Anime: Kannagi

STORY & CHARACTERS
Kannagi is a little deceptive kind of series: it may look like fantasy at first yet soon it turns out a harem/moe comedy with insignificant fantasy elements, and well, it isn't nearly as good as some people make it out to be:
- first, the major part of the "plot" is taken up by endless dialogues about nothing at the pace of a crippled snail. Perhaps, fans of K-On! and similar series may enjoy that, but I personally consider it to be nothing more than a boring waste of time;
- second, the "story" is essentially a generic harem with your cookie-cutter boy-protagonist who allows a girl to live at his place, and how that girl and two other girls compete for his attention. That's the base, and the authors apparently try to add some other aspects to make the anime more entertaining, yet that eventually turns the "plot" into a total illogical mess. First, it starts as fantasy with the heroine taking on the duty to destroy some shadow creatures because it's supposed to be a purpose of a goddess - to protect the land from the negative energy those creatures are made of; then this mission suddenly gets abandoned, and she starts rivaling another goddess for popularity, making the show a parody on pop-idols; then this plotline also gets abandoned with no conclusion, and the anime shows several comedy fillers; and then out of nowhere it becomes a serious drama. None of those parts are logically connected, and nothing gets solved by the end, as the show has an open ending and no sequel whatsoever. Overall, it looks like those who wrote this "story" tried to appeal to different groups of viewers but totally failed to tie various elements together and make a proper conclusion;
- third, the only outstanding character here is Nagi - the female lead who somewhat reminds me of Holo from Spice & Wolf: she's cute, very likeable and lots of fun to follow. The other characters aren't nearly as interesting and memorable since they are only some shallow anime stereotypes that never develop into anything.
All in all, my experience with this "story" & characters might be described as boredom with occasional sparks of entertainment when Nagi comes into play with her tricks & shenanigans. Basically, she is the main attraction of the show and the only aspect I truly enjoyed about it.

ANIMATION & SOUND
The animation utilizes fitting colour palette and shows nice fluency of motion. In general, it's good, but not really something to brag about. As for the sound department, the voice-acting is quite remarkable, especially when it comes to Nagi who sometimes uses archaic Japanese words in her speech: not only it sounds rather amusing, but it also might be interesting to those who study the language. Sadly, the musical score doesn't match the voice-acting: it's bland and absolutely forgettable except for the ending song.

OVERALL
The series might be enjoyable if you're ok with the extremely slow pace and the numerous plot issues it has (in other words: if you don't care whether the anime you watch is exciting and has a logical and conclusive plot). As for me, I personally like the comedy fillers: for example, the episode where Nagi locks herself up in the cupboard is very funny indeed. However, the rest of the show is pretty boring and nonsensical.

Whew... ok, alright. I just sat through a halfday marathon watching through all thirteen episodes of Kannagi at once. (I'm lying in bed sick so I got the time. I've got a live in case you wonder.) However that was not what I wanted to write about.
Not often but sometimes the work of another inspires us to create something on our own. Be that something that relates to that or not. In this case it inspired me to write this review. I've seen the Ayako Fansub-version which was pretty good in itself in my opinion.
Back to Kannagi.

Animation
There are Animes out there (talking about Ghibli or the latest series of Evangelion-Movies for example) which have simply awesome animation. That kind of quality, of artistic spirit that even the most ignorant and uncaring person watching must feel there's something nearly godly about it. That kind of animation you wouldn't trust humans to be able to produce even though time after time the prove to you that they are.
Well, Kannagi certainly doesn't match that criteria but nonetheless it is by far better than many main stream series of today. The animations are full of feeling. No, that doesn't mean all the females seem to be melting every time they show up. The drawings themselves seem to have a love in them that definetly isolates it from titles like Naruto or Clannad which despite having really good animations simply don't seem to carry as much love in each frame. The motions also take the series to a level seldom reached in series produced for TV airing. A kind of natural charm lies in the motions of every character displayed. Right, maybe the impression's still too fresh and cloudens my memory, but I was sure impressed (even after seeing Naruto and several Ghiblis).

Sound
Well, as it comes first in (nearly) each episode here's what I think about the opening: It's the kind of song you would expect from a japanese pop starlet. The animations shown during the opening sequence are quite interesting as they are on an even higher level as the rest of the episode. The song wasn't that impressive though.
The general sound although not especially bad wasn't very memorable either. It seemed to fit in with the story and the mood but I wouldn't go out buying the Soundtrack.
The ending is a quite the opposite of the opening. Quiet and slow but as seems to be all music in Kannagi not the cause of recommendation. Some pictures shown during this sequence are quite lovely and they change with each episode, so I recommend watching it after having watched an episode.
When I first posted this review I forgot to mention the voice acting. I must confess that it slipped my mind even though it was really good. This doubles the points for sound ;).

