Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Kamichu! 1
"Mitsue-chan... I've become a god"
That's a rather interesting way to start off a show, isn't it? From the director of R.O.D comes Kamichu!, the first of the summer shows to start. The title is short for "Kami-sama wa chuugakusei" - "God is a middle schooler".
And that's the situation our main character, 2nd grade middle schooler Yurie Hitotsubashi, finds herself in. She became a god somehow last night, and at school she tells her friend Mitsue-chan. Yurie doesn't know exactly what kind of god she is, either.. a girl brings her chair up to Yurie and Mitsue -- she's Matsuri, and she'll help Yurie find out what she can do.
The three of them go up to the roof where Matsuri starts trying to get Yurie to summon her powers. You know, by doing like the heroes on shows on TV do, making poses and shouting and such. Doesn't work at all... some pieces of paper with calligraphy come floating by. Kenji Ninomiya, one and only member of the calligraphy club is hard at work on the roof since there's not a room for his one-man club. But he's not satisfied with it.. Yurie climbs up the ladder holding one of the papers, and almost falls, but Kenji grabs her. She introduces herself to him and asks if he saw anything -- he didn't. He climbs down and heads inside.. Mitsue says that he's a weirdo, but Yurie snaps back, saying he's a genius.
Matsuri tells Yurie of a legend saying that if you confess to someone on the roof on a day when there's a strong wind then you'll definitely fall in love. Now pepped up, Yurie'll try again to use her powers ;) But how? Put all your feelings into saying a spell, of course... Since she a middle school god (see above), then "kamichu" should do, Matsuri says. Yurie closes her eyes, then shouts: kaaa... miiii... CHUUU! jumping up into the air. Zoom out high above Japan, moving to the south... a wind blows a sail on a boat. Back at the school, nothing has happened. Well, they can try later at the shrine Matsuri's family runs.
So after school Yurie, Mitsue, and Matsuri all head to the Raifuku shrine. Yurie and Matsue grab fortunes... good luck for Matsue. Not quite so good for Yurie... her love fortune says "a storm is coming". Matsuri and her sister, Miko -- how appropriate. Miko is a miko ;) -- start a ceremony to try and bring out Yurie's powers. As they continue Yurie feels something coming... AH-CHOO!! Yurie lets out a Negi-sensei-like sneeze that causes quite a breeze.
Back at home now, Yurie tries to sleep as her cat keeps pawing at her. And when she wakes up a typhoon report is on the TV, reporting of a typhoon Yurie south of Japan heading their way. Yurie? Then..... Mitsue calls Yurie, asking if she did it. Yup, Yurie did it. They plan to meet at the school.
Yurie takes her brother's bike and heads off to the school as the storm starts to come ashore. As she heads there, all manner of spirits and such, big and small, are running around. And the typhoon's eye is an SD Yurie face ;) Matsuri's waiting at the school when Yurie and Mitsue arrive. They go up to the roof and prepare a place where Yurie can tell the storm to disappear... Yurie tries, but she can't do anything and is blown away...
Sheets of paper blow from the roof -- Kenji is still up there! As Yurie climbs up the ladder Ken is sucked into an approaching tornado. She wants to save him... Ka..mi... CHU! Her powers activate and she flies up to Kenji on a nearby spirit. Grabbing his hands inside the tornado. The storm clears as they float down... Yurie says it: "I like you"... but they land in the pool, and Kenji doesn't know who Yurie is, so her kokuhaku went to waste.
Yurie wakes up -- look at the manga there. Someone is a fan of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch ;) ...so all that was a dream? Nope... it wasn't a dream. As she heads to school people are repairing the damage left behind by typhoon Yurie and an assortment of creatures are around as well. And people seem to know Yurie is a god now. Matsuri's been helping that out a bit by advertising that fact around the school ;) Yurie runs into Kenji once again... but he doesn't remember her name, still. Well, she'll keep her hopes up and do things bit by bit -- she ties the fortune she got from the temple on a tree branch. She gets called by some students show need some help -- don't they know god has her issues to deal with as well? ;)
Wow, what a good way to start off a new season, ne? And what an odd way, as well, but in a good way. Not too many shows start off with the main character saying they've become a god and people just accepting that as fact ;)
ゆりえちゃんすごく可愛いよ、ゆりえちゃん！
Yurie-chan's really cute, Yurie-chan!
Or should that be Yurie-sama since she's a god ;) Yurie's an extremely cute and very likeable character, and her friends seem to be interesting as well. We'll see how Yurie's luck with Kenji goes. Him remembering her name'd be a start ;)
The staff is seriously channeling Hayao Miyazaki and Ghibli here. Everything about Kamichu! -- setting, art style, music, character design, the characters themselves -- screams that out, and that's a good thing, definitely :) Brains Base -- has anyone heard of them? -- did an excellent job with the animation this time with extremely high production values. I just hope they can keep this up for the show's run.
Judging from this first episode, those who like slice-of-life with some fantasy will be in store for a treat with Kamichu!. I believe I'll be picking this one up :)
Posted by Matthew at June 29, 2005 7:18 PM
Is "Happy gekkan" a real publication? Can't seem to find it on googling.
Ermm... Yurie is really cute. Un. Tottemo...
Posted by painsama at June 30, 2005 1:32 AM
I like the hair, especially the shrine girl, but something seems odd to me about the way their mouths move. AIR went that wa from tim-to-time too, but not as much.
Posted by Shiroi Hane at July 3, 2005 11:25 AM
This show can either become very good (the animation already is), or it can lose me in 3 episodes. If my lingering suspicion is correct and this naive kindergarten is gonna have one Kaaaa-miiii-chuuuuu wonder after the other, I'm outta here ^_^;;
The idea is great, but I doubt that I could keep it up unless especially Yurie mentally grows up, at least from her current 6 years to let's say 10 or 11. Please.
Posted by Mentar at July 3, 2005 2:25 PM
Post a comment