かんなぎ Episode 01
Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens 01
Kannagi 01

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

A young boy is collecting a spider to show and frighten his friend Tsugumi when a miko (Shinto shrine maiden) stops him, patting him on the head in a friendly way. A gust of wind arises and the miko and the spider are gone, leaving the boy to wonder.

It is a few years later and the boy, Jin, has carved a female figure from a large log. He’s going to take it to school (apparently), but it is too heavy to walk with, so he gets his bike to wheel it in. However, the statue seems to pull dirt in and grow until it bursts open and a girl is inside. The girl has the same face as the miko from earlier. Naturally Jin is stunned by this and after the girl marvels over her human form, she accepts Jin’s offer of tea, even if it is the cheap stuff. Jin wonders what she is and having a strong sense of spirits, he wonders if she’s a ghost. The girl seems a bit annoyed by this and decides to educate Jin — she’s a kami (a deity) and a land one at that. The girl wonders about her form and hearing that the sacred tree has been cut down, the girl is not furious, then stunned.

After hearing Jin’s explanation of what happened to the tree, she attacks Jin for turning her tree into a carving from which she emerged. She denies having a memory of Jin from the past and wonders what will happen because the guardian tree has been removed. A dark, centipede-looking thing craws onto the girl, causing her an injury on her leg. The girl identifies the bug as an impurity born due to the guardian tree having been cut down. She’s surprised when Jin can remove the impurity and even exorcise it. She’s depressed by this since she’d said he couldn’t do that and wonders how someone without training can do such a thing.

The girl perks up at hearing about TV and watches a mahou shoujo anime. Since the girl has limited powers in her body, she decides the mahou shoujo route is the way to go. With a baton and Shinto streamers, she has Jin gather three spider impurities, which she exorcises with her wand. That done, she introduces herself as Nagi, same as the tree. They return to the shrine house, where she asks for tai fish but Jin can’t afford such an offering. Instead, he gives her taiyaki, the fish-shaped pastry. Nagi loves it. As Nagi eats, she announces that she’ll be living with Jin since she needs his powers and that she’ll be safe as long as she lives with him.

After diner from the convenience store, Jin has Nagi take a bath first, which she finds quite enjoyable. However, Jin has trouble dealing with Nagi’s underwear for the laundry and realizing that Nagi only has one set of clothes, he goes to the store to pick her up some sweat suits and some panties. Once she’s donned the clothing, Jin instructs her not to answer the phone since he doesn’t want people knowing a girl is living with him while his father is away. However, she doesn’t know exactly what a phone is and when Tsugumi calls, Nagi picks up the receiver, forcing a naked Jin to grab the phone and try to assure his female friend that everything is OK even if he missed school that day. With that, he gives Nagi his room to sleep in and sleeps on a futon in the living room.

Thoughts/Review:

MS suggested that I give this a look-see. Anime blogdom is awash in Kannagi writings, so why not add one more to the mix, eh?

Coming into this as a Kannagi virgin, I knew only the following things going into this anime (beyond that a lot of people blog about it). First, the lead female character is some loli goddess named Nagi. Second, this is supposedly some sort of mahou shoujo harem (or romantic comedy at minimum) title. Third, the mangaka pissed off tons of otkau in Japan who imagined “Nagi-sama” as their loli wife. To be honest, that’s not much of a enticement to watch a series but MS is a good guy (most of the time ^_~ ) and I am a sucker for mahou shoujo titles, when I get talked into watching them.

As to this episode, calling Kannagi “mahou shoujo” is a stretch to be sure. OK, so Nagi has a baton from which she’s hung those streamers used by Shinto priest and miko for exorcisms. However, her being a kami kinda negates the whole mahou shoujo element. That doesn’t matter though. I do like Nagi as a character though. It will be interesting to see where things go, especially since she does seem to take damage from these little bug-like impurities.

As to Jin, in some ways, he seemed like Tenchi. His seiyuu, SHIMONO Hiro, kinda sounds like Tenchi’s seiyuu KIKUCHI Masami at times with Jin’s vocal reactions to some of Nagi’s actions. Being that TM!R is my favorite anime, I guess that comparison doesn’t hurt Kannagi for me. ^_^

So for the first episode, we were given some very basic table setting for what’s to come. I like Nagi, Jin doesn’t bother me at all, and the comedy stuff is nice. I’m not sure if this will get a serious story or not (I somehow get the feeling Nagi will come close to death before it is over but then come back thanks to Jin), but regardless, I’m now on the Kannagi train, even if a latecomer.