(L) Kamisama no Memochou

[Haak]

Spoiler for Finale:

I know it was a cliche for her to wake up in the end but I'm glad she did. She's a sweet girl.

Narumi didn't get to kick the crap out of the drug dealer but he did manage to beat up Ayaka's brother so that'll do.

Overall it was a perfect episode...until Alice started talking about how great NEET's and writers are. Honestly...

The series was decent but it had it's flaws. My Score: 7/10

[ion475]

I know it was a cliche for her to wake up in the end but I'm glad she did. She's a sweet girl.

It's not exactly cliche...she did woke up at Vol. 3 (Didn't get air for the most part), so it's just being loyal to the original work...

Narumi didn't get to kick the crap out of the drug dealer but he did manage to beat up Ayaka's brother so that'll do.

Yeah...as if Narumi is not emo enough normally. On the other hand, he did improve his fighting skill after the debacle way back in Ep. 3...(But, if you're going with the novel timeline, that would means his fighting skill got worse )

[Raiga]

Man, I've watched the last 4 minutes of this episode like six times by now. Beautiful. Lots of intense emotion for the finale.

[Guido]

Kamisama no Memochou may have recently ended, but I'm very expectant to get to the conclusion to see what happens to Toushi, and if Narumi will be able to bring back Ayaka.

And, I should had noticed in the previous episode about the bad intentions that Ayaka unwillingly and unknowingly she was contributing at.

Spoiler:

My theory says that Ayaka must have waited for or arranged to meet Toushi at the school to confront him about the black bussiness he got himself into. Of course, Hikamizaka, probably, could had been tagging along with Toushi in order to make sure that his partner? wouldn't screw up.

Hikamizaka finding out about Ayaka knowing the truth regarding that the manufacturing ingredients were harvested and came from her school's greenhouse, upon reaction, immediately, attempted to clean up. However, Hikamizaka could had viewed Ayaka as one of his chosen, as he told to Narumi through phone at the end of the episode.
And, well the rest is what led to Ayaka jumping on the roof, but I believe there's more content to that. I believe she gathered her last strengths before succumbing fully to the drugs' effects to leap from the roof; it was like a mesage intended for Narumi to figure out, a message asking for his help.

And, congratulations for Narumi because he not only mad evident his innate and naturals skills for organizing and directing such enterprise to get clues at Toushi's trail, but as well as Alice promoting him to assistant detective.

Can't wait for this show's last episode.

[blakstealth]

Damn, as cliche as that ending was, it was still good to me lol. I'm so glad she woke up. :')

Overall, decent show.

[Serp]

I don't really care who complains about this show. I'm happy with it from start to finish. Its not a show for everyone since drama/mystery don't appeal to everyone. I think its silly to complain about narrative choices since we are dealing with a show with a seemingly young girl that knows how to use the internet to find out pretty much anything.

That said, the ending was perfect for me. It was all really predictable but nonetheless its the characters resolve that sold it to me. I have to say I am impressed with Ayaka's decision with jumping of the roof...impressed is probably the wrong word but surprised. To have that of that while drugged...and then to do that at the ending really caught me off guard.

Alice gave a good little closing speech that wrapped up the series nicely. This is one of the best drama's I've seen in a long time. I really enjoyed of the narration was put in...gave it more of poetic touch. In any case, I'm glad the series didn't end on such a downer....I hope she isn't permanently damaged.

[Flawfinder]

So, for this series...I'm not going to pretend that I wasn't biased towards it, but it's not exactly that bad a series. But seriously, the fact that they had to save Volume 1 for the climax just weirds me out. That's like admitting the future novels are bad, so here's the first novel to remind us of how good we are. But maybe the novels portray the events better than the anime, I don't know.

On the bright note, the ending arc was good, but the rest of the series was badly paced, the characters were boring, the conflicts were forced, and I really couldn't concentrate on the good points due to how distracting the bad stuff was. The main problem I had with the series was making Narumi the protagonist. He's so bland and forgettable to me.

I'm not going to rate it, as I can't remember the other episodes besides the final ones all that well, plus I skipped two of them. I didn't enjoy the series, but it's not the worst out there. But if I see one more comparison to a certain series, I'm going to go insane.

[Sides]

I enjoyed the show. The ending was ... It would be better to show Ayaka still in a coma, in my opinion, unless they are planning to do a second series.

[ars89]

Gutsy move by Narumi to take the drugs. Like how he beat the crap out of Toshi. The ending scene was great. Glad Ayaka woke up finally.

[Triple_R]

Some final thoughts on this anime in the spoiler space below.

Spoiler for Kamisama no Memochou series thoughts:

One positive thing I'll say right off the bat.

