the world god only knows 1
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Tagged: the world god only knows
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“I can see the end!”
(But, wait, we’re just at the beginning.)
OMG, it’s a full on complete double rainbow all the way across the sky! It’s The World God Only Knows finally in anime format! How is this possible?! Whoaaaaa.
(Yes, the manga is tops in my book. Nothing beats the humor and creativity and the fun that the manga exudes. Can the anime at least come close to matching it? We’ll find out. But, at the very least, Keima and Elci in da house. The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire.)
Oh gosh Manglobe challenging Kyoto for best tears. Is this like the Patriots thinking Brandon Tate could challenge Randy Moss as best deep threat? Overall, animation is hit or miss. I would say average for this season’s crop when compared to the best animated show thus far, Oreimo (extremely detailed eroge boxes 4tw), and the worst animated show thus far, Bakuman (not even B-team quality). I think TWGOK is about the same level as Sora no Otoshimono, which makes me wonder if AIC would have been a better studio. AIC at least has this genre down versus Manglobe which might be more lost than anyone starting out in Minecraft.
Brandon Tate could catch a touchdown pass… someday…
Elci (probably the tenth spelling of her name I’ve seen thus far, but since that’s how CR spells it, I’m going to roll with that) looks more adorable fully animated. And she has a higher animation budget than Keima… normally, I’m all for this allocation of resources, but, come on, it’s the Capturing God! There’s no other! He’s a men amongst pikachus. Give the dude some respect.
(Also, I enjoy both Elci’s thigh highs and arm socks. Err… arm warmers. Excellent look. I wonder if she needs to wear both sock and arm glue to keep those fabric pieces in place.)
Collision? Between main lead and haremette? To start off a harem anime? This. Never. Happens.
(Needs moar super deformed art. One of the draws of TWGOK. I’m a big proponent of multiple art styles– it’s like a pitcher having more than one pitch. A slow curve paired with a smoking fastball is always a potent combo. Much like Viagra and cocaine. Not that I have tried that…)
(… this week.)
Ayumi sidetail montage 4tw!
(What’s better than sidetail? Battle mode sidetail! Plus, she’s tied it with a bow. So damn cute. Only thing that would be cuter is if she used Elci’s skull hairpin.)
My favorite part of TWGOK? When Keima goes into his 2D girl world theories. (Don’t worry, we should get a lot more of this soon, including his epic BMW theory that needs to be included in Oreimo somehow.) My second favorite part? After he goes “I can see the end!’ and unleashes his full capturing abilities. Poor Ayumi… she never stood a chance. Loved how Keima called her bluff with the ankle injury. More so, loved how he gave her the shoes then so coyly agreed to cheer her on. Smooth operator.
(Even though I haven’t read Ayumi’s arc in like two years, I did notice that her sidetail so conveniently went missing. Only a Capturing God or someone who likes making Fuck Yeah Sidetail posts can properly call out sidetail-wearing girls when they’re being dishonest.)
Kisu~~
Keima gets more action than pretty much any other male harem lead in recent memory. What is he up to now? Over a dozen at least, including the recent robot girl who would not stop smooching with him to the point Keima runs away.
(Yes, it seems like a convenient plot device that the girls forget their relationship with Keima after the spirit is gone, but it servers a purpose. Which we probably won’t find out this season, but it has a purpose.)
(Somewhere, Tomoki is insanely jealous.)
The OP, God Only Knows, is instant contender for both Best Engrish and Best Rip-off of Eden of the East. I still feel like Haruhi should be belting out God Knows for this show, and Mio should sing My Love Is a Stapler for Hitagi Crab. Oh well. I also think it should be New Orleans Jazz and not Utah Jazz. But that’s just me.
Much like Sunrise and Gundam, the OP gives away a bit too much. One, we’re only getting 5 haremettes, ending with SHINY RED FIRE TRUCK girl. Second, we’re not getting Tenri, which means we won’t get to the meat of the story until the second season, which begins April 2011.
(For people who wonder why my Twitter avatar has been a SHINY RED FIRE TRUCK, well, keep watching, keep watching.)
