Posted by 
Bet you weren’t expecting this huh? I felt a little bad that we had four shounen battle manga being blogged on the site but not my favourite weekly serial so I slapped Stilts with a glove, we jousted a bit, and here I am (Stilts is still alive in case you’re wondering). Just in time for the new arc too!
It’s going to be extremely hard for Wakaki to top the recently concluded arc – I’m sure I’m not alone in considering it the best arc of the manga to date. It had everything I’ve come to love about KamiNomi, from Haqua to conquests, from Goddesses to psychotic Vintage members, and from some solid (tear inducing) character developments in Keima (that final scene ;_;) to the blooming of true love outside the regular conquests. My only gripe with the arc was that there wasn’t enough Mio (obviously a very very minor gripe since there was plenty of Haqua, Chihiro and Yui! Also Tenr- no I’m going to stop there before I end up listing every character).
It would appear that everything was somehow neatly resolved in the aftermath of the previous arc – the plot to revive Old Hell thwarted and all the Vintage members apparently captured. Seems a little bit vague for now, but perhaps they’ll elaborate on it some more in future chapters (I hope they do – it feels a little unresolved to me right now). In addition, Haqua has (thankfully) been reinstated as a member of the Runaway Spirit Squad, though it would appear Nora managed to take most of the credit for the resolution of the issue (which is just like her!) resulting in her promotion to the Head District Chief.
I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who’s glad to see we’ll finally have Elsie back in a regular role now that she no-longer has to stand in for Kanon! Everything appears to have returned to normal (or rather as ‘normal’ as things were before the Vintage arc), at least on the surface. I can’t help but feel that Keima’s decision to confine himself in his room might be just as much to do with the depression resulting from the events of the previous arc as it is him returning to his normal self. He also seems a little too quick to assert that everything is fine when Tenri pressures him on the subject.
So we come to the important questions left in the wake of this chapter. Elsie (and Keima) seems to imply that now the Goddesses are free again, it’s up to them to take care of any remaining runaway spirits and thus their hunt is finally over. However, if that’s the case, why is Keima still wearing the guillotine collar that ensures his continued participation? Shouldn’t it have been removed when their work was done and the contract expired? I guess this is a sign that there’s still more to be done – much like the triggering of Haqua’s sensor at the very end of the chapter. While this is one topic for speculation, I think the big question this week is in the identity girl we glimpse midway through the chapter. Is she a new target for conquest? A vision from Keima’s past perhaps? A single panel in the last chapter did tease a shouta version of Keima, so the latter of those two options is definitely plausible. One thing’s for certain – given the title of the arc, it seems unlikely that the focus will shift from the Goddesses anytime soon!
tl;dr: @MoombaDS – At last, the return of Elsie as a regular character! But if the hunt is over, why do the collars remain? #TWGOK
The girl looks like Chihiro.
[x] The World God Only Knows
[ ] Berserk
[ ] One Piece
[ ] Toriko
[ ] Shingeki no Kyojin
[ ] Hunter x Hunter
Awesome, thanks for covering this.
Shoot I wanna add two more if we’re continuing the Jump trend.
[ ] Sensei no Bulge (New series. Author of Oumagadoki Doubutsuen. Looks really promising, fun start with creative character designs.)
[ ] Assassin Classroom (Upcoming series by Matsui Yuusei, author of Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. If anyone tries to deny Neuro’s awesomeness I will fucking smite you on the spot.)
Great move by RandomC to pick up coverage of this manga.
We had a lot of action and the all the girls had their share of development. But that wasn’t the case for Keima who is still having the same issues from the start of the manga.
So, I’m expecting this arc to be the “Keima arc”. That’d be good.
I’m really glad you’re covering this – it’s a great series which some people dismiss as a generic romance, but it’s much more.
