OP Sequence

OP: 「God only knows -Secrets of the Goddess-」 by Oratorio The World God Only Knows

「When the Sun Goes Down」

If you’ve guessed my favorite heroine arc, you know exactly how I feel about this premiere.

I knew going in that a lot of the manga was getting cut this season, but there was one thing I didn’t quite factor in. I didn’t think they would cut every single girl between the end of last season and Megami-hen, you see; I expected at least a couple of the eight in question to get some modicum of spotlight before we hit the ground running. Even if the arcs were rushed, I was hoping that a few would get one or two episode arcs, but it seems even that was asking for too much. It’s a bit understandable, considering how much the Goddesses arc has to cover and how good it is in general, but if you read the manga, you’re aware of how important it is to have all the girls (or most of them) get their time in the sun. In fact, for anime viewers who don’t read the manga, this arc premiere is almost a slap in the face, though it does at least direct them to read the original source material. It doesn’t feel fair that those girls get mentioned (and some cruelly even given a few teasing minutes of reflection) and that anime viewers will never really get to appreciate their arcs (some of the best in the series) on screen. But this isn’t Manglobe’s first time doing this, and to be fair, we were warned, slighted though some of us may feel.

Still, we wanted Kaminomi and we got Kaminomi. Seeing Keima and Elsie back in action is always a treat, and to add on to the cast of friendly faces we get Haqua and her adorable middle-aged Buddy, along with the fantastic Nazuka Kaori voicing Tenri and Diana. Kanon too takes a spotlight once again as a Goddess-carrier for Apollo, the deity of music and art. A good deal of this episode is spent on exposition about the nature of the Goddesses and how they were sealed away and again released (for more detail, consult Tenri-hen, an important OVA in the chronology of the series), as well as on Kanon’s predicament. Just as Diana asks for Keima’s reluctant help in finding her sisters, Kanon finds herself stalked by a hooded figure, and to Keima’s horror, she remembers everything about her conquest and confesses to him in front of the entire class. Before he can do anything, however, she is stabbed while Apollo is in control of her body, and Megami-hen officially begins.

In any case, as an introductory episode to the arc, this premiere does a good job; as a continuation to the series, however, I can’t get over my disappointment even though all the characters I missed so much are back. There’s a lot to cover from here on out, this is true, but couldn’t they have taken their time adapting that? Was it really so hard to include some of the 8 slighted heroines? Just how close of an adaptation is this planning to be? Also, why do I love these OPs so much? Why is Elsie so cute when she prays to Diana? When is it Monday again?

 

ED Sequence

Preview

85 Comments

  1. I thought I completely missed a season. I felt really hurt getting a recap to things I never saw or will see. I wish they would’ve just had 4 seasons. Anyway, this isn’t the TWOGK I asked for but, I think I’m okay with it. Time to go read the manga.

    coolasj19
    1. I know, it feels really unfair that so many arcs were skipped. I wish the same too. T-T At least you’ll get to see those heroines in the manga. I’m looking to reread it this week myself.

      1. I know how you feel when they skipped the arcs of so many girls in between the last 2nd anime season and this one the goddess arc, I believe they stopped at Nagase (student teacher), so it’s about 8 girls since then plus the omakes/filler chapters in between.

        I know they cant afford making a third season simply based on those 8 girls and their arcs because IIRC both seasons of TWGOK did not do well in viewer ratings and dvd sales. So I am really glad they were still able to make this third season but this time they had to do it with the most popular arc, which is the goddess arc.

        The BIGGEST problem with season 1 and 2 is the pacing. They used 3 episodes for each girl in their respective arcs and not only that they wasted around 4 episodes, 2 episode each season for animating the manga’s filler arcs! That was a complete waste of episode since even in the manga it is simply a filler, for example was when Keima was playing games/Hakua’s recording of the events, etc.

        I really think they should’ve animated each girl’s arc using only 2 episodes, would this have been possible? Of course I think so since most girl’s arc only last 4-6 chapters anyways and they even did it in Tenri/Diana’s arc, using two OVAs only.

