Creepy Kid With Funny Gadgets - Musings on Kamisama no Memochou

I struggled with the decision of whether or not to archive this anime. While there's no real problem if I do (other than wasting space on my 6TB RAID5 set-up), I just didn't feel that I wanted to "desecrate" my archives with something I really didn't like that much.

This anime was an emotional roller coaster for me; for various reasons, I frequently fluctuated between despising it and liking it. It ended on a slightly positive note, though not that high due to various fallacies (re: super emo) showing up in the final episodes again. Overall, I was pleased with the characters and the way they drove the story forward. It was almost enough for me to overlook the strangely confusing mysteries.

How can she breathe?

Animation
I don't have much to say about this category, since nothing caught my eye in a good or bad way. It was pretty standard animation quality, with far less shine in the characters than, for example, AnoHana. In terms of character designs, all of the characters were generally normal with at least one "special" thing for most of them. The host looked like a bishounen, the yakuza leader had super bleached hair, and the owner of their hang-out had giant breasts. The only character that stood out was Alice, just as she was supposed to. She was made to be a super loli (one I liked much, much, much more than the other loli of the season, Yune from Ikoku Meiro no Croisee), but her body was proportionally right. Quick comment: manga images tend to make her look tinier to the point of seeming frail and unhealthy. I support the anime changes.

I think we all know what the pairing is.

Setting
This was a detective story that was genuinely more about the characters than the mysteries. Much like another mystery story of recent seasons, Gosick, the mysteries were really only used as plot devices, especially considering that most of the ones featured on screen had to do personally with some characters. In terms of how good those actual stories were: the mysteries frequently had too little explanation for me to clearly judge. Was this anime aiming a different target than myself? I felt a little confused at the end of almost every mystery, due to a lack of full understanding of what had just conspired. This was most evident with the first arc, thought there my confusion was really just anger fuelled by the fact that I hated that story so much.

When would this ever happen?

Story Presentation
The story was told from a third person limited perspective, with the general focus on Narumi. Thus, this allowed for the viewer to learn things as Narumi learned them, which was supposed to give a sense of amazement. However, the overall pacing of the episodes was pretty poor, with the stories and plot points frequently feeling rushed. I watched the stories with little attachment to what was happening; I felt that I only cared about the end results because that's all I could really digest at my own pace (since the episode ended and I was left alone with my thoughts). Too much was thrown out at an erratic pace with too little information provided.

This really exemplifies the closeness of the characters.

Characters
The collection of characters was quite diverse, including a high school student, a host, and a yakuza leader. The combining factor was that they were all NEETs, to a degree, which was a recurring motif throughout the anime. The characters were more or less unchanging, in the sense that changes were talked about instead of honestly occurring. This anime really suffered from communication problems, such that some things were over-explained (such as Narumi's feelings on some subjects or Alice's conversations) whereas others really weren't discussed (such as the back stories to the characters). It was this over-explaining, however, that probably allowed the unchanging characters to keep going; the interactions between characters felt emotional, as there was no one-pattern-fits-all characterization. Many scenes felt so over-the-top that it was actually fun; cliches like old friends turned enemies were done in an enjoyable way.

Rudimentary.

Final Words
I had been curious about this anime when I heard of it, but there was no real spark for me. After watching the first episode, that curiosity increased and I was looking forward to future episodes. The fact that the first arc was so awful made me genuinely hate this series; I thought that it would use all the "good and kind heart" tropes that I've come to hate (re: Ikoku Meiro no Croisee). However, the arcs after that initial one just got progressively better. Given that this is a character-driven show, I began liking it once I got more and more exposure to the characters (without someone as annoying as Meo around, especially).

Master's breasts were nothing like that in the anime...

Scoring - [5.5/10]
This anime had a very weak start that it recovered quite a lot from. The characters were very easy to get attached to and I was very interested in watching successive arcs. The way that it ended - on a very clear cliffhanger - annoys me because I wanted proper closure. Also, the inherent quality of being too emotional ended up doing a little bit more harm than good, and it didn't leave too much of a lasting impression despite my enjoyment while watching.

~Aaro

Kamisama no Memochou Eps10-12

This penultimate post about NEET detectives makes me feel quite productive - only one more post to go! - but at the same time, it feels like the hardest to write. I'm a little sad to see this anime go.

This batch was the final arc of the series, dealing with Ayaka and the return of her long-missing brother, Toshi. The story had to do with Angel Fix, an underground drug that had begun circulating Shibuya. While the story ended interestingly, this arc also dealt with the Ayaka-Narumi angle, something I'm conflicted about.

The start of a fire.

