Reviews: "The World God Only Knows" and "Blue Exorcist"

These are more like season previews than actual reviews, but out of the shows I've seen so far online that are premiering, I'm liking so far how this season is turning out.

Warning: There are some spoilers

Let's start with a show that some of you may already be familiar with from last season.

If you've never seen it...shame on you! It's a comedy that breaks the fourth wall on occasion and also makes fun of the cliches of dating simulation games.

"The World God Only Knows" tells the story of a dating sim otaku named Keima Katsuragi.  He prefers his dating sim women over the real ones in his school, even going by the name "King of Conquests."  He gets what he thinks is an invitation to join in another game, but instead finds himself paired up with a chibi demon named Elsie who tells him he has a task -- to capture loose souls from the hearts of girls by "conquering" them.  Problem is, Keima has never actually "conquered" a girl in real life.  But if he doesn't, both he and Elsie could lose their lives.  So now he's forced to rely on what he knows from dating simulators to figure out how to "conquer" the girls and capture the loose souls.

The first season of the show was a fun ride.  Season 2 has started, and is promising more of the same.  The first arc focuses on a female karate club captain (who is now the only member thanks to the rest of her club quitting two days after she took the position) who is trying to conquer her own personal demon -- she secretly likes cute things.

It's already starting some of the fun humor that the first season had -- the first episode set the tone where we get a recap of what the show is about, then Keima comes into the frame and asks the audience, "Didn't you watch season one?"

Keep an eye out this season.  It's now simulcasting on Crunchyroll.

 

"Blue Exorcist."

Do we really need another shinigami-type show? Why, yes.  Yes, we do.

Rin lives with his twin brother Yukio and Father Fujimoto, the man he's called Dad for as long as he could remember.  In this first episode, Yukio is about to go to the Blue Cross Academy to study, while Rin is facing a possibility of going from job to job and not being able to do anything with his life.  That changes when he saves a little girl from a demon in a grocery store, and when he discovers that he has powers he never heard of, Fujimoto finally tells him the truth -- he's the son of the Devil.

From the preview for next week, I'm assuming that we discover Rin makes the decision to be an exorcist himself. Or else the title would be just silly.

The show actually has some good things going for it.  It has some great effects animation, the writing is sharp, and you really get into it.  I plan to keep watching.

The show is currently simulcasting on Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Anime News Network.

Review: The World God Only Knows

This is a show that sounds like it might be some metaphysical, deep drama from the title. You wouldn't think a video game comedy. But that's what we have. And it's actually pretty good.

Keima Katsuragi is not a typical 17 year old boy.  Hes super smart, and has an interest in girls.  However, the girls he's interested in are the 2D kind found in dating simulation games. On the internet, he's known as the "God of Conquests."  He answers a mysterious e-mail one day, thinking that he was being invited to play another game.  However, when a 300 year old childlike demon named Elise shows up telling him that he signed a contract to conquer real women in order to capture loose souls in their hearts, he tells her that there was a mistake -- he'd never "conquered" a real life girl before.  But because the consequences for breaking the contract are great, Keima goes along with helping Elise, using his knowledge of dating sims to guide him on their quest.

For a premise like that, it sounds rather weak.  But the writing in this show is pretty quick.  Parodying the conventions of the dating sim is nothing new (Excel Saga did it in one episode), but the writers play with all the conventions and the different types of girls you see in these games.

I will say that Keima is a hard character to like, at least at this point in the show (a second season is set to air in April). He's a bit full of himself a good portion of the time.  But he shows in his conquest of the girls that he does have a caring side.  And he's well-written -- his arrogance just adds to the charm of the character when he makes his conquests.  I like Elsie better, because despite the fact that she's a demon she's got some moe characteristics to her that make you want to watch her.  You feel bad for her when Keima constantly insults her.

Overall, The World God Only Knows is one to catch.  You can find it right now online at crunchyroll.com.