I think that this anime is a success for JC Staff, at least in the sense of demonstrating how they're capable of doing decent adaptation work. I'm honestly pleasantly surprised that certain "JC Staff being JC Staff" moments were kept down to a minimum for the anime as a whole. As both the Renji arc, and the final arc, show, JC Staff is capable of playing drama straight when the need arises.

I also very much liked the artstyle and animation work. Good, solid, and pleasing to the eye. For the most part, I also liked a solid majority of the major characters.


Now, I did have some misgivings about this final arc, and about the anime as a whole, but I honestly get the impression that this has more to do with the source material itself than with JC Staff's handling of it.

There's two elements to Kamisama no Memochou that rub me a bit the wrong way, and I'll admit that one would think they'd cancel each other out, and yet they somehow don't for me.

These two elements are as follows:

1. The Saturday Morning Yakuza

Here is where I agree with Serenade Beta (although my overall view on Kamisama no Memochou is much more positive overall ). Now, what I mean by "the Saturday Morning Yakuza" is how the yakuza in this often feel like they're thugs and grunts straight out of a 80s Saturday Morning cartoon.

The villainous yakuza are breathtakingly incompetent enough that I could seriously believe they're taking orders from this guy, or that guy here, or this guy other there.

The "white hat" yakuza are presented as just a slight touch more competent than the villainous yakuza, and seemingly just by virtue of them being the "white hats".

Now, I was a huge fan of 80s saturday morning cartoons growing up, but at the same time, I don't think that its extremely camp style flows well with a show like Kamisama no Memochou.


2. On the flip-side, and maybe I'm getting too pacifistic as I get older, but it actually bothers me a bit how much this series kind of legitimizes extreme physical violence, especially when it comes to aiming for revenge. Rather than cancelling out with the 80s cartoon style camp I mentioned before, it just makes for a really jarring contrast for me.

I imagine an old 80s He-Man cartoon where He-Man absolutely brutalizes some poor sap for foolishly doing Skeletor's drugs, after saving a NEET friend of his. Then I imagine the episode ending on a PSA where He-Man says, "Remember kids, NEETs are invaluable members of society, and should be admired for the great unpaid work that they do, as our NEET Sorceress Alice just demonstrated in today's episode. However, druggies who fall for villains like Skeletor deserve to be ruthlessly brutalized, and stoned in more ways than one, if you catch my drift. Until next time, kids, support NEETs everywhere and get those druggies!"


Still, as much time as I've spent on these two points, I have few problems with Kamisama no Memochou beyond them. It was a pretty solid anime overall. Overall, I'd give it the same rating as Haak did: 7/10

[Dralha]

Spoiler for Episode 12:

Perfect ending!

I was hoping for a beating for the pharmacy guy, but the hallucinatory plunge into hell by Alice's clever manipulations was quite satisfying. Toshi got the beating he deserved, and I was glad they showed Ayaka wake up in the end, especially after that nice romantic touch with the flowers.

[Chaos2Frozen]

@Triple_R

It would have been weird to me if the 'good guys' didn't exact some form of payback on the assholes that screwed with their friend. It might not be for everyone's stomach, but it's better than just giving them pity looks and walking away. Though I wonder which one is worse- Alice's mindfuck or Narumi's fist of fury?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway, a very good and satisfactory ending that wraps up this season especially with the dramatic flower blooming sunrise scene with Alice and Narumi. This show has it's ups and downs that not everybody can agree on, but to me it's a solid story telling from start to finish with good progression of the main character. I guess it's all in the hands of the otakus now whether or not this show gets a second season from the dvd/BD sales cause it doesn't look like there is a spike in sales for the latest Light Novel volume.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

@Triple_R

It would have been weird to me if the 'good guys' didn't exact some form of payback on the assholes that screwed with their friend.

I'm not quite sure why they can't just hand them over to the police. And then they'll be spending a long time in a jail and/or a mental institution and/or a drug rehab center. Those that survive, anyway.

Beyond that, my view is that Ayaka's brother (as well as the guy that The Fourth interrogated) are victims themselves. Most people who are druggies to this degree are. Victims of their own stupidity, perhaps, but still victims.

The pharmacy guy is a different matter. He created this drug, which has massively disrupted if not outright ruined/cost several lives.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I'm not quite sure why they can't just hand them over to the police. And then they'll be spending a long time in a jail and/or a mental institution and/or a drug rehab center. Those that survive, anyway.

Beyond that, my view is that Ayaka's brother (as well as the guy that The Fourth interrogated) are victims themselves. Most people who are druggies to this degree are. Victims of their own stupidity, perhaps, but still victims.

The pharmacy guy is a different matter. He created this drug, which has massively disrupted if not outright ruined/cost several lives.

