「ヘルマ」 (Heruma)
“Helma”

As unusual as it may sound, there’s a lot happening every episode, but I still haven’t gotten into the story about a small village and its mysterious god-like dolls. I’m not the least bit disappointed about Aki escaping again, Kuuko butting her head into things, and Koushirou/Kirio showing up, but I’ve never really felt compelled to say anything about what’s going on either. There’s a very unassuming manner that Kami-sama Dolls is unfolding so far. All the early foreshadowing was open to some speculation and since then, there hasn’t been too much that warrants discussion.

In this particular episode, Kirio implied that he’s Utao’s twin brother and has been kept a secret by the Hyuuga family, which was supported by the fact that he’s listed as “Hyuuga Kirio” in the credits. Kyouhei gave Aki a complete thrashing in response to his comment about how Hibino looks like their teacher, Senou Chihaya (Nabei Makiko, again from the credits), suggesting that she’s been killed and that Kyouhei was really attached to her. There wasn’t really any other way to interpret those scenes from my perspective, since they weren’t overly ambiguous to begin with. So far, the show has down an excellent job at making every development crystal clear — to the point that the plot is coming off fairly straightforward. Is that necessary a bad thing? I don’t think so, but the seemingly lack of depth does make it harder to get absorbed in what the characters are going through and wanting to see what happens next. Without anything grabbing my interest, I’m mostly watching with a “wait and see” mentality and no real anticipation. It’s definitely not the first time I’ve approached a series like that though, hence why I don’t consider it a knock on Kami-sama Dolls.

To the show’s credit, it re-sparked some of my interest in the characters themselves, such as Kyouhei after he completely snapped and Aki reveled in his violent response — progress toward bringing out Kyouhei’s “true” nature. Kuuko’s obsession with Kakashi also led to some amusing moments when she was paired up with Aki. Then there’s Utao, who didn’t really have anything to do with the main story between Kyouhei and Aki other than being current Seki of Kukuri, but now has her own adversary of sorts in Kirio. In terms of development, the one thing that does throw me off is how most of the aggression’s been coming from everyone but Aki, making it hard to perceive him as an antagonist at all. Koushirou is hunting him with Uwazutsu, Kuuko is electrocuting him with a taser, and Kyouhei is pounding his face in. All of that leaves me with a false sense of security whenever Aki’s around the main characters, in that it never feels like he’s going to kill any of them. My view on certain aspects have been completely turned upside-down, like when Aki was stripped and tied up, and Utao gave the scariest look in the entire episode.

Odds are Utao’s well out of her league against Kirio’s Takemikazuchi though. I get the feeling their fight will conclude fairly quickly, which makes me wonder what Kyouhei would be able to do if he took Kukuri back. The likelihood of that happening is probably slim to none, since Utao wouldn’t have any reason to be around anymore and that wouldn’t be any fun.

 

Preview

Omake

62 Comments

  1. People joke about anime tits all the time- but Hibino’s are honestly rather distracting to the story. They’re just really out of place considering everything else that’s going on.

    I still like this show (and the OP/ED themes are my favourites this season) but- holy christ those friggin’ tits.

    Stranger
      1. I guess you got a point if you consider large breast horribly disgusting. I just find that a bit strange and shallow. I can understand a preference, but that is something else then considering the rest disgusting. It’s like calling black haired girls disgusting as you like blondes.

        znail
      2. I never stated that I don’t like them- just distracting given their size.

        In a show like Seikon no Qwaser, they’d be a given- and I wouldn’t think any more of it.

        But here, they’re just- well- distracting.

        Stranger
      3. @znail

        You can’t really blame them for focusing on breast size.Show Spoiler ▼

        It took up almost the whole screen. Beside it not like they don’t like it, it because they like it that they all comment about it including me.

        Although in my case, I seem to be having more fun here than watching the show.

        M counter: 2

        lkaze
      4. @RickyMack
        My advise “don’t ignore it. If you can’t fight them, join them ”

        @znail
        I agree with you, I love you man

        @stranger

        A distraction once a day keep your heart attack away
        Advice on health

        M-counter:9,10,11

        lkaze
    1. I totally agree with Stranger. I know sometime fanservice is necessary but can’t they decide whether they want it to be fanservice filled, moe-cuteness filled(utae) or action filled

      Project started:
      M counter : 1

      lkaze
  2. As much as I’m really enjoying this show… Honestly, I could watch a show that was just about Utao waiting tables and being cute, and be just as happy. There should be laws against that absurd level of cuteness.

  3. Ugh poor Aki, he didn’t even fought back when Aki beat him. I remember someone speculating that it’d be interesting if Aki’s actually the good guy and Kuga’s the…nah doubt it.

    Also Divine just in case you didn’t notice, the ED changed a bit with Kirio’s shaded part being revealed. I really like the short skits at the end lol.

