Review: Kamichu!

“We found out here, didn’t we? Do you think I’ve grown a little bit since then?”

Kamichu is one of the most delightful series I’ve seen in recent times. It’s mildly divine story of the daily life of a middle school girl that learns that she is a god unfolds as an off-beat character drama about youth, friendship, and introspection is one that really touched me.

Unlike other anime that deal with humans with supernatural abilities, Yurie doesn’t learn about her divinity through a mysterious encounter with a godly figure, inheriting awesome powers, or a dramatic childhood event that eventually ‘unlocks’ latent abilities. Instead, Kamichu starts with Yurie simply eating lunch at school with her friend Mitsue. She takes a few bites of her tamagoyaki with bright pink chopsticks, gazing listlessly out the window as she chews a few times between each bite. Only after 16 whole seconds of this does Yurie turn to Mitsue and say “Mitsue-chan, I’ve become a god”. Mitsue, unfazed, responds with “of what?” as she pokes a straw in her juice box. Yurie looks down, poking at her bento despondently replying, “I don’t know, I just became one last night”. Mitsue responds with cheekily placing a small herb on Yurie’s bento claiming its “an offering”. This is the overall vibe of this series: a slow paced, low-stakes school-life series about a girl who just one day is a god, and her friends who stay close to her.

Each of Kamichu’s episodes tells its own story not really about Yurie’s godly adventures, but these stories deal with the town she lives in and the people around her, as they are the things Yurie values in life. Even on those few episodes where Yurie does go on supernatural adventures such as meeting an alien, finding a sunken ship, and visiting the spirit world, her troubles at these times are actually pretty pedestrian as she worries often about communicating with people different to her, adapting to a new environment, and learning how to help others. Above all, Yurie is a girl in middle school and has the same worries and troubles as one would, making friends, helping the people around you, and talking to your crush without getting nervous, grades, and just general growing up woes. Her divinity never changes that, as it’s not a problem-solver (or even a problem creator) but gives her new perspective to understand herself a little better through experiencing things and interacting with others.

Yurie comes to encounter many different people, gods, and animals over these 16 episodes, slowly understanding herself within the social circles of her best friends, her school, and her town, even when she forays to the national and spiritual worlds. While this series operates on many levels with strong theming, its true charm lies in the moment-to-moment feeling rather than its stories. As the centerpiece of such stories due to her godly nature, Yurie is often flustered, unsure how to act, nervous about what she should say or do, a very relatable feeling. In these times she looks to the people closest to her, relying on her friends for support and for a source of inspiration. Mitsue and Matsuri always have Yurie’s back, accepting her worries while being themselves too, they are the best friends anyone can ask for.

Masunari and the various directors who worked on this show really did an exemplary job at depicting this vibe. Every animated movement of these cute and undetailed character designs are slow, deliberate, and expressive. With simple, expressive facial and body motions, you can always tell what Yurie and the others are thinking, a lovely level of character animation. The backgrounds are simply stunning too, beautifully showing off Onomichi, with the town divided by the straight and the surrounding forests and mountains. There is much care in showing the locations where Yurie and her friends live. The mountain where the shrine is located, the boat crossing Yurie takes every day to go to school, and many other shots work well to establish the visual environment that she lives. It’s such a scenic but lived location, brought to life by the people that inhabit all the background and transition shots. Finally, MAKO’s performance as Yurie must be noted. As her first anime voice role somehow MAKO completely nails Yurie’s characteristics completely. An adorable scruffball taking big but hesitant steps to life, Yurie is played with a young cuteness in her high-pitched qualms, but also with some mature vulnerability, in the way she hesitates and drops her voice when she’s dealing with something serious. In particular the scene where she expresses her stress on the roof of her visiting school is spectacular, and of course her scenes with Kenji. All of this is accompanied by wonderfully calm background music. The soft guitar and piano riffs accentuate the ups and downs of school and social life, and the wood instruments build up the emotions that have been inside Yurie and her companions. This was truly a subtle feast for the eyes and the ears.

Kamichu is nothing short of a wonderful, heartwarming series. A series that despite its story of divine happenings and beings, is very ordinary, dealing with everyday things. Despite Yurie’s inquiry about what kind of god she is at the start of the series, her growth is entirely emotional rather than spiritual. There is no episode where Yurie, for instance, misuses her godly powers for personal gain and learns a lesson in selflessness, instead Yurie chases after the god Yashima-sama after he tries to run away and convinces him to stay in Onomichi. Yurie’s journey in Kamichu is not one of accepting or learning about her divinity, instead its something much more personal and inspirational. Over the course of Kamichu, Yurie becomes less shy, is able to share with others and express her own feelings, not through hardened experience but through exploring her own sensitivity. Navigating each of the episodic stories, Yurie takes risks, experiencing whimsy and intrigue, but also anxiety and self-doubt. This all culminates in the final two episodes, where she finally reflects over what has happened, hoping she has grown even just a little bit as she takes big steps forward to learn who she is (as a person) and figure out what she wants.

I’d like to conclude with a little bit of thinking about Yurie’s divinity as a status. As I mentioned earlier, much of the focus of Kamichu is on Yurie as a person rather than the godly adventures she goes on. Nothing visibly changes about Yurie after learning she’s become a god, but it still something that she, and everyone around her are aware of. Still retaining her identity as a classmate and a person, Yurie’s status as a god consciously sets her apart from her peers. While her school community comes to accept her and be friendly with her though still acknowledging her difference, she becomes conscious of just how much her divinity sets her apart from others in the other school she visits. I’m not trying to say that Yurie’s godhood is a direct metaphor for something, but the way that it operates like a social mark of differentiation is something that is relatable to many people, including myself, which is why Yurie’s growth is so important to me to see.

Thank you so much for reading, have a wonderful day!