When it comes to shojo romance anime, old classics like Fruits Basket and Kimi no Todoke are usually the first to come to mind, and while these series no doubt deserve the love they receive, one particularly underrated series often flies under the radar. best shojo romance anime of all time, but there's one thing holding it back from being as big as others in the genre.
Despite having aired twelve years ago, Kamisama Kiss remains one of the most unique shojo romance anime of its kind. Though the story makes use of many typical clichés, its saccharine and spunky protagonist, heart-fluttering supernatural romance, and simple yet heartfelt underlying story easily win viewers over. However, the anime's incomplete adaptation and highly condensed ending arguably hold the series back from being one of the greats, while the manga's inaccessibility highlights a greater issue with the treatment of shojo manga as a whole.
Kamisama Kiss' Anime Was Left Criminally Unfinished
The Series' Beautiful Ending Was Crammed Into OVAs Instead
Kamisama Kiss follows the journey of a regular high school girl named Nanami Momozono who becomes a land god and falls in love with her familiar, a formerly wild fox spirit named Tomoe. The series details her struggles as a human-turned-god introduced to the wondrous and equally dangerous supernatural world, yet eventually evolves into much more as the story progresses. Animated by TMS Entertainment, Kamisama Kiss first aired in 2012 and was even lucky to be renewed for a second season three years later.
Kamisama Kiss' second season arguably created unnecessary problems for the franchise.
The fact that the series received a second season itself is a miracle, as many beloved shojo anime are less than fortunate. Unfortunately, Kamisama Kiss' second season arguably created unnecessary problems for the franchise. As an adaptation, the second season is quite faithful to the source material, maintains a good pace, and actually begins to introduce the true conflict of the story.
However, the various plot threads introduced in season 2 never got the chance to be properly fleshed out since the series was never renewed for a third season. As a result, fans were left hanging with many confusing questions, the biggest being Akura-oh's identity and his relationship with Tomoe.
These issues were exacerbated by the fact that the anime was concluded with four OVAs which greatly condensed the resolution of Tomoe and Nanami's relationship, also cutting out Tomoe's entire character arc. While season 1 covered volumes 1 to 5 and season 2 covered roughly volumes 6 to 10 over a total of 25 episodes, the four final OVA episodes alone were crammed with four whole volumes worth of content.
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While the ending was no doubt still quite beautiful, it was pretty much only the bare bones of a story that could have been ten times more impactful had the anime properly adapted the manga and given its story the time it needed to get to that beautiful resolution.
Like Many Shojo Manga, Kamisama Kiss Is Not Available on Demand
Fans Curious About the Series Have No Choice but to Buy the Volume
Regardless of its unfinished state, Kamisama Kiss' anime is still a good gateway to the manga. Reading the manga arguably resolves any grievances with the story. However, one issue that arises is that the only way to legally read the manga is by buying each volume, be it digitally or physically. Though Viz offers brief previews of each volume, these too are region-locked and the series remains notably absent from Viz's on-demand offerings and subscription plans, like countless other shojo manga owned by Hakusensha.
Kamisama Kiss' anime is also unavailable on any streaming platform in the US and UK and is only available on Prime Video in Australia and New Zealand.
Despite owning the rights to many of the biggest shojo manga of all time, Hakusensha is yet to offer any of its series on demand and this issue seems to extend even to other genres, as Berserk also suffers from the same inaccessibility. This absence is especially felt with the rise of revolutionary reading apps like Manga Plus by Shueisha, which offers Japanese manga in a variety of languages with comprehensive subscription tiers. That said, even the reading platforms that exist still notably lack shojo representation, which introduces another pressing issue.
Shojo Manga Is Yet to Receive A Dedicated Reading App
While Shōnen Has Multiple Options Shojo Remains Snubbed
While shōnen manga are available on a variety of online reading platforms like Viz, Shōnen Jump Plus, Manga Plus and K-manga, shojo and josei manga are yet to receive a single dedicated reading app. Shueisha has ittedly made progress in this regard with the recent introduction of Rimacomi+ which hosts Shueisha's shojo and josei series. However, the app is currently only available in Japan.
While platforms like K-manga and Mangamo do offer a couple of shojo series like A Sign of Affection, My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999, and even older cherished josei series like Chihayafuru, Hakusensha's wildly successful Hana to Yume manga remain a notable absence.
Shojo manga as a whole remains largely neglected and the genre will likely not be able to grow beyond a handful of existing hits unless given the same opportunities as shōnen manga. While female readers make up a significant percentage of shōnen readership, many male readers still shy away from giving shojo and josei series a chance and having to buy a volume to do so will not help the situation in any way.
Even though Kamisama Kiss had about 5 million copies in circulation back in 2016 when the manga ended, the series hardly received the recognition it truly deserved. Kamisama Kiss could have been just as huge as other shojo classics had the anime not taken the route it did.
That said, there has recently been a shojo renaissance of sorts with Bed and Breakfast for Spirits being renewed after seven years, receiving a second season after thirteen years, and The Rose of Versailles returning for a movie after forty years. As such, while Kamisama Kiss' prospects for a remake are slim given that the manga ended years ago, these revivals do leave the door open at the very least.
Kamisama Kiss
- Release Date
- October 1, 2012
- Directors
- Akitaro Daichi
- Writers
- Akitaro Daichi, Michiko Yokote
- Franchise(s)
- Kamisama Kiss
Cast
Tia Ballard-
J. Michael Tatum
Kamisama Kiss (2012) follows the story of high school girl Nanami Momozono, who becomes a local deity after a chance encounter with a land god. She inherits a rundown shrine and its divine responsibilities, including managing the shrine's supernatural staff.
- Creator(s)
- Julietta Suzuki
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