If I told you that anime’s pimpest character was an eroge-addicted dweeb who kept pushing up glasses and not the super cool man who wears fashionable outfits, commands people to do whatever he wants with the blink of an eye, and rides around in a rollerblading mecha, would you believe me?
Definitely felt a bit rushed as they compressed like sixty pages of manga into a single episode. But not as bad as Toradora cramming like 180 pages into a single episode. Sigh. Take your time! It’s a marathon, not a sprint. If One Piece can milk a chapter an episode, so can you, rest of anime.
Two things to note… one, Keima’s desk is not in standard anime position! He’s violating one of the Modern Laws of Anime by not being next to the window on the left hand side! Second, Keima’s teacher… well… I guess we won’t get to that this season. Or the other boxing-addicted teacher.
“For now, I can only water the plant until the flower blooms.”
I enjoyed this episode. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t mind-blowing great either. Didn’t catch me in the same way Bakemonogatari did, but I already know this story and looks like Manglobe is not deviating too much. Also didn’t disappoint me like Endless Eight. I am definitely looking forward to more. Especially Keima’s BMW monologue.
20 Responses to “the world god only knows 1”
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Wonder what would happen if Keima had Kirino as a target, aside from the universe imploding. Speaking of universe, what would happen if both of them got caught by Haruhi who wants them in her club.
Endless ei — roge
Hmm, one of the series I did NOT get into, but seeing it animated is going to be interesting.
Pacing felt slightly off to me. A lot of the things they turned into throw-away gags shouldn’t have been. That said, with a series like this, I can see the appeal of compressing a whole story arc down into the first episode, so that viewers who aren’t familiar with the source material get a sense for what’s going on. Plus, they’ve now got three episodes per remaining haremette, which is decently close to the pace of the manga, so things should have time to breathe from here on out.
They have to have the payoff (and the line “I can see the ending already”) in the first episode to set the tone for the rest of the show. Seeing that the first chapter of this manga is 3 times the size of the rest of the story (60 pages vs 20), they have to compress the story a bit.
Looks like we’re not getting Haoka this season.
Wait, that was a Minecraft joke! So you’re playing Minecraft _and_ watching this much anime? Did you get a MacArthur Genius Grant for excellence in anime blogging so you can do this full time? Or do you just not sleep?
And it looks like some text got cut off in the second text section – it just ends with “(Elci”.
Pimp fight of the season: Capturing God vs Galactic Pretty Boy. FIGHTO!!!
SACRILEGE!
Bakemonogatari is more serious than TWGOK, which is probably why (IMO) it’s better.
Uuugh. The single most important thing to get right in this show is Keima. But whenever he speaks I just hear the idiot from Baka Test – definitely the wrong seiyuu. If you can’t afford Jun Fukuyama’s salary at least get a newcomer with a deep voice who rants well!
The characterisation feels a bit wrong too. He often uses a calm voice (or worse, a loser male lead one) where in the manga he delivers the same lines with much more fanaticism. “I can already see the ending” fell completely flat (it’s his key phrase in the manga, and a throwaway line here), and he uses “boku” rather than his normal more masculine “ore” (it’s an important plot point in Yui’s arc)!
The adaptation was at least very close to the manga (though what was with chibi Ayumi running into walls? If you’ve got to squeeze 60 pages into 22 minutes don’t add your own stuff in!)
Engrish OP was horrible, and the art and animation is pretty subpar. In the hands of a top tier studio this could have been amazing, under Manglobe with Hiro Shimono as Keima I couldn’t see it being anything other than a disappointment (and sadly this episode didn’t prove me wrong).
Ano . . . Neriya, have you ever seen house of five leaves, ergo proxy, or samurai champloo? Manglobe is a top tier studio, it’s the material that is not. Though I do agree that the seiyuu for Keima leaves a lot to be desired.
This is the only series along with Ika musume(also Arakawa but it’s a sequel) that made me laugh from the first episode.
Why is everyone convinced that the opening is indicative of the content of this season?
There’s no way they can build a satisfying season ender with that library girl. Also, if Hakua isn’t this season, we’re definitely not getting to Tenri in April, either.
