Posted by Episode 8
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「ゴーラ学園II」 (Goura Gakuen II)
“Goran Academy II”
Episode 9
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「その発祥の地墓の看守」 (Sono Hasshou no Chibo no Kanshu)
“The Birthplace of Grave Keepers”
Sorry about not posting episode 8, but to be honest, there wasn’t really much to talk about concerning what happened. The kids escape, all with their special powers, everyone is happy, and that’s it. Sure, we got some character development with some of the characters such as Tanya and , but it all felt so detached from the overarching story that there’s really not much to discuss other than what was on the screen. Perhaps the most important information we received was the power of wishes in this world, but even that fact is only lightly expanded upon in the arc. Overall, the Academy arc was a big letdown, as it contributed almost nothing to the development of the plot or Ai’s own evolving perceptions of the world.
Thankfully episode 9 gets back onto that track, though it still does have a slow start to it. The key discovery in this episode is as the title implies–the nature of gravekeepers. While the exact nature of gravekeepers and how they come about still hasn’t been clarified, we can at least confirm that they are the only new beings coming to populate this world at quite an alarming rate. It is interesting though how gravekeepers can have anomalies within their ranks–Ai’s mother and Scar are prime examples of defying the normal behavior of a Gravekeeper–though why these anomalies exist is up to speculation. Is it because they are beings that have returned from the afterlife to help people find their rest? Certain evidence such as Hana’s desire to make her own heaven on earth and Scar’s motherly attitude seem to indicate this, but without an episode to clarify these issues, we have to keep guessing.
The next arc looks to be interesting thanks to the information we received in this transitional episode. Other than the focus on Scar’s relieved duties as a Gravekeeper, we also begin to explore the new dynamics between Ai, our perfect sharpshooter Alis, and his ghostly companion Dee. I’m not quite sure why Ai was so willing to join Alis on his quest to save the world by destroying it, since she herself said it was contrary to the ideas that her own mother held, but hopefully they clear up this apparent contradiction. This new team-up between Alis and Ai does cause a strain in Dee’s tolerance of the two, as the show made her jealousy of the two clear. Though she did depart the two out of a perceived inability to handle their teamwork, the preview does indicate she’ll return back in the next arc, which will strangely return back to the location that we just came back from. Kaminai continues to pile on more fantasy elements that don’t seem to connect with one another, such as the last arc, but again, here’s to hoping that this new element–the existence of a hidden world–will prove to provide some much needed answers to the fantasy that already exists.
Preview
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I love this anime … I really do. I just wish it could be something …more. It reminds me so much of Angel Beats – of all the things that could have been but didn’t.
A lot of things in this anime just happen and hey it works. But I would like it to really go above and beyond what they are doing now. It’s such a shame…
TQ
Episode 8 and the whole Academy arc was a train wreck and not in the good way. Everything felt incredibly rushed, the Academy’s purpose for collecting super powered children was barely delved into, the students were not very interesting, and the whole issue with Tanya had very little impact for me because she was so pointless in the grand story. Gola Academy just seemed like a way of introducing Alis and Dee. I loved what happened with episode 9 though. Kaminai is such a colorful and creative fantasy, I just wish that it was more cleverly handled.
I didn’t know a train wreck had a “good way” about it o.o
I agree, but you can’t really blame the studio too much for it. The entire 3rd novel was the Gola Academy arc, and 2 whole chapters were spent (read: wasted) introducing the characters and getting them into baths. If anyone’s at fault for that arc it’s Kimihito Irie XD
Then again, if Madhouse was really really good they’d have rewritten that section of the plot.
Sounds like my early complaints about Irie’s lackluster writing finesse are now being vindicated…
@Zanibas: Overall, the Academy arc was a big letdown, as it contributed almost nothing to the development of the plot or Ai’s own evolving perceptions of the world…Kaminai continues to pile on more fantasy elements that don’t seem to connect with one another. Sadly, that’s a very accurate assessment IMO.
I agree almost entirely with what KF says. Rather than “and hey it works”, I’d say “and it kind of works at times.” Pacing is all over the place. The first arc flew by at record speed, yet character/plot development managed to grind to a halt in the last arc. The sporadic character development, particularly Ai, leaves them feeling somewhat flat – even formalistic at times. Ai’s a very sympathetic character, yet I have relatively little attachment to her (or any character for that matter). There are a lot of unanswered questions and relatively little air time remaining with which to answer some, let alone all, of them.
I do like the show, but not nearly as much as I had expected I would after the first episode. It does have its positive aspects (Visually it’s quite good IMO – I like the background & character designs). Still, I think there’s a lot of wasted potential here. I haven’t read the LN, but my guess is that most of the issues have to do with sub-par adaption rather than some inherent deficit in the source material.