The last arc was really powerful and it had little to do with the action or his usual romantic advances. Keima finally acknowledged that his actions of ‘filling a gap in their heart’ can bring real and long-lasting consequences to those involved. I’m sure he had known this while dealing with the goddesses, but it finally came to the surface when he truly hurt Chihiro. Showing that shred of honest emotion was a real turning point even after 190+ chapters.
This new arc looks promising as well.
Yes, Moomba and I agreed that, after the 12 shounen jump manga that are already have being covered here, Randomc needed a little of the BEST MANGA IN THE WORLD. And by agreed, I mean he lulled me into a false sense of security with his accent, and then hit me with a bug demon. Doh!
Regardless, I’m excited about this. Kami-niisama is amazing!
Note: if I refer to Kami-niisama in these threads, I’m talking about Keima. Elsewhere, I’m probably talking about Divine. The More You Know~!
Not to mention it’s one of the most popular among online readers.
Batoto (Followers/Subscribers):
TWGOK – 3700+
One Piece – 1800+
Naruto – 1500+
Bleach – 1500+
Fairy Tail – 800+
MangaFox (Monthly Views):
Fairy Tail – 3,400,000+
TWGOK – 2,500,000+
Naruto – 2,000,000+
One Piece – 1,400,000+
Bleach – 1,300,000+
I didn’t notice any complaints about the bug demon part at the time…
Only after I got done cuddling with her :3
One Piece/Hunter x Hunter/Toriko (anime and manga) are not here yet so it’s still a bit FAIL. At least we got 2 good shounens here(Fairy Tail/TWGOK).
It pisses me off that Naruto is being covered here but not OP.
I’m also glad you are covering this. I love this Manga and hope one day they start to catch up with some more seasons of the anime.
As do I! I’m sure a lot of us do! It’d be particularly awesome to someday see the Goddess arc animated.
Coincidentally, I just got up with this a couple days ago. Good timing!
Also, does anyone know why Keima was crying about Chihiro at the end of the last arc?
You’re joking… right?
Whether he really likes Chihiro or not is up in the air, but you’re supposed to gather that he does have a strong sense of compassion and genuinely does not like harming other people. His stance on the whole ordeal has been generally explained. He doesn’t like what he’s doing but he realizes that the lives of himself, Elsie, and everybody else in the town/world far outweigh the feelings of a few classmates. So he struggles on.
Shoot I can’t edit posts lol. (This should be a feature!) Forgot to mention that you’re also supposed to add the fact that Chihiro’s song was so heartfelt and personal. Music acted as a visceral means to tug at his heartstrings!
I totally love you for covering TWGOK! This is one my favorite manga series right now.
And I agree, I was a little disappointed that Mio wasn’t in it too much. I really liked her. I did love the Goddess arc though and was glad to see all the development and screen time from the previous conquests and especially Haqua since she’s my favorite.
@Da5id. Some people speculate it’s because he has true feelings for her, which I also think is a possibility. Mostly though, I think it was mainly guilt because he deceived her, rejected her, and had to use her to reconquer Ayumi despite the fact that he knew she liked him as well.
Ah, okay. I figured it was something along those lines, it was just hard to think about and balance everything else going on the time (New vs Old Hell politics, the other goddesses impact on the situation, etc.)
Not sure why that called for dislikes, though…
Ha if it’s any consolation, I did’t think anything you said warranted dislikes. A case can certainly be made for a lack of clarity or resolution (because Keima’s feeling for Chihiro aren’t explicitly revealed), but I rather like the way it was handled.
I really don’t think what you said deserved all those dislikes either in my opinion. I can understand why you’d be confused, I was confused myself when I first read the chapter. There was so much going on and it can make it a bit hard to focus on certain details. But that’s to be expected, Keima is quite complex whenever it comes to real girls, feelings, and his conquests.
I’m so excited to be able to read coverage of Kami nomi on my favorite site!
