Kamichu (かみちゅ) is a series by the R.O.D. staff, and someone reported that a few Ghibli staff names can be recognized in the credits. Well, as weird as it may sound, the story is about a middle-school girl suddenly becoming a god (yea, a god - there are tonnes of gods in Japan, as seen in Spirited Away), and all the strange and funny things happen afterwards.

The first minute of the show, during the lunchbreak of a certain middle school:

quote:

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Yurie: *have chopsticks in her mouth*
Mitsue-chan, I became a god.
Mitsue: *sticks a straw into a packed drink*
What kind?
Yurie: I don't know.
It only happened last night.
Mitsue: *puts a piece of parsley on Yurie's bento*
Have an offering.
Yurie: I don't need it.
Mitsue: Well, gods can't be picky.
Yurie: You don't believe me, do you?
*sign* Anyway I shall find out what kind of god I am.
I wonder what to do.
Mitsue: For now, we need to study for the short test.

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I have watched the series up to Ep 12. A really endearing show indeed. For a TV anime, the animation is incredibly fluid and the background is stunning detailed. The main characters are also quite well developed with distinctive personalities. Somehow this series has a Ghibli flavour: besides the top-notch animation, it has even paid homage to a few Ghibli movies - Whisper of the Heart (Yurie in her uniform resembles Shizuku) and Spirited Away (the flight and free fall scene in ep 1, the spirit land in ep 2).

Undoubtedly a teenage girl suddenly gaining some sort of extraordinary power is not a mostly original concept. Yet I love the way the story flows. Instead of making it a story about an evil-bashing heroine, the team makes it a slice-of-life story that intertwines seamlessly with the supernatural, comedy and romance. Despite being a Kami-sama, Yurie has to face all the problems faced by any typical Japanese student, like school-work and interpersonal relationship. Also, the unpredictable nature of every single episode (from a hectic day dealing with alien and the government to just a quiet day sticking in the Kotatsu) makes the series as a whole interesting and intriguing.
A pity that the remaining 4 episodes will be released on DVD only. I have gotten too attached to the series...

There are a few questions that left unanswered, but they do not really affect my viewing expereince. Some of the major questions include why did Yurie, being an absolutely normal middle-school student, suddenly become a Kami-sama? And what kind of Kami-sama is she?

By the way I find it a bit weird that the prime minister is still in friendly terms with Yurie, after all the fiasco with the Martian in Ep 4. He did not only send her the New Year greeting cards (Ep 11), but also personally answered her phone calls and delivered her the confidential documents (Ep 6).

P.S. A funny pic found in the web :lol:. It is amazing that even Western fansubber groups have to emphasize so much on political-correctness :shock:. Not something that I would really care as I am neither a Christian nor a Muslim anyway. (but if they appear in my anime DVDs, I will be quite annoyed)

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