My view is that the 'good guys' doesn't always have to do 'good' things. In the end they did call the police, hence the newspaper article right? So that much is covered, but I wouldn't really blame any of them for wanting to dish out a little payback before that, if I were in that position I can't say I would be taking the moral high road myself- Anyway it's not like they were actually going to string them up like in the old days so I could live with "He tripped and fell on his face officer".

[Marcus H.]

I'm not quite sure why they can't just hand them over to the police.

Having it solved by due process does not have the same amount of fulfilling justice as a punch in the face.

Also, possession of illegal drugs can still cost you some years in prison. In drugs, it doesn't matter if you are the victim or the culprit; what matters is that you used or sold drugs or you don't.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

My view is that the 'good guys' doesn't always have to do 'good' things.

If Narumi was a badass cop, and Alice was a Detective he was working with, and this was a gritty cop show, then I could see your point here.

My feeling here though is this: Kamisama no Memochou does have a specific social commentary edge to it. It implicitly, and even sometimes explicitly, gets into the positive impact that NEETs can have in the world. At some level, its defending and speaking up for people who society sometimes looks down upon too much.

Well, to take that implicit (and sometimes explicit) stance, and yet to show such utter mercilessness to druggies (who themselves are often the victims of societal mistreatment)... I don't know, it just feels off to me.


But anyway, I'm certainly not saying it ruins the show or anything. Overall, this was a good, solid anime and I'm glad I watched it.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I'm not quite sure why they can't just hand them over to the police. And then they'll be spending a long time in a jail and/or a mental institution and/or a drug rehab center. Those that survive, anyway.

Beyond that, my view is that Ayaka's brother (as well as the guy that The Fourth interrogated) are victims themselves. Most people who are druggies to this degree are. Victims of their own stupidity, perhaps, but still victims.

The pharmacy guy is a different matter. He created this drug, which has massively disrupted if not outright ruined/cost several lives.

I'm pretty sure the pharmacist did get turned in, or he wouldn't have appeared in the newspaper. One that same note, there's no indication that Toshi and the other junkies were turned in to the officials.

Also, most of what Narumi and Alice did was for self-satisfaction. Narumi took his anger out on Toshi for being irresponsible towards Ayaka, and Alice just messed with the pharmacy guy's head out of spite to prevent him from feeling guilt-free on the matter.

It isn't that they were druggies, but it was because this case was personal. Ayaka is important to Narumi and Alice, and Toshi and the pharmacist are directly responsible for the state she's in now. As for the Fourth, I think it's in his style to be rough since he is the leader of a yakuza group.

[taichi-kun]

Originally Posted by Raiga

Man, I've watched the last 4 minutes of this episode like six times by now. Beautiful. Lots of intense emotion for the finale.

It was epic

But they didn't explain very much what really happened the night ayaka jumped... I mean we don't know what was toshi doing there... more details...

but well they told us that ayaka was forced to take the drug so it's enough for me

Ayaka really loved narumi...

[Uribatake]

Originally Posted by Haak

Overall it was a perfect episode...until Alice started talking about how great NEET's and writers are. Honestly...

Yeah, pretty much every time Alice opens her mouth to say something pretentious about being a "speaker from the dead", it really brings the show down in my eyes. I didn't care for Yui Ogura's voice acting either, but I kept watching the show because the cases were pretty interesting and Narumi had some pretty good character development. This last arc, which should have been the first one, was especially compelling.

I wouldn't mind a second season, but after Gosick, KamiMemo and Dantalian, I'm pretty much burnt out on know-it-all tsundere lolis who abuse the poor male lead.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

If Narumi was a badass cop, and Alice was a Detective he was working with, and this was a gritty cop show, then I could see your point here.

My feeling here though is this: Kamisama no Memochou does have a specific social commentary edge to it. It implicitly, and even sometimes explicitly, gets into the positive impact that NEETs can have in the world. At some level, its defending and speaking up for people who society sometimes looks down upon too much.

Well, to take that implicit (and sometimes explicit) stance, and yet to show such utter mercilessness to druggies (who themselves are often the victims of societal mistreatment)... I don't know, it just feels off to me.

But anyway, I'm certainly not saying it ruins the show or anything. Overall, this was a good, solid anime and I'm glad I watched it.

Like what Shadow5YA said, it's not specifically because they were druggies hence the brutal retribution, but rather this has become personal when one of their own has been harmed by their actions.

And it may sound weird to say that NEETs have a positive impact on the World, but what I think Alice is getting at is that there are somethings people can't do if they follow the rules of society. So probably in her mind- NEETs aren't lazy buns that are good for nothing, but rather they are the people that doesn't follow the rules set down by society and can therefore operate around them.