        So had they done this for both seasons, they could’ve gone through 12 girls and their arcs even including Hakua, even more so since I believe some girls like Ayumi and Mio only have fewer chapters. Ayumi was finished in only 1 episode since she only had 1 chapter in the beginning. If they really wanted to animate the filler chapters, they couldve done so using an OVA instead of including it in the main series.

        Ryner
    2. Same. I thought I had skipped a whole season and was furiously searching through Google for OVAs or a missing season.

      This felt like a re-cap episode or a very extended preview, it was so rushed through. Only when they hit Kanon did I feel the pacing was slowing down.

      I noticed the animation dropping slightly as well. Even though I didn’t enjoy this as much as I did all the other previous episodes, I’m at least pleased another season of heroine-saving goodness is here.

      Horus
    3. For reference, these are the chapters covered by the various seasons/OVAs:

      1st & 2nd Seasons: Up to chapter 41

      4 Girls and an Idol OVA: 54-55

      Tenri OVAs: 57-65

      This ep: 114 to half-way through 116

      sinkingmist
  2. Its so annoying to see that Manglobe completely removed 2 key characters’ arc. The real surprising thing is having Diana appear in this episode. Its like Manglobe assumes that everyone has already watched both Tenri OVA episodes or read the manga. I just hope Manglobe doesn’t butcher TWGOK any further.

    Raila
  3. Nooo! They took out Fiore! O well she’s a minor but crazy as heck char. (one of my favourite too) Such a pity. Interesting way to start a series, though. But in the words of a friend of mine who watched this episode with me, its like a “Too bad if u didn’t read the manga at all! La la la we don’t care!” by Manglobe to the anime viewers. But I can’t wait to see how Manglobe intends to adapt the Goddess Arc in 13 episodes!

    Lozenge
  4. If they cut so many out. Guess its time to read up on the manga.

    Can anyone be so kind as to list down the chapters from when it ended from the previous season all the way till the beginning of the goddess arc?

    Euzio
      1. Thank you~

        I’ve read some of the chapters already. And I can see why their decision to skip so many of the girls and go straight to the goddess arc is so controversial…. It also meant they skipped out on some of my fav characters stories… namely Haqua!!! That mini arc where Keima finds out who her buddy actually is was wonderful! Its saddens me that it won’t be animated….

        Euzio
  5. When I read the Yui-arc I was really looking forward to see it animated when the 3rd season came out. But they had to go and skip straight to the Goddess-arc >.< Oh well. Show Spoiler ▼

    BTW. Did anyone else notice that Lune stabbed Kanon instead of Fiore? I got super confused watching that. Are they just taking Fiore out completely?

    Annyms
    1. Seems like they’re cramming all 80+ chapters of the Goddess Arc into one-cour if the opening is anything to go by (Unless they go the Steins;Gate path and use one opening for a two-cour show. The outfit Haqua’s wearing in the opening is from pretty late in the arc). They’re likely going to cut all of the not really important parts as such.

      Kuntzy
  6. What the heck was the point of showing all the (potential) girls at the end of season 2? Was the bluray sales for TWGOK 2 so bad that Manglobe choose to animate the ‘best arc’ in the whole series at the expense of everything else?
    People are going to think my most favourite character Yui is just a cross dressing weirdo……..Manglobe better not ruin Chihiro’s mini arc!

    Yager
      1. Glad I’m not the only Yui fan . WHYYY MANGLOBE WHYYYY!!! I was looking forward to Yui’s arc ! Manglobe please don’t screw up Yui’s upcoming part in the show! If I can’t see her playing the drum , please let me see her Show Spoiler ▼

        Hidan
    1. They were very bad. Like 2K bad.

      People pretty much attribute this to Manglobe not adapting the manga’s funny moments very well and taking a more dramatic approach to the show. I personally loved it, but purists will be purists.

