To me, Kamisama no Memochou is another one of those Anime where it’s either a hit or miss with the viewer. It’s that balancing act between good and bad, for me I think it was a fairly even playing field. I didn’t dislike it the Anime nor did I like the Anime. I thought it was rather meh.
The whole concept of a NEET being the main character to me has always been an iffy thing because NEETs are not usually interesting characters to center a story around. Given there are times when a story is successful with a NEET being the figurehead (ie. No Game No Life – Best Anime ever.). Kamisama no Memochou, however, is no stretch of the imagination better than or equal to NGNL.
Story – 7/10
The only real problem with the story of Kamisama no Memochou is it’s slow and cliche start. The first four episodes are really nothing special, but after that, the latter two slightly longer arcs that make up the remaining 8 episodes are almost as good of mystery arcs as some of the Death Note arcs.
The story follows Fujishima Narumi. At the beginning, Narumi’s nothing more than your usual male protagonist who is somewhat forced into an uncomfortable situation (he seems and looks a lot like Ryugamine Mikado from Durarara at first). Narumi’s father works abroad for all but around 5 days out of the year, so he lives with his older sister who works to support both of them. Because of this, he is forced to move around often, has changed schools many times over the years, and has become used to moving and avoids making many friends. One day, he is up on the roof of his current school in Tokyo when a girl named Ayaka sees him. She is the single member of the Gardening Club and is growing plants on the roof.
After forcing Narumi to join the Gardening Club, she takes him to a ramen shop which is where she works occasionally and where a group of NEETs (people who are not employed, in education, or training) meets. Narumi is welcomed into the group despite stating that he is not a NEET and has no intention of becoming one. The three NEETs are all there because they are working for the NEET detective, Alice, who lives in a room above the ramen shop (which is her main supply of food as well).
Alice is an introverted detective with incredible hacking and computer skills who loves stuffed animals and a soda called Dokupe (which is clearly not advertising for Dr. Pepper).
From there, the group is involved in several cases (as I mentioned, the first few are a little boring). Eventually, Narumi gets more involved with the group and becomes more of a leader who has the respect of the other NEETs and a gang who is closely tied to the group of NEETs.
Trust me, if you don’t completely hate the beginning of the show, don’t give up on it before Episode 5. The story really picks up then and Narumi starts becoming a much more interesting character.
Art – 7/10
Alice’s room looks really great with the computer lighting and stuffed animals and the very final scene of the show looks spectacular but other than that, the art is mostly average. It’s set in a city, which is drawn well, but I think Durarara and Death Note (which have similar settings) have much better art.
The character designs are also similar to other characters (I mentioned before Narumi looks like a copy of Mikado with brown hair instead of black). Alice is your typical “loli with long hair” female lead as far as looks go. About the only design that stands out is Hirasaka Renji’s due to his odd, dyed blond bangs which make him look more like a Yugioh character than someone fitting in with the rest of these more normal looking characters. I actually really liked his design since it was so unique and interesting.
Sound – 5/10
There are no problems with the Japanese voice acting, but the soundtrack is a little strange. It’s usually not even noticeable (with the OP and ED [I don’t include them in the score] overshadowing almost everything). There are a few good tracks, but there is also one weird “song” which sounds like a woman saying some words in English with long pauses in between each word. There’s not much other than that I remember.
Character – 8/10
I thought the characters at first were just a bunch of bland copy characters from other shows, but they really had some good development that changed my mind completely around 7 or 8 episodes in. I didn’t think Alice ever really developed much, but she was interesting from the beginning so that’s not really a problem.
Narumi is definitely the most developed character in this show. Despite his whole reason for getting involved in this story being pretty cliche, he really does a good job and actually turns into a good leader. Several characters mention that he should become a con man, which I could see happening in his future if he wasn’t so nice (though he has a nice breakdown later on).
Hinamura Souichirou (Hina) is also an interesting character. He doesn’t necessarily develop, but he has a really good role in the first “good” arc. Hina is a gang leader with an extremely loyal group of followers. He can be very intimidating and strong when he wants to, but he is also kindhearted and has a very interesting backstory. He works with Alice and the other NEETs a lot and forms a strange bond with Narumi.
The other NEETs who help Alice are Tetsuo, who is skilled at boxing, Hitoshi, a skilled hacker who looks like an elementary school kid, and Hiroaki, a gigolo who uses his female connections as a wide source of information around the city. Along with them is Ayaka, who is only occasionally involved in the cases (the last one has a lot to do with her) and mostly just helps by working at the ramen shop and making sure Alice bathes.
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One response to “Kamisama no Memochou | The Hit or Miss”
This show definitely builds up and the final arc is fantastic. I really love Heaven’s Memo Pad but I get it isn’t for everyone. Between a slow start and some difficult subject matter, some people are just not going to get into it.