You pretty much summed up my feelings as well. This show is like a carrot on a stick. An interesting world, likeable characters, intriguing mysteries…they are things constantly dangled in front of you while you’re watching this show, but they’re always just out of reach. It’s rushing through the source material so fast that I find it quite impossible to really care about these characters. I get the feeling I’m missing a lot of interesting stuff in this world, partially because they never explain important aspects of it properly. It’s just…there’s so much potential here for a good fantasy series, but we’re pretty much getting the CliffsNotes version. I doubt the original work is like that.
The show is kind of dissapointing for me because of it. I expected a lot more based on its premise. And sadly, this isn’t even the first fantasy show that’s had this problem this year (Maoyuu comes to mind).
I’m sorry , I can’t even give it that much approval. It’s all over the place. My disappointment is greater because of what it could have been. The original (or what I thought it was) has gotten bogged down in too many oddities: the Idol of Murder, the composite people, people with superpowers, even “Buzzer Beater” (and where did he get that damn gun?). If they had just kept to the basic logic of their world (no death, no birth, gravekeepers) they could have crafted a fantastic story. As is is, the author seems to be just throwing things at the wall hoping they stick. It like the author is trying to create something akin to Kino no Tabi (and failing miserably). Don’t get me wrong, there are some great ideas, great visuals, and great characters here (and they almost immediately killed off one of the best), but the story execution leaves much to be desired.
I haven’t only skimmed through some of the novels, but judging from what I read the anime is probably a good adaptation, in the sense that it cuts out all the extraneous bits and moves straight onto the important plot points.
I own volume one and will attest to this fact…
Question LN readers: where is the anime right now in terms of LN volumes? My guess is that we have gone through at least three volumes in 9 episodes. Is that correct? If so, that’s quite a fast pace for a mostly dialog driven series.
Sorry, couldn’t tell you, bro. I only have the first one…
I’ve only skimmed through some of the novels, but judging from what I read the anime is probably a good adaptation, in the sense that it cuts out all the extraneous bits and moves straight onto the important plot points.
This is one of those episode where raw emotions triumphs over “any” logical explainations, and it’s beautiful.
I’m very surprised to see (in the preview) about how a town has essentially stopped in time for 14 years and apparently have clones of the recently departed friends that Ai have made back at the academy, very interested to see what’s really going on.
Think it was more like “going to save the world by destroying it”
I think it meant recreating the current world and recreating it anew.
What kind of plot development are you looking for exactly? Ai can’t save anything if she doesn’t learn more about other peoples’ circumstances in the world. She’s still learning about the world bit by bit as well. It’s like complaining that a sidequest in a rpg doesn’t add anything to the plot of the main game, when the purpose of most sidequests in a rpg is to expand the background information of the world and its characters.
I haven’t read whatever this is adapted from, but I see no problems with the pacing. I can’t stand long arcs anyway that span a lot of episodes, especially if it’s still slow paced and only reveals a tidbit of info at the end of the arc.
What kind of plot development are you looking for exactly?
In general, what I’m looking for is something that has a degree of linear continuity, sufficient explanation of how things work in-universe, consistent in-universe credibility, some degree of character development, and fluid, steady story telling. Specifically in terms of Kamisama, my main issue is that there seems to be a lot of details left out. As Dvalinn said (good analogy BTW), I feel like I’m watching the CliffsNotes version. You and others may like that, I don’t. I don’t want the story to unnaturally drag on, but I don’t want “summary” type arc presentations either.
Ai can’t save anything if she doesn’t learn more about other peoples’ circumstances in the world. She’s still learning about the world bit by bit as well. It’s like complaining that a side quest in a rpg doesn’t add anything to the plot of the main game, when the purpose of most side quests in a rpg is to expand the background information of the world and its characters.
I agree with the first sentence. However, IMO character development so far has been sub-par (a pacing related issue). Suddenly Scar develops a strong maternal instinct which is resolved, then bam – she disappears, and we discover she has some issue with said mother instinct (OK, you’re a grave keeper, so what? Didn’t stop Ai’s mom). Then suddenly again, after a few tears, everything is all fine and well. Huh? It’s too abrupt, too staccato. There are a ton of questions about grave diggers in general let alone about Scar, but nope, can’t waste anymore time. On to the next place!
In terms of Ai, she may be learning, but what I don’t know. I would have thought she would learn some form of caution after being beaten up repeatedly by dad then almost killed by “undead assassins”. Nope, charges straight ahead into a ceremony she knows will kill anyone nearby. Reckless doesn’t even cut it. Now she blindly trusts Alis who supposedly wants to save the world as well. He’s just going to do that by “destroying it”. How does that work? I have no clue and neither does Ai, but she still just says “OK, I’m in.”