    Nhelraios
    1. I am really interested in that point as well. Like Divine said, the general lack of depth so far has me searching for it wherever I can find it and that was one such place. I don’t quite know how to interpret the comment yet, but it would be a reason for Kyouhei to reattain Kukuri if Utao was actually involved with her twin not as a twin but more as a Seki. Still, seems a bit too farfetched as anything more than an analogy, but we’ll see.

      UnknownVoid
  4. “which makes me wondering what Kyouhei ”
    you meant wonder. and disagree that Utao would be Kukuri’s Seki for long. How can the main protag impress and get the girl when he does not have his own Robot. Look at Gundam and star driver, the guys have girls who likes them but they all need the dam robot if they wanna get the female lead to fall for them.
    Divine, I feel your talent is wasted blogging this series.

    deafvader
  5. FWIW, the manga Hibino has pretty regular sized boobs.

    3 volumes into the manga, 4 episodes into the anime, and I still don’t know what to make of the premise. It seems to be a little of everything. Unfortunately I liked the light-hearted part of the story more, but the direction seems to be more towards a darker path.

    baubo
    1. Manga Hibino’s breasts are weirdly inconsistent — they’re not always ginormous, just most of the time.

      I went to check the manga just to refresh my memory, and for example, during the first 5 pages of chapter 4, they go from tiny to watermelons and back about 3 times.

  6. Just when I thought the protagonist wouldn’t enter the bathroom… Guess it’s an irrefutable law of anime.

    Kyouhei’s anger is probably justified but like a somewhat forced attempt to show his other side to Hibino.

    Fling
    1. I’m agreeing with this sentiment. I think Kuuko sort of turns Aki into a fool, which is totally degrading to his antagonist status. Also, I’m dreading a them pulling of a I’m a bastard-but-I-care-about-this-one-person-who-humanises-me (Kuuko) cliche

      Blue
    2. @ewok40k – I know! Kuuko talking about using Hibino to lure out Aki… the hell kind of friend is that?! Putting two crazy, selfish, possibly psychotic people together will only lead to bad thing. VERY BAD THINGS!!

      Aex
    3. while YMMV the potential is there for much funny situations, as already proved by tied up Aki , BB bullets crazy Kuuko, her stun device comment about setting too low voltage… they are both crazy psychos, and If they pair up they have some very nasty potential… but at the same time excellent black comedy potential. Because you cant spell slaughter without laughter!

      ewok40k
      1. Just imagining the two wreak havoc in what supposed to be a peaceful anime about cutting ties with the past, humongous mecha and love is just awesome. I’m just watching this show just so I can see some mayhem.

        That… and see how big can the artist draw the melon boobs.

        TheM0onDOgg
  7. I agree this is a wait and see kind of show, so it just depends how well executed it is to keep me watching it. Utao’s fight was really cool imo, so I’m gonna keep watching.
    And seriously, we’re four episodes in and people are still exclaiming over Hibino’s boobs? Yeah, they’re huge, but honestly, is that a surprise in anime??

    innerchihiro
  8. “In terms of development, the one thing that does throw me off is how most of the aggression’s been coming from everyone but Aki, making it hard to perceive him as an antagonist at all.”

    Remember, Aki’s still very much an antagonist. He murdered that guy in the elevator, the two truck drivers and he implied he killed some kids when he spoke to Kyouhei last episode. He probably would have killed Kuuko too had she not tased him.

    Other
  9. OH MR. AKI OH haha, thanks for the large shots. I was about to drop Kamisama Dolls, but the plot suddenly got a bit more intriguing (also Aki), so I think I’ll keep with it for a bit.

    reminbee
  10. My current theory is: Aki went on rampage, Kyohei shot a BEAM with Kukuri, Sensei blocks Aki and gets killed, Kyohei gets emo and leaves. end theory.

    Next episode should be a good fight.

    xcswmboy
  11. As a general rule, if something is named “Takemikazuchi” its going to be ridiculously overpowered.

    I really don’t give a shit about Aki one way or another, but Kirio needs his face pounded in.

    Fencedude
  12. It’s kinda boring how easily Utao gets beaten by…pretty much everyone.

    Aside from that I feel no reason to be reassured by Aki or feel sorry for him at all. He’s a confessed murderer that apparently kills for the lulz. Just because we haven’t actually seen him kill someone close to the protagonist doesn’t mean he isn’t a criminal. Of course out of the entire cast Kyohei and Utao seem to be the closest to protagonists (or at least fun).

    Grant
  13. Project end.
    Excluding my comment which is 12 comment. There are exactly 50 comment made. 15 were regarding about Hibino’s breast.

    15/50×100% = 30% (REAL RESULT)

    Including my comment
    27/62×100% = 43.54%

    As of 31 July 2011, 43.54% of the comment made were about Hibino’s breast. Previous result is 32.76%, this bring an improvement of 10.78% increase of people commenting on the breast while the total comment remain about the same.

    Next project will proceed in silent in order to filter out my own bias comment in it. If the project can be started.

    lkaze

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