Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens

Kannagi:  B

Yeah, I said I'd work on my backlog, but while I was going through it I came across Kannazuki no Miko, and the title of that sounds a bit like Kannagi and Kannagi has 'shrine maidens' in the subtitle (which is what Miko means in Kannazuki no Miko) and so it reminded me of this series that I'd heard the name of but knew nothing else about.

And so I got to watching it and it's actually pretty good. It's a sitcom about a girl who happens to be a goddess and incarnates after her sacred tree is cut down.  She lives with the boy who carved an image of her (who he'd met when he was younger) out of the tree and generally is as sloppy and lazy as you'd expect a teenage girl who thinks she's a goddess to be.

Note I said sitcom not romcom: while there isn't much to speak of in the plot and there are two girls who are kind of interested in our boy, Nagi, the goddess, isn't one of them, in fact, she shows no romantic interest in Jin whatsoever.  There's also a nice colorful background cast: the childhood friend with the crush, the otaku mangaka artist friend, the mischievous senpai who are constantly trying to make things more 'entertaining', the extremely talented but misunderstood gentle giant and our goddess' exorbitantly catty little sister (also a goddess).  The show also has more than it's share of otaku culture references and a couple of hilarious fourth-wall breaks.

Note 'Goddess' here is a translation of 'kami' which is non-gendered, and further note that in Japan 'divinity' is much more broadly defined, something the series brings up occasionally.  Really, this is yet another show (like Sasami-san after it, which I believe took a few tips) about how Japan's gods must really not be very dignified people, if those who they receive worship from are anything to go by.

It doesn't really come to a conclusion, though there is a climax, and a number of plot threads are left hanging, so if you need your stories to all fit nicely into the box, be warned that Kannagi's don't.  There's a couple of weirdly-paced episodes and not a lot of real substance.

But hey, it's funny and cute and clever and it doesn't fall into harem stagnation or try to be anything it's not.  If you're looking for a fun little show that's very Japanese but still pretty comprehensible to westerners, you could do a heck of a lot worse than Kannagi.