“the heroine only has to trust and wait”
Categories: manga
Tagged: the world god only knows
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But before we get to that… mmm… I can hardly believe it, but Keima has already captured fourteen haremettes. I just hope whichever studio gets this anime contacts me to be a consultant… because I’d push for Jay-Z’s Big Pimpin’ as the ED song and just do a parody of Jay-Z’s video with the captured haremettes. That would replace Falling Down as the go-to example of how to use Western music in anime.
And, would you believe it, I have thoughts on all fourteen…
Ayumi: First one, the classroom friend archetype with some minor tsundere qualities. Bonus points for playing the guitar. I enjoyed her arc just because it showed the potential of TWGOK, which it fulfilled. High tier.
Miotsundere qualities. An almost zero on the memorable scale and a fairly short arc to boot. Low tier.
Kanon: The Clark Kent of haremettes… sweet, likable, and reminds me of an original GTO character in how she became an idol. Zero on tsundere scale. High tier.
Shiori: Silent librarian who went to bat for Keima. Only good things happen when you seduce mousy librarian girls. Wait, am I thinking out loud again? Introduced Elsee to bright shiny fire trucks. High tier.
Kusunoki: Angry karate girl with a soft gooey center… mmm… where have I seen this before? Mild tsundere tendencies. Mid tier.
Chihiro: Breaks tsundere scale, but really not memorable except for her pivotal role in forming TWGOK K-On! faction. Interestingly, out of all the possible names for Japanese girls, we just need a “Ritsu” and a “Tsumugi” to complete the set in this series. Mid tier.
Jun: Keima scored with a teacher. He bagged a teacher! A hawt one who is into pro wrestling at that! If this doesn’t deserve a Big Pimpin’, I don’t know what does. High tier.
Tukiyo: Astronomy girl… short, forgetful arc… Tukiyo should have been a vampire. That would have been awesome. Mild tsundere qualities. Low tier.
Minami: Unfortunately, not Haruka (the prize), Kana (the life-time achievement award), or Chiaki (the Mafuyu memorial “start here” award), but still notable in that this arc was told through her view. And it was a very starry view. With lots of shirtless Keima. Now excuse me as I stab myself with a letter opener. No tsundere detected. Mid tier.
Reiko: Freaky spirit girl arc. Short, only awesome part was meeting the grandparents. Low tier.
Sumire: Enjoyed ramen girl’s antics, since it was basically Yakitate Japan! with ramen. Low tsundere tendencies. Mid tier.
Nanaka: Shogi girl… ugh. Where’s the baseball girl? Or the student council president girl? Or the yakuza girl? Or the headless horsewoman? Shogi girl? Serious? Low tier.
(Two of the more important archetypes, the little sister and the childhood friend, are occupied by Elsee and Tenri respectively. The third classical important archetype, the sudden appearance special powers girl, is filled by Hakua.)
(Two more recently popular archetypes yet to appear: the yandere and the tundra. Yes, I’ve taken Arararagi’s term of a tsundere with spite instead of the deredere as a valid archetype.)
Yui: Current arc, and… well… let’s continue outside of this post gimmick mechanism.
Basically, Yui and Keima swap bodies. Disturbing and hilariously awesome at first, with Keima amused with his new hopes and dreams and his… her access to suddenly cheap electricity (what is he? a datacenter?). Meanwhile, Yui, in Keima’s body, is seriously having issues to adjusting to life with boy body parts. However, as the arc goes on, Yui settles in as Keima and starts romancing some of the previously captured haremettes while Keima… gets seduced by the dark side and starts playing otome games. OTL. Watching him do that was like watching Dirk Diggler towards the end of Boogie Nights as he offers to masturbate in front of another guy for desperate cash. Just horrible.
But, in the end, Keima’s prediction was correct. His “I can see the end!” was right… except his role and Yui’s roles and bodies were reversed. I just wish we could harness his powers for good, instead of just capturing spirits to save the world while providing us with tremendous amounts of entertainment. Mmm… okay, maybe he is using his powers for good.
I think it just shows the strength of TWGOK. You’d think that after almost ninety chapters the capturing gimmick would get old, but life is injected into this series with each and every new haremette. Sure, there are twists like POV flip for Minami’s arc and the genderswap in the current arc, but what’s going on is Keima’s growth. He’s growing as the Capturing God, and his current “research” into otome games only makes him even more potent in that role. He’s pimpin’ in every sense of the word, bitch.
