By: Robert Murphy
Have you ever been overly braggy about your exceptional video game skills before? Well Keima Katsuragi has the skills that no one can match when it comes to the world of dating sim games because that's all he plays day in and day out, during class, while in the tub, you name it. Keima finds ordinary girls far too complicated and hate how they do not behave the way they do in his games, they're far too irrational and don't follow the simple in game formulas he loves so much. But on an average day while he's responding to emails, he receives a challenge to put his skills a "Conquest God" to the test. All of a sudden Keima finds himself chasing down real life girls with nothing but his past gaming skills to aid him and the demon Elsie de Lute Irma who must find lost souls that escaped hell and embedded themselves in young girls hearts. In order to expel these lost soul Keima must make every girl he finds them in fall in love with him or failing that kiss him, a heavy task for this nerdy kid but God does he give all of the other nerds hope.
Now I am not one for a harem or a romance type anime usually and right away it looked like that was exactly what The World God Only Knows was going to be like and I wasn't wrong. However, while the show is a heavily based romance anime I couldn't help but finding myself enjoying and not dreading it like all the rest. It's hard to put into words just exactly why the show works so well, Keima is a bit of a genius when it comes to his games and it may not come up much but he's also pretty solid school work as well. He is a LeLouche Vi Britannia type character, if LeLouche focused on the many girls that he was surrounded by and not about getting revenge. As a character Keima embodies exactly the kind of attitude I find so appealing, a sarcastic and passive like look to the rest of the world but deep down he has a big heart when it comes to all the girls he must have fall in love with him. His partner Elsie however does wear on me a little bit from time to time, she is funny and is clearly meant for comic relief but just goes too far. Her heart is definitely in the right place though and I have to admit I have seen a lot worse when it comes to side kick characters like Elsie (Moka from Rosario + Vampire for example).
If you're all wondering why I typically don't like this type of show, it's because of the guy character being a shy and or lack luster lead character but I already addressed this and then there are the girls who are usually blank slates with one characteristic to them but the show also has an answer for this too. Each girl that Keima must set out after gets their own arc of a few episodes where we get to learn a little bit about each one of them and their characteristics. There is a reason why these lost souls have chosen to inhabit each girl, their is something about them, an emptiness or hurting in their hearts that the souls inhabit and the love Keima gives them replaces that feeling of inadequacy they had before. This was all very well done in my opinion but an issue did arise in the first season where I wasn't fond of one of the girls and her story carried on for 4 to 5 episodes. This can be a problem with the show because if you aren't a fan of one of the girls, her story can last awhile and vise versa if you really like a girl she is immediately forgotten for the new one.
When all is said and done though, I have really enjoyed The World God Only Knows, the first season did have a boring filler episode and a girl I wasn't too fond of but you can't win them all. The second season though is where things definitely picked up it's game with more integral stories and getting more into other demons like Elsie and her world. As far as romance shows goes the show is a massive step in the right direction and it avoided all the elements of a bad anime romance such as up-skirt shots and needless girl panting/moaning at any little sex thing.
Good:
- Solid lead character, Keima is a passive aggressive nerd and I loved his character
- A romance anime that doesn't fall for any of the cheap tricks like up-skirt shots
- Good pacing and gives time to know each girl Keima must get to fall in love with him
Bad:
- Elsie wore on my nerves but overall she could have been much worse
- Some of the girls are more interesting than others
Scully Rating: 7.5 out of 10
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