      Kuntzy
      1. Wakaki’s always been pretty honest about disc sales driving the anime since back during the 1st season. When the 3rd season was announced his blog post about it opened with “it seems like the anime broke even after all (literally: they were able to recover the capital)” as a big reason for the new season.

        Going off those comments and seeing this first episode it seems that this is almost like a gift to the manga readers more than anything. But even then I don’t think they handled the content jump very well in the execution. I’m glad I read the manga after watching the first 2 seasons or I would have been hopelessly lost here. Oh well, just have to accept this season as the gift it seems to be and not think too much about it.

        spike
  7. While I too felt like I had lost a season with all these girls being cut, I can’t help but look forward to all the hype this goddess arc has. The episode itself felt very solid with great pacing. It does assume that we have watched all the OVAs, and that can be a bit confusing, but other than that, it was a very nice reintroduction to the world of Keima and co. Plus, it pulled off what all smart shows try to do to keep their audience; threw a cliffhanger at the end of the first episode.

    Tassadar
  8. I actually speculate that they will skip some of the not-really-goddess-related arcs. But skipping the entire arcs except Tenri’s? (which is only covered by OVA)? WTF are that Manglobe guys thinking? Why did they risk one of their most successful franchise like this?

    That’s just killing the supposedly a very brilliant mood twist at KamiNomi and turning it into “WTF just happened”. I just saw a review at ANN which is basically very negative,especially since I don’t think he already saw Tenri’s OVA and manga.

    zeroyuki92
    1. From what I heard, KamiNomi isn’t a very successful franchise. It bombed pretty hard for seasons 1&2. My guess is that’s why they choose to jump straight to the main arc, since carving out another season for the remaining key girls’ arc may backfire on them. Animating the main arc now means that they might have a chance to boost KamiNomi season 3 sales. This is like one of the few shows that just watching season 1&2 won’t be enough, need to watch the OVA and/or the manga to understand what’s going on.

      Ashkem
      1. If I’m not mistaken, it’s around 4-5k. Not really good for other studio, but it’s already a profitable point and one of the best, if not the best sales record for recent Manglobe shows (probably beaten by one of their female oriented show,though) . Manglobe is well known for a lot of flops, and Kaminomi should be successful enough for their standard.

        Despite of my rant, I developed a similar response with Kairi’s. I most likely will keep watching and keep hoping that they won’t stray any further and made any fatal mistake. Screwing goddess arc will be equal with ending all hope of further KamiNomi adaptation.

        zeroyuki92
      2. Same here, but I have a very bad feeling that they might butcher it. This season is still 1 cour, for the main arc which is pretty long. Its like trying to squeeze TWGOK season 1&2 into 13 episodes. I just really hope they don’t mess it up. Otherwise bye bye to seeing Keima and gang animated forever.

        Ashkem
  9. Having not watched the Tenri Arc OVA’s, I got completely surprised by how soft-spoken Diana came off as.

    Kairi, I definitely agree with you about it being surprising they skipped those particular two arcs. I know the Goddess Arc is the most popular part of TWGOK, but it still feels like a crime to not have those two characters arcs adapted. They could’ve at least did OVA’s or something so that anime only folks feel at least a little bit of attachment to them. Ah well… obviously they want to try to save the franchise’s anime hopes with the best arc.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    And if I’m not mistaken, that was Hayami Saori singing the opening this time? Season 1 had ELISA and season 2 had ELISA and Lia and that definitely did not sound like ELISA to me. I love me some Hayami Saori so I’m a super happy camper. This is the only show she’s in this season afaik. T_T

    Oh yeah, and that outfit Haqua was wearing in the opening was delicious❤. It’s even better animated.

    Kuntzy
    1. The singer’s name is not officially disclosed yet, but I will be very surprised if it’s not Hayami Saori. ELISA did the previous seasons’ OP because she was working for Geneon Universal which produced this franchise(and Railgun too). But now she has moved to Sony so no ELISA for Kaminomi this time around.
      I agree Saori’s voice is great and her singing skill is excellent. Other than some singer-turned-to-seiyuu people like Mizuki, Saori’s skill is one of the best among seiyuus.

