Featured image: (Pacer Graphic / Darby Self)
“Kamisama Kiss” is a shoujo manga released in Japan on Sept. 19th, 2008 and in English on Dec. 7th, 2010 by author Julietta Suzuki.
The runtime of the manga lasted from 2008 to 2016 and has a collection of 25 volumes. TMS Entertainment adapted the manga into a successful anime which lasted two seasons initially released on Oct. 1, 2012. It is a shorter anime for those who are interested in watching it. The manga goes into a little more detail, but the anime adaptation does faithfully follow the manga.
A Shoujo, for those who aren’t familiar with the term, is a genre of Japanese comics targeting young women which typically follows romantic themes. In simpler terms, it’s a story that usually follows romantic relationships, so like a romance. I would almost say that “Kamisama Kiss” is more of a romantic comedy in some aspects.
Before we get too deep into the characters, you need some background on the story. The manga follows a young high school-aged girl named Nanami Momozono, through a period of homelessness after her father left her behind. I have to say, what was it with early 2000’s Shoujo and the protagonist always being homeless?
Nanami comes across a man who knew her father that leads her to the old shrine that he had been running before.
She finds become the new land god of the shrine to fulfil her father’s past duties, that he bailed out on purposefully. While settling into the routine of becoming the land god of the shrine, she tries to work alongside the familiar that her father left behind while also juggling high school on top of it all.
The series is full of interesting characters and romantic choices for Nanami. The recurring characters in the series that I would like to highlight are Nanami, Tomoe and Mizuki.
Nanami came from humble beginnings.
As stated before, she starts off the series homeless. Becoming a land god is both a massive step up for her and a huge responsibility dropped right in her lap. Tomoe has to teach her how to maintain the shrine, file peoples prayers and how to be an efficient land god.
She’s sweet, but has the tendency to be sarcastic when pressed or annoyed. She butts heads with Tomoe often, but grew to appreciate him and what he does for the shrine. She is a really relatable main character and she really fits into the story well.
You don’t see a lot of protagonists like her anymore, but for her time I loved her.
Tomoe is the familiar left behind to care for the shrine after Nanami’s father fled. He is sarcastic and stuck up, but he becomes more likable as the series goes on. He grows protective and warmer towards Nanami, which is a welcome change.
He helps maintain the shrine and is overall good company to have around, especially with the other spirits in the shrine. He keeps everyone in line, which is a very needed character trait for someone to have in this series. Absolutely no one else feels nearly as serious, not even the protagonist.
Mizuki is picked up later in the show and imprints of Nanami, actually ended up as her second familiar. He starts off technically as a villain, but for the sake of this recommendation, we’ll gloss over it.
He is silly, doesn’t take anything serious and overall is a mood lightener. He is one of my personal favorite characters in the series because anytime the scenes get too heavy, he is always usually the one to break the tension.
The characters in this manga are just really well done and the story is worth a read. If you find time in your busy schedule, I would definitely recommend “Kamisama Kiss” for the Valentines season.
