(L) Kamisama Dolls

[Guardian Enzo]

I don't believe in coincidences in anime. He looked too much like her for it to be an accident. And they bothered to get a big name seiyuu, so that hints it could be a major character - as does the mystery of only showing him partially.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

I don't believe in coincidences in anime. He looked too much like her for it to be an accident. And they bothered to get a big name seiyuu, so that hints it could be a major character - as does the mystery of only showing him partially.

Oh, I think he'll be a major character, for some of the reasons you just brought up. I just want to see more of him before I determine if I like him or not. I already like Kyohei, though.

[HandofFate]

episode 3.

Hibino's breasts are comically huge...
Series kind of going really slow for me. Aki is the antagonist right now, but he isn't really pushing a huge conflict right now. Just giving vague hints to the past.

Also at the end, what kind of girl just drags a random KO'd guy that fell from the sky with her like that....

[0utf0xZer0]

Originally Posted by Ziziphus

And you know what, it wasn't even in the manga's main story. I skimmed through a few chapters ahead of the event in this episode (yeah, lacking self-control and patience, I know) and discovered that the above-mentioned scene was from an omake with some added stuff.

You know, I actually remember thinking the scene felt like a omake when I was watching, but I didn't want to spoil myself by reading the manga to check. Thanks to you, I don't have to.

So yeah, very much a "what were they thinking?" moment.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Aki's tendency towards casual serial killing is rather disturbing. And the Village's obvious inability to handle him makes them seem somewhat complicit in his crimes, given that they're refusing to report him to the police or anything like that. I'm a little ticked off with how nobody seems to truly care about the bodies of innocent victims that Aki's piling up right now.

This guy is a Joker-level threat to innocent people everywhere. I'm sorry, but at this point, he's not just an issue for some secluded little village anymore. He's a menace that needs to be dealt with, definitively, pronto. Simply telling him to "go home" after he kills three innocent people? What is up with that?!

Maybe Kyohei is genre savvy?
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...liceAreUseless

No seriously. How do you propose he report it to the police without it being written off as a prank? Given that he's been at two crime scenes recently, he's likely to be regarded as a suspicious person too.

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

I'm in line with the first half being way too forced with the loli antics, but the second half was really excellent I thought. First rate action and breakneck pacing, with great intros for the two new characters. Looks like the little one is a shota version of Utao, pretty much.

Or not a shota, if her aniDB profile is correct. I have seen aniDB profiles where the character's gender was wrong though. (Also, apparently Aki is a relative of Kyohei and Utao in some way... has that even been mentioned yet?).

I'm quite interested in how Utao is going to deal with the newcomer's presence, this episode didn't have as many scenes dealing with that as I would have liked.

Am I the only one who suspects that part of the reason Utao is so excited to be living with Kyohei is to get away from these people?

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Well, I will say that Kyohei gave off a good first impression to me. He seems genuinely cool and bad ass.

I'm think you're mixing up Kyohei and Koushirou.

[mangatron]

Aha ha, I expected no less of the Utao criticism here. I will say I found it entertaining, if merely for the presence of Hibino and Suou-chan, but even I admitted it was 5 minutes too long, as I find short sporadic Utao like last ep's gaming scene much more appropriate given how much eps this series will be. There's probably a reason why I felt odd about this too,

Originally Posted by Ziziphus

Agreed. The entire scene with clumsy Utao and the gaining weight joke felt really redundant and drawn out. And you know what, it wasn't even in the manga's main story.

And that's probably why. Placing this scene so early in the series actually broke continuity (in my mind). Remember how Utao wanted to quit her work for the day and play Afterburner with her Doll? I thought the console was broke? Too soon to have a replacement? Overall odd placement of this scene, but I did get a laugh so

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

The real downside was pretty much not showing the fight in the episode. I mean all we get are clashing flashes in the sky?

I honestly don't think you'd want to see this fight, really. I also think we were supposed to see it exactly the way we did because well, clearly Aki doesn't want to fight the guy, as it sounds like he'd get his butt wiped, but more importantly, Aki seems to have been running away. Do you really think seeing a chicken Aki running with his tail between his legs would have looked good for the story at this point? I honestly don't think so, and it's a good idea they animated it the way they did. Because now it makes it look like they're the psychotic ones instead of Aki, and maybe he's not so psycho... well okay, he still kills people, but so far it's been the village people. Did Aki ever pop a civvie's head?