      UDoh
  10. Okaaay…I try to avoid reading the manga of series that I know or think will be animated as it just takes away from my enjoyment when watching.This however,seem’s to be one of those rare cases where reading part of it is required to do so in order to better understand what the hell is happening.I also need to watch those OVAs.

    All in all,as my only knowledge of TWOGK is from it’s previous two anime seasons so I suppose it’s no wonder that my reaction this episode was something like: “Wait…what?Who are…Ehhh?But when did…”

    Oh well,gonna be well informed till next week.

    MgMaster
  11. This chapter is a spoilers nest. The show should have a warning at the start for only anime viewers. They destroy the mistery this series have to offer and they decide to just jump over vital arcs like they are nothing (really wanted to see animated Yui Godou’s and Sumire’s arcs, and they do this!). They killed my expectations for this series and maybe they are digging their own grave like this. What were they thinking taking this gamble?

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Ebisu
    1. Average sales of slightly over 2k for season 2. I think that’s what pushed them to animating the main arc at the expense of everything else. I think the sales for this season is going to be pretty bad as well.

      Kai
  12. Good thing I decided to read the manga. Still, I feel very cheated. Good premiere, seeing as I love the cast of TWGOK! Just feels good to have them back in anime form.

    Catsrofl
  13. I agree that they should not have cut so much material from the manga. That does not make sense to me at all. They could have made more money with more seasons. At least make 1 episode for each girl like with Ayumi. this reminds me of a horrible anime called naruto in which it outpaced the manga and released a lot of horrible anime fillers.
    In retrospect I believe that if there is 1 girl that it is alright to skip, ignore or forget, then that award goes to chihiro from season 2. I hope they skip her upcoming scenes from the manga in this season.
    Diana is my favorite goddess. And from all the recaptures I look forward to Ayumi’s since she is my favorite human. If only Diana was Ayumi’s goddess, that would be perfection.

    tendo
    1. To me Chihiro’s part in the overall arc is pretty important too Show Spoiler ▼

      Euphena
  14. Complete list of skipped captures:
    Tsukiyo Kujyō
    Minami Ikoma
    Tenri Ayukawa (covered in an OVA, so not really skipped I guess)
    Rieko Hinaga
    Sumire Uemoto
    Nanaka Haibara (dat sex hair, oh my god)
    Yui Goidō
    Hinoki Kasuga
    Akari Kurakawa

    Cybersteel
    1. Show Spoiler ▼

      qwert
  15. First Hayate, now TWGOK? For people who don’t read the manga this will be quite confusing. And for people who read the manga, this must be quite disappointing. I wanted Yui’s arc to be animated.

    Linkark07
    1. Well with Hayate they’re skipping forward and taking care of all of the filler stories… there’s still some small bit of hope left that when they’re done we could end up with an actual filler-less season of pure Hayate main story… maybe…

      qwert
      1. I am still waiting for hayate no gotoku 3rd season. I do not acknowledge the “eyes for you” season nor the “cuties” season. These are unrelated to the manga therefore they are fake copycat series. I hope next season will be the continuation from season 2.

        tendo
      2. “I do not acknowledge the “eyes for you” season nor the “cuties” season. These are unrelated to the manga therefore they are fake copycat series.”

        “Eyes For You” and “Cuties” aren’t entirely unrelated to the manga though. The main storyline of Eyes and the last two episodes of Cuties that focused on that watch stuff is original material but I’m about 90% it was all written by the original author of the manga.