32 Responses to ““the heroine only has to trust and wait””
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I think it says a lot that you were probably working on this already when people were clamoring for it in the comments of your last post
i can see the ending…
this is the beginning of the end, the long and eventful last arc, long story short, keima goes back to his own body, releases two goddesses, things happen, pew pew, bang bang, he loses the memory relating to elsee and company, meets elsee new, starts harem new, the end.
.
or was it just predictable and wishful thinking
.
eating a whole plate of firetrucks
Still count me as the odd woman out on this one, in that I don’t understand the appeal of the series.
Theeeeen again, I don’t understand the appeal of Jason’s manga picks (which is funny, since about half his anime picks segue with my normal tastes in shows) either.
I gloss over a lot of his picks, but find myself returning to them after visiting this site :p
So this blog predicted that Keima would swap bodies with a girl.
This can only mean two things:
– One of Keima’s targets will be a trap in the blogsuki sense of the word.
– One of Keima’s targets will be a girl made entirely of butter.
Just speed read through a bunch of chapters to catch up. Delicious. Setting up a self capture; truly he is a god. I always imagine Oh!Great’s Air Gear terrain mapping when Keima says, “I can already see the ending!”
Funny how by the time I caught up with the latest chapters, I knew you would have a post up for it. Anyways this series still blows me away and its just getting more interesting each chapter. So I expect sooner or later we’ll have an anime adaption for it. I mean all the series you said would get an adaption have already so this ones definitely next. ^^
“Watching him do that was like watching Dirk Diggler towards the end of Boogie Nights as he offers to masturbate in front of another guy for desperate cash. Just horrible.” Good lord, that’s perfect (and man did I laugh). The implications of this arc are staggering, though. Keima has proven that he’s such a pimp that he can seduce himself. This series continues to impress me. I was worried that the reintegration of the old haremettes would be an excuse to just repeat the previous arcs with different trappings, but it’s been done in an interesting, organic way so far. The plot is still gliding along, even after almost ninety chapters.
Jason, many many thanks for introducing me to this series. It’s been a joy to read and this last arc had me pounding my desk, demanding the next chapter. Loved Keima broadening his experience into otome games – surely the capturing god would not let mere gender keep him from playing a game, and now he has that much more knowledge. I’m hoping he’ll use some girls’ side technique in the future as well – maybe he’ll need to capture an otome-gamer and convince her that she’s capturing him?
This is the only anime blog I read and I have been reading it for 2 years. Just thought I’d say thanks Jason. You are awesome.
I checked back on this blog this morning expecting a new post on TWGOK, looks like I was dead on. The last few arcs were pretty dull compared to earlier ones, but I’m really enjoying the Yui arc though.
So his next target is Jason-ko you mean?
I love this series. The latest arc is epic. Keima’s hilarious trip to damnation (the payoff being Elsee’s o_o at forcing entry into his room only to see all the otome games), and then his rise as the Capturing God again, even in unfamiliar territory.
It’s really good to see it still going strong with no drop off in quality or humour over its 85+ chapter run. I always like seeing his former targets returning too, rather than only being used in one arc then discarded. And I’ve said this before, but any chapter with Hakua in is a winner.
On Jason’s Manga Picks:
I thought Franken Fran and Mirai Nikki were amazing. I’m incredibly happy that he chose to mention them a few posts back because they were incredibly enjoyable to read just for how different they were. The World God Only Knows is pretty enjoyable, but it’s not amazing in my book. It’s better than most stuff I read though and I plan to keep reading.
And to think I’d have passed on TWGOK if Jason hadn’t been pimping it here a few times.
Really liked this arc, one of the best no doubt. And not only because of the genderbend, as might be suspected of this blog’s audience. The arc takes the conventions that have been established over 80 previous chapters and turns them on their ear – or as they say on that certain website, subverts the tropes. Yet it does not. Kami-nii-sama, by switching bodies, becomes the target, yet still needs to plan the capture, from female side. The pinnacle is the generic “rescuing the hime from her demanding parents” scene yet it is Yui speaking on her own behalf. If TWGOK subverts the galge trope, this arc subverts THAT and turns it into a real deal. Kami-nii-sama is awesome enough to be able to seduce even himself.
One of the funniest bits is Kami-nii-sama’s slow descent into otome games and gender confusion down to his “what have I cecome!?” moment. Brilliant. Also a goldmine of reaction faces.
When are we getting the anime?
