Anime Review | Kamisama Kiss: Season 2 Collection (Lights, Camera, Action!) Page 1

Anime Review | Kamisama Kiss: Season 2 Collection (Lights, Camera, Action!)

Kamisama Kiss: Season 2 (UK Rating: 12)

This second season follows immediately on after the finale of the first Kamisama Kiss, with Nanami beginning to really come into her own with her role as a Land God. She has mastered the art of purification and crafting talismans, she has familiars under her control, and she has gained the acceptance of the gods. This release from MVM is available now and contains all 12 episodes in both Japanese and English audio, with special commentary for two episodes, trailers and cleaning opening/endings. Watch out! There are spoilers for the first season throughout this review…
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Nanami was a young girl that lost everything in the first season. After her mother died, she was left with her deadbeat gambling father who took all their money and lost their home. Abandoned, without a home, family or friends, she was left alone. A kiss from a stranger bestowed on a godhood on her, though. This godhood came with plenty of responsibilities but also with new friends and a home. Nanami struggled through the first season to learn what this godhood meant, meeting demons (Yokai), learning her powers, and gaining control over her familiars. Now, in this second season, Nanami has come into her own, relying less on her familiars to save her and more saving herself. In fact, she and her familiars have become something of a makeshift family at the shrine.

Now that the Wind God Otohiko has given his approval of Nanami to act as a Land God, he brings her a small test: a Shikigami egg. If she can hatch this egg, she will receive an invite to the Divine Assembly, an annual gathering of the gods. This leads to her being tasked with a quest in the Underworld. Fans who have read the original manga will know this arc as one of the darker and best storylines. This is the second arc of the season, following Nanami as she goes to the land of the Tengu, where it turns out Shinjirou's father is their Lord and has fallen deathly ill, and the successor is something of a tyrant.

The overall presentation is classic shoujo, filled with warm tones and charming characters. The world built in this story has a superb depiction of classic Japanese folklore and myths, there are plenty of Yokai, Tengu and Spirits, and even Japanese gods like Izanami-no-Mikoto. This may be a shoujo romance series at heart, but it isn't cliché. The relationship between Tomoe and Nanami is fantastically funny. Tomoe acts as the tsundere in the relationship, and seeing how Nanami fawns over him while he jabs with snide remarks, is a great original twist on an overused trope. The counter-play between the two is a real highpoint and the extended cast serves to enhance this relationship, especially Tomoe's jealousy whenever any other man gets near Nanami.

While there are only twelve episodes in the series, thanks to the fantastic pacing and storytelling it manages to feel like so much more. It's a shame this didn't get a full season, though, as fans of the original manga will notice the cuts to the story and the ending feels abrupt. Story threads are left hanging and the final episode certainly doesn't feel like a conclusion. A particularly huge plot point in regards to an ancient demon recovering its lost body is set up through the season, just to be left hanging. To be fair, since this season finished in 2015, the manga has concluded, and there was a considerable gap between the first and second season, so a third and final season may yet still happen… one day.

8/10

Great - Silver Award

Kamisama Kiss: Season 2 Collection is a fantastic series, one that transcends the usual "girls show" limit of a shoujo, with great characters and the sort of stories that make for the compulsive "one more episode!" style watching. It has taken a long time to get its English release, but it was worth the wait, and MVM is doing a great job of releasing some missed gems here in the UK.