Anime Review: The World God Only Knows (Kami Nomi Zo Shiru Sekai)

Aaaaaaaaah The world God Only Knows is truly one of the greatest and most entertaining anime I've watched these days.
First things first I will review it as a whole show not season by season but don't worry I won't spoil!

Before I start properly here's some general knowledge needed to understand the concept that is the heart of this anime: Dating Sims (aka Galgae)
As the name says a dating sims is a game were you play as the protagonist who meets lots of girls and interact with them. Through a serie of choices the player pick one route and end up dating the girl which is on this route. Of course the player has to make the right choice to conquer the girl.
That's it for dating sims, lets proceed with the review!

Story:

The story start with Katsuragi Keima, a young popular high school boy who conquered more than 10000 girls. One could say he is a player and yes in fact he IS a player because...

... the girls he conquered are all in GAMES. Keima is an intelligent boy, straight A student, who is playing Galgae since he is young and wherever he want; whether it is while eating or in class. He calls himself the capturing God/the conquering God (depends on the guy who translated it)

He one day received an email from someone telling him to conquer a certain girl.

Thinking that it was a challenge Keima accepts without second thoughts and suddenly a girl appears before him in a flash!

This girl is actually a devil from hell who came to help Keima in his conquest.... of REAL GIRLS (Rearu On'na)

Keima at first doesn't believe because

Why does he have to capture them? To chase out the loose soul inside their heart. Loose soul are evil spirits from hell that fled to earth and want to destroy it. So they hide in gap of young girl's heart!
Of course Keima is trying to reject this:

But he has no choice because if he doesn't chase out the loose soul:

A harsh and cruel contract if you ask me.
Also conquering the girl means making them fall in love. You may ask: "Why should he make them fall in love?". Because if they fall in love, then Keima will fill the gap in the girl's heart and then chase out the loose soul.

And so begin the the story of the gaming conquering God who is forced now to conquer "3D girls" as he likes to call them. And this is pretty much the pace of season 1 and 2.
As the story progress we learn more about the loose souls, the Weiss, new hell and the threat upon the world

Season 3 is a complete change. Season 3 aka Goddess Arc (Megami-hen) is a whole new concept. The thing is that Keima still has to conquer girls but this time the fate of the whole world is at stake. I would love to tell you more about the Goddess Arc but I shall leave it to you to watch it because it is perfect. Everything was perfectly done and the ending was also perfect. A true conclusion to the show (note that the manga is still ongoing and I will talk about it later)

About the anime in general it is really funny, serious sometimes and hilarious some other times. Some episodes where he is not conquering girls he is playing games.

Characters:

First is Katsuragi Keima. At the start of the series, Keima is completely detached from reality (although in a very friendly manner), showing absolutely no interest in any real girl, even pointing out that they are flawed and claims he is in no way sexually attracted to "3D girls" and sees such thoughts as below him. He hates virtually everything from reality, even himself. As a result, he takes refuge in his 2D world.

When talking to people normally without altering his personality, he is generally cold and distant. If he is paying attention to his PFP (their version of the PSP) or any other kind of game, he will even take no notice of other people around him unless called vigorously, physically abused or appealed to.
Though at the beginning of season 3 he shows some signs that he is finally starting to change. At the end we can see that he really changed! Because he (...)

Next is Elucia De Lute Ima aka. Elsie. Elsie is an overly optimistic individual with a playful personality. Despite claiming to be over 300 years old, she has the mentality of an incompetent teenager, and is in many aspects conspicuously immature and an airhead. Although earnest and hard-working, Elsie has become infamously inept at virtually everything save cooking (ingredients from hell) and cleaning, but she only owes her skills during her post as a custodian.
Yet, with all the insults and derision Elsie receives from Keima, she usually does not dwell on them for very long and continues to make mistakes anyway.
Furthermore, Elsie has the tendency to stay positive and persevere regardless of her flaws, demonstrating that she is at least the type of person who is determined to succeed while she still has chances.

Elsie also possesses a comedic obsession with fire trucks as well as with the popular idol, Kanon.

Finally is Haqua Du Lot Herminium. She is kind of tsunderish and Elsie's best friend. They graduated at the same time. Haqua is shown to be very harsh on herself. She is aggressive, but has a soft spot for close friends. She grew up as independent person and is reluctant to accept help from others. She also goes to great lengths to conceal faults in order to maintain her reputation. For example, in the beginning she lied to Elsie about capturing 10 spirits even though she had yet to capture any. Nora (another devil) has also stated more than one time that Haqua is too honest and trusts others too easily.
She also has feelings for Katsuragi. She makes her first appearance in season 2. She is voiced by Saori Hayami (Sachi in SAO).

Sound:

The music is simply perfect! The 3 opening are in English (Engurishu) interpreted by Elisa (The 2nd opening featuring LiA)
I just can't describe it enough. The right soundtrack at the right moment. Full of small orchestral numbers and piano pieces; even a few j-pop songs thrown into the mix courtesy of one of Keima's targets being an idol. The music is simply heavenly. That's the only way to describe it.