Just like ep09 foretold, Toshi had "returned" and the group ran into him at the arcade. It turned out that he wasn't so much "missing" as he had just left the house, preferring to be on his own. His behaviour and actions were quite strange, with some serious mood swings. He went from being relatively timid (making me think he was depressed) to being cruel, telling Narumi that he was a replacement brother for Ayaka. When overcome by a fit of coughing, he pulled out a bag of little pink pills and took one.

What a weird pose.

As Toshi had once been friends with the NEET detectives, the group desperately wanted to keep Ayaka from finding out more about her brother's "bad sides". So, when Tetsu informed Narumi that Toshi had dabbled in drugs before, he was put in quite the pinch to keep it a secret from Ayaka. It didn't seem bad at first, but it only got worse when Yondaime arrived with a request for Alice to determine the new drug dealers in Shibuya, passing out Angel Fix in the Hirasaka group's territory. This tension culminated in a fight between Narumi and Ayaka, when the former just came out and asked if he was a replacement.

Like a crop circle.

I didn't see it in the previous episodes and it didn't really show up too much with this one until the very end, but I wonder if Narumi has feelings for Ayaka (or vice versa). Ayaka has always seemed kind of outside the the picture, but that shouldn't dictate whether or not she likes Narumi. On his side, he's always seemed more concerned with his work - and Alice. How old is she? Is this criminal? Anyway, their fight made Narumi feel uneasy and he spent a lot of time attempting to make it up to her by creating a new logo for the Gardening Club (using Photoshop, I noticed).

It's always surprising that Alice can carry that bear.

The two eventually made up (assisted by Narumi's gift, of course), and some time passed without much issue. However, as Narumi's voice-over "predicted", everything came back. While discussing their research outside the Hanamaru, Ayaka happened to overhear Shosha and Tetsu talking about Toshi taking drugs. This seemed to affect her, but she was okay in a later scene eating tiramisu with Narumi. Their walk home was one of the most forced scenes I've seen in this anime (probably worse than the Meo Arc), where Narumi really did seem like he was very into her. When did that happen?

The last time we see Ayaka, really.

The episode ended in Ayaka falling from the roof of the school building, slipping into a coma due to her injuries. This is where ep11 picked up, with the discussion of what had actually happened. There was no suicide note, so it was being treated as an accident, and the doctors spoke about Ayaka not waking up unless a miracle happened. This stressed out Narumi quite a lot, to the point where he stopped attending school and stayed cooped up in his room. However, he eventually ventured to the Hanamaru, where a boxing "lesson" from Tetsu allowed him to release a lot of his pent-up frustration. With a fresh outlook, he went to Alice.

Bonding? Will it mean nothing?!

Here begins my confusion. What is Alice to Narumi? She's a peculiar girl, so the scenes the two have together have a lot more chemistry. But what I've learned about anime and Japan in general is that chemistry is not what's most important. He feels so at-ease with Alice, but he blushes with Ayaka. It's clear that the first one is a better option for a long-term relationship, but his motivation throughout this arc was always in helping Ayaka. What does that mean?

Most of them are "part-time" members.

An encounter in the gardening shed at the high school with Yondaime led Narumi to understand that there was something more than he was being told. Yondaime, as he had said from the beginning, reiterated that Narumi needed to stay out of something so dangerous. However, Narumi's conversation with the teacher (to return the keys) revealed that there had been lots of flowers in the shed earlier, planted with seeds that Toshi had given Ayaka. With this newfound knowledge, Narumi ran to Alice (quite literally), who revealed that the Hakamizaka talked about in an earlier scene was indeed the mastermind behind the entire situation, using some kind of genetically-bred flower to create the narcotics used in Angel Fix.

Wow, they need to be specifically asked. Did you mean "guide"?

Narumi realized that Yondaime planned on dishing out the full punishment despite personal relations with Toshi, which worried him since Ayaka would not have desired that. (I thought that was kind of sad; I mean, why does Toshi get special treatment? He's been doing bad.) Approaching Tetsu, Shosha and Hiro, they were all onboard. As Alice would put it later, they were capable of a great deal, but needed someone to guide them. While the three did research in their various ways (Tetsu approaching the police department, Hiro contacting his network of women, and Shosha building devices to ease surveillance), Narumi got a phone call from Toshi, who using Ayaka's cell phone, which he had procured during his meeting with her the night she fell off the roof. (It all comes together!)

Interesting since Narumi saw white wings instead.