>(For people who wonder why my Twitter avatar has been a SHINY RED FIRE TRUCK, well, keep watching, keep watching.)
How could anybody miss the reference? Did they *GASP!* not read the manga?
However, this episode did make me nervous about Manglobe. Some of the funnier deformation sequences seemed rushed or skipped. (Finger’s crossed that BigFire and Thrashy are right).
>I did notice that her sidetail so conveniently went missing.
Agreed. For some reason I can remember this arc with clarity. Probably because she’s one of my favorite haremettes. (Sidetail DEFINITELY helps)
I had my doubts with Hiro Shimono as Keima’s seiyuu, and this episode didn’t clear all of them. However, I think he was brilliant as Jin in Kannagi, so I’ll give him a couple of episodes before making a final judgment.
Also, yeah, blatant Eden of the East OP rip-off for teh lulz.
Chapter 116 of the manga is out. My reaction: O_O
It just feels like Keima’s voice doesn’t have enough confidence in it. Probably because Hiro Shimono’s other roles have been wimpy characters. He’s got the yelling parts down pretty well but I just don’t feel the confidence in his normal voice.
Elci (liked Elsee better, is CR being stingy?) doesn’t sound bubbly enough to me. Maybe needs to be a little higher pitched, more energetic. Elci sounds like she actually knows what is going on.
And just read the latest chapter. This series just keeps redefining itself, or is this where it was always intending to go and we just didn’t expect it? Will Keima develop feelings for the real?
The latest couple of chapters have been amazing, advancing the story, and really pulling Keima out of his comfort zone. First Kanon draws a lot of attention to him by confessing in the middle of class (effectively continuing play after the ending from Keima’s perspective), and then an event that really takes TWGOK to new ground. Didn’t see it coming, especially with the interlude-esque way the chapter started. Reading the latest chapter yesterday definitely made up for this episode.
Gotta admit I’m quite surprised at the generally positive reception to the anime. I’m not nearly so bothered about Elsee or the other haremettes voices as I am about Keima’s, but yes she was a bit off as well…there’s still time for her to recover as she settles into klutzy mode, but Hiro Shimono’s probably a lost cause.
Very much disagree. I haven’t seen much by Manglobe admittedly, but nothing I have has compelled me to put them up there with the best studios of today, and certainly not the adaptation of this show.
I still think they should have gone with Zetsubou-sensei for Keima’s VA.
OP engrish is delicious. Is that Elisa (ef’s OP singer)? Sounds similar.
Never noticed in the manga, but when Keima reaches an ending, Elci winds up with a bottle full of milky white stuff…
It would have killed his god credibility to allow himself to be placed over there. Sunlight glare can be a game killing bitch. Better that it follow the spirit of the law and let his game screen be the allegorical window.
Just out of curiosity, what could they have done that would cause an Endless Eight class disappointment? As opposed to the standard Nagasarete Airantou or Omamori Himari class manga to anime disappointment.
No to having Zetsubou as Keima. He was already in 4 in Spring/Summer, I didn’t really need him for the Fall unless he could pull off another voice.
I’m surprised to see Taketatsu Ayana in this show as well (as well as doing the ED); albeit for one captured character who we might see later on for comic relief – K-On put her on the map?
Voices; I’m not sold on either of Keima or Elsee (fuck you, CR). As many have before me, I imagined Keima more of a snarky, cool character (not a whiny emo), and Elsee as more… cute. Admittedly, she didn’t have too much to express her emotions, but she seemed pretty out of it to me.
Animation-wise, I guess I should be thankful that it’s not DEEN that’s doing this. Or whoever is doing Bakuman. There’s nothing wrong with it, but there have been better ones, and I guess the OP set me off on the wrong foot.
As lovely as it is to see that this is now animated, I will not watch it.
Keima’s voice is in my head, and I will not have its sanctity deflowered by some 2-bit seiyuu :3
How have you not blogged SOREDEMO MACHI WA MAWATTEIRU yet? If a trap shows up we’ll all know you actually wrote it.