        Plus the side stories of Eyes and every other episode of Cuties come directly from the manga, they’re not part of the main plot but they’re the random side stories that they toss to every now and then.

        qwert
      3. SPOILERS!!! (adding this just in case I messed up my spoiler tag, and I don’t really know how to edit post)

        I’m still waiting for the athena arc. imo that’s like the highlight/climax for the series so far.
        Show Spoiler ▼

        Inferno
  16. I get that people are upset that *insertnameoffavoritegirlhere* arc was skipped but lets hold off on the condemnations after this season has had a chance to provide it’s offering. THEN you can nitpick and complain about what was or was not done. Who knows, there might be a reason it was done this way and we should allow it a chance to explain why before we get bent out of shape about it.

    The Green One
    1. except its not just losing the chance to see the girls, you end up losing vital arcs that will get you to be attached and know the characters.

      take that yui girl in this for example, all we know is they swapped their places. we dont know her situation, her character, her problem, etc. this applies to like every other girl there, how will we remember/know who they are if they show up again?
      like how ayumi came about, how would you feel if ayumi was just glazed over and then she shows up in an episode where we’re expected to like her?

      there’s also the buildup, with this you end up losing the point where your supposed to be anticipating and guessing who may have a goddess(in the manga, it wasnt really certified that any of keima’s previous captures may even have one).

      pretty bad. I dont think im gonna watch this one now. sorry wakaki, il just stick to the manga.

      amado
  17. Girls with unnatural powers? Ah nostalgia! Spell breaking kisses? Ah nostalgia! Loose souls? Ah nostalgia!…STABBING AND BLOOD…holy @#!@# what just happened?!

    gawrshness
  18. KANNOOONNNN <3 sorry I had to get that out. That ending really blew my mind especially Kanon confessing right in front of the student body. Guess what guys? Keima just blew all your minds bahaha. Anyways even though unfortunately they skipped a good portion of the other arcs they might just pull off some OVA's or something to make it up.

    Jason Isenberg
    1. Chances are, the authors themselves (Wakaki and Hata) chose the amount of source material for Manglobe to animate. To a certain degree, you can’t really promote or sell old manga volumes that have been on shelves in limited quantities for years. I don’t blame Manglobe because the authors definitely know that their respective manga series will most likely end before the next availability for another season (Wakaki more so than Hata, of course).

      Iandolo
  19. Wanted to see Sumire and Akari animated… =( It’s ridiculous how they managed to cover so many arcs in the span of 5 minutes. This is problematic, since some of those characters are important later on. Not holding my breath for this season, so maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. At the very least, we see more of Haqua this time around =3

    katsudon
  20. You guys need to understand why they did this. Season 2 didn’t sell well at all in Japan. I hate to say it, but it’s true. I love all of his capture arcs, but apparently not everyone does. I guess to an anime viewer it would feel repetitive.

    So what was Manglobe to do? They knew the series can sell well, but the way they were going about it just wasn’t working. If they made another season, they would’ve had the same problem they had with season 2. So they had to take a risk and go straight to the material that made the manga as popular as it is today, which is of course the goddess arc.

    And heck if this does work and the season 3 sells well, I bet we’ll get the previous captures back in OVA’s and such.

    Diyedas
  21. It’s a miracle that this show got a third season at all.

    If they had stuck to following the manga that’s 8 captures between where they left off and where this season picked up, not counting Tenri because of her OVA.

    8 Whole captures, even assuming they rushed some of the more involved ones and managed to do one each episode that’s almost an entire season worth of material and not counting any fillery stuff that may have happened between captures (been a while since I read that far back to know what else may have happened in between girls).

    Season 3 would have ended up almost entirely the same as season 1-2, captures captures and more captures without getting to the major plot. Skipping along to the goddesses may be the only chance this show has to get a fourth season god willing.

    qwert
    1. I am kind of surprised at the negative reactions here. It is 100% understandable that there would be dissapointment that the show skipped over a number of captures – some really good stories – however, I am guessing it literally was either this or nothing.

      I would rather have this than nothing.

      If you feel lost or you are missing out, please go read the manga, it is quite good.