The beginning of ep12 repeated the conversation from the end of ep11, which was essentially Toshi saying random things during a drugged-out trip and going through mood swings. Hakamizaka pushed him around and snatched the phone away, saying some equally strange things to Narumi about how they should try to catch him before he sent everyone away to God with his pink wings. After getting to Alice, the trace of the cell phone's GPS led to a club owned by the Hirasaka Group (or, at least, under their protection), which pissed Yondaime off to no end. Hakamizaka had given the cell phone to a random boy and sent him off, which made me happy because otherwise it would have been a little too easy.

His colouring is pretty good. Those are some difficult lines.

An analysis of the potential effects of the drug, aided by Narumi realizing that the packet had a holographic symbol of wings on it, revealed that Angel Fix provided heightened senses (which had actually been seen as early as the beginning of ep10, as Toshi had played PPB with superhuman speed). Due to the power of suggestions, the users probably had hallucinations involving the wings of an angel, thus they actually "saw" them. In that case, the reason that the dealers were so hard to find was that they weren't actually going out to find customers; the customers, already tripped out, were finding them. Based on a later scene where the same wings showed up on a woman's face (the woman being a dealer), I think perhaps it's some sort of "tattoo" or "mark" system, where someone taking the drug would see it and know the dealer. That's actually pretty interesting as a concept.

Such serious bruises...!

Since the only sure-fire way to find the dealers would be for one of them to try the drug, Narumi volunteered. Obviously, I was confused why he, weak of body, had to be the one, but then I understood: the drug surely has a lot of (unknown) side effects. Not everyone would jump into the fire, no matter how close friends they were with Narumi. Anyway, he took a pill and ended up on the streets of Shibuya, barely remembering what was going on. Despite him ripping off some of the monitoring devices, the group managed to keep up, and his hallucinations of his angel (Ayaka) led him right to a dealer with a flash of the wings on her face. Tetsu restrained the deranged Narumi while Hiro followed the dealer.

Why would be also be using the drug?

The raid on the dealer's hideout revealed that everyone inside was drugged out on Angel Fix, as if they had known the end was near (or this is just how they end every night). I was surprised to see Hakamizaka also taking the drug; I didn't really understand why he did everything, if he were only going to die in the end as well. Perhaps he really did believe that angels were coming to take everyone away. Or perhaps he had gotten depressed and the drug amplified it so he decided to take everyone down with him, but eventually started believing his own words. Maybe he'd been taking the drug all along, in order to be able to do the intelligent things he did (like publishing papers on genetics), but it had eventually overcome his restraints and he went insane. Either way, Alice ruined his high by telling him there was no room for him in God's Kingdom (so religious...), and Yondaime left Toshi's handling up to Narumi...who proceeded to beat his face in for getting Ayaka involved.

Dangerous flowers!

The overall anime will probably lose marks for this strange ending; it felt very anti-climactic and I didn't like it so much. There was still minutes after the arc ended, where Narumi attempted to get back to everyday life. After seasons passed, Alice took him to the school roof to show him what Ayaka had left behind - the club's logo scattered with the flowers that she had planted for Toshi (and that Hakamizaka used for the drug). The two sat there, with Narumi crying and Alice shedding a single tear, and the anime closed on Ayaka's eyes opening. I don't understand what this means for the love triangle, if there was even one. It felt like they were gearing it up for a second season, but I'm not that excited. It felt too unfinished to begin with.

Alice always has the last say.

With this post, this anime comes to an end - finally. My love-hate relationship with it ends in confusion; I can't tell exactly where I am now. This arc was interesting and had good points - but, in terms of the actual ending shown at the end of ep12, I'm remembering the terribleness of the Meo Arc and sighing. Why can't it just be consistently good?

~Aaro

Kamisama no Memochou Ep09

After a marathon today of the last few episodes of this anime, I'm really hoping to finish it up. The Fall 2011 Season is already beginning; I don't want to drag too many Summer 2011 series into it just because of time constraints. Hurry, hurry~

This episode was a one-episode "filler" in the middle of arcs, although the end of it led quite obviously into the next one. It featured a "dog days of summer" setting, with Narumi, Tetsu and Shosha addicted to a new video game (PPB, Power Play Ball, an online baseball game) at the local arcade. The plot began when Nemo and his gang showed up, wanting to raise the rent on the building (apparently because they wanted to repossess the building for a pachinko parlour, though it might just have been hysterical accusations because, being yakuza, they really could just take the place back whenever they wanted). Shosha, adamant that the arcade not be destroyed, confronted Nemo; due to the young man's vigour, Nemo suggested that they bet everything on a match between the two sides. When Shosha said baseball, he meant PPB, but Nemo took it to be a real match, thus beginning the conundrum.

What an idol-like entrance.

