Kannagi has a special place in my heart as the show that compelled me to start blogging. Back in those days, I was nothing more than a new-born baby, with no clue what I was doing. Now I’m jaded, awash in a mountain of cigarettes and working on my 4th marriage. Man it’s been a rough 6 months.

Kannagi had a great bunch of characters, and was unfailingly hilarious. I think back over the past year, and I still feel like it’s the best slice of life/comedy in recent memory. So when it returned with episode 14 (or OVA 1 or the DVD special, whatever you want to call it), I was eager to dole out the Kannagi love. So it’s rather disappointing to report that my memories of the show are better than the actual episode, which was pretty boring except for a couple parts towards the end.

Takako and Shino find 10,000 yen lying in the street and decide to use the money to make a movie with the money. I swear this is how doujinshis start out. Things start to go down the X-rated route when Zange-chan pulls off one of her mysterious appearances and flashes some skin to get Takako to give her the lead role with Jin. Takako, slave to the flesh, of course acquiesces to Tsugumi’s dismay. The group then tries to figure out what kind of movie they’d like to film. Takako ultimately gives Akiba the responsibility of meshing the multiple different genres that everyone wants to do, and writing a cohesive script. Akiba, apparently writes a brilliant script that gets the group zipping through a variety of emotions. However, we’ll see that he decided to disregard everyone else’s suggestion and write his own “billion-yen” science fiction masterpiece.

Akiba, the director, shows an flair for interesting camera angles, as they start filming his strange mix of mahou shoujo and alien sci-fi flick. The Tsugumi Mikuru Beam was brilliant. Otherwise, it didn’t make any sense, and wasn’t that entertaining to watch. I don’t think lack of budget was Akiba’s problem. I think Akiba was Akiba’s problem. While lo-budget fare, it lacked the natural quirkiness and the smarmy narrator that made The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina so much more amusing.

Rain spoils the party to create a different party of sorts, as Takako forces everyone to switch from their rain-soaked school uniforms into suzumikus. Again, this felt like a lost opportunity, as there weren’t any laugh out loud scenes, but I always get a kick out of the Tsugumi-Zange scenes. And well… this was really nothing but an opportunity to stick in some DVD-friendly fanservice.

The final third, in which Daitetsu, Akiba, Jin and Nagi return a DVD in torrential downfall, was the most amusing part of the show – relatively speaking. I admit, the flash flood out of nowhere cracked me up, but again the whole scenario was underwhelming. And I feel like the characters were flat and not very engaging. I mean, that’s the best part about the show, the way the characters engage and create hilarity. If this were Hollywood, this would’ve been Ocean’s 13. You know, the movie where everyone’s mailing it in and just going through the motions and the director has to cut in and say “once more. This time with feeling.”

My displeasure with this episode notwithstanding, I still want to see Takako take that stack of money and use it to create a second season of Kannagi. This OVA didn’t reflect the best of Kannagi, but I think there’s still plenty more storyline to explore, and hijinks to be had. Plus moar Tsumugi is always a good thing.

I wasn’t familiar with the manga, but based on the buzz, I had pretty high hopes for Kannagi coming into the season (or at least high hopes for Haruka Tomatsu), and by the end, the show managed to meet and exceed most of those expectations. It was the zany, episodic, slightly romantic comedy I was looking for.

Even though they’re not really similar shows, it’s hard for me not to mention Lucky Star when talking about Kannagi, what with the choreographed dance intro, the shared director and the in-episode references, but they share the same charm and similar focus on making the characters memorable.

The characters are what makes Kannagi so awesome. You’ve got a good mix of the standard character stereotypes: the bashful and inexperienced harem guy, the unpredictable, loud-mouthed girl who walks in on the main guy’s life, and the insecure childhood best friend. And then you’ve got the crazy, zany characters like the light prostituting Nun-cosplay idol, the hardcore otaku, the perverted fujoshi, and the huge, but sensitive art prodigy. They’re all loveable and enjoyable on their own merits. But the best part is the relationships between them, gives each of them a chance to shine, without it making them seem like they’re one-shot, one-dimensional punchlines-in-waiting. So when Akiba says “It’s a sony!” or Tsugumi’s fighting with Zange about who gets to feed Jin, it all feels more natural, which ends up making them, and the show, that much funnier.

Kannagi’s “story” from an episode to episode standpoint was comedic gold. The closet ep, the love square ep, the karaoke ep, the maid cafe ep. Kannagi had the most memorable episodes I’ve seen since Haruhi. But the overarching dramatic storyline faltered as the season went on. They built up a little bit of intrigue around Nagi, Zange, bodysnatching, the race to become an idol and Godhood, but never delivered on it. In fact Zange’s bodysnatching storyline seemed to have been completely dropped (although I imagine they’ll pick it back up in a future season – perhaps they should’ve planned a 24 episode season in advance). And the pacing in the last couple episodes really suffers because it focuses mainly on Jin’s depression. But that aside, there wasn’t a single episode that didn’t at least bring a smile to my face at one point, if it didn’t leave me in side-splitting laughter.

