Kamisama Kiss: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Kamisama Kiss: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

A kiss before deifying.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 14, 2014

The Western apprehension of Japanese culture is probably generally no more accurate than the Japanese assessment of us “over here”. Many people tend to think of the Japanese as inordinately well mannered, quiet, respectful and always almost over considerate of their fellow human beings, a proclivity perhaps thrust upon them by close living quarters. And yet it’s probably no great surprise that the Japanese have as much trauma and turmoil as anyone, whether that be incipient crime waves or more “domestic” issues like dysfunctional families. Still, sometimes it comes as at least a bit unexpected when innocent seeming entertainments like anime posit a parent who’s in fairly desperate trouble, leaving their child to fend for themselves. That’s exactly the setup of Kamisama Kiss, based on a manga by Julietta Suzuki. Both the manga and the anime detail the adventures of a young girl named Nanami, who finds herself all alone in the world—at least for a little while—after her father disappears after racking up considerable gambling debts. This general outline may remind some of other anime like Hanasaku Iroha Blossoms for Tomorrow, and it might be tempting to try to identify yet another “subgenre” in the ever expanding world of anime, but Kamisama Kiss also has a distinctive mystical element to its storyline that helps to separate it from other “kitchen sink” anime dramas.

Kamisama Kiss initially seems like it might a fairly dour outing, one where a sad little girl is abandoned by a “no- goodnik” father, and who is left with no family or indeed even any home to stay in. Nanami retreats to a nearby park, where she’s almost instantly enticed by the odd sight of a man escaping from a manically barking dog by climbing high into a tree. Nanami, almost by instinct, simply scares the dog away, and coaxes the man down from his perch. His name is Mikage, and it turns out he’s almost pathologically afraid of canines. The man seems to take an instant liking to Nanami, not only because she helped to “save” him, but also because after expressing some concern of her being out alone, she has confided in him about her predicament. Mikage gives her a sweet kiss on her forehead and directions to his “house”, insisting that Nanami go there, where he is certain she’ll be cared for and safe.

And it’s here where Kamisama Kiss goes off into some unexpected directions. Mikage, it turns out, is no mere mortal, but a so-called Land God, one who has bestowed his deity upon Nanami by that aforementioned kiss. And Mikage’s “house” is not a mere domicile but instead a shrine set up for worship. Nanami is of course stunned to find all of this out, and is further sent for a loop when the shrine’s yōkai, a fox spirit named Tomoe, seems resentful that there’s a new master (or in this case, mistress) to be served. In a kind of bizarre reversal of normal anime tropes, Tomoe turns out to be a kind of yōkai tsundere of sorts (if such a thing could exist), considering Nanami a nemesis even after she magically binds him to her with a kiss of her own.

There are a number of simultaneously unfolding plots that help carry Kamisama Kiss through a somewhat protracted overall arc. First of all, Nanami has to “learn the ropes” of being a Land God, suddenly being best by a host of evil yōkai and other deities who aren’t about to share the spoils with a mostly mortal girl who is new to the game, so to speak. On a more tender side, there’s a slowly simmering relationship that develops between Nanami and Tomoe that provides most of the emotional allure of the series. In time honored tradition, initial “hate at first sight” enemies slowly begin to understand each other, ultimately growing into a grudging tolerance and then perhaps even a hint of romance (something that may remind some anime fans of other "inter-species" relationships like the one depicted in Spice and Wolf).

Kamisama Kiss tends to bog down a bit too often with a kind of “demon of the week” strategy, with a number of plots where Nanami is either outright threatened or at least placed in minor jeopardy. While this is probably the least effective part of the series, and in some ways the most predictable, that’s at least partially offset by the frankly kind of touching development of the relationship between Nanami and Tomoe. This burgeoning romance is thrown a bit off course for the long middle section of the series when Nanami rescues a snake-god named Mizuki, who immediately falls in love with her and wants to be her one and only. There’s an unexpectedly sweet wrap up to this anime that seems to suggest that something akin to a happy ending can be had even if someone is always the third wheel.

Kamisama Kiss: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kamisama Kiss: Complete Series is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Funimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a curiously undercooked high definition presentation, with often fairly anemic looking color, a generally soft looking image, and even some occasional artifacts like banding in fine color gradients readily noticeable. Line detail is decently sharp, but overall, things really don't pop extremely well here. Part of this is no doubt due to a somewhat minimalist aesthetic (there are scenes where, for example, Nanami is cavorting against a completely white background). While there's nothing downright horrible to complain about, some fans might be expecting a much more dramatic high definition experience than what is delivered here, especially considering the recent vintage of this series.

Note: There appears to be a mastering error on disc two of this set. The 13th and last episode's theme begins at 48:22 and plays for approximately six seconds, at which point (48:29) the episode simply starts up before the theme has completed. Since there's no loss of data according to the timecode, it appears that somehow most of the theme was simply dropped. I'm frankly at a loss to explain how this might have happened.

Kamisama Kiss: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kamisama Kiss: Complete Series features the original Japanese language track delivered via Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and an English dub delivered via Dolby TrueHD 5.1. The 5.1 track is significantly more boisterous in some of the busier sequences, as well as providing a much wider soundstage for the series' score to rest on. Both tracks feature excellent fidelity and some surprisingly wide dynamic range, and neither track showed any signs of damage or other issues.

Kamisama Kiss: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Episode 1 Commentary features Jerry Jewell (Director), with Tia Ballard (Nanami).


• Episode 6 Video Commentary features Jerry Jewell, Tia Ballard, Sean O'Connor (Kurama), and J. Michael Tatum (Tomoe). While this is PiP, the episode actually plays in the insert, with the bulk of the frame taken up by the voice actors.


• Episode 12 Commentary features Jerry Jewell, with J. Michael Tatum.


• Textless Opening Song (1080p; 1:32)


• Textless Closing Songs include:

  Episode 1 (1080p; 1:49)

  Episode 2 (1080p; 2:01)

  Episode 3 (1080p; 2:11)

  Episode 4 (1080p; 1:40)

  Episode 5 (1080p; 1:39)

  Episode 6 (1080p; 2:02)

  Episode 7 (1080p; 1:45)

  Episode 8 (1080p; 2:01)

  Episode 9 (1080p; 1:43)

  Episode 10 (1080p; 1:49)

  Episode 11 (1080p; 2:03)

  Episode 12 (1080p; 1:59)

  Episode 13 (1080p; 1:35)



• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 1:28)

Kamisama Kiss: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kamisama Kiss is ultimately a rather sweet anime that has a nice blending of traditional and relatively new elements. Nanami and Tomoe make for a fun couple, often at each other's throats but deep down having a tender understanding. Some of the yōkai characters are quite fun as well, and are frequently offered with a more lighthearted feeling than similar characters have tended to do in other, more darkly themed, anime. While the series does tend to get into a minor rut with too many episodes featuring Nanami getting accosted by various nemeses, overall there's a refreshingly gentle spirit wafting through this series. This Blu-ray has slightly underwhelming video, but the audio is very good, and there are some decent supplementary features. The partially missing theme on the last episode is truly strange, however. Recommended.