Perhaps I’m missing something, but she seems almost exactly the same as she was in Episode 2 or 3 despite all these “side quests”. BTW, I’m not a hard core RPG player, but I do play RPGs and side quests by definition are unnecessary to the Main Quest(s). They are optional, and not all of them add to the story line. Many are simply one more dungeon to gain extra XP, and, if lucky, a choice power-up item. The big difference here is that there is a time limit – twelve episode’s worth. It’s a case of the “main quest” being sacrificed for the “side quest”.
It all goes back to the same point for me. It’s too little too fast. I like the show, but not nearly as much as if all the so called “little” details were not cut. If you still disagree, then fine. To each his/her own.
You make some good points, I agree with the Scar situation, even though they basically tried to imply that Scar wasn’t a gravekeeper because she cried. The whole real gravekeeper versus what’s not a real gravekeeper is confusing. Who exactly decided in the universe what a real Gravekeeper is? Scar and Ai can still do the main objective of what other Gravekeepers can do, which is bury the dead people. Ai calls herself a half GK and half human, but didn’t they explain that children oculdn’t be born into the world ever since God ragequitted?
I think Ai is just extremely codependent, as most kids would be growing up. The anime just hasn’t done a good job expressing that clearly.
Yuri x Scar!! <3
Can't wait to see the next arc(alis and dee)
Show Spoiler ▼
That cake was a beauty!
At this point I’m less and less certain if the problems are more due to adaptation or to the source material. I’m given to understand that a lot of scenes and events have been cut in this adaptation, but it still seems a bit too clumsy to be just that.
I like how the teacher of that school already knew that they were going to escape but decided to try to take them all on alone despite knowing that they have super powers. After she fails she just…………..walks away. Doesn’t even say anything cool. It’s just like “k i failed. bye”. Only thing i got from the scene is the red haired guy has perfect aim. Well isn’t that convenient?
There are other moments where the logic is skewed like how the hell did the people in the dead village receive those letters from Ai? What on earth did Yuri use to make that cake? The freaking dirt? By this anime’s logic is probably because they “wished for it” right? Personally i think it’s just a lazy way to explain things by just saying “they wished for it and God granted it”. It pretty much allows you to get away with any situation that doesn’t make sense or shouldn’t happen. Personally i haven’t really felt anything from this show since the death of Ai’s fahter. Everything has just fell flat to me.
What? You’ve never stuffed an entire kitchen into a Volkswagen before?
This anime is still one of the best of the whole freaking summer season. It doesnt deserve to be criticized like that. I mean yeah, here is something missing, there is something not that well explained BUT DAMN…
There are sooo many other animes in this season which are so insanely crappy and by faaaaar are not getting as trash talked as Kaminai!
I was actually a little shocked, when i had to read that Zaniba said, the 8th episode was not even worth being reviewed!?
I mean come on, if you/every blogger could say it like that, almost half of all the blog entries in randomc would be missing, because some anime reviews are quite pointless, but for sure NOT Kaminai!
It has still huge potential, nobody said it is over after this season of the anime, whatsoever. So it is better to sit down and keep the own mouth shut, before starting to look too far into problems which up-rising animes can have.
I dont mean any of that as offence, I respect all of the others opinions AND THIS ONE IS MINE.
I agree with you. I think a majority of people just agree with the blogger and don’t have their own opinions or just choose not to post them out of fear of getting downvoted by trolls that don’t like others not following the popular opinion. If you downvote someone and actually reply with your reasons for why you don’t agree, I can understand that and won’t consider you a troll, but the lurking trolls that get upset over someone else’s opinion and stealth downvotes people are just silly.
One anime I dropped for being bad was Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou is getting a lot of praise and barely any criticism. It’s artstyle is only good during action scenes and the plot is meh, this anime has a better plot and artstyle, but gets crapped on with each episode.
I shouldn’t have to say this, but all of this is my very own opinion, that’s my disclaimer for the people who disagree with whatever I said and thinks I was stating my opinion as a fact.
I thought i clicked Reply, but Chrome has failed me. I wish we could edit our comments or at least delete them.
The fact of the matter is that this show possesses many plot elements that were constructed in a manner which can and will cause many people to perceive a problem of quality. Remember the beginning of the season when my severely critical comment got trashed by an astounding number of downvoters? Fact: Most people started out loving this show- then suddenly nine episodes in the same people are now disappointed with it and saying the same things I predicted that they would say over a month ago (Irie’s writing skills are questionable, etc.). What is occurring here is not a case of the “sheeple effect.” Remember what I said there about how over time emotional luster is lost and eventually it will not suffice to make up for an illogical plot in the long run for the vast majority of viewers? I knew at the time that this would occur at some point in the future, perhaps disappointing someone in a rewatch session- but I did not expect it to happen nearly as soon as it did. And it did occur this soon because the show continued to spew out logically incoherent plot elements at an unbelievable rate while expecting it all to be obfuscated by emotional effect.