So since this new arc is called the “Jupiter Saga” and the goddesses are the Jupiter Sisters who are related to Jupiter, the King of Heaven… perhaps Keima’s recent service to the heavens will somehow tie him into Jupiter’s legacy? Keima himself is now connected to New Hell and Heaven through his service to both parties. An interesting thing to explore would be the finer details of the relationship between Heaven and New Hell. I have a feeling that our mystery girl connects the two somehow. A lost Jupiter Sister born of an angel and demon is possible (but I really think this line of thought has been diluted by playing too much Diablo 3 lately). In any case, Keima seeing a vision of trees appear where his school building is supposed to be and the young Keima from the teaser suggests an exploration of the past.
God only knows what’s coming next.
Kaminomi! One of my favorite currently running manga series. In spite of its flaws, I have to commend this series for its mostly competent attempt at deconstructing shounen female stereotypes by the means of Keima’s “captures.” The manga has thus far remained extremely formulaic, placing a single heroine at the center of each arc-segment, whose persona Keima must deconstruct and somehow find a way to appeal to romantically, drawing from his vast knowledge of the human (female) psyche (Apparently acquired from playing an innumerable amount of dating sims). Yet it has still managed to maintain a compelling story, and create a (rather large) cast of characters that readers care about.
Character development through deconstruction; here is where the strength of this series lies. The “deconstruction” of each heroine’s persona is done in a manner that is emotionally appealing; rather than mere dry analysis, readers are treated to a first-hand look at the girls in their natural habitats, an active illustration (rather than a passive description) of the nature/nurture mechanic that is the source of their emotional/psychological issues which Keima must resolve in order to win their hearts. This is compelling even to those who have no interest in/do not comprehend deconstruction; in deconstructing the girls’ personas through illustrating the genesis and resolution of their personal problems, powerful drama is also inevitably created- for what more is drama than a depiction of the actions and reactions of men/(women) to external/environmental stimuli? This brilliant dichotomy of drama and deconstruction is the very thing that has kept me interested in Kaminomi for all this time; as we move into a new arc it is my utmost hope that this element will remain, and perhaps that Wakaki will utilize it in new and interesting ways…
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Bonus: Kaminomi is a shipper’s paradise; many fans hope that Keima will end up with one heroine or the other. (I will emphasize my own non-membership in the shipper’s demographic.) Assuming that Wakaki isn’t going for a harem ending, here is what I have to say about the matter:
Over the course of nearly 200 chapters it has become abundantly evident that Wakaki’s notion of love consists of one party fulfilling the emotional/psychological needs/deficiencies of the other; literally every (more or less???) girl so far has fallen in love with Keima because he did thus. So in order to (objectively) assess which girl is the best for Keima (in accordance with Wakaki’s definition of love) we must first understand what his emotional/psychological needs/deficiencies are, and figure out which girl best fulfills these needs- and it is arguable that we do not yet possess enough insight into Keima’s persona to make such an assessment; this is an issue that the new Jupiter arc is likely to address since it seems to focus on Keima- and why shipper-fans should be excited for it…
Urgh.. that’s what happens when you don’t hit the “Preview Comment” button before submitting.
And this is when I ask again for the Edit function we all need.
Soo…Still no One Piece coverage on RC? Son I am Disappoint.
Lol hey kid, use some tact.
Appreciate what’s offered and give suggestions without a sense of entitlement. Take my first comment for example, with a honeyed tongue and less obtrusive demands you’ve got slightly better chances. (But don’t tell the writers of my plan)
Disappoint? More like “Thank God”.
Lol if your standards include anything less than Nausicaa, Lone Wolf and Cub, Phoenix, etc, then you’ve got no ground to stand on son.
If I could neagtive this a billion times, I would.
One Piece > Every other shounen out there.
Fantastic surprise!! I suggested TWGOK when Reborn got blogged. So glad our suggestions were taken into account (now just One Piece…)
I agree that the Goddess arc was quite enjoyable. This new start looks promising and will probably tie up with WHY was Keima chosen. It can’t be a simple coincidence Tenri and him were on that cave when the Weiss escaped.
