Kamisama Hajimemashita - 04

[gallery link="file" columns="4" orderby="title"]

A mix of serious moments with some reverse harem fun, shouldn't work but it does.

Ever since the first episode I knew that Kamisama Hajimemashita had a reverse harem element, a fact that made me question picking up the anime. I don't dislike reverse harems but if history is any indication I will end up dropping 99% of them after 3 episodes. Kamisama Hajimemashita falls into the rare 1% that make it through.

Oddly enough, the reverse harem isn't all that amusing. Yes there are moments where Tomoe's anger and over-protectiveness provide a flew laughs, but for the most part this episode was serious in tone. It's times like these that I'm reminded of Natsume Yuujichou, although I suppose that this episode was about loneliness hence triggering the nostalgia (the biggest recurring theme in the aforementioned series).

Nanami has been developing slowly and one might say that she hasn't done anything noteworthy in the episodes, but we often forget that she is a heroine in a romantic comedy. She is coming into her own as the lead, and this episode there was a lot more focus on her which I enjoyed because frankly speaking, I was worried that Tomoe would be the one to carry the series and leave Nanami in the dust.

The newest member of the cast is the White Snake Mizuki. My guess is that Mizuki is the straightforward serious ayakashi in the crew who will stir the pot when it comes to the romance aspect. In the episode he came across as a weak and broken and then he was saved by Nanami, leading to the inevitable attraction a la shojo. Looking at the current male cast, his timid demeanour adds some sorrow to the Kamisama Hajimemashita series which fits in with the "primary" plot.

As the episode ended, there was more serious one-sided romantic development between Nanami and Tomoe. Good or bad, the story seems to be developing into something unexpected, which could potentially make the series better or worse. I personally started watching and blogging this series because it was a refreshing shojo comedy that I don't watch very often and if that were to change, I'd hope it was change for the better. We were told from the start about the romance so it's expected. Nevertheless, its execution is key to maintaining the quality.