Opening 1 - God Only Knows

Opening 2 - A Whole New World God Only Knows - Elisa and Lia

Opening 3 - Secret of the Goddess God Onlny Knows

And here's the orchestra OST that I like the most that should convince you 

 OST 1- Koi ~ Kuchizuke Made no Kyori

And finally the J-Pop part sang by the idol Nakagawa Kanon

Happy crescent - Nakagawa Kanon

Art and Animation:

The animation is good. We are within the norm of what we should expect these days. Nothing really outstanding except for ONE thing: The clothes. As a matter of facts the uniform designs are unique - I seriously haven't seen anything like those before and it makes me want to wear them as well

Difference with the Manga:

The anime doesn't diverge from the manga except some minor details. Also between season 2 and 3 there are some conquest that doesn't appear. It is not of big importance since they review them quickly in the first episode of season 3 but it is still fun to read, especially the body switch arc!

I should add that the manga is filled with reference to other anime like for example Evangelion. 

Also the manga is still ongoing

Conclusion:

The World God Only Knows is truly an awesome show and I loved every episode of it. Keima is a perfect protagonist also, he is calm, composed and always knows how to act! This anime could be called a harem but I won't call it a harem because actually Keima doesn't care about real girls! He only cares about games! Games! GAMES!
So to watch it it would be in this order: Season 1, 2, 4 plus one (OVA), Tenri-Hen (OVA) and then season 3 Goddess Arc!
Finally the grade. If we take everything into consideration and my personal enjoyment I would put to this serie a solid 9.7/10
With this the review ends! I hope you enjoyed it! Also I soon am going to be the proud owner of the whole manga serie!
Bye-Bye ^^

Anime Review: Sword Art Online

So today I will be reviewing a new anime that only finished airing recently: Sword Art Online.

Before I begin I would like to say that yes it is a popular anime, yes it has flaws but it is really enjoyable. Even though the beginning is a bit rushed, you will still enjoy every second for different reasons: The original story (and no it's different from .Hack// you hater, the Light novel was released before the .Hack// fanchise) the enjoyable music AND the lovable characters.

Story:

The story begins in 2022 when the first virtual gaming console with a full diving game was released. The game, called Sword Art Online created by a famous scientist Kayaba Akihiko, offers real life feelings and needs, like you have to eat, sleep and all.

The story follows the adventure of Kirigaya Kazuto (ingame: Kirito) a geek/gamer who lives with his uncle and aunt and has no friends. Kirito was one of the beta tester of the game thus having a direct access to the game without the need to buy it.

Things start to go awry when players try to log out only to find out that the "Log Out" button does not exist. The creator shows up claiming that all the players are now his prisoners in-game and that the only way to get out is to clear the game. Also in-game death means death in real life, "once you die in a world you die everywhere" - Kayaba Akihiko

Upon realizing what is going to happen, Kirito runs to the next town in order to clear quests and raise his level (this is a plus because these days most of the anime protagonist would have sat in a corner and cried... Yes I'm looking at you Haruyuki from AccelWorld)

Anyway Kirito start searching for the 1st floor's boss. While searching for him he joins a temporary party and meets a girl: Asuna.

While raiding the boss, the party leader gets killed and Kirito is the one who slays the boss. Other people understand that he must have been a beta tester and label him as a beater (combination on cheater and beta tester).
And thus begins his real adventure as a solo player in that jungle-like world.

I won't spoil the rest of the story, I will just say that the second arc (arc not season) is focused on the relationship between Kirito and his sister: Kirigaya Suguha.

Characters:

About Kirito, he's the badass type of boy who get girls easily and can solve all problems without even sweating a bit and has many friends. The boy most people want to be.

He’s a guy with a heart of gold.

He’s always at an advantage.

He can accomplish whatever he wants to with little effort.

He has an ‘ideal’ girlfriend/wife.

He’s admired by those around him.

He can ‘unintentionally’ make every other chick adore him, romantically or otherwise.

About Asuna: Asuna as the female lead is as stereotyped as they come. Much like Kirito, her character is heavily idealized. She’s pretty, popular, kind, caring and every other man wants to have a piece of her. Oh, and did I mention her cooking skills that level up with each passing day? After all, her foremost duty is to cook for Kirito and show how much she cares for him. While initially she’s portrayed as a strong, independent female player with a tsundere-ish attitude, it doesn’t take her long to make a transition from that to a deplorable damsel in distress, requiring her knight in black robe to come to her rescue whenever she’s in a bind.

Other characters like Silica, Klein, Agil, Lisbeth and Yui are here just to add some humor and make you laugh!

Sound:

The music is composed by one of the most renowned composers in the anime industry, Yuki Kajiura (nuff said!!!!). While the soundtracks aren't bad by any means, none of them stand out much except the one that plays during combat/intense scenes. In fact, that’s the only track that can be heard playing most of the time in the entire show.

Opening 1: Crossing Field

Opening 2: Innocence (didn't put the original video for spoiler purpose)

Animation:

Within the game, the vast tracts of greenery, the beautiful cities during the night, the castles… they’re all a pleasure to behold. The animation is also well-handled for the most part. Initially I wasn’t much pleased with the character designs but they gradually grew on me, and I personally find a few characters like Asuna, Klein, Heathcliff and Lisbeth to be very well designed.

Difference with the Light Novel:

The light novel goes more into details explaining things and deeper, especially the relationship between the characters. And it has more side story that are pretty enjoyable.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, sword art online is a great anime, even though the two main protagonist are very criticize-able the plot always has this thing that pushes you to continue watching it. For those who don't know it the Light novel is much more in advance, meaning that it goes after the end of the anime. I have read it and I can personally understand why were all these choices made. Bear in mind that every decision taken has a consequence in the future.

Final Grade: 9.7/10

Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think and subscribe for more weekly reviews.

Season 2 has been announced!