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

Am I the only one who suspects that part of the reason Utao is so excited to be living with Kyohei is to get away from these people?

Yep, after ep 03, I think so too. Clearly I don't see the village as being the safe haven Kyohei is making it out to be

Well either we're going to get the classic girl changes the crazy killer thing or Aki will kill Kuuko at the start of episode 4 . Oddly I'd be more for the other one. She went and rushed into things so if she gets killed oh well.

Noooo! I don't want Kuuko to die! Obviously I'm liking the prospect of Kuuko X Aki, and maybe now I'll see why she gets to use a gun

[Guardian Enzo]

I'm pretty sure MAL is wrong on that one. That was a boy.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I kind of think Aki was just teasing Kyouhei with that remark about killing the students in line, trying to provoke him. I got that sense from the look he gave him.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

Maybe Kyohei is genre savvy?
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...liceAreUseless

Well, with all due respect, it's not like the Village is doing a good job of handling Aki themselves.

Seriously, the fact that they can't even manage to transport Aki back to the village without him breaking free is pretty bad. I mean... that's comic book police officer bad.

Also, I was criticizing the Village in general for that, not Kyohei in particular.

I just find it a bit off-putting that Aki is just randomly killing innocent people, and other than getting a bit angry about it, nobody seems to care much.

In fairness, I guess that could be additional foreshadowing for how messed up this Village is. Right now, I'm thinking this village has issues at least on par with the village/town in Ookami Kakushi.

I'm think you're mixing up Kyohei and Koushirou.

Thanks for the correction. I usually am not that bad with anime names. Sorry about that.

[LordEmbok]

Before the season started I watched the Story PV and Girls PV and figured it was going to be boring adventures about a little girl and that the action/mystery/whatever were only there to disguise that fact. Three eps in and my opinion hasn't really changed. The best part of each episode so far has been the thirty seconds to a minute before the OP. Everything else feels like one of JC Staff's endless harem series, what with the loli imouto moe going through the roof and breasts girl's breasts growing even larger.

With Brains Base allocating all their best staff elsewhere, this seems like a pretty lazy cash in attempt. If only I had seen those manga volume covers earlier I wouldn't have had the faint hope for something worthwhile that led me to watch this despite my misgivings. Oh well.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Aki's tendency towards casual serial killing is rather disturbing. And the Village's obvious inability to handle him makes them seem somewhat complicit in his crimes, given that they're refusing to report him to the police or anything like that. I'm a little ticked off with how nobody seems to truly care about the bodies of innocent victims that Aki's piling up right now.

This guy is a Joker-level threat to innocent people everywhere. I'm sorry, but at this point, he's not just an issue for some secluded little village anymore. He's a menace that needs to be dealt with, definitively, pronto. Simply telling him to "go home" after he kills three innocent people? What is up with that?!

Has he killed any innocent civilians yet? Yeah, he mentioned killing some kids, but I'm not convinced that wasn't a joke to get a reaction from Kyouhei. Besides that, I can't recall him killing anyone who wasn't sent from the village to catch him -- and so far, there's been no proof that the villagers aren't bad guys themselves.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

Has he killed any innocent civilians yet?

There was that guy in the elevator from the first episode, IIRC. Not sure if that guy was sent from the village to catch him though.

[Ziziphus]

Originally Posted by LordEmbok

Before the season started I watched the Story PV and Girls PV and figured it was going to be boring adventures about a little girl and that the action/mystery/whatever were only there to disguise that fact. Three eps in and my opinion hasn't really changed. The best part of each episode so far has been the thirty seconds to a minute before the OP. Everything else feels like one of JC Staff's endless harem series, what with the loli imouto moe going through the roof and breasts girl's breasts growing even larger.

With Brains Base allocating all their best staff elsewhere, this seems like a pretty lazy cash in attempt. If only I had seen those manga volume covers earlier I wouldn't have had the faint hope for something worthwhile that led me to watch this despite my misgivings. Oh well.

Hey, the story does get better, if what little I read ahead of the manga is anything to go by. The staff needs to tone down the loli-service though.

[mangatron]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

There was that guy in the elevator from the first episode, IIRC. Not sure if that guy was sent from the village to catch him though.

