Kamigami no Asobi – 02

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Yousei, Yui, they sounds close enough, right?

I kind of want to buy the new Project Diva game, but I discovered with the last few that playing one is like playing them all… I should probably be focusing on otoge anyways. Despite hearing SO many stories of disappoint regarding KamiAso, the anime is still kind of making me want to play it. OTL Damn Japan and it’s obvious anime marketing ploys that totally work on me.

From the introduction, right into reverse harem antics. Yui’s interaction with the other characters seems to be evenly spread out for the most part. She hangs out with Apollon a lot, but he’s the guy with the fabulous magical horse, so it’s probably a good decision on her part. Plus he’s friendly and the most proactive in getting everyone on the same page, so he’s a good ally to have. …Hades kind of sounds like a chuunibyou with his talk about how he causes misfortune (no really, rewatch the scene he’s in), but he’s probably avoiding everyone because he’s the god of the underworld, and that’s kind of a depressing occupation. The Japanese gods seem the same as ever, with no real reason as to why Tsukito hangs out with everyone. …Balder seems like he could be the jealous type underneath him tripping on every flat surface available.

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They seemed to have maybe toned down the BL intonations too. Loki and Thor seem to have a… close sibling relationship (since Thor apparently won’t do anything without Loki), but Loki wasn’t so thorny about Yui hanging out with Balder. The same goes with Takeru around Tsukito. Who knows what their problem was in the last episode, but maybe it just had to do with them having no idea who Yui was or something. However, in exchange, unlike the first episode, this was a pretty much standard character interactions. There were no mahou shoujo transformations, nor any randomly blooming flowers. …Maybe they’ll bring in more of that later, but this episode was definitely less flashy than the first one.

I had no idea that there were going to be other gods involved in this. As far as I know, Thor and Dionysus don’t have routes, so I guess they’re just side characters. …Maybe they’re there as plot devices for the game’s routes or maybe to make the school look less desolate, but I don’t think they’ll have much romantic interaction with Yui either way. Melissa was a surprise as well. I honestly don’t get why they need all of the other background spirit characters either. Sure it makes things less lonely-looking around the school, but they didn’t seem to help out in setting up for the ceremony or anything. They’re just kind of… there.

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Also, they all may or may not be yandere.

The gods and Yui have different points of view on things, as proven with them discussing the opening ceremony. …Which makes sense, since one of the points of the school was to teach the gods about human life. However, as Yui realized this episode, maybe the gap between humans and gods isn’t so big after all. They’re stuck in the same position and nobody can really do anything about it other than comply with what Zeus wants. So it’s probably better to work together to get out as opposed to ignoring the situation and hoping that it goes away.

Accessories for all! It would have probably been smarter to lock away the god’s powers before they even had a chance to do anything, but I suppose this is just Zeus exercising his powers over all of them. Plus it seems that there’s a clear difference in power where the other gods couldn’t even beat Zeus if they tried (not that they were very smart about the attack and practically told him what they were going to do beforehand). But hey, at least there’s a handy, clear visual of how well they’re all doing at accomplishing their goal.

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“The entrance ceremony is soon!” *montage of them doing things other than the ceremony*

Actually, what Zeus wants seems beneficial to everyone, so it’s kind of silly that some gods aren’t being cooperative. Minus Yui, who was just kind of thrown into the situation with nothing really to gain except for a harem, Zeus is doing this for the everyone’s sake. Something bad will probably happen if the gods’ world and the human world fully separate, and it seems that Zeus is probably trying to prevent that. He did kind of hint at something bad happening, though maybe that was to gather interest in the rest of the episode. From the looks of the past two episodes, the future ones seem like they’re be pretty slice-of-life-ish.

I’m not so impressed with the opening, both musically and visually. The end song is definitely better in both (I had no idea that Toyonaga Toshiyuki could sing well). …And no, not just because of certain imagery (you know what I’m talking about), but there’s more style than the OP has in general. Anyways, despite things being less fabulous compared to the last episode (and Yui has kind of regressed to the “oh!” “un!” heroine) things haven’t become a train wreck yet, so things are still going okay. 