Keima is Yui’s body is god tier. The fine untouched body of a ripe high borne virgin with the mind of a god(dess?), surely superior.
it is perhaps telling that While Yui takes advantage of the body swap to develop and reinforce her independence from her family, Keima simply slides back into his usual routine, but under the influence of different hormones. As much as he’s developed as a person over the course of the manga, he’s got a long way to go.
Or maybe I’m just reading into it too much. That happens a lot.
Thrashy said: “it is perhaps telling that While Yui takes advantage of the body swap to develop and reinforce her independence from her family, Keima simply slides back into his usual routine, but under the influence of different hormones.”
It’s suggested in the latest couple of chapters that the “influnce of feminine hormones” thing may be just the influence of the runaway spirit that’s still in the female body. But I fully expect to see some coda at the end of the resolution chapter that suggests he misses/will continue playing the otome games.
That’s if his memories aren’t wiped as well, after the capture. Being in the target’s body opens up a lot of possibilities…
“I fully expect to see some coda at the end of the resolution chapter that suggests he misses/will continue playing the otome games. That’s if his memories aren’t wiped as well, after the capture. Being in the target’s body opens up a lot of possibilities…”
The comedic value of Keima playing otome games is too good to pass up. Imagine, for instance, the response of his readers should a few of those games accidentally end up on his “Capturing God” website?
The Jun arc really made me go nuts for TWGOK.
Jun is soooo hot. :O
Jun for President! Screw Hilary.
One of my favorite parts about this arc is the unique touch given to the age old genderswap plot progression. Keima is nigh immune to the physical charms of 3D girls and “self play” gets her nowhere. The daily routine of washing and dressing is below the Capturing God’s notice and is ‘handled’ with ease. It was just too great that his downfall came from the dark side of gaming. I admit, I squeed.
The runaway spirit ‘influencing’ Keima is as rubbish a theory as the ‘I don’t need the real world’ stuff Keima spouts out; he’s certainly in denial ;p
Kami-nii-sama’s certainly in denial. However he was in full confidence of the impregnability of his ivory tower before the runaway spirits deal started happening. He’s come some ways since, and I doubt he’d be able to give his 3D PIG DISGUSTING!!1 with the same conviction as in chapter 1. He’s himself aware of the change, for example during the aftermath of the mahjong girl arc.
This can only end in yuri.
I have been reading TWGOK raw for like 40 chapters already, and it’s been an enjoyable ride so far. It is as you say, while the capturing is merely a gimmick (sort of like monster of the week), this manga has succesfully kept things fresh by advancing the plot with each capture. It also helps that Keima is not your usual stupid clueless male lead.
Now, regarding the post…
1. It’s a bodyswap, not a genderswap.
2. You forgot that Kanon is yandere. Didn’t Keima freaking out at the sight of her 20 chapters ago refresh your memory? He was probably fearing being tased again.
3. To all the people talking about Keima capturing a trap in the future: Don’t forget that kaketamas only possess girls (they can only be reborn by becoming the soul for their next newborn), so trap capturing is out of the question. This is probably the closest we’ll get to that.
4. Jun only high tier? Well that’s just like your opinion man. She is God tier.
So…when does the headless haremette show up?
I have to admit, stuff like this post turned me on to this manga. At first I thought this was just some creepy male-supremacist manga (at times it feels slightly sexist, which it kind of confronts b noting how much more fun and such Yui is having in Keima’s body than in her own, though the comic implies that if she had just faced her family earlier than none of this would have happened). But it actually develops its characters and tries interesting things every now and then, such as the revelation that the spirits affect the girls in some way (which had not been apparent in the first two girls). Maybe that’s why it still feels so fresh…
Though one has to wonder if an ending has already been planned out…or when Keima has to confront a “reverse” trap…
finally got to it eh jason
i read the raws so im past this chapter
but the spread sure is <3
Update: Chapter 89 released. I don’t want to spoil much, so I’ll only give a single detail. After the capture, Yui becomes a manly reverse trap.
…
…I’m not okay with this.
Ok, I think I came to terms with Yui becoming a reverse trap. At first I didn’t like it, but I did like how Keima got all flustered when she approached him so… if Yui becomes Keima’s husbando then it’s awwwright.
Checked out Chapter 89… meh. Anyway, I’m now deadset against TGWOK getting animated. I’m afraid of adapation decay, and we’ve all seen the many many ways that a manga can get screwed up. I’m happy with things as they are now.
For some reason,Nanaka is the only girl I’d seriously date… er,ship. Single-minded and obsessive about games? Perfect for
meKeima!