The World God Only Knows: Goddesses Arc – 06

The World God Only Knows - Goddesses Arc - 06 (1)

Yasaburou making a cameo appearance in KamiNomi!

The Goddesses Arc is continuing its one-goddess-per-episode pattern, covering Keima’s recapture of Shiori in this episode. A little twist this time was that the episode started off following Shiori as the first person protagonist. And though it switched back to Keima here and there, Shiori’s internal monologue stayed prominent throughout. And that alone was enough to redeem an otherwise boring episode.

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That she always turns to intergalactic war science fiction when she’s out of ideas was a lovely little detail.

I’ve said it before, and I say it again: Shiori is freaking boring. I couldn’t stand her in her arc back in the first season, and I was dreading her mini-arc in this one. But the show turned that on its head by switching to her as the narrator, suddenly making her someone actually worth paying attention to. No, she isn’t any more complex than she appeared, but her on-going commentary about her issues made her much easier to sympathize with, reminding me of Watamote‘s Kuroki Tomoko at times with her insecurities (though obviously she never came close to being as funny as that girl).

The main conflict of the capture, well, I guess it was fine. It was certainly no worse than either Tsukiyo’s or Yui’s. Better, actually, in terms of the what was at stake and the drama build up, thanks in part to the aforementioned narration by Shiori. Trouble is, there weren’t many laughs to be had in this episode. I mean, Keima wasn’t violently assaulted even once. Alright, some bits were genuinely funny, like when Shiori found out about the ticket ordering system at the ramen shop. And her various failed attempts at writing, with the accompanied illustrations, were mildly amusing. And heck, even her annoyingly soft voice was used to good effect in her big “Ehhhhhhhhhhhh” right after the commercial break. But overall the episode was a bit too mellow for its own good.

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I loved that she turned to the same image of Keima as during their dueling story a few episodes back.

And the solution for the recapture wasn’t the most satisfying. Yes, it was nice to see Shiori write with confidence about herself, and the sequence of her describing her library friends was very well done. But as she admitted, that wasn’t a story. That was a personal essay. I’m assuming we only got a very tiny excerpt of it (otherwise that’s pathetically short considering how much time she spent), so I can’t judge its quality, but regardless, that didn’t meet the goal she had set out to achieve. Just one throwaway line that a personal essay would work just as good as a story would have gone a long way.

Last week we saw Mars come out from Yui as the goddess of war, and now we’ve got Minerva, named for the Roman goddess of wisdom, coming out of Shiori (Shinerva? Minori? Hey, that last one’s a real name). Unlike Mars, Minerva doesn’t seem to have much in common with her namesake unless you count being bookish as somehow relating to wisdom. She’s also obviously younger than all the other goddesses so far (what a sad life if she’s stuck physically and mentally at that state for eternity), which doesn’t jive with the real Minerva’s relationship with gods like Apollo or Diana.

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Gotta admit, she doesn’t look particularly wise in this scene.

And I’m still wondering why Keima is still not at all upfront to the goddesses about what he’s trying to do. One would figure, he’s already got 3 of the 6 goddesses on his side and on the same page, so the others would be easily convinced by their sisters to join them and fight against Vintage. Keeping Mars out of the loop to keep her from doing something rash is one thing, but I didn’t see reason to keep Minerva in the dark as well. She wasn’t particularly willing to listen or to talk, but is giving Shiori that bracelet really enough protection? Couldn’t he have invited Tenri/Diana over to talk to her little sister about the very real danger they’re in? I just don’t see the advantage here.

Preview:
Next week we’ve got a sick Keima trying to figure out the final 2 girls, Ayumi and Chihiro. First of all, really, Japan? You are smart enough to know that getting cold doesn’t give you a cold! It’s a convenient plot device, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s fucking dumb. It’s a common cold! People get it randomly all the time, and that makes far more sense than chilly legs being the cause. Second, so far I haven’t seen any clear signals from either girl, but I’m rooting for Ayumi. As far as I’m concerned, she’s the only girl for Keima.

The World God Only Knows - Goddesses Arc - 06 (3)

Just what will come out of his silver tongue to get those two to visit?

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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
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11 Responses to “The World God Only Knows: Goddesses Arc – 06”

  1. Highway says:

    I really enjoyed this episode, finding as many laughs in it as the whole rest of the season so far. I just connect more with Shiori, I guess. I thought the low-level anguish that Shiori went through about Keima, with his disappearing, his not showing up when she thought he would, his cross-dressing, was all amusing. I’m also a pretty big sucker for a straight up confession. I also liked that they changed it a little, having Minerva able to appear outside of Shiori.

    Again, the confusion about what’s caused the girls to remember falling in love with Keima raises its head, tho. Shiori mentions that she remembers her first events with Keima, but that she didn’t remember them until recently. It really seems like they didn’t think that part of the story through, but it leaves some glaring inconsistencies that really stick out at me.

    • lvlln says:

      I thought Shiori’s remembrance clarified things a little, in that it really was a recent event that triggered the memories, rather than it being constant since her capture, like with Tenri. Of course, that still doesn’t give us any information on WHAT that trigger was, or WHY it brought back those memories.

    • Sumairii says:

      I believe the way it works is as the girls interact with Keima and their feelings grow, the goddesses within them grow stronger and bring back the memories they had lost. Kind of like a feedback loop, I suppose. In that way, their affection for Keima is both the cause and the result.

      For Tenri, she’s always loved Keima so Diana was particularly active compared to the other goddesses. Hence a complete lack of lapse in memories on her part. Maybe I’m looking back on all this with 20/20 hindsight, but it doesn’t feel like TWGOK is leaving any glaring inconsistencies at all.

      • elior1 says:

        you right but it work in more different and simple way in short once the godnesses got into the girls keima been meeting in the past they remembered their meeting and that they was fall in love with keima

  2. elior1 says:

    finally the best part of the entire arc is coming next week this is going to be so funny i will fall off my chair

  3. BlackBriar says:

    I think it’s a good idea to let someone temporarily be thr protagonist as it lets us understand more what’s going with them rather Keima consuming most of the spotlight and Shiori is cute. Not that finding the Goddesses isn’t important but things have gotten slow and I’m wondering when Vintage is going to make another appearance to shake things up. Since Kanon got saved, it’s as if Keima isn’t getting enough pressure to keep him moving on.

    • lvlln says:

      Yeah, the show has entered a very predictable pattern by now. It feels a bit like going through the motions, not unlike how a KEY anime has to go through each harem girl arc by arc. Small hints here and there, like Haqua going off to her meeting in this episode, but overall this season hasn’t really felt like much of a twist on the KamiNomi formula.

  4. AllenAndArth says:

    i think that if you take in consideration minerva’s appearance she acts and looks like a child…I would do the same as keima, because child’s are pretty reckless in their own right…
    i had my fair share of it…my mother was in panic when i started playing in the roof for the first time *-* good times, good times!

  5. elior1 says:

    @lvlln it said in episode 1 or 2 that what triggerd those memorys and been bring them back was when the godnessses got into the girls body there is no special reason why it brought once the godnesses got into the girls body they rememberd their meeeting with keima

  6. elior1 says:

    by the way i wont spoil anything but the last 2 girls arc will be the most long one i don’t even think they will able to finish it in this season

    • Sumairii says:

      Manglobe will find a way. \o/

      Seriously though, I agree this last capture deserves more than just one episode.

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