Review of The World God Only Knows
Manga adaptations are, by and large, a double-edged sword. On one hand they can be a guaranteed-profit venture for the production company, while on the other it can be incredibly difficult to capture the charm of the original work and can often leave us fans bitterly disappointed. Being an avid fan of the original manga, it is needless to say that I expected a lot from the anime adaptation of The World God Only Knows (or TWGOK). Unfortunately, it joins the long list of manga-turned-anime that have fallen just short. The plot centres around Katsuragi Keima, known on the internet as the “CapturingGod” of galges (dating sims), who has no interest in the real world. But this all changes when he accidently signs a contract with Hell, meaning he has to go around catching runaway spirits with the (admittedly cute) demon-in-training, Elsie. These spirits hide inside the hearts of real girls and it is up to Keima to “capture” their hearts and drive out these spirits.
The story overall is refreshing and unique. Some of the situations that Keima and Elsie get into are genuinely hilarious, as are all the parodies of eroge stereotypes. It is also quite faithful to the original manga. However, it suffers from a major setback, and that is the short 12-episode container.
Yes, it has been confirmed that there will be a second season starting April 2011, but where does this leave the first season? All in all it is an entertaining watch, but it’s hard to look past the fact that by itself it is just a series of random "captures" with little-to-no plot development bar the first episode. Some of the arcs seem unnecessarily dragged out, making the pacing a bit awkward. Furthermore, Manglobe insisted on throwing filler episodes into the mix which completely bewildered me. While it’s true that these fillers (or breaks, or whatever you want to call them) are present in the original manga, in the anime they just served to intensify the shortfalls in the plot.
As readers of the manga know these initial captures are just the introduction to the greater underlying storyline, and it’s unfortunate that the anime adaptation had to finish a whole season without even touching on it. For an anime series whose length will be determined by DVD/Blu-ray sales, Manglobe didn’t do the franchise any favours with the 12 episode format and the fillers.
As looks go TWGOK is not too bad, but it’s not great either. The character designs are a little inconsistent, but they hold up to a good standard overall. The colour palette is the standard comedy fare, as is the animation. Some of the scenes seem overdone and there is very little use of light and shade. But there are some good bits; the animation of Keima’s theory scenes always got a laugh out of me and Kanon’s concert sequences are also a highlight. The final result is a slightly better than average looking anime.
The music one of the strengths of this anime. The opening, composed especially for the show by Tenmon, is perfectly suited. The full song being 8 minutes long, the parts not used for the opening sequence are used for background music in addition to some other instrumental tracks to add to the atmosphere. While the soundtrack is a bit lacking in variety it suits the mood of the show very well. The cast of seiyuu also do a surprisingly good job of portraying the characters despite there being no real standout performances.
The diverse range of characters is what really makes the TWGOK manga really stand out. Katsuragi Keima is the enigmatic anti-hero, obsessed with his game world and disillusioned with the real world. Wakaki subtly pokes fun at practically every single galge stereotype with Keima’s flawed personality and the vast range of girls that Keima captures; tsunderes, yanderes, kuuderes, every other type of –dere you can think of, and many more. These elements have been retained in the anime, and Keima still shines though as a unique and thoroughly entertaining protagonist.
Then there is Elsie, who takes the role of the cute and quirky sidekick. While it is always fun to see more of Elsie, sometimes a disproportionate chunk of screen-time is given to her and the capture targets. The extra character development that this screen-time allows is welcome but it tends to unbalance the whole show. The story should revolve around Keima, and at times the writers at Manglobe seem to lose sight of that fact.
Finally, the curse of the 12 episode container strikes again, meaning that we don’t get to see any other recurring characters besides Keima and Elsie. The lack of variety in the recurring cast hurts this anime pretty badly, which is a shame since more of these characters are due to be introduced right after the point where the season ended. The lack of episodes also means that the anime fails to address Keima's motivation in all but the first episode, which trivializes his character somewhat.
Now I have been fairly critical of TWGOK, though that is not to say that I didn’t enjoy watching it. It is, if nothing else, entertaining, and I recommend it to anyone that enjoys a good rom-com with a twist. However, the simple fact is it could have been much better had they done a few things differently. The current format does very little to attract new people to the franchise, and it will be a huge shame if the series is axed after the second season because of the mistakes they made in the first.
Nevertheless, bring on season two. Here’s hoping Manglobe learns from their mistakes. Overall score: 7.2/10 (rounded to 7)