Granted, KamiInai’s is much more emotionaly compelling than your average show- if there’s one thing Irie’s good at it’s knowing how to pull heartstrings. But the emotional obfuscation of broken logic is a technique that must be used calculatingly- you cannot simply continue to throw out illogical plot elements and expect emotional compulsion to sufficiently obfuscate all of it for the majority of the target demographic. There comes a point where your plot accumulates so many logical inconsistencies that no amount of emotion will be able to maintain a majority positive impression within your target demographic, particularly because emotional effect wanes over time.
I honestly thought that Irie was well aware of the potential hazards of the technique he/she was employing and that illogical plot elements would be conciously minimized to levels low enough to maintain an emotional illusion of consistency. But evidently this was not done and since the death of Humpnie, KamiInai has progressively accumulated a critical mass of logical inconsistencies in its plot to the point where its decaying emotional appeal can no longer cover for it all, causing the balance of dissenters and fans in within its target demographic to tip in favor of the dissenters.
The opinions of any individual, you or I, are after all altogether irrelevant. How a show is ultimately remembered, its legacy, is the aggregate opinion of the subset of society that cares to partake in it; its target demographic. A lasting legacy is a primary goal of nigh every author and using inherently psychologically divisive plot techniques like the emotional obfuscation of broken logic is more or less never a good idea if you’re reaching for the stars, let alone the egregious overuse of it because you end up creating too much dissent among the audience in the long run. Like I said, schoolboy error…
I agree with you. I think a majority of people just agree with the blogger and don’t have their own opinions or just choose not to post them out of fear of getting downvoted by trolls that don’t like others not following the popular opinion. If you downvote someone and actually reply with your reasons for why you don’t agree, I can understand that and won’t consider you a troll, but the lurking trolls that get upset over someone else’s opinion and stealth downvotes people are just silly.
One anime I dropped for being bad was Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou is getting a lot of praise and barely any criticism. It’s artstyle is only good during action scenes and the plot is meh, this anime has a better plot and artstyle, but gets crapped on with each episode.
I shouldn’t have to say this, but all of this is my very own opinion, that’s my disclaimer for the people who disagree with whatever I said and thinks I was stating my opinion as a fact.
Glad to see that someone is having the same thoughts as I do.
Yeah, you are also totally right. Everyone is free to say her/his opinion, but the points you stated are mainly facts.
Wish all people would always say what they think and not hide behind the opinion of another person, in the case of randomc, behind the author, whatsoever…
@Magoiichi: I think a majority of people just agree with the blogger and don’t have their own opinions or just choose not to post them out of fear of getting downvoted by trolls that don’t like others not following the popular opinion.
The merits and flaws of the up/down vote system is too broad of a topic to adequately discuss here (too OT as well) so I’ll skip that for the most part. I will say that I do think there is a greater “burden of proof” placed on negative comments than positive ones. Whether and to what extent that is “unfair” is another lengthy OT debate. I also agree that ideally more people would explain why they disagree when down voting as applicable (no need to feed the trolls). Perhaps one of the RC staff may wish to post a new topic/thread about the above issues specifically.
I realize that is just your opinion, etc., however, when you make a broad generalization which insinuate that most commentators are “sheeple” who simply bleat out the same opinions as the blogger, it’s a bit difficult not take notice at the very least. Some perhaps, but a majority seems a bit extreme, at least I hope so.
I certainly have not nor will “just agree with the blogger”. I’ve politely disagreed (and posted as much) with several of the RC staff at one point or another. In addition, I take extra time to explain in detail the underlying rationale for my statements (according to a few, too much detail “tl:dr”). Frankly, I’ve been more critical of late because I honestly have been dissatisfied with a number of resent shows – including Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou which you mention. I’m not sure how you conclude “getting a lot of praise and barely any criticism” from the most recent episode comments.
@fineyristensen:
See above but more so. You state that Magoiichi’s points are “mainly facts”, but they are not. Even that post author expressly states this. If you are unhappy with negative comments, at least for me, it would be MUCH more persuasive and informative if you would actually list reasons why you like the show rather than blanket opinions. For example: “Kami-sama’s plot is far from your generic, typical fantasy anime. I like the fact that the show approaches complex concepts such as the absence of God and what it means to be “human” while never becoming overly patronizing…”
If I am supposed to take the time to delineate supporting rationale for my criticisms of the show, I think it’s only fair that those who disagree to bear the same burden. Lastly, IMO if you really enjoy the show – you win. I’d MUCH rather have more shows in which I honestly enjoy than ultimately left unfulfilled and/or dissatisfied which has increasingly been the case.
I’m just glad that there are normal relationships in this show, no yaoi or yuri undertones, no incest and no loli or shota