Story
The Story unfolds in Kannagi City where we meet the male lead named Jin who, after pulling an all-nighter, managed to create a wood sculpture from which a second after breaks a pretty girl claiming to be the goddess of the area. She tells him her name was Nagi and commands him to help her hunting little evil spirits ("impurities"). After time Tsugumi, a childhood friend, Zange, Nagis sister, Daitetsu, an artist of the same age as Jin (and an unexpectedly good singer) join the network of comic and romantic encounters throughout the series.
There are some elements which maintain an impression of the series being based on a dating-sim (which it isn't to my knowledge): around Jin forms a harem of three girls which quite regularly meet at his home, one of them has a mental breakdown near the end of the series while the other seems to be talking to a second person who is either invisible or just an imagination.

All in all it is a funny at times heartwarming story which is definetly appealing to either group of audience (well, kids below 3 excepted ;) ). But be warned: there are, even though seldom and mostly in a funny context some ecchi scenes which however never go all the way.

Character
The male lead, Jin, is at first your everyday colleague at school. A bit grumpy, having no clue about how to behave around a girl and with a will to prove himself. After encountering Nagi he brightens up a little and soon is a center of attention in school himself.
Nagi, a shinto goddess so she says which bursts from Jin's statue depicting a spirit he had met years before awakens as a human because the holy tree which was her vessel until then was cut down. Learning that the had been carved from the wood of that tree she tries to gather other means of motivating people to worship her and ends up as a school idol.
Tsugumi is a shy girl who played the role of a guardian for Jin after his father had left him. She secretly likes Jin but couldn't even go so far as to hint it to him even though several other recognize her longing instantly.
Daitetsu is a natural painter and singer. He provided the piece of wood that Nagi was carved from. He is suspicious of Nagi from the day he slept over at Jin's having himself locked out of his own house.
Zange, Nagis sister is her second half that came to be a deity of herself. Long ago the area of Kannagi was divided by a strong river which noone dared to cross. In order to provide the people on each side of the river with a spiritual place a second holy tree was planted on the other side thus creating Zange. She cosplays as a catholic nun, even though her costume is kind of revealing and seeks to replace her sister by gathering followers as idol. Zange means gripper in german which would fit with her being rough sometimes. But given the lack of other german words I suspect this to be only a coincidence.
There are several other characters who appear quite often but don't really add that much to the story. So to find out about them you will have to watch the series.

Value
Rated: Y
No, joking. (Is there even such a rating value?)
I don't think watching Kannagi will have a deep impact on your morale or fundamentaly change your view of the world, but I'd recommend it nevertheless. It is fun to watch, but will leave you craving for a second season.

Enjoyment
If you haven't already found out: I certainly did enjoy it. After watching Lodoss-tou senki and Lodoss-tou senki: Eiyuu kishi den it was very refreshing. Also the little appearances of the director making fun of himself, some comments which poke fun at the series and small parodies of Ojamajo Doremi make Kannagi a really enjoyable event.

Kannagi ~Crazy Shrine Maidens~ is a comedic slice-of-life/parody brought to you by the director of the first four episodes of Lucky Star. If you watched Kurenai before, Kannagi is quite similar in terms of plot and pacing, as well as epicness in terms of filler episodes. The animation quality is also as high, and you can expect to see it being upheld. Virginity fiasco aside, if you are looking for a nice show similar to Kurenai and Lucky Star, Kannagi may prove to be worth your time.

The high quality animation is what drew me to this anime in the first place. The character designs look hard to draw, yet you can see the incredible fluidity of frames when they move about. There are also some cool scenes like "cockroach view" and dance numbers similar to the opening animation (which is a parody, by the way; Kannagi is not actually an idol show) every so often that are just fun to watch. Of course, sometimes you will see budget-saving techniques like staring at a still frame for a long time, and repeating that still frame later in the episode, but the effect of the technique is necessary for the sake of comedy, so you should not worry about it.

The opening theme is addictive with the fluid dance number, and the song has some mild Engrish/Furuenchu to add to the catchiness of the song. I did not notice anything special about every other aspect of this category, so I'll just say that their respective departments are good.

Nothing much actually happens in terms of the main plot, and the final three episodes that actually focus on it are emo and boring. However, the main attraction here is the juicy middle portion filled with comedic character interactions and parodies that mild otakus can laugh at. The references are not that obscure if you are into this kind of anime, but some one-liners can be side-splitting-ly funny. Having watched Kurenai, I can compare the greatness of the off-key musical party with the karaoke episode featuring a song from almost all of the characters. The entire episode is very entertaining, and in watching the right subs, you can *try* to sing along if you know what they are singing >_>. I just wished the entire series was a parody-fest, because after the final episode I feel disappointed.