      Jack Spicer
  22. I was quite disappointed to see how they’ve skipped past all those girls he conquered. I thought all that was gonna be in this season but they’ve skipped all the way to the Goddess Arc. If I hadn’t been reading the manga I would be asking myself after watching this episode, “who the hell are those girls”. In the manga the girl named Fiore stabbed Kanon not Lune, IDK why would they switch their places, just completely ruins the story line. Unless their planning another season I don’t think all of the goddess arc will get covered in this season. But they are getting rid of a lot of details so who knows.

    Kismie
  23. Recap is not really bad … what I hate is they skipped akari and tsuki t.t
    But it’s understandable if they plan on focusing on the goddess arc itself

    and all the girls on the recap are basically useless in terms of plot Show Spoiler ▼

    ricz
    1. those arcs are quite vital you know, as they show how keima’s character slowly develops and grows from being uncaring to someone who really feels obligated and heroic.
      for example this scene:
      Show Spoiler ▼

      amado
  24. I feel like I’m left out here – IMO overall the first episode is not disappointing. Granted, my favorite girl Yui’s arc being reduced into a flashback was really sad, but I’m still satisfied with the pacing. I believe that Megami-hen is icing on the cake that is the manga.

    Saki
  25. Glad to see Hakua again: ) Keima’s reluctant attitude toward heroins, probably tsundere or sth

    Lots of characters are deleted in this episode feeling kinda sense of emptiness
    Looked forward this anime that lots of episode will be included in anime but my love character Yui probably have no appearance…. gosh

    LoveAsuna
  26. I was expecting us skipping arcs. Did the other girls really deserve to be shown? Yes, because each new girl showed Keima evolving into come out of his shell. But I could deal with a lot of them being skipped because you could always do “flashbacks” for that with this upcoming arc (ie: Yui).

    Yes, I say Yui could be “flashback”ed simply Show Spoiler ▼

    It sucks, yes. Out of all the girls/arcs that should’ve been done before the Goddess arc, one did get done, Tenri. The other did not which is Hinoki. Hinoki I do think should’ve been animated simply Show Spoiler ▼

    This anime part of Megami-hen may not exactly be for the manga watchers, who want the anime to follow along the plot as best as it can. If an anime only person was watching this, its probably a good episode but makes them feel like they missed something somehow. Which is usually not a good thing to do to your audience.

    It could still turn out all right so I’m hopeful. But as a person who does follow the manga, its just all the wasted potential makes me do a Picard Double Palm and dread the worst.

    I put “flashback” in brackets because we are never, ever, going to get those episodes now unless there’s a remake 5 years from now.

    Dorian
  27. Where is my Tsukiyo Arc?! Where the fuck is my Tsukiyo Arc!!! Give me a shotgun and a ticket to Japan, I will settle this!

    Couldn’t they just make those arc into OVAs? And not that shit of Yonin to Idol thing.

    Bystander
  28. I’m not disappointed about the missing arcs/conquest….what I’m really disappointed is about how they change some concept of the story…

    I believe Fiore is not just you minor failure of a vintage that can or should be easily replaced in the anime series. She in fact represents and tells the viewers that there are traitors in the run away squad, about horned devils and at best top of the class being a member of vintage…she set-up in the story of how Nora was dragged in the story as well..w/o Fiore, keima would have already left for school…

    It just don’t feel right that a bad-ass looking elite vintage (Lune) to fail to check that she really killed a goddess

    JP
  29. Unless Megami-hen stretches to 2 cour/2 series, there’s a chance we could get a Season *4* which animates the *lost* character arcs. It makes sense to want to skip to the best material for sales purposes – at least we’re getting a proper adaptation and not what Hayate got.

    I’m not too surprised by this, though it’s disappointing. No Tsukiko/Akari/Yui arcs… but at least we’re gonna get all the awesome that is the Goddess Arc.

    Rekka
  30. I think that once keima reconqured the girls, they’re story will be retold or at least reminisced, some of it so people would have an idea,

    I think that’s one of the reasons why manglobe were skipped them

    horo

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