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Next episode? Probably more instances of Loki being unable to sit on anything like a normal person.

About

University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
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22 Responses to “Kamigami no Asobi – 02”

  1. zztop says:

    Good god, Thor, what have they done to you?!
    Your flowing blonde locks and well trimmed blonde stubble,gone!
    http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/51a394da6bb3f74e0d000006-1200-800/thor-chris-hemsworth.jpg

    Marvel shall hear of this travesty!!(`A´)

    • d-LaN says:

      Need I remind that Japan and western take on mythology is very different? XD

      Though I do understand your dissapoint, the upcoming CH game “Moero Chronicle” have a centaur girl….. without the horse part. Actually, most of the monster girls might as well be cosplayers. (I do dig the design for some of them though)

      • zztop says:

        Just joking, that’s all. 😛

        • d-LaN says:

          I forgot to use my ” ” lol.

          But my meh for the centaur w/out the horse bottom is real.

    • Highway says:

      Marvel shall hear of this travesty!!(`A´)

      Actually, that’s probably exactly the reason that he looks different: So that Marvel doesn’t hear about it. I’m sure they’ve got that character Trademarked or Copyrighted or whatever it is that applies to characters.

    • Irenesharda says:

      LOL…Yes it is a travesty. But as cute as redhead Loki is, and Thor…well…let’s just say Chris and Tom are the quintissencial Asgardian/Norse gods for me. 😀

    • Karakuri says:

      …At least well always have that Avengers anime adaptation that’s airing right now. …Not that I want to even touch that.

  2. Highway says:

    Yeah, this episode definitely wasn’t as amusing as the first episode, but it still wasn’t too bad. I was a little worried when Yui started off the episode just being monosyllabic. I joked that this is what it made me think of, but thankfully she broke out of that a little bit and still seems to have some of her own volition. Besides, I would guess that when smooth talker Apollo comes along and tries to sweep you off your feet and on to his white winged horse, it’s hard to keep up.

    • Irenesharda says:

      Well, as Apollo has long been known as perhaps the most handsome of the Greek gods, and happens to be god of music, poetry, truth, art, oracles, archery, healing, plague, medicine, sun, light and knowledge. Whew!

      With all those attributes, I can see any girl probably falling for him. 🙂

    • Karakuri says:

      We really need a Sei in otoge adaptations. OTL

      The winged horse is a rather big deal, I’ll admit. xD Yui managed to talk back to Thoth shortly after though, so hopefully she’;; be okay for the rest of the series

      • Highway says:

        Sei would be a lot of fun in most adaptations. That’s the kind of character that’s fun in just about any situation. 🙂

  3. zztop says:

    I suppose the slowness is a breather before more nuttiness ensues. Unless you want this series to be otome’s answer to Valvrave’s crazy. And Kara, its MahouShounen, since there are only male gods here.

    Hades kind of sounds like a chuunibyou.
    He and Takanashi Rikka would have gotten along fabulously, & together establish the first Far Greece Magic God Society of Summer.

    I blame Zeus for Melissa’s situation, btw. o(-`д´-。)

    • Karakuri says:

      I dunno about shounen. They gods are all pretty girly looking.

      He and Takanashi Rikka would have gotten along fabulously,

      Vanishment of this world!

  4. Highway says:

    Ah yeah, Melissa. Poor golem has a girl’s name and a guy’s voice. I am starting to rethink whether they should have had Kamiyan do the voice of the anthropomorphic sidekick instead of the NTR god…

    • Karakuri says:

      NOOO a squirrel was enough. This is like, the 6th time Kamiyan has even appeared in an otoge, he doesn’t need a smaller role. (lololol NTR god)

  5. Irenesharda says:

    A good episode. I can see that Zeus is still as much of a dick here as he is in most mythology. However, I wonder how he has so much power over the other gods saying most of them are from other mythologies/cultures and therefore not under his jurisdiction? Wouldn’t head gods like Odin, or Ra/Horus (depending on time period) be kind of made at him for usurping their authority?
    Or maybe I’m thinking too much about it.