Character interactions make up the other half of the comedy. Nagi herself can get irritating at times, but the rest of the cast shines, especially if you "get" the otaku references. Akiha is true to his name as an Akiba casual; counteracting his nature is semi-fujioshi Takako, whose dance number in the karaoke episode is made of pure win. The rivalry between Daitetsu and Nagi is quite amusing. Ultimately, most watchers will wish for a Tsugumi end, if only the show was a satire of bishoujo games.

And I guess that's about it, which is why I don't really want to recommend this anime. I was not even looking forward to watching this for the Fall 2008 season. I'm sure there are many other slice-of-life/parodies worth your time, so if you like this kind of stuff, please go on. Otherwise, I only have Toradora left to look forward to.

Rate me! This review is based on the Ayako fansubs and may be revised when the DVDs come out. Throughout the review, I will give you names of other series, most of which are recommended.

Quick Take: Kannagi is based on (while not following slavishly) the wildly popular Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens manga that is currently in publication in Japan. It's a fish-out-of-water trip into Japanese pop secular culture encountering it's Shinto past culture in the person of Jin Mikuriya , student at a local high school, who is preparing for a local art competition. He carves a statue of an image from his childhood, when he had an unusual encounter at a shrine in his home town. He takes the wood of a shrine's Kannagi tree to sculpt a statue, which becomes a living goddess, called Nagi. Together they work to destroy the impurities that are gathering in the town. The series gives cultural references to manga, anime, pop singing, the idol culture, and other cultural landmarks while citing older cultural references.

It's part screwball comedy, part harem comedy, part romance, part magical girl story, and all fun. Yes, it's been done, but rarely so well (though Lovely Complex comes to mind for some reason). The magic of the series is the playful banter and screwball romantic entanglements that occur to Jin, as Nagi passes herself off as Jin's half-sister and lives in Jin's house (no parents present, conveniently). About halfway thru the series, it changes tone to become more serious, and this change is likely tied to series composition director Hideyuki Kurata's (R.O.D. TV, Brigadoon, Kamichu!) leaving the script in other's hands while he worked on the Uuchu Show. It's a wild and crazy ride, indeed!

One can only hope for a second full season, as there is no real resolution to the romance nor a satisfying conclusion to the central identity conflict of either main character.

Animation: If you liked Big Windup!, you'll likely love this series, as many of the cast and staff are from it. Excellent 2D cel-shaded cgi with occasional 3D CGI marks this series. The figures are well drawn, very nicely animated, and have many changes of clothing (though Zange only rarely is seen outside her dark frock). The faces are exceptionally well drawn, hugely mobile, and emotions are easy to read. Some super-deformation and chibi is used, but sparingly and mostly in the early episodes. The Aniplex subsidary A-1 Pictures Inc. (Big Windup!, Birdy the Mighty Decode, Kuroshitsuji, Persona Trinity Soul) provides the punch for this series, and it's lovely indeed. The inbetweens are excellent, and there is virtually no reuse of previous material in evidence. The color palette designed by Kazuko Nakashima is like Persona -trinity soul-; it's somewhat sere, and though pastels are present, they are used sparingly. Backgrounds are detailed and appear to be taken from actual places in Japan.

Directed by Yutaka Yamamoto (Air, Lucky Star), this series is a tale of two halfs. The first half (with screenplay by Hideyuki Kurata) is all screwball comedy, with wild cultural references and excursive, almost episodic events which serve to set up the central relationship of Jin and Nagi, and also us to introduce the side characters and some of their backstory. The second half actually tells the story, and gives us the traditional tsundere characters (though perhaps not whom you'd expect). The animation never flags, and is as good at the end as it is at the beginning.

The animation centers on relationships, so it's important that it do figure and facial animation correctly; a little too much, and it's farce, if not cartoonish. Kannagi never forgets that it's a screwball comedy played in the real world, so the animation is never cartoonish. I'm wowed by the animation of the characters, especially in the last 3 episodes.

Animation garners a 9 based on strength of character design and animation, good inbetweens, good backgrounds, and the lack of obvious mistakes.

Sound: Sound direction is by Hiromi Kikuta (R.O.D TV, Big Windup, D.C. ~Da Capo~ TV, Scrapped Princess) and is excellent (as usual) in depth and width of sound experience in my HD fansubs. Sound effects and foley is spot-on, and I was impressed with the clarity of the fast-moving dialogue. As in many screwball comedies, the voices are often given fast lines, but the seiyuu do an excellent job handling them. Technicals are a 9.