I’ll always caveat myself by saying I’m not an animation fanatic, and only really good (or really poor) animation quality will standout to me, but the show looked great. Obviously there’s no battle scenes or heavy action animation, but all the character designs standout and a lot of the attention was paid to the little details and expressions, like when Jin or Nagi would be surprised and their hair would fly back, which made it a joy to watch.

I really like the OP, it’s a good song with some cool choreographing. Maybe it’s no Hare Hare Yukai or Motteke! Sailor Fuku, but I love Nagi’s choreographed dance, particularly in the “babyface” and “driving” sections, as well as the scenes they choose to show during it. Otherwise, I didn’t think the music really stood out, the BGM was pretty plain, and the ED is your standard mellow ballad. The only exception would be during the Karoake episode, in which all the songs and performances were pure win.

If it hasn’t been clear, I loved this show. For better or worse, it was like the Lucky Star, Minami-Ke of the season for me. A light-hearted comedy with a lot of heart that I could look forward to watching every week, because I knew it wouldn’t fail to deliver the comedic goods. Here’s hoping there’ll be a season 2 to continue the awesomeness.

And just in case you haven’t seen the cuteness that is Haruka Tomatsu. Check it out:

The beginning of the episode picks up right where episode twelve left off, with Jin sulking in front of his locker.

Fortunately for him, Tsugumi kicks him right in the balls (figuratively speaking, and dresses him down for acting like such a wuss. Kudos to Tsugumi. She’s not just a cute overran, but she’s a cute overran with a spine. Luckily for the rest of his, this snaps Jin out of his funk and he chases after Nagi with Tsugumi providing support. How Jin could possibly be the one person in Japan who doesn’t have a computer in his house boggles my mind. But luckily for him, Tsugumi has connections to the interwebs, which turns out to be all the help they need, since Nagi is somewhat of a hometown celebrity.

While I thought the dramatic scenes in the past couple eps were unnecessarily melodramatic, I thought the reunion scene was actually pretty touching. And even if it was a bit k-drama-esque. The mood fit. Kudos to Haruka Tomatsu. This is really the first time I’ve heard her go into a very dramatic mode and I thought she did a fantastic job showing Nagi’s vulnerability and lack of confidence in the situation. And I guess I couldn’t let it pass without also giving kudos to Hiro Shimono on his job with Jin. The writers basically plopped a very melodramatic scene into a pretty random comedy, and both the VOs ran with it.

With all the drama out of the way, they leave with a cute Nagi x Jin scene and come back home to a scene with Daitetsu trying to figure out the answering machine, which had me laughing out loud.

And then it’s full on fanservice and comedy mode, featuring Zange’s new hilarious hit song about dolphins or some sort of nonsense, Jin’s naughty thoughts of Nagi, then his naughty thoughts realized when he knocks Nagi down, leaving her conveniently covered by her hair and a corner of a towel.

Of course, you knew Tsugumi walks in at the worst possible moment, and proceeds to completely flip out, but like past events, just knowing that it’s coming makes it that much more hilarious when it does. Actually, I think everything Tsugumi-related is hilarious. I’ve read that her role diminishes in future volumes of the manga, which would be sad to see, as she’s become maybe my favorite character in the show. Ah well, we’ll always have season one, her fried eggs and vegetables and constant losing battles with Zange and Nagi.

Some final thoughts to follow, but while I was slightly disappointed with the last couple eps, this one ends the show with a bang, literally and figuratively. Here’s hoping for future seasons. *fingers crossed*

Kannagi took a very sharp dramatic turn halfway through last episode, and they pick up where they left off, only increasing the melodrama this episode. Whereas last episode, I thought the dramatic shift was awkward, this episode, I thought the comedic bits were actually a bit clumsily dispersed.

I’ve mentioned this before, but for an episodic comedy, they really do a good job of making sure there’s week-to-week continuity. It’s the little things that count. Like Jin’s injuries from last week not magically disappearing. And all the girls in the hall scrambling and whispering every time Daitetsu approaches Jin.

Good to know that even in the Kannagi world, godhood = kickass powers. That was not just your simple teenage nun-cosplay idol ass whooping there. Pretty awesome to see, but it was a pretty random scene too. I guess it’s supposed to show Jin that Zange has some major powers, but it came out of left field.

Equally random was Norio Wakamoto’s silly cameo. Oh how far Charles Britannia has fallen. The best part of this was Zange’s quick change to cute mode. It’s one of the cute dynamics rules. If you go from kickass to cute in a split second, the cute gets amplified by an exponential factor. There’s a Nobel prize waiting for someone who’ll do more research on this.

