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REVIEW: Kamisama Kiss BD+DVD


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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 2:14 pm Reply with quote
I liked the narrator in the first episode. Nanami's initial situation was so absurd anyway that playing it for laughs works. The first episode as a whole was pretty good I thought. At the very least, I certainly didn't get the impression that it was significantly worse than subsequent episodes.

I thought the drama was also well done. It wasn't exactly subtle and it was hardly fresh, but it was solidly-executed.

The characters were also good. Same-old same-old archetypes and tropes, but they were likeable and never boring. Nanami's gumption was impressive but she also carried with her a core of self-doubt which made her successes that much sweeter. Even Tomoe, who is of a character archetype that I usually can't stand, was sympathetic.

So basically, I agree with Hope that the show is predictable, but I think it was quite a bit better than she's giving it credit for. I rated it as a B+, which is very impressive considering that reverse harems are not really my thing.


Last edited by dtm42 on Sat Feb 22, 2014 4:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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navycherub



Joined: 26 Oct 2007
Posts: 233
PostPosted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 4:14 pm Reply with quote
Totes agree with the above poster that the first episode was good. Everything about her "tragic" backstory was silly and only served to set up the situation of the whole show so speeding through it and not actually giving it any attention at all was pretty hilarious to me.
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Brainchild129



Joined: 09 Aug 2011
Posts: 307
PostPosted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 7:34 pm Reply with quote
Interesting that the show doesn't beat around the bush in regards to Nanami and Tomoe's relationship, because what little I saw of the manga suggested a relationship that held very much to the norm for shoujo - in other words, to have one or both characters in denial over their relationship to stretch things out all the longer. To move things forward for the shows is not only wise in the sense of conserving plot time and episode count, but lets the writers explore the relationship beyond the "OMG I like you!" stage.

One curious omission (albeit a minor one) is that there was no mention of the extras that come with this set. Hope, were you given the full Premium set, goodies and all, or just the discs to review?
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff


Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 3728
Location: SoCal
PostPosted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 7:45 pm Reply with quote
Brainchild129 wrote:

One curious omission (albeit a minor one) is that there was no mention of the extras that come with this set. Hope, were you given the full Premium set, goodies and all, or just the discs to review?


The review is based on the standard release, not the box with all the goodies, yes.
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ajr



Joined: 29 Nov 2010
Posts: 465
PostPosted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 8:42 pm Reply with quote
This show also has a pretty catchy ending theme to, IIRC. I watched about half of it, I think eventually I'll read the manga.
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jymmy



Joined: 11 Nov 2011
Posts: 1244
PostPosted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 11:05 pm Reply with quote
I wasn't a big fan of this show, but I thought it was pretty good in almost every area. I don't remember the first episode as a whole clearly, but I definitely remember liking the light-hearted zip-through of Nanami's bizarre circumstances.
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yoshiyukiblade



Joined: 10 Nov 2012
Posts: 305
PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2014 2:21 am Reply with quote
This show wasn't too bad considering the bias I developed against the Shoujo genre (for the longest time, I didn't realize this bias until I actually started looking at the genres of shows I didn't enjoy). It's charming and has a nice atmosphere. Probably not the type of show I'd watch again, but I didn't dislike it for what it was.
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KLAC
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 22 Oct 2009
Posts: 1124
PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2014 6:53 am Reply with quote
well give watch dub on this some time ago yet find it quite good sure ed song too catchy to hear.

really dub on it worth a watch.
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barrelroller



Joined: 27 Jul 2010
Posts: 104
Location: Maryland
PostPosted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 9:48 am Reply with quote
Curious to watch an episode or two of this. They had the anime playing within one of the Gaylord's restaurants during Katsucon except we were seated in a spot where we couldn't comfortably watch it or read the subtitles.
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Posts: 1294
PostPosted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 10:41 am Reply with quote
I really enjoyed Kamisama Kiss when it came out. At the beginning of the season, I did a compare and contrast review of this, Say, "I Love You" and My Little Monster, judging them to be about equal in my estimation at the end of four episodes, with each having their own strengths and weaknesses. By the end of the season, Kamisama Kiss was the clear winner of the three. It did seem to get stronger as the season went on. The biggest advantage it had over My Little Monster was that it ended with a better "there is more but this is a good ending point" ending (and MLM had a really poor final episode, in my opinion). Both shows screamed for another season and I hope Kamisama Kiss gets one eventually, but it is pretty darned good as it stands.

I do wish the part about Tomoe's past and how Nanami is tied to it would have been more clearly done or, maybe, more completely covered. I really liked that story line and it did feel like it was kind of short changed.

