips. 8 sections, tells not only the 5 goddesses parts, but also Haqua’s parts at the beginning (the excerpt that’s used for the show OP) and ending, and seems like it’s mostly sung by Hayami Saori. I think the other girls sing parts (they’re credited), but since they’re all singing in (probably phonetic) English, it’s hard to tell them apart.
But the prog part is awesome. It’s not any hard rock, but changing time signatures, even one that’s 6/4-6/4-5/4, and the pretty odd scansion that it’s sung in really give it an exotic feel. It’s almost like it’s from a movie like Xanadu (but one that’s a lot better than Xanadu).
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Sorry, 6 goddesses parts, all sung from the goddess to her host. Not really any spoilers for the last one that I can figure out tho.
POWUH: iLurker with 6 comments
I think some goddesses sing to Keima as well, like the first part from Apollo. But maybe its just me.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yeah, Apollo’s does seem more focused towards Keima, although it could also be directed at Kanon. Diana, Mercury, and Minerva are obviously directed at their respective girls, and Mars and Vulcanus are kind of either or, although the way Vulcanus acted initially towards Keima, I’d think it’s sung to Tsukiyo.
Haqua’s parts are more of a declaration to the world and to herself.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
Eh, I’ve said as much before, but I find Shiori terribly boring. Shy book girl who’s basically mute. Even the “generic girl” Chihiro leaves a greater impression.
I’ve seen ppl write similar things about the other KamiNomi OPs. That first one went 8+ minutes, IIRC. Can’t say that style of music appeals to me, but it’s nothing if not ambitious, to do that for a song of which only 90 seconds is heard most of the time. Shows they’re trying to create an actual compelling song, rather than just something to fill that slot.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
After Sumairii said he liked the other two OP songs more, I gave them a listen, but neither of them had anything that grabbed me. They’re much more obviously electronica, which I just can’t get into as much. This one, in contrast, strikes me as something that was made by ELO, or even ELP.
Chihiro left such a non-impression on me that I remember nothing about her initial segment in the previous series, I only remember that she’s friends with Elsie. I think it’s probably more that Shiori’s character type appeals to me, even as I wish she was more outgoing. I’ll admit that her setting, unique to her in the show, is a help.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
To be honest, the TWGOK OPs have only gone downhill since the first season. The first one leaves an impression, but the others just sound like rehashes of the same concept.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Oh, I forgot the link to the song:
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 109 comments
it just a wild guess i didnt read the manga but i think the last remin godnesses are in side shirori and ayumi since for a long time we can see she have a feeling for keima even in the past seasons
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 109 comments
@highway i mean ayumi have fellings for long time we seen it even in the past 2 seasons so it highly possible she have godness inside
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
Well, Chihiro is sort of in the same boat, though. Ayumi has had more time, since she was the very first capture, and Chihiro was captured in S2, but so far this season they’ve acted similarly. But it would be interesting if Ayumi has been watching Keima capture the other girls the ENTIRE TIME while fully remembering her own capture. Poor girl, if that’s the case.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I thought it was only a specific event recently that caused them to now remember those events. Or is it either, depending on the girls? I would have thought that if Ayumi remembered it, she would have acted differently (like Kanon did when Apollo awakened).
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
I don’t know, and that’s a problem in the storytelling! All I know is that Tenri didn’t forget due to her goddess, and other girls like Tsukiyo and Yui have memories of some sort, but they don’t seem to manifest as clearly and obviously as Tenri. I can’t recall any particular event that would have triggered these memories instead of it being a continuous thing.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Well, we’re probably getting into “don’t think too hard about it”, but iirc, from Kanon, Shiori, Ayumi, and Chihiro we saw that Elsie actually did capture a loose spirit. From Tenri, it was identified that there wasn’t an actual loose spirit, so they just fooled Nora (yeah, I watched this a couple weeks ago) with another one. And Tenri was never ‘captured’ by Keima for the purpose of capturing a soul, she had a osananajimi crush on him.
So the question is did those other girls have BOTH the goddess and the loose soul in them? Or did the goddess move in later? Or should we really not think about any sort of consistency.
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
the only thing certain is that keima is going to get HURT XXD
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
The Goddesses “snuck” into the girls’ hearts at the same time as the loose souls. However, they were in an extremely weakened state at the time. Point is, if the Goddesses only moved in after the loose souls were evicted, the girls would continue to have no memory of their initial captures, which would eliminate the most obvious symptom Keima has in determining which girls are Goddess hosts. That’s not to say that a girl would not develop feelings for him again even without these memories though.
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Critique with 1024 comments
I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS EPISODE FOR A MILLION YEARS
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
So, was it everything you hoped for?