Seiyuu are extremely good, producing likable characters with charm and grace. Haruka Tomatsu (Zettai Karen Children as Shiho Sannomiya, Kyōran Kazoku Nikki as Chika Midarezaki) again provides a moe-cute character in her voicing of Nagi. She also sings the OP (as she did for Moetan and Zettai Karen Children) and the OP uses all the main characters from the series (look for them in cameos). The OP and ED are very well done; the OP is "motto☆Hade ni ne! (motto☆派手にね！)" by Haruka Tomatsu, a JPop dance number that's certainly clever and might even become a karaoke favorite. ED is "Musuhi no Toki (産巣日の時)" by Haruka Tomatsu, and is very moving (reminding me of pentatonic oriental music though being grounded in western forms). You'll hear these themes invoked often in the latter chapters throughout the series.

Hiro Shimono (RahXephon as Ayato Kamina, Big Windup! as Yuuichirou Tajima) is Jin Mikuriya, a wonderfully complex character with loads of expressive range. A very impressive and experienced cast rounds out the side characters. I enjoyed Mai Nakahara's voicing of Shino Ookouchi and Miyuki Sawashiro as Tsugumi Aoba, Jin's secondary love interest and his childhood friend. It's just a great ensemble cast, actually.

9 points for sound well done. You'll likely find the characters quite charming.

Story: as recapped above, it's mostly a screwball comedy. Nagi nor Zange do not do much magic, so it's really not a mahou shoujo; they are idols, wanting our adoration, not gods to get favors from. The first half (eps 1-6) sets up the charcters and the screwball nature of the setting: Nagi is not really human, has no memory of her past, and no place to live, so she lives with Jin in his small house. Jin has no father at home, and Nagi's closeness and sexual attraction makes him "uncomfortable." Jin is loved by Tsugumi, but he grew up with her and so doesn't see her romatically, but she carries a torch. Nagi cares for Jin in a sisterly way, but not romantically (at least, as far as we know). This sets up the usual love polygons, but the first half is also about cultural icons, school events, second jobs, etc. It's very witty, quite clever, but the first half is mostly episodic.

From about episode 8 onward, however, it develops a plot, one that is somewhat more serious tone (without losing the screwball comedic nature) as we discover the central identity conflict that Nagi has: is she a girl, a goddess, or something else? Some of the parts are quite moving in a way that reminds me of Air. Actually, I found myself moved in many of the episodes, but the last one is quite effective.

The misses are mostly because there isn't a true ending, and there is a lot of room for, oh say 26 more episodes. The purists will complain that it doesn't follow the manga, but I'm not one of them; it's a good story, told cutely and cleverly with lots of screwball comedic romance thrown in.

8 points for a short series that has lots going for it while not giving a satisfying ending and being a little self-absorbed in cultural commentary.

Characters: How can you not like these characters? Nagi is moe-cute, has lots of energy, and feels things deeply; Jin is distracted, intelligent enough to know better, but can't truly follow his heart because of his indecision. We are introduced to the side characters in turn, but you'll be rooting for lovelorn Tsugumi to win Jin in the end, knowing that he'll be chased by Zange and distracted by Nagi's closeness. Love polygons abound, but mostly to distract us from the relationship that Jin and Nagi have (which is commented on by the relationship set up in the OP).

Yes, perhaps it's been done. In fact, many of the stories we see have been done. But the true test is not using old stereotypes, but making the effort fresh. This is a fresh outing and quite worthy of your time.

There is a good amount of character development for a short series, and I'm quite pleased with the characters enough to say it's a 8.5-9 point effort.

Value and Enjoyment: Value is always a judgement call. I think the exceptional animation, excellent sound, and cute and clever writing with excellent characters and great seiyuu make this series one worth owning, and "owning" usually gets an 8. It's not a groundbreaking or iconic series, just a very good one. Wow factors are in animation and seiyuu.

Enjoyment is admittedly very subjective. People who like the genre of harem or screwball romantic comedies will like this series. Folks who like the content (self-conscious humor) will likewise like it, whereas people who don't like series that have no ending will dislike this series. I liked the series well enough to make it one of my first-watches every week, and find myself thinking it might be the Spice and Wolf of this season (another series I enjoyed). I hope it gets a second full season, it's worth the time. That means I liked the series a lot.

8 points for value, and 9 points for enjoyment make this a series worth collecting and rewatching.

Conclusion: Cute characters and a clever storyline, excellent animation and great sound make this series worth your time and attention. I recommend it highly for everyone except those who require a real ending.