When a new Goddess appears, things won’t go easy for Keima.
What They Say:
Keima, a high school student, is an avid player of romantic simulation games. He is known on the Internet as the “Divine Capturer” for his legendary skills to “capture” any 2D girl in games. In his real school life, Keima is considered nothing but a gloomy geek with thick glasses.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the show moving into its fourth day here, we’ve had some decent pieces going on so far with what Keima and Haqua are doing in trying to find the goddesses, but they’ve also hit a lot of roadblocks and a few surprises as it’s gone on. I’ve really enjoyed seeing Keima being so proactive here and going at it in a way that challenges him and his style, realizing that he can’t quite play the game in the same way. But as the lyrics in the opening song go, he’s realizing that it’s not exactly a game anymore either as there’s real danger to the people that have these goddesses within them, and we’re seeing that twist and nudge along a bit more when it comes to Kanon and how she’s been afflicted by it all.
While some of the background plots are moving forward in small ways, one with Kanon being discovered and another with Keima doing more of his “homework” to advance his mission, things take an interesting turn when he gets accosted at the library by the doll known as Luna, who belongs to Tsukiyo. As it turns out, the doll seems to be possessed by one of the goddesses, Vulcanus, and is making her play to threaten and punish him for what he’s meddling in. It’s a pretty big move on Vulcanus’ part since she makes quite a mess of the place, and it rightly makes Keima all the more nervous about things since so much of this is starting to become a lot more public with what’s going on, which could lead to some real trouble should it be seen.
In dealing with Tsukiyo, or more specifically of course with Vulcanus as she controls the doll and Tsukiyo, That has its moments to be sure and some of the dialogue is quite good, but the show shifts well to having the group at large try and deal with the problem at hand when it comes to how Kanon’s becoming more difficult to deal with. They manage to ease, with a little help from others, the problems that she’s having and stop her from being on death’s door all too soon, but they also set things up for a side quest (in Keima’s eyes), but he also works things in his favor in a way that truly befits someone who has grown up playing games and making snap judgments in order to achieve the end goals. There’s some nice maneuvers that go on here and with so many people aware of what’s going on, the show continues to have an interesting feel about it compared to the previous seasons where it was all about Elsie and Keima.
In Summary:
The World God Only Knows definitely is a different show than what we had in the first two seasons and because of the gap in adapting the source material, I’m definitely wondering how well all of that progressed to get to this point and if it’s a lot more natural feeling than it is here. That said, I’m definitely enjoying the show even if it has a darker tone and feeling to it because it is changing things up and not just resting on doing more of the same. Each episode draws you in more, expands more with the cast involved and how they’re connected and still manages to have the right kinds of fun. With Keima making some deals and adjusting the situations in his favor as best as he can, it’s very enjoyable to watch him work here while seeing the way he tries to get everything fixed as best as possible.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.