Kannagi

When he was a child and out catching bugs, Jin Mikuriya fatefully encountered a deity, which became the inspiration for his newest piece of art: The Tree Spirit. Trying to think of a way to bring the wooden statue to school, Jin believes that the rest of the day will be spent admiring his work. But before he can even lift it, the sculpture begins to absorb the earth around it and explodes into a cute girl!

The girl, Nagi, who introduces herself as a guardian of the earth, proclaims that Jin must help her get rid of the "impurities" that plague the land. But alas, due to Nagi's tree being cut down and her powers completely drained, she finds herself cleansing the impurities with only a magical wand! With their lives now intertwined, Jin and Nagi find ways to learn more about one another through the endless amounts of daily antics.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Nagi Main

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Zange Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Aoba, Tsugumi Main

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Mikuriya, Jin Main

Shimono, Hiro Japanese

Akiba, Meguru Supporting

Kakihara, Tetsuya Japanese

Kimura, Takako Supporting

Hayamizu, Risa Japanese

Hibiki, Daitetsu Supporting

Hoshino, Takanori Japanese

Lolikko Cutie Supporting

MAKO Japanese

Maid Cafe Manager Supporting

Ootsuka, Houchuu Japanese

Kamimori, Mr. Supporting

Tachiki, Fumihiko Japanese

Iwakami, Atsuhiro Producer

Ochikoshi, Tomonori Producer

Shimizu, Akira Producer

Yamamoto, Yutaka Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Sep 7, 2024

lithiumcarbonate

Recommended

I just finished Kannagi in 2024 and this harem comedy, while obviously a bit dated today has so much charm and timeless humor. The comedy in this show is top notch and the characters are surprisingly well developed and varied for an anime in this genre. The voice acting and writing are subtle yet so good, there were just so many good lines in this show. My personal favorite, “It’s a Sony”. The opening song and animation just grab your heart with moe and make you feel good. There is fan service as expected but it’s tasteful compared to most ecchi, Kannagi gives the impression ... of a refined yet still a bit sexy and voyeuristic version of an ecchi show.

The story doesn’t really go anywhere and poor communication or over the top reactions make up the majority of the conflicts in the show. I’ll be the first to admit it does not have the strongest plot but honestly the point of Kannagi isn’t a great plot. The point is to enjoy the amazing animation and design of the show and have fun with the characters and comedy which is well developed throughout. It’s a little bit pervy, a little bit silly, a little bit smart, and even a little bit touching at times, and always funny. The main love interest has that best girl magnetic power even though she’s childish and selfish at times, you can’t help but love her. The childhood best friend is cute and helpful and though she plays into the classic jealousy trope we still get different views of her throughout the story. This show does a great job of using romance anime tropes without them feel tired.

The use of the ending and beginning songs throughout the story in the sound design was great. I love that they did a karaoke episode and that the op is performed by the main voice actress. I thought the themes of tradition and mythology being overtaken by modernity and technological development were interesting even if they weren’t explored very much, along with other plot points like the hinted multiple personalities in certain characters. Overall I loved this show and it’s continued to stay in my mind after watching because I think it really has a unique charm in the style and animation.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 17, 2025

Cynthesia

Mixed Feelings

Kannagi leaves a really strong first impression. A decently large cast with good chemistry, snappy dialogue and a simply but compelling plot that advances to some degree with every episode. This could have been a decently above average slice of life comedy show. However around the halfway point either from a lack of material or a simple choice to regress into what works, the show starts to spin it’s wheels and a lot of the charm that it displayed so effortlessly at the start is washed away.



The cast is pretty good all things considered. They find a good balance between eccentricity and groundedness which ... leads into a very natural feeling comedic flow. Although there isn’t actually much to comment on with any character specifically — Jin is normal and a bit hotheaded, Nagi is childish and carefree, Aoba is the childhood friend that will never find happiness etc — they are rarely seen independently and so it’s through their chemistry which the show manages to shine. One thing in particular that Kannagi does well is the incorporation of the background characters for comedic gags, put to best use in the third quarter of the show. Many shows like this only ever focus on the core group and so it’s appreciated that they made an effort to show the result of their hijinks on the laymen of the anime world.



The voice acting is, interesting. On one hand it feels much more natural and there are some moments in which the seiyuu are allowed to really shine, mostly through Akiba’s character, but for the most part it sounds kind of awkward. Jin in particular has a lot of emotion filled moments which do not present themselves well on the ears. While the lines have a more natural tone they feel sped up in their delivery and sound kind of quiet at times which leads to lessened overall impact. Characters like Kimura are more evident but every character has this issue to some degree.



The animation is another example of things which feel sped up for the sake of being fast. The show actually does feature some unique and good looking shots and the art style is nice to look at but there’s many moments, especially in the first quarter, in which characters move in a way which is highly exaggerated but too quick to leave in impact. I don’t want to call it over animated, but the movements do feel excessive and without significant purpose (comedic or otherwise). However this tendency to prioritize movement does lead itself well into the few sequences in the show which require this kind of style and so it’s a bit of a double edged sword. It feels as though they’re experimenting with different visual styles. Best shown through the usage of unique perspectives and unconventional framing, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t but the attempts can be appreciated if nothing else.



Plot wise is where things start to fall apart. The story is pretty simple and the shows depiction of spirituality was actually pretty interesting. They had a very easy set up to have it’s runtime be dedicated towards increasing Nagi’s spiritual powers by gaining supporters and cleansing the spiritual anomalies which are plaguing the town. However, in the back half of the show they decide to simply abandon this idea and this leads into a bunch of very mediocre rushed drama and plenty of out of character moments. While there was a mild amount of set up to lead into the climax it simply wasn’t enough and the conclusion ends up being extremely frustrating to watch. Rather than either stick with what was already working or gradually build towards the conclusion that they chose to do, they half ass both elements and the show suffers greatly because of this.



It’s a real shame because Kannagi had more than enough going for it to be considered a slice of life staple of the 2000s but it just had to lose track of things leading into the finale and ended up throwing that all away. The bulk of it’s parts is still entertaining and full of charm, but it’s heavily weighed down by wasted potential which leaves a sour last impression.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 19, 2016

Singan

Not Recommended

Kannagi is a little deceptive kind of series: it may look like fantasy at first, yet soon it ends up a harem/moe comedy with insignificant fantasy elements, and well, it isn't nearly as good as some people make it out to be.

STORY & CHARACTERS
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:
- the series 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 may be described as boredom with occasional sparks of entertainment when Nagi comes into play with her tricks & shenanigans. Basically, she's 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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Kannagi Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) DeadIEnd - Dec 27, 2008	223 replies	by Animesaiko1 »» Mar 25, 10:22 PM
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	Poll: Kannagi Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) sniW - Dec 6, 2008	176 replies	by 3miL »» Mar 18, 2023 12:29 AM

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