Baseball is one of those few sports that I actually know the rules for, due to the Toronto Blue Jays being pretty big in my childhood (before they got so crappy, but that's another story). With each team requiring 9 members, the NEETs were suddenly pressed to get together a full team. The set-up ended up consisting of Tetsu, Shosha, Hiro, Master, Ayaka, Meo, Yondaime, and two men from the Hirasaka Group. (Ayaka, while claiming that she needed to be left out due to a lack of knowledge in the sport, was spotted later running to home plate, so...) Alice, while complaining at first due to being called down to the storefront, agreed to help them to victory on the condition that she be the team's coach, with Narumi as her assistant.

There's just something really warm with this.

The montage of training that followed was covered with Narumi's voice-over. It was in this scene that I made the connection between Hison owning a fabric store and Yondaime being good at sewing. I wonder if these two things have anything to do with each other? It was Renji that seemed to love Hison a lot more earnestly (and in the "I must have you" way), but there seems to be some kind of connection between Yondaime and Hison. I'm not saying they're romantically involved (there'd be a lot of BL connotations in that situation that I don't feel the need to bring up); just wondering what's going on.

Don't they hurt, with all that movement?

The training montage was ended with Alice chastising Narumi for not being able to get through to the  two members that Yondaime had brought in; they were only able to grasp two really simple signals after a lot of work from Narumi. That was only the prelude; Alice revealed that her research showed that Nemo's team was comprised of some pretty big players - including Nemo himself, who had been an ace pitcher 30 years ago whose team even made it to Koshien. (Thank you, Touch; even though I didn't watch you, I still know what Koshien is.)

So you turned to the criminal life? Ha...

When Nemo seemed pretty angry at Narumi bringing up his high school history, I had a terrible feeling that perhaps the story would end up with the NEETs losing, but they had taken the game so seriously that they managed to get through to the burly yakuza. I really wouldn't have liked such a storyline. Luckily, it didn't happen that way, so no characters were really desecrated. The encounter with Nemo only served to amp up his side while Narumi worried about their situation even more.

Those are really special teddy bears.

On the day of the match, Yondaime's pitching kept the other team at bay, except for the lone point scored each inning by Nemo (if any). The NEETs' points came from pretty random occurrences - a bunt from Tetsu allowed Master to make it through some bases mostly due to the other team's epic ogling of her epic breasts. Alice continued to be quite worried about the fact that they didn't have any data on Nemo, which would undoubtedly prove to be their downfall. Narumi suddenly had a flash of ingenuity and realized that PPB contained the stats of countless players, pro and non-pro, through its player input system.

That actually looks rather painful.

Meanwhile, Yondaime was quickly approaching his limit, considering he had only recently been severely injured and sent to the hospital. He was obviously the MVP, given that he pitched some solid balls. Alice revealed that Yondaime had really not been in the condition to play at all, but she knew she wouldn't be able to stop him. She seemed very visibly concerned about the entire situation and, surprisingly enough, ventured out of the car (where she had set up a mini-fort) as a pinch-hitter in order to secure a run for the NEETs.

Aw...

The idea was that, being a much smaller player than Nemo would be used to, the zone was considerably reduced and so Nemo wouldn't be able to use all of his various throws on her. I was considerably confused as to what happened, though. She swung for the last throw, which meant that it was her third strike. However, she chastised Nemo and the umpire (Meo's father) for calling it wrong, all the while walking towards first base. She ran to second base with a desperate chase from Nemo, who failed to stop her. I think it has something to do with the fact that the ball wasn't actually caught by the catcher? I'm still pretty confused.

His career path is already decided.

Alice depended on Narumi to make do with the situation she had provided him, as the next batter. Nemo's 21st pitch was the game decider (thus, the title of the episode), and Narumi knew exactly what kind of ball it would be. His hit allowed two runners to get to home base, thus allowing the NEETs to win with one extra run. Nemo, startled that Narumi had known exactly what kind of patterns to expect, was even more shocked to hear that his stats were indeed in the PPB database. Someone at some time had been watching Nemo pitching during his Koshien days and had recalled that data for the knowledge base.

I didn't know you could link into an arcade game online.

The episode ended with the boys playing PPB at the arcade again (since Nemo had not increased the rent), where Shosha was losing consistently to an online player. Based on the extremely cute costumes, Narumi inferred that it was Alice, who obviously had become quite engrossed with something. I was pleased to see some character growth for her; she feels a lot more involved these days, leading to her leaving her "safe places". The last line of the episode led quite clearly into the final arc - Ayaka's brother had showed up at the arcade.

Girls are scary and intrusive.