For a second, I thought even Takako was going to get through an episode without being outrageous for once. Apparently they’re still holding out for more of a code red, terror alert type of situation before you’d ever see her completely serious.

I like Jin’s descent into madness- I mean despair. Desperation makes you do crazy things. And while I think he became extremely depressed surprisingly quickly, I thought the way he responded was pretty well written.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad episode. There was some important information between Jin’s conversations with the shrine keepers and with Zange, and while they ended up raising more questions than the answered: is Nagi really a God, or a random spirit the sacred tree attracted? I doubt they’re going to answer that next week though, because I think Jin’s pretty much accepted that Nagi is just Nagi. I’d also be surprised if they got any answers to Zange’s bodysnatching ways, so at least they’ve got plenty of fodder for a possible second season.

Episode 11 of Kannagi takes a sudden turn towards the dark and serious. I actually thought the transition was sort of abrupt and thus felt a bit out of place, but it’s good to see them go back and start moving the plot forward again.

But of course, not before some good old fashioned mahou shoujo parody. I’ve never watched a mahou shoujo, but based on all the parodies I’ve seen of them, I think I haven’t been missing out on much. I gotta say that was one helluva long fight scene though.

One thing I really like about the series is that there’s continuity from episode from episode. So the things that happen in standalone episodes carry through, which just makes the situations that much funnier. The Jin as two-timing playboy will never stop cracking me up.

Oh Takako and her brilliantly perverted mind. This game would be an instant bestseller.

And then the second half of the episode takes a very sudden turn towards the dark and mysterious. I have to wonder about Hakua/Zange’s dad. He seems unphased by Jin’s “Nagi as God” theory, and then questions whether she is a God or not, which makes me question a.) how exactly he found out that Zange was possessing his daughter’s body and b.) what does he know about Zange and Nagi for that matter. I’m also wondering how much Zange knows about herself and Nagi, since in past episodes, she seemed to have more power and better control over it. No doubt the more mysterious, godlike version of Nagi’s personality will show up to shake things up and shed some light.

The Karaoke ep. It’s eponymous. Like the White album.

This week on Lucky Star, Konata mixes it up by bringing some guys into the mix. This was also the scene of the battle 0.5 between Zange and Tsugumi, which was the best part of the episode IMO.

For some reason, this was the first ep where I noticed that Shino never opens her eyes. Funny, because they come back to it at the end.

Zange and Tsugumi battle 1.0. Zange draws first blood by playing stupid to seduce Jin to sit next to her.

Not only does Tsugumi’s duet get rejected. Zange quickly swoops into tend to Jin’s heart. Poor Tsugumi.

More crazy shrine maidens!

And then they start singing. It was pretty much as expected. Tsugumi was sort of off key, but cute and nervous. Daitetsu was a hidden virtuoso. Nagi who looks sort of like she belongs in a German beer festival sings a strange song about soybeans, which ends up being endearing in a weird sort of way. Jin, of course, turns out to be horrible. Not bad enough that it’s enjoyable and fun. But bad enough to turn the situation awkward. Although I’ll say from personal experience when people aren’t paying attention and there’s all sorts of other things going on in the room, it’s tough to keep going.

Takako meanwhile doesn’t let Akiba escape without singing an obscure ani-song, which predictably ends up boring everyone else, but was oh so funny.

Meanwhile, it turns out Takako is really the Lord of the Otakus in this universe. I’ve never seen anyone do karaoke like she did in real life. I wonder if it’s one of those things where it’s funny in anime, but no so much in real life. I’d like to see it one day though.

I get the biggest kicks out of Tsugumi’s weekly reactions. Like when Zange dedicates a love song for Jin, and while she turned out to be a surprisingly bad singer, it was in a undeniably cute sort of way. And when she latches onto Jin, it finally sets Tsugumi off. Good for her. That was a pretty ballsy showing. She is not gonna sit back and just take it like your stereotypical spineless childhood friend/crush.

But in the end, it was Daitetsu who steals Jin’s heart, proving that yes, Jin gets whatever he wants. He is an insatiable animal.

The eyes of Shino.

This ep wasn’t as funny as the last few eps, but was still an enjoyable romp. It does seem like they’ve taken a pretty big detour from the main storyline though. I don’t follow the manga, so I don’t know what’s supposed to happen, but I wonder if they’re just planning to stretch it out to a second season.  I mean, at this point, I’ve forgotten what the main story is about. Something about Nagi gaining followers so she can become a super shrine maiden and Zange possessing the body of some girl who likes Jin. Oh well, I’d totally dig a second season, so I’ll just enjoy the ride for now.

“It’s a Sony!”