    I would think Hades, Apollo, and Dionysus would take a little more exception with their brother/father kidnapping them without a word, it’s not like he couldn’t have said something to them earlier, like Zeus obviously did with Thoth, who’s not even in his pantheon.

    Oh gosh…I am thinking to much about this! 😛

    I’m interested in seeing more, this show is pretty funny and I like the quirky relationships each god has with the other as they are attending school (which is of course an Eastern designed school, despite most of these gods being from the western world…), and I will be interesting in seeing them and Yui interact. Yui better get used to the fact that all these western gods, especially the Greeks, are going to be a little more touchy and emotional than she’s used to. That scene with Apollo was rather cute.

    • zztop says:

      Wouldn’t head gods like Odin (depending on time period) be kind of mad at him for usurping their authority?

      Odin could not be reached for comment, on account of his Odinsleep. (-, – )…zzzZZZ

      Zeus actually went to wake him up, but there’s just no moving that Sleeping Beauty!(´~`)

    • Highway says:

      I’ve seen in other properties that the Japanese aren’t afraid of ranking gods in other pantheons in relative strength. Maybe it’s because of the Shinto / Buddhism history in Japan, but mixing pantheons is something they seem to be better at than just about anyone else (DxD actually does this very well).

      So if Zeus is stronger than the rest, that’s because this author said he was. Maybe Odin or Ra would come to complain, but likely they don’t because they realize Zeus is right.

      • zztop says:

        You’re right, actually. I read Shinto and Buddhist pantheons were highly intertwined in Japan, but this ended in the late 1800s when the new Meiji government attempted to separate both beliefs, a political move designed to entrench the revolutionaries’ power base using Shinto(following their nationalist beliefs that Shinto was the true religion) and to diminish the wealth and power of the Buddhist sects.

      • Irenesharda says:

        Interestingly, we’re getting an interesting conversation on this in animesuki.

        They were saying that the way Loki and Susanoo reacted to Zeus they don’t consider him any kind of authority. However, while Hades did speak out, all the other Greek gods really kind of went along with it like they were used to it. So, we reasoned that the others are under their specific head gods and that they are just being silent right now.

        I can see Odin not caring if Zeus kidnapped Loki, but I’d think he’d have told Balder and Thor something, since those two are rather beloved of their parents. Zeus is the father of Apollo and Dionysus so he does with he likes with them, and he pretty much ignores his brother Hades all the time anyway.

        As for the Japanese gods, their head goddess Amaterasu, doesn’t like them so much anyway, so I’m guessing Susanoo and Tsukiyomi are on their own. 😛

    • Karakuri says:

      I haven’t played the game, so I’m not entirely sure why Zeus has so much power. …And knowing the quality of writing otoge have sometimes, there might not even be an explanation. Zeus is probably OP because it was convenient for the plot.

      Ahaha Yui has a lot to get used to. Though I’m looking forward to seeing their interactions.

  6. Irenesharda says:

    Who does anyone think is going to be end-game guy? As of right now, my bet is that Yui is going to end up with Apollo. With the amount of screentime he’s gotten and how Yui has already warmed up to him, I think he’s a good bet.

    Also, there’s the interesting fact, that other than Tsukiyomi, Apollo is technically the only single god in the group! O_o

    Hard to believe I know, considering he’s probably one of the most handsome and versatile of his pantheon.

    But yeah, technically speaking, everyone else is married already.

    Hades has the most famous story of his wife, Persephone.
    Loki is married to Sigyn.
    Thor is married to Sif
    Balder is married to Nanna
    Dionysus is married to Ariadne
    Susanoo is married to Kushinada-hime
    Thoth’s wife is Ma’at
    Anubis’ wife is Anput, and of course, Zeus is married to Hera.

    Now, Tsukuyomi is still single, but he’s soooo boring! -_-

    I know that they’ve taken liberties with the mythology and such, but I still think that Apollo still has the best shot.

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