I'm going into the final arc with a lot of expectations. Every episode since Meo's arc has been pretty good, and this current development with Alice working out her agoraphobic mentality is very nice to see. I think the subject matter of this final arc will matter less to me than how the characters are portrayed, so there's ample room for the anime to please me as it exits.

~Aaro

Kamisama no Memochou Ep08

This episode single-handedly upped my current rating of this anime. I'm just a sucker for these feel-good themes...

This being just out for public display on your desk seems like a bad idea.

This episode finally finished the Renji arc, going out with a bang (and also some slightly anti-climactic scenes, as seen in the previous arc). Things happened just as I had assumed at the end of the last episode, making me feel that maybe this anime isn't really as complex as it probably should be (being a detective show). Still, things were well done, incorporating themes like brotherly love, skeletons in the closet, cute girls in kimonos, brotherly love, super tsunderes, bittersweet endings, and brotherly love. It's pretty obvious what I liked the most.

Kamisama no Memochou Eps05-07

I tried so hard to get this done yesterday, but I just couldn't. Sadface. On the flipside, the Dota2 tournament finishing gives me back a lot of free time. (Good job, EHOME. I swear you threw that very first match against Scythe.SG, though.) Unfortunately, some rekindled blog work is now eating up my time. I'll focus on Yuru Yuri after this post; let's see if I can't get that up in the next day or so.

What comparisons...

With this batch, my interest in this anime has been rekindled. The characters have managed to grow on me; Narumi isn't weak and useless, but rather just has different strengths than I had expected. Alice, with all of her childishness and old-school style of speaking, is endearing me like none other; she's not so tsundere that it annoys me, but she's bossy enough that I seem to quite like it. This arc introduced Renji Hirasaka, the maker of the Hirasaka Group, and even in these three episodes hasn't concluded yet. Since the post was getting pretty long, I decided to break it here. While the detective-work still isn't the main focus, the story itself is keeping me pretty curious.

Kamisama no Memochou Ep04

My hope for today is to get through all of the Kamisama no Memochou episodes. I'll blog about the ones that are obviously arcs together, but after watching ep04 (and then seeing the preview for ep05), I wonder if I'm not just in for some stand-alones for a while...

How could I not include naked Min?

This episode seemed like "filler", since it followed a crazy plotline. It did at least use Alice's skills semi-seriously, and an important story point occurred near the end. It dealt with Min being silently "challenged" by a customer that came by frequently but would leave after barely touching his ramen (essentially telling her that it wasn't so good, no matter what he ordered) as well as a stalker/thief that kept stealing Min's sarashi (the cloth she used to bind her chest). While it was a pretty humdrum episode, I still liked it since it felt like a good change of pace.

Kamisama no Memochou Ep03

I actually completely forgot about this anime this week, which really goes to show how uninterested I am. Starting from the next episode, I'll only do batch posts when an arc is over. There's just nothing except questions otherwise.

That bear is especially well-loved.

This episode continued the arc of Meo and her father, finishing it off. It started abruptly, had a lot of emotional talks in between and important rituals, and then finished abruptly. I still don't really understand what the point was. Moreover, information was thrown out without some kind of understanding of where it came from. I guess I'm supposed to assume that Alice was working hard the entire time and came up with everything. However, without seeing that happen, the unravelling of the "mystery" was pretty shallow.

Kamisama no Memochou Ep02

After a brief hiatus, I'm back~ There's a backlog of posts to do, though, since it's one of those weeks when I have enough to say about every anime I'm watching. And I wanted to just lounge around, too... Sadface.

The universe, eh?

Ep02 of Kamisama no Memochou seemed to have fallen into the pace that I assume the rest of the anime will take; it's very reminiscent of Gosick (although I hope it doesn't fall apart at the end, similarly...). I can't even really remember what ep01 was about, but no matter. This episode began a new mystery, no longer introducing the dynamic of the group. The pace was quick, although the mystery of the missing yakuza dad was not solved by the end, leading right into the next episode. I was super confused about the going-ons of the episode, most likely because it's in the middle of a mystery and they're not really giving me enough information to solve it myself.

Kamisama no Memochou Ep01

So, the first episode of this was apparently an hour-long special, which GG decided to release in two parts. I decided to watch EveTaku instead, since Part B wasn't out when I began, and the subbing quality wasn't bad at all. I'll stick with this group for a while longer to see how it goes.

That pun stings...

This episode was pretty much exactly like I had imagined this anime would be, just slower. It took me about two hours to get through the episode, since I kept pausing to do other things. What kept me coming back with the same fervour as before was the fact that this thing was so much like Gosick that it was a little eerie. Then again, I had really expected that, so I was only pleasantly happy. There's no chance that I won't be watching this to the end.