Seeing as the Goddess continue to be the focus here… I want to see the thoughts of Ayumi, Kanon, Shiori, Yui and Tsukiyo regarding their ‘captures’ now that they remember everything and are aware of New Hell.
😀
Finaly it’s here. I’m pretty possitive sooner or later it will be blogged here knowing that it’s not only a popular series bu enjoyable one to read. I just want to hear your oppinion on goddess saga and past conquest.
On a side note i hope that the girl is demeter not new conquest target
Awesome! Thanks for covering this! Anyway, anybody else think they’re about to reach out to the rest of the Roman gods?
Thanks for covering!!!
haha was just about to read the Eureka 7 post and was like: did i just see that picture of keima from the issue i literally JUST read?
Is it weird that I enjoyed the first paragraph so much that I reread it at least a few times before reading on? :3
Well this new arc seems promising, though I have to say I was disappointed that the last chapter with the shota Keima had little followup. I actually thought when Elsie said that it’s been 5 days and we saw Keima not moving in his room, that that was the deal with the shota part, that he was whisked away and his body was left unmoving. Oh Wakaki.
Well let’s see how this new arc goes as Wakaki had the two weeks time to think about this.
Needs season 3 of the anime D:
I’ve never actually read this. Only watched the two seasons. /shrug
yeah the manga pretty much follows the same conquest of the week style seen in the anime for a few more ladies; then it get’s into a REALLY good arc that’s somewhat hinted at in the OAV. Show Spoiler ▼
yay! you guys are covering this now 😀
For those who don’t know, I suggest reading up about the author if this series, because as it turns out, he IS Keima. I’m not even kidding. His life got so bad that he had to choose between eating and buying a galga and he choose the galga.
Kamisama shall no longer be excluded from RandomC. Thanks for picking this up *goes on to celebrate*
Nobody expects the Spani… Oh, I wasn’t expecting that either. 😀
Woah! Kaminomi on RC? Thanks and now one more post to be reading :O I have never felt so thankful for the sudden increased number of writers for RC until now.
OST coverage, more manga, more shows, what more could I hope for.
Not expecting this manga to be covered in RC, but then again i dont read it. Just not my taste.
Any chance RC will be covering Zettai Karen Children or Samurai Usagi? Both are not particularly popular but they are good manga that I hate would go unnoticed (especially Samurai Usagi). Just a suggestion.
Gotta admit I didn’t expect this. Glad to see RandomC is blogging TWGoK.
Now, gotta celebrate this great news.
@MOOMBA: I think that girl that Keima saw that even blocked out Tenri (and perhaps Diana) is another goddess. Not one of the jupiter sisters, but a different goddess. If I recall, there was a chapter where Keima researched the history of their school, and he found out that their school emblem was linked to a goddess, I think (if I recall correctly) that it was a goddess meant for good harvest or something like that (ill edit this once I read back on those chapters) and I always thought that what was the significance of these chapters? Was it only to simply confirm Keima’s theory that he was “destined” or “fated” to be someone that will bring all of the goddess together and awaken them. Then I simply thought it was too shallow and his research on the school’s history was quite detailed, about that goddess that was symbolized in their school’s emblem and everything, so I thought that there was more to that story.
But I could just be wrong and that girl could just be possessed by a powerful runaway spirit or a demon like luna whom could be possessing a girl.
I actually had some similar thoughts a few hours after I finished writing the post. What if Keima himself managed to develop a hole – possibly from the events relating to Chihiro – and became posessed by a Goddess? If that were the case, he could be seeing the Goddess inside himself during that abrupt vision.
Reverse capture arc anyone?
With RC now blogging on TWGOK, I am in anime Heaven with Kami-Ni-sama :):)
Especially with the recent release of the Kanon-chan’s Ribbon Revolution Concert DVD, I’m sooo happy! (Btw is there any chance the said DVD would be featured on RC?)
oh pretty nice to have KamiNomi on RC, cheers