Kamichama is a magical girl anime starring a magical boy, Kazune. There are additional slice of life elements centred around the titular magical girl Karin, but she plays a surprisingly small role in the story despite claiming most of the screentime. Additionally, Himeka plays one half the part of a moe-crippled McGuffin, and a perfectly ordinary student council president Glasses Guy will fill the role of antagonist for the 24 episodes we have to wait until the real characters show up. Finally a boy named Mikorin will provide fanservice in his role as a heterochromatic pretty boy.
# How Does it Work?
Karin, an orphan, is struggling
...
with loneliness and emptiness within her life. Enter fellow orphan Kazune, who along with his cousin Himeka introduces Karin to the fantastical world of being a magical girl. Despite the abuse Karin receives from him on account of her gender, the lure of a glamorous and meaningful life proves irresistible. Karin enters the conflict between Kazune and his arch-nemesis Glasses Guy as something akin to a chess piece within a larger conflict. That conflict is resolved with the intervention of characters introduced only within the final two episodes, victory abetted more or less by the power of friendship.
The animation art style excessively oversizes some cast member’s eyes as a kind of signature, to the point where I felt an uncanny valley-like effect at times. Voice work is average, although the male cast sound generally older than their implied middle-school age. Himeka stands out by employing a speaking style so slow that I feared she might suffocate if given too long a sentence.
The fight scenes possess extremely little choreography. There is no problem solving or thought exhibited, instead they appear to be merely endurance exercises punctuated by yelling at each other. Nothing materially occurs as a result of them until the final one. And then only with the sense that the writers felt like they were running out of time.
The slice of life elements work well. They concern Karin's struggle to get her needs for connection, acknowledgement, and validation met. These feel like what the show was made to do, the middle episodes which focus on Karin's life attending an exclusive private school representing the best of the show. They are a time of lightly absurdist comedy, romantic worries, and expressive reaction faces. What I liked best however was that even complete shock reaction faces (O_O) had smaller eyes than when drawn normally. It's perhaps unusual that the heart and soul of a magical girl show is found in the times when the eponymous character is trying to be a normal girl. But maybe that's the point of it all: One chooses the extraordinary in order to protect the ordinary because that's what matters most.
# Kazune as Emcee
Kazune is one half the driver of the plot (with the antagonist being the other). He acts as a patron towards Karin in exchange for enrolling her as a pawn on his side of the conflict. Representing an interesting take on the usual anime hero of his age, being a legit magical boy, more or less fine with wearing a dress, and having no objection even to implied homosexuality, he's kinda refreshing. However, aside from his desire to protect Himeka and to a lesser extent Karin, he hates girls and will explain why by method of insulting Karin throughout the series. By the end all I can really say in favour of him is that damn, he looks good in a dress.
Together he and Karin live with Himeka in a seemingly impractical 3-orphans-and-a-butler arrangement, tidally locked in a hidden conflict with the antagonist Glasses Guy. The plot of the first 24 episodes basically exists because Kazune and Glasses Guy refuse to talk about anything save fighting with each other (Karin suggests an entente, to be dismissed by both). They both seemed to be living in denial, using the fantastical situation as a refuge to avoid dealing with the grief and meaninglessness that awaited the orphans in the ordinary world. This situation remains static until the end where a new character is introduced to forcibly displace Kazune and Glasses Guy’s tired roles. After 26 episodes, I found this unsatisfying.
# Karin's Life vs Insignificance
Bereft of caring family and by the graveside of her only source of emotional support, Karin does not begin the series in a good state of mind. She responds with anger towards Kazune's constant disparagement, but lacks the confidence to disregard his opinions. I believe she comes to enjoy the attention from him because she simply has no other source of acceptance or acknowledgement within her life. Simply put, she is vulnerable, and despite appearances this is not a story about her gaining the strength to withstand this. It is a credit to Kamichama that she has such depth of character, even though the show sometimes cares little for her.
I do have to say it’s disappointing in a genre renowned for women being heroes for Karin to not rebut statements from Kazune that women need to be protected by men because they are incapable of doing so themselves. As a show notionally about a magical girl, why even introduce such statements to begin with? They have no place here.
There is a daydream sequence early in the series that is telling of Karin's desire for attention and significance. She grasps the glamour of being a magical girl because it is preferable to her experience in the real world. And this is the show's greatest fault: There is nothing for Karin but escapism. The ending doesn't provide any development for her, beyond the stultifying implication of her becoming the lead of a three-man harem.
# Romance and Frustration
Karin's relationships with women are an interesting facet of the series. However they are left unresolved, and any tension is handwaved away by the end. To the point of simply deleting and forgetting a character! These provided the most frustrating moments for me. Karin seems to be trying to escape the negative dynamic that she lives with, but avoids further developing relationships with people who care about her without also demanding from her. It's like she's inured to disregard of herself, and goes on to reject the unfamiliar. I wish the series dealt with the invalidating environment and emotional neglect that likely led her to act like this. I know it's a show about middle schoolers, aimed at grade schoolers, but there's a surprising depth of character here that the show neglects to explore.
Finally, there's a lot of titillation in the show. Kazune gets close and intimate in bed with another man, is publicly kissed by him, and gets the tired public bath treatment with Karin. She falls for both men and women, is the unwilling recipient of kisses from different men, is propositioned for a threesome, and then abducted via helicopter for an intended shotgun wedding. The show simply oozes desire and relationships, but it’s all swept under the rug by the end. And I'm not sure if any of it was ever intended to be more than fanservice.
# See Also
- Madoka for a more compelling take on Kamichama's methods and themes.
- Princess Tutu for a deeper exploration of love and sacrifice, with the contrast of an introverted main character.
- Sekai Seifuku for a more detailed and oddly more realistic story of orphan children struggling to build a home for themselves.
- Samurai Flamenco (perhaps tangentially) for being more concerned about rejecting the real world for the fantastical.
# Bonus: Moments I Loved
*Kazune emerges wearing a dress*
Karin: Kazune... kun? O_o
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Himeka: Kazune-chan. ^^
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Fried eel and ice cream.
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Almost every reaction face because even utter shock was drawn with smaller eyes than normal.
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And finally, when Himeka puts a pot on her head and marches off to war like a lone moe samurai.
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Apr 8, 2018
Kamichama Karin
(Anime)
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Kamichama is a magical girl anime starring a magical boy, Kazune. There are additional slice of life elements centred around the titular magical girl Karin, but she plays a surprisingly small role in the story despite claiming most of the screentime. Additionally, Himeka plays one half the part of a moe-crippled McGuffin, and a perfectly ordinary student council president Glasses Guy will fill the role of antagonist for the 24 episodes we have to wait until the real characters show up. Finally a boy named Mikorin will provide fanservice in his role as a heterochromatic pretty boy.
# How Does it Work? Karin, an orphan, is struggling ... |