Another week. Another hilarious episode of Kannagi. This is one show that does not fail to deliver the laughs week-in and week-out. Although they seem to have strayed from the main story a bit, I don’t mind because these “filler” eps have non-stop laughs, and they help to further define the characters and their relationships (unlike say a To Love-ru filler which were just completely vapid). But onto the screens.

Akiba’s been all sorts of funny all season long, although he gets schooled by Takako in the yaoi-lingo scene.

People’s first reactions to doujin always crack me up. I can’t not think of the scene in Lucky Star where Kagami picks up the Souseke-Gauron fanfic, anytime this happens. But Tsugumi decided to go in for seconds. So maybe she’s not as pure-pure as Takako thinks.

This whole scene where Tsugumi was denying Jin being interested in Daitetsu was pure win. Something about the way they animated her flailing was incredibly cute. It was sort of like a cross between Elaine’s chicken dance and someone dodging punches.

Of course once Tsugumi accidentally spills the beans the reactions, from the frightened responses to Daitetsu’s not-so-secret admirer, were hilarious.

I’m glad to see Zange back in action. Especially the surprise entrance at Jin’s house. There’s something very Ami Kawashima about her. Actually, I would love to see Zange in battle royale with Ami in trying to steal some hearts. If I were to bet… hmm, it’d be a really good battle I think. I don’t know. I’d give Zange the slight edge, just because of her nun motif.

I’m running out of syllables for hilarious and funny, but the whole scene where they’re discussing Jin “growing up” while looking through naked baby pictures just cracked me up.

The resolution of both Zange and Tsugumi flirting with Jin worked out to fantastic results, with everyone thinking that Jin swung both ways and was like a black hole playboy, just sucking in everything and everyone he desired. They always set this up well, but I love the running gag with Tsugumi only being able to cook veggies and eggs. It never fails to crack me up.

More for the weekly funny faces gag. The only other anime I’ve seen that rivals Kannagi in funny face hilarity was Seto no Hanayome, which was even more random and outrageous than Kannagi.

So Daitetsu and his runaway train imagination was in full force for this episode, both figuratively and literally. I’m glad they picked up the thread that I wrote about before, mainly, why wasn’t anyone commenting on Jin apparently being attracted to his sister. Daitetsu’s imagination when he seemed to catch on was hilarious, and took a turn for the better when he overheard Nagi talking to Jin about not spilling the beans. Nagi is apparently pretty Zero Louise-esque in Diatetsu’s mind.

Things take a turn for the serious when Nagi fully freaks out Daitetsu, causing him to race to the shrine to repent for stealing the Holy Tree. Perhaps Nagi really does have a dual personality.

But this being a lighthearted show doesn’t hang on the drama too long, instead opting to go into Diatetsu’s obsession with finding out what was going on with hilarious results.

Of course, this wouldn’t be Kannagi without some random bits of violence and humor, like the random blue dude and green haired fairy running out of the bathroom. I know there’s a reference to something in there.

The characters are all so likable, even when the reaction are predictable, I still find them funny. And that’s really what I like about the show. I care less about how the whole Nagi/Goddess angle actually pans out, because I so thoroughly enjoy the ride along the way.

One of the things I love about this show is the facial expressions – they’re simply hilarious. Even in an episode where the main star was in a closet all episode, it didn’t fail to crack me up from Jin:

to Diatetsu:

to Tsugumi, who’s quickly becoming a favorite of mine:

I also liked that they brought back an old joke. Apparently, Tsugumi’s cooking skills haven’t improved since last week:

And more Tsugumi goodness; her conscious, but unrepentant mean side cracks me up.

Initially, I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t pick up where the story ended last week, but for a filler ep, it was pretty damn funny. Kannagi’s a really well written show. It’s well paced, and the comedic timing is perfect, which makes every episode feel like it’s flying by. With 6 more episodes left, I don’t know what sort of conclusion they’re driving to, but I hope there’s a second season on the horizon.

Why do I love this show?

Because Nagi is such a loose cannon. I typically really dislike girls like these in real life (not that I know very many like Nagi). But in the anime world I find them so irresistible. And hilarious.

Oh yeah, and apparently even gods have body image issues.

Tsugumi you sly devil you. Another one that’s unfailingly funny.

If I were Jin, I’d be most embarrassed by everyone thinking that I was crushing on my half-sister. Thankfully they’re not related (the cousin-love storylines always weird me out), but no one else knows that. That’d be the first thing I clarified to everyone.

Nagi is not my sister! Honto ni!

Unsurprisingly no one seems to bat an eye at that fact though. There must be a culture gap here somewhere. If I knew someone who was crushing on his half-sister, I… I… I think I would never speak of it under any circumstance.

This also cracked me up. My reaction was the same as Akiba’s. Tsundere characters are also irresistible. Maybe because they’re pretty rare in the real world too.

In the end, I’m glad Jin got his confession out there. I feel bad for Tsugumi, but it seems like she never really had a chance.