First Impressions / Kannagi / Snapshots

OP Sequence:

OP: “motto☆Hade ni ne!” 「motto☆派手にね！」 by Tomatsu Haruka (戸松 遥)
Watch the OP!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Show Streaming ▼

ED Sequence:

ED: “Musuhi no Toki” 「産巣日の時」 by Tomatsu Haruka (戸松 遥)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Show Streaming ▼

「神籬の娘」 (Himorogi no Musume)
“Sacred Shrine Girl”

First Glance:
From a statue carved out of a sacred tree’s wood comes the blue-haired goddess Nagi bursting to life in Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens. Starring Tomatsu Haruka (Lala in To LOVE-Ru) as the cute, demanding, and sometimes violent Nagi, and Shimono Hiro (Hirono Hiro in ef – a tale of memories.) as the high school arts club member Mikuriya Jin who has to put up with her, I was blown away by how captivating the characters are in this series. For a premiere episode that revolved around just two of them in what looks like a really bad broadcast, I found myself watching intently and laughing helplessly at all the timely comedic pauses, which I can’t say enough good things about.

Despite Hiro’s more serious role in ef, I still find that he’s much better suited for comedic ones like Touhouin Ikuto in Nagasarete Airantou and Karino Tadashi in Special A, which Kannagi re-emphasizes. Haruka on the other hand I absolutely love after watching To LOVE-Ru and hearing the range she has, so I couldn’t imagine anyone better being cast for Nagi — she’s just so adorable. On that note, I love the opening song she performs for the series, which goes along really well with the awesome dance and comedic scenes in the opening sequence. As Omni mentioned in his Fall Preview, Yamamoto Yutaka is directing this series — the mastermind behind the insanely popular Hare Hare Yukai and Motteki Sailor Fuku dances — which explains the dance in the opening. As such, I wouldn’t be surprised if we started seeing some live renditions of the “motto☆Hade ni ne!” (Be More Showy!) dance popping up on the Internet soon. In any case, with Yutaka as director, I have high hopes for the comedic value of Kannagi, which left a good taste in my mouth after the first episode. As for the ending song, Haruka also performs the more ballad-like theme there, which should go to show the range she has not only in voice acting but singing ability as well.

In terms of story, the introductory episode didn’t really reveal much other than how Jin inadvertently summoned Nagi, the guardian deity of the area, when he made a statue out of a piece of wood from her sacred tree. While Jin wasn’t the one that cut the tree down, Nagi’s not happy about it when she finds out. With the tree gone, impurities start to spread, so Nagi enlists the help of Jin to clean the place up because he seems unphased by them. Inspired after watching some magical girl anime on television, Nagi actually makes her own wand for this purpose, leaving Jin at a lost for words. Since the primary focus of the series seems to be comedy, I don’t imagine that they need much more than that to drive the plot. Kannagi just resonates a lot of fun right now, so I’m really looking forward to the next episode where we should meet more of the other characters. With a pretty high profile cast that includes some of my favorites — Sawashiro Miyuki, Hanazawa Kana, Nakahara Mai — this series can turn out to be quite a riot. I’m disappointed that it’s not produced in high-def and that the poor broadcast didn’t help any, but I’m more than willing to overlook that due to the amiable character and amusing antics (her shirt says “Shameless” 「羞恥心」 on it) I’ve seen thus far.

With Tomatsu Haruka starring in Kemeko Deluxe! on Saturdays as well (which I’ll have a Snapshot up about later today), I get the feeling I’m going to end up watching both series. Last but not least, don’t forget to watch the opening!

 

Notable Cast:
– Nagi (ナギ) : Tomatsu Haruka (戸松 遥)
– Mikuriya Jin (御厨 仁) : Shimono Hiro (下野 紘)
– Aoba Tsugumi (青葉 つぐみ) : Sawashiro Miyuki (沢城 みゆき)
– Zange-chan (ざんげちゃん) & Suzushiro Hakua (涼城 白亜) : Hanazawa Kana (花澤 香菜)
– Hibiki Daitetsu (響 大鉄) : Hoshino Takanori (星野 貴紀)
– Akiba Meguru (秋葉 巡) : Kakihara Tetsuya (柿原 徹也)
– Kimura Takako (木村 貴子) : Hayamizu Risa (早水 リサ)
– Ookouchi Shino (大河内 紫乃) : Nakahara Mai (中原 麻衣)

40 Comments

  2. Oh about the opening, i love these kinda opening where the character moves a lot, Rosario has a little but didn’t show much. as for end im sticking with the Toradora end for now as my fav.

    Chimasternmay
    Reply

  5. Hiro is best at comedic roles, hands down. Like with sketchbook, too.

    I was so giddy when I recognized his voice as Almaz in Disgaea 3.

    Also, this series is on my list of shows to watch. Thanks for reminding me that it’s out today.

    Chicle
    Reply

  7. The opening was “wow”.

    *adds to watch list*

    hmm… but I don’t like how the main character’s named Nagi too…
    the only Nagi I was to come up when I google “Nagi” is Senzenin Nagi…

    AznCoffee
    Reply

  11. So it was Nagi’s seiyuu who sang the opening song? I thought so, but I wasn’t sure. At first I wasn’t sure I liked it but as the song went on I started to really love it. I was kinda sad though that the song that was in the PV for Kannagi wasn’t the OP or ED for it, in fact I didn’t hear it in the episode at all 🙁

    Anyway, I just hope they move on from silly panty jokes. :p

    Nazarielle
    Reply

  14. Yay for male fanservice! (sarcastically)

    The screen caps look pretty bad, hopefully it is only because of the broadcasting and the actual production looks better than that. However, since it sounds like a lot of fun, I would surely check the first episode out.

    Kaitune
    Reply

  18. This will have a bit of a harem feel to it. When the other characters are introduced there will be some jealously going on. It’s a fun story with far more comedy than romance. At least as far as the manga goes.

    Irie
    Reply

  21. Ah, episode 1 has started huh… I’m also quite surprised that the series started off with a surprising good reception looking at responses here.

    Maybe I got to re-evaluate my read after I watch the first episode.

    What’s sure is that Nagi will crack me up. No, everyone will!

    Shiro
    Reply

  23. Back again, having watched the episode a few more times. Is it just me, or does Nagi’s dance in OP remind anyone else of Yuna from FFX-2?

    Doesn’t seem like this series is gonna get the latest fx, but I do like some of the animation in it. Eg, the OP part where she morph into the title while dancing. That was a “hehe, that’s cool” moment.

    Hope to see more of Nagi when she is in her *kira* *kira* mode. So cute.

    Jayars
    Reply

  25. I wouldn’t call the series all comedy. I’ve read a bit of the manga and it can get quite serious:

    Show Spoiler ▼

    That said I’m happy to see this animated as I liked the style and characters, and as the scans of the manga stopped months ago I’m curious on how the story continues.

    mutio@gmx.net
    Reply

  26. Watch out…this show is Aniplex. It’s seems, from what i heard, that Aniplex is sending C&D E-Mails to anyone who download their shows via Bay TSP. It’s seems they don’t want their show watched by us ;_;.

    Kyo
    Reply

  36. “i say this has one of the catchiest op’s of this season”

    It is pretty catchy

    “wow… as what i see in the OP she becomes a pop idol?”

    I noticed that, too. I wonder.

    Unrelated: ‘Kannagi’ (“The God Nagi” or some more poetic synonym) has to be one of the most uninteresting names I’ve ever heard.

    Justin Olbrantz (Quantam)
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *