Kannazuki no Miko

A timid young girl named Himeko has a fateful meeting with Chikane, the elegant daughter of an obscenely wealthy family. There's an immediate emotional connection between them, but Chikane, bound by protocol and social convention, finds herself unable to act on her feelings while Himeko is kind of dating her bland childhood friend Souma. By the time the first credit sequence plays out it's revealed that they're the latest reincarnations of shrine maidens who must defend the world from a mythical beast who wants to destroy it for some reason. Ooookay. The more I watched this show the more convinced I became that it's all anelaborate pisstake. Let's take the bad guys, who include a busty vixen, a loli catgirl, a failed pop star, and a bored manga artist. They attack the maidens and Souma randomly, usually one at a time and with no apparent strategy, in giant robots that literally appear out of nowhere. After the battles the girls return to their normal (relatively speaking) lives as if nothing had happened. It's full of clichés and self-consciously dramatic moments like heart wrenching speeches and sudden gusts of wind that signify events of great meaning. It laughs in the face of concepts such as subtlety. But, really, that's all window dressing. Kannazuki no Miko is really about the developing relationship between Chiakne and Himeko. The problem is that Chikane is the only interesting character in the entire show. Himeko is continually bawling and wallowing in doubt and self pity. Souma is the stereotypical hot blooded love interest who'd do anything to protect his object of affection and he shouts a lot. Ugh, who cares? The bad guys spend most of the show standing around in their own little dimension doing nothing, and receive token development by way of a brief image montage. Yet there was something that kept me coming back for more. It was certainly not the clunky animation, bland designs, or pedestrian direction. It might have been the promise of hot girl-on-girl action or simply the trainwreck-like quality of the storytelling. Kannazuki no Miko is pure soap opera melodrama and I was unable to tear my eyes away from the carnage unfolding on my screen. It's utterly awful but in a strangely compelling way.

I don't even know why I liked this series. It's another "we have to save the world with giant robots" anime, with anime staples such as catgirls, bishounen, and panty shots, all spiced up with some blatant lesbianism. It's a joke in premise alone, but the follow-through makes it a surprisingly capable tale of forbidden love. As you can probably tell, I wasn't expecting anything overreaching with Kannazuki. I wasn't disappointed. The anime sticks to a giant robot battle formula for the first half with just the slightest hints about where Chikane and Himeko's budding relationship is going. Fortunately for viewers, a huge twist awaits andthe redemption goes full-throttle to the very end. So why sit through the first half? Chikane. Chikane is the center of this guilty pleasure. Himeko, Souma, the bishounen priests and the Orochi are all dull as dishwater. Chikane is the ray of light that shines on this series for six episodes. Her inner turmoil between being Himeko's friend and her growing desire to be her lover are intriguing enough to warrant the rest of the crap the series throws at you. This is where they payoff comes though, as Chikane's personal anguish becomes the center of the story before long and thus Himeko's character becomes much more interesting. Everyone else though... yeah. The animation itself has its ups and downs. The sharp hard lines turn me off a little, but the flow and detail are all good. It's a solid production but nothing remarkable. The music has a subtle but distinct air to it, coming from the (personally) underrated composer Mina Kubota also responsible for the score of Kaleido Star. The great BGM is sandwiched between a techno-flavored OP and a less dancy but equally energetic ED, both of which are sung by the prolific KOTOKO. I enjoyed this anime far, far more than I probably should have. It's melodrama will not be to everyone's tastes and a few will probably abandon ship somewhere in the ridiculous first half, but those that carry a flag for Chikane and Himeko or yuri anime in general will hardly be let down. Overall, Kannazuki no Miko gets a 8 out of 10.

Ugh. Talk about an anime that started off so well and quickly deteriorated into a disappointment. The first episode of Kannazuki no Miko impressed me so much—the animation quality, the seemingly likeable characters, the potential for romance, even the mecha battles. I really thought this would be a yuri that I would actually enjoy. But as the series progressed, I soon realized that the romance was mushy and the story and characters were as generic as can be. The story is, or at least started off, cliché. An ancient evil (called the Orochi) revives and the fate of the world rests in the hands of twohigh school girls, Himeko and Chikane, who must become the Solar Priestess and the Lunar Priestess, respectively. Turns out, however, that one of the Orochi, Souma, is in love with Himeko and chooses to fight against the rest of the Orochi. Chikane, at the same time, decides to go yuri on Himeko. In fact, the romance in KnM is pretty much a battle between het and yuri, as Himeko doesn’t know whether to choose Souma or Chikane. Chikane gets Himeko in the end, but either way, the romance was mushy at best, if not downright corny. Souma’s catchphrase seems to be “I’ll protect you!” and Chikane says to Himeko at one point, “Your smile….your smile is my sun.” Needless to say, as a yuri, KnM offers a fair amount of fanservice, with plenty of shower scenes and girls stripping (though such scenes lessen towards the end of the series). There’s also a yuri rape scene. Of course, nothing is actually shown; it’s all left up to your creative imaginations. The Orochi fight using mechas, and I actually didn’t mind the mecha action, though I did get tired of Souma using the same attack over and over again. The Orochi themselves are diverse and have dark pasts (and thus have a reason to be evil), but they’re all based on anime stereotypes—a catgirl, a pop idol, a mangaka, and a juvenile delinquent, to name a few. Though I liked some of them, I also found them to be unoriginal. Which brings me to my next point. The characters are generic. There’s the main character’s best friend, who does nothing other than comfort said main character. There are three jealous girls who relentlessly bully the main character. There’s the caring older brother, who just happens to be a bishie. These types of characters can be found in just about any other common anime. Even the lead characters are uninspired. Chikane and Souma are over-idealized, perfect characters. Souma seemingly has no problem at all dispatching the other Orochi. It doesn’t matter that he’s second to the lowest ranked Orochi; he’s a good guy, so he can’t possibly lose. Himeko herself is a weak, even annoying, lead. She always needs protection; she never can do anything herself. And worse yet, she doesn’t have any character development. In the beginning she depends on Chikane for support, and in the end she still needs her. The soundtrack is standard, never really standing out except for the overly dramatic opera music during battles (which annoyed me) and the theme that plays throughout the series (which I liked). The OP and ED are sung by Kotoko, which will please you Kotoko fans, but overall are decent but not particularly memorable. Animation is perhaps the series’ strongest point. I loved the sharp, detailed character designs, and the girls certainly make for nice eye candy. The backgrounds are average, however. In short… Pros -A nice epilogue. -Decent mecha action. -Impressive animation. -Ayako Kawasumi voices Himemiya Chikane. -If you like to laugh at corniness, here’s a classic exchange between Himeko and Chikane: (Chikane starts crying) Himeko: I’ll be your handkerchief. Chikane: How nice. A handkerchief made of the sun. Cons -The final three episodes are difficult to get through, largely due to the two girls spewing soppy proclamations of love to each other. -Annoying or overly-idealized main characters. -Minimal to no character development. -Clichéd story. -Melodramatic romance. -Average soundtrack. Bottom Line Well, if you’re a hardcore yuri fan, then you’ll want to add this to your list as soon as possible. Otherwise, I think that, if not for the soppy romance and weak leads, there’s some untapped potential here for quite an entertaining series.

My goodness, what an interesting show this was to watch. Had many good qualities and bad qualities and plenty of fan service. I can't say that I am disappointed in the slightest, especially with the great ending it had. Acting for the most part is quite mixed, decent and mediocre at the same time. Now Himeko's voice sounds a little spacey and a little scratchy at times as well. Almost like the VA's is trying to do a high voice. While Jennifer Sekiguchi certainly makes for a lovable Himeko acting skills is something to be desired for her. However her co-star Michelle Ruff does wonders withChikane. Ruff brings out Chikane's many characteristics in the best way. The sweet as honey Chikane, the elegant Chikane even the dark and evil Chikane. Ruff once again proves her self to be a voice actress of many talents, and as I said before she did wonders with this character. The other cast is also fairly mixed, decent and mediocre at the same time. With some notables such as Sandy Fox, Melissa Fahn, Kate Higgins, and others, they shine in their roles as the evil orochi. Steve Staley makes for a great Souma Ogami, who brings out the words of compassion for Himeko. The musical score was one of the finest scores for an Anime series of this genre that I have heard. With all the places it could have gone including ditching out altogether, it was refreshing to see a lovely score. However there were some minor problems with it. The cues were a tad predictable and like some of the dialog made it feel very melodramatic. But really that was the only flaw to it, so non the less it had a wonderful feeling to it. The themes I think were somehow fitting. The opening was a very heavy techno-j-pop style and it just seemed to work. Overall my hat's off to Mina Kubota for writing a wonderful score. The animation and style was very beautiful in this. Dark tones and bright tones all mixed together splendidly. The giant robot to each character (with the exception of Miyako and Gorochi) are beyond wonderful. Chikane's eyes also stand out to me, they are like two deep pools full of thought. Overall this is a worthwhile series, so give it a shot. Romance lovers, yuri lovers, you may just like this. As crazy as it is.

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