It was a village guy. This is why I find it interesting that he's only been killing village people (what we've seen on screen so far). From what Aki said he was just kidding when he said he offed some kids' heads because from the way it sounds, he was in line and it would have been one heck of a mess in a very public place.

I also find it interesting he didn't reveal his doll out in the city. Seems to me the Hyuga's don't mind using them in public, which adds even more interesting thought as to just who is the bad ones here.

[Arabesque]

As expected from the director of Angle Beats!, not only does this episode manage to drag the first half with a gag that should last half that time, but he also skimps down on action to give us high animated cake eating action (for realz!) the man got his priorities straight!

Though to be fair, that was a good looking cake. Shame they couldn't spare some of that budget on other areas of the show.

I should probably mention I didn't dislike Utao much prior to this episode, since that seems to be a topic here. That being said, I felt that the first part of this episode was a chore to get through. The joke itself could've been told in a much shorter time and gotten more out of it. Less is more guys, having too much sugar in your coffee makes it too sweet and undrinkable.

Fortunately, the second half was marginally better. Scratches in the sky don't really qualify as action in my book, and some of the QUALITY shots here were really painful to look at. That being said Utao catching that truck was cool to see at least, and the development at the end could be interesting to see.

If the preview for the next episode is any indication, we should be getting some comedic reactions from seeing Aki stripped and gaged by a crazy women who's idea of getting men is picking them up from top of trash cans and dragging them back home cave-man style

On a side note, I still find it hilarious that Aki's voice isn't Nobuhiko Okamoto. I wonder when will that stop being funny

So, what does the poll for the BD special say now?

[mangatron]

Originally Posted by Arabesque

Fortunately, the second half was marginally better. Scratches in the sky don't really qualify as action in my book, and some of the QUALITY shots here were really painful to look at.

I kinda mentioned why it wouldn't have been much of a fight to drag out. But I'll be really laughing if what we saw in the preview will be the actual fight that leads episode 04, the same way Aki's escape in ep 02 was the lead-in for ep 03.

Is this the new method of keeping viewers? Showing content of the present episode in the next episode?

If the preview for the next episode is any indication, we should be getting some comedic reactions from seeing Aki stripped and gaged by a crazy women who's idea of getting men is picking them up from top of trash cans and dragging them back home cave-man style

Oh come on, the poor innocent girl assisted a hobo and brought him to her safe haven, such an innocent maiden has to protect herself from the knocked out fellow, so she has to tie him up. I-it's not like she's a sadist or anything...

I just love that girl

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by mangatron

It was a village guy. This is why I find it interesting that he's only been killing village people (what we've seen on screen so far). From what Aki said he was just kidding when he said he offed some kids' heads because from the way it sounds, he was in line and it would have been one heck of a mess in a very public place.

I also find it interesting he didn't reveal his doll out in the city. Seems to me the Hyuga's don't mind using them in public, which adds even more interesting thought as to just who is the bad ones here.

Well, if he's only killing people from the village then it makes some sense, at least, for Aki to remain a strictly village problem.

I'd also prefer that as I'd honestly rather Aki to be a guy who takes legitimate gripes with the village a bit too far (probably) than be a guy who's just into randomly killing people.

[tomtkp]

Originally Posted by LordEmbok

Before the season started I watched the Story PV and Girls PV and figured it was going to be boring adventures about a little girl and that the action/mystery/whatever were only there to disguise that fact. Three eps in and my opinion hasn't really changed. The best part of each episode so far has been the thirty seconds to a minute before the OP. Everything else feels like one of JC Staff's endless harem series, what with the loli imouto moe going through the roof and breasts girl's breasts growing even larger.

With Brains Base allocating all their best staff elsewhere, this seems like a pretty lazy cash in attempt. If only I had seen those manga volume covers earlier I wouldn't have had the faint hope for something worthwhile that led me to watch this despite my misgivings. Oh well.

Originally Posted by Ziziphus

Hey, the story does get better, if what little I read ahead of the manga is anything to go by. The staff needs to tone down the loli-service though.