I was really pleased with the voice acting in the dub from the first couple of episodes and I look forward to watching the rest of the dub now that it is available. I agree with the reviewer that Tia Ballard did a fantastic job as Nanami! I actually looked up who she was after watching the first episode because she was so good. I was not familiar with most of her work and was very surprised at how well she played the role.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 10:54 am Reply with quote
^
Yeah, that season was interesting, what with three shoujo series on at the same time. I thought My Little Monster blew the other two out of the water and was practically masterpiece quality . . . for the first half-dozen episodes or so. Then it went downhill in a big way and spun around in circles. Say, "I Love You" was so over the place in terms of quality that it was always in third place, though overall it wasn't too bad and had a decent ending. Kamisama Kiss started off okay and got gradually stronger, to the point where by the end of the season I reckon it was as good as (but not better than) My Little Monster. I do agree with you that Kamisama Kiss felt way more complete and ended far tidier than My Little Monster, whose end was weird and unfulfilling.
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jr240483



Joined: 24 Dec 2005
Posts: 4457
Location: New York City,New York,USA
PostPosted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 10:39 pm Reply with quote
its definitely interesting enough. and it have a good englsh dub.

though i am kinda glad they didn't have Mignona as Tomoe otherwise all of those shojo fangirls would be cringing about now after Ouran host high school.
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Crisha
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Joined: 21 Apr 2010
Posts: 4290
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 12:32 pm Reply with quote
Well, since I wrote a short review of the Goddess Edition in the Subscriber forums, I'll copy and post it here.


Kamisama Kiss Goddess Edition unboxing video (not mine)

So, first thing I want to comment on is how the physical extras are packed. At first I wasn't certain, having them all contained in a closed sleeve in the box and taking up extra space, but now I really appreciate it. A majority of the time when I get physical extras with an LE edition (i.e. Madoka Magica) I have no idea what to with them. The post cards end up getting hidden behind stuff just to find a place to store them. With Funi's box, however, I can just leave in what I'm not going to use or display. Sure it takes up extra space and makes the box bigger, but I really like that storage space is being contained within the package itself. And the artwork on the box looks really great.

As for the physical extras themselves, these are way better made than what I was expecting. The bag is better than those Walmart reusable bags (which is honestly about what I was expecting). The material is at least thicker. And the hair ornament is mostly made of metal. Looking at the photos, I was expecting a cheapo plastic thing that would easily break in the long stem or those two dangles with the purple balls. In the photo on Rightstuf, the dangles stick out straight as if the entire thing was made of stiff molded plastic, so imagine my surprise when the cord the purple balls are attached to is flexible so that they swing with movement. The folding fan isn't the best quality, of course, but neither is it shoddy, and the artwork looks great on it. The lucky amulet is quite nice as well. And the post cards look great as well (though the card stock is no where near as nice as Nozomi's - I always feel bad when I throw one of those away, I feel like I should be giving them out as gifts). My expectations were set pretty low, but what I got deserves a well-earned "damn."

Damn, Funimation. I like what I see.

The extras on the discs include two episode commentaries, textless OP & ED, trailers, and one video commentary. I am currently watching the live video commentary, and I really like it (HAHA, at the end after the commentary and episode officially ends, it tacks on some extra video with the credits, and other people sneak up behind the VAs). I like being able to see the voice actors and watching facial expressions. And they're sitting in what I assume is the recording studio.

I don't consider myself a videophile, so take this with a grain of salt, but I think the video on the BD looks quite good. There's a little bit of banding, but nothing like I saw of screenshots of Serial Experiments Lain. And the audio sounds quite good as well.

Overall, I'm very pleased with Funi's first run with premium editions (I also got in the Psycho-Pass premium edition).

-----

Of the three shoujo anime that aired in Fall '12, KK ended up being my favorite. While My Little Monster had more unique characters (Shizuku FTW) for a shoujo series and while it's humor tended to be better, the last episode was ho-hum and the series in general just didn't grab me enough. And the quality of Say, I Love You was all over the map. I thought the best parts were when the characters were dealing with bullying. I really did not care for the relationship between the main couple - the side characters were way more interesting. Kamisama Kiss, however, had entertaining characters and scenarios (even if a bit generic for shoujo) and had the strongest ending of the three series.

Buying this from Funi was a no-brainer.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 10:29 pm Reply with quote
The scene of Nanami and Tomoe on the roller coaster is by itself nearly worth the price of admission.
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tuxedocat



Joined: 14 Dec 2009
Posts: 2183
PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 10:39 pm Reply with quote
I got my "Goddess" set a few days ago. It really gave me a blast of nostalgia when I unpacked it, remembering back to the days when Geneon was doing premiums with practically everything. LOL.

I don't miss the collecting volume-by-volume though.

I agree with willag about the extras in this set. I like the box inside the box where I can store the swag. As it is, all the loose extras that I have been getting with premium editions has been going in a special box. This is a better solution, IMO, even if it takes a little more shelf space.
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