Prior to the anime version,I had read through 53 chapters of Kamisama Dolls and I agree with Ziziphus that the story does getting better and better and I have totally got hooked to the series.Even the first three episodes of the series seem appealling to me.I understand the grievance of some viewers about the slow pacing of the first three episodes as the series is still in the introduction stage.However,I really dislike the fact that some viewers are impatient enough and say things like "Oh,I will drop the series if there's nothing interesting in the next episode",even predicting that the series will be a harem series in the end despite not knowing what is gonna happen next.Yes,I admit that the anime producers are emphasising a bit too much on moe scenes,even the first half of the third episode is adapted from the omake chapters,not the main story but these scenes are not important compared to what the story is trying to tell us. What can you expect from mere three episodes?Action filled scenes?Or "Just tell me what is the village up to?" or "What is Aki's motive?What is the relationship between Aki and Kyouhei?I want an answer."?The story is not gonna tell you the answer until it is the right time to do so.Having reading through the manga,I think Kamisama Dolls has a solid storytelling in its own way,just like any other stories which have exposition (introduction),rising action,conflict,climax and eventually falling action and the end of the story.(The manga is still ongoing)

[thirdlc]

Originally Posted by Shouta

Was this scheduled for 13 or 26?

Originally Posted by mangatron

Worse. According to my old source, it's 12, like a number of others this season. It could just be a season listing, but 12! Why not 13 if it was a seasonal limit, so I do think it's 12.

Originally Posted by Ravenblitz

This says it's 13.

[Belial13]

Originally Posted by Kismet-chan

I wonder how many people would give a damn about this show if Utao didn't exist.

<-----

if she didn't exist i would not be thinking about dropping this

[mangatron]

Originally Posted by tomtkp

Even the first three episodes of the series seem appealling to me. I understand the grievance of some viewers about the slow pacing of the first three episodes as the series is still in the introduction stage.However,I really dislike the fact that some viewers are impatient enough and say things like "Oh,I will drop the series if there's nothing interesting in the next episode",even predicting that the series will be a harem series in the end despite not knowing what is gonna happen next.Yes,I admit that the anime producers are emphasising a bit too much on moe scenes,even the first half of the third episode is adapted from the omake chapters,not the main story but these scenes are not important compared to what the story is trying to tell us. What can you expect from mere three episodes?Action filled scenes?Or "Just tell me what is the village up to?" or "What is Aki's motive?What is the relationship between Aki and Kyouhei?I want an answer."?The story is not gonna tell you the answer until it is the right time to do so.Having reading through the manga,I think Kamisama Dolls has a solid storytelling in its own way,just like any other stories which have exposition (introduction),rising action,conflict,climax and eventually falling action and the end of the story.(The manga is still ongoing)

I really feel like quoting this. That is all.

Originally Posted by thirdlc

This says it's 13.

I forgot to add the part "on broadcast"

In more than 6 years of using this site, I've never seen it wrong. So I'd guess #13 is one of those OAV kind of things that seems to be popular these days. Not that I wouldn't want a 13th ep

[justinstrife]

Originally Posted by tomtkp

Prior to the anime version,I had read through 53 chapters of Kamisama Dolls and I agree with Ziziphus that the story does getting better and better and I have totally got hooked to the series.Even the first three episodes of the series seem appealling to me.I understand the grievance of some viewers about the slow pacing of the first three episodes as the series is still in the introduction stage.However,I really dislike the fact that some viewers are impatient enough and say things like "Oh,I will drop the series if there's nothing interesting in the next episode",even predicting that the series will be a harem series in the end despite not knowing what is gonna happen next.Yes,I admit that the anime producers are emphasising a bit too much on moe scenes,even the first half of the third episode is adapted from the omake chapters,not the main story but these scenes are not important compared to what the story is trying to tell us. What can you expect from mere three episodes?Action filled scenes?Or "Just tell me what is the village up to?" or "What is Aki's motive?What is the relationship between Aki and Kyouhei?I want an answer."?The story is not gonna tell you the answer until it is the right time to do so.Having reading through the manga,I think Kamisama Dolls has a solid storytelling in its own way,just like any other stories which have exposition (introduction),rising action,conflict,climax and eventually falling action and the end of the story.(The manga is still ongoing)

We have 12 to 13 episodes for this series. Not 24 episodes. That isn't exactly a lot of time to get a halfway decent story told. So giving a show 4 episodes to try and keep viewers engaged, is crucial. Sorry if you can't wrap your 20 year old brain around that concept.