The World God Only Knows: Goddesses Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

The World God Only Knows: Goddesses Blu-ray Movie Review

A somewhat up-and-down season with higher highs and a few lower lows...

The World God Only Knows turns inward in its ambitious third season, Goddesses, tasking Keima Katsuragi with not only romancing six literal deities, but also asking himself a few hard questions the series' premise has begged from the beginning. Keima, in turn, discovers several very important things about himself, which, I gotta say, ended up packing more of a punch than I was expecting. It comes at a cost, though. The showrunners at Studio Manglobe were so anxious to tackle original manga writer Tamiki Wakaki's Goddess Arc, they vaulted ahead; too far ahead, seeing as the Season Two finale dovetails with manga chapter 41, the subsequent OVAs cover chapters 54-64, and Season Three picks up with chapter 114. That's fifty chapters... gone. Which wouldn't necessarily be a problem if, one, the anime adaptation didn't specifically reference events from these missing chapters and, two, didn't bite off such a massive mouthful of manga: chapters 114-189. That's right, 75 chapters crammed into 12 episodes, a substantial consolidation that doesn't tend to sit well with fans of the manga. (For comparison's sake, the first 24 episodes covered 41 chapters.)

The resulting six-goddess saga isn't too confusing to follow. (Certainly not as confusing as it probably reads.) Just odd, occasionally frustrating, and built on an unfortunate creative decision that might have worked out if Manglobe had more episodes at their disposal. Thankfully, once that particular irritation runs its course (along with the nagging feeling you missed a season somewhere along the line), Goddesses has a lot of refinement to offer, from deeper character development to funnier predicaments, more clever plotting and mature storytelling, smarter pacing, more meaningful introspection, a bigger payoff, and a general sense of refinement. The first two seasons of The World God Only Knows, fun as they often proved, were largely formulaic and lacked a certain oomph. Season Three takes a number of bold steps in the right direction -- imperfect steps, but bold steps all the same -- and stands as a slightly more memorable, entertaining outing. Yeah, it stumbles a bit too often to accomplish everything it's so eager to pull off, but it doesn't settle for the genre status quo, which is more than you can say for most series.

• When the Sun Goes Down: Tenri, Keima's childhood friend, has moved back next door to the Katsuragis. She happens to be host to the goddess Diana, who tells Keima about she and the other 5 Jupiter Sisters once sealed away the Ancient Demons of Hell, the Weiss. At the same time, the students of Maijima High School are excited because Kanon has made a rare appearance in the classroom for exams. However, Kanon is preoccupied with the girl inside the mirror named Apollo, as well as the fact that she is being watched.
• Scramble Formation: The goddess Apollo makes her appearance, but she is immediately stabbed by Lune, leader of Vintage, an organization which seeks to restore the Ancient Demons.
• 5 Home: A girl who hosts a goddess will remember everything that happened during her conquest. In other words, she will remember falling in love with Keima. Armed with that information, Keima attempts to walk home from school with all five potential hosts and increase their affection level.
• Doll Roll Hall: During the simultaneous walk-home-from-school events, Keima is attacked by a wave of flying books. The books are being controlled by a small figure. Meanwhile, section chief Nora drops by the Katsuragi residence to see Elsie. It sounds like the Hell Bureau of Peace has issued an order to the loose soul team to search for residents of Heaven. Kanon/Apollo is currently at the Katsuragi residence. Is this a coincidence?
• Punch and Date: With help from Vulcanus, the third goddess, the Ancient Demon blade in Kanon has been removed. However, she still remains unconscious. Keima must search for the remaining goddesses and restore their power, but one of the potential hosts approaches him first. Does Keima have a way to handle a heroine who doesn't follow the dating sim model?
• My Story: Thanks to a convincing performance by Haqua, Keima successfully releases the fourth goddess, Mars. However, Shiori witnessed Keima during his conquest, and the shock leaves her unable to write a novel for the Mai High Festival. Keima tries to help Shiori complete her story, but what will she write about?
• Bad Medicine: The goddess search is going well, but the strain is too much for Keima and he falls ill. However, this is an opportunity the God of Conquest to trigger the sick visit event. Ayumi and Chihiro are the remaining candidates for the final goddess. However, Keima doesn't realize how difficult it is to conquer two friends at the same time.
• Goddess Mix: The Loose Souls team section chiefs are holding their regular meeting in Hell. Haqua questions Bureau Chief Dokuro about the rumors she heard from Nora concerning goddesses and Vintage, but Dokuro rejects her claims. Unsatisfied with the response, Haqua prepares to leave hell. Back on Earth, four of the goddesses have assembled in an attempt to awaken Kanon and Apollo.
• Absent Lovers: It's the night before the Mai High Festival. Keima and Chihiro are alone on the roof of the school. Chihiro seems confused by Keima's behavior, but he continues with his conquest. But as Keima makes his move, Chihiro says something unexpected.
• Labyrinth: The last goddess is inside Ayumi, but only two days remain. Keima has no choice but to drop Chihiro hard and switch over to Ayumi's route. However, Ayumi happens to be watching and she begins avoiding Keima, which disrupts his conquest. At the same time, Lune has come to the Mai High School with her Vintage underlings to hunt goddesses.
• Show Me: Haqua returns from Hell after learning that Maijima Bay's Point Rock is a gate between Earth and Old Hell. Vintage has imprisoned the goddesses in Point Rock. Soon, demons, goddesses, and humans will be engulfed in war. After Haqua helps to save Ayumi, Katsuragi is determined to conquer the final goddess, but he needs Chihiro's help to get the job done.
• The Memory of My First Love: The goddesses have been assembled and they take wing to Point Rock. Haqua and the Loose Souls team squares off against Vintage. And the climax of the Mai High Festival awaits.

The World God Only Knows: Goddesses Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Like the Blu-ray release of Season Two, Season Three: Goddesses features a striking and proficient 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation with very minimal banding or artifacting. There are hints of aliasing in some of the series' CG elements, but nothing significant, and no errant noise creeps in, making for a clean, perfectly pleasant image. Colors are lovely, though rarely garish, and primaries boast confidence without ever pushing into oversaturated territory. Black levels are satisfying too, as is contrast, which is generally consistent in all but a few scenes. Even then, the darker tone of some sequences is really the only thing that leads to a reduction in clarity, and it's almost certainly a product of the source. The animators' line art is nicely defined and often rather crisp, and there aren't any significant anomalies to distract from the animation. All told, The World God Only Knows continues to impress in high definition.

The World God Only Knows: Goddesses Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like previous seasons, Goddesses offers two lossless options via a pair of English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks. Once again the English mix is the more engaging and aggressive of the two, even without LFE support or rear speaker activity. It doesn't spoil the Japanese presentation altogether, but it does lessen its impact and deliver a more electrifying, perhaps even exciting experience. Regardless of which track you choose, though, voices are clear and intelligible, the soundscape is bright and playful, and the series' two-channel sonics are reasonably involving. If you absolutely, positively can't bring yourself to watch an anime with an English dub, the Japanese mix isn't really a big disappointment. If you don't mind English dubs, particularly those with solid casting, you'll want to ditch the original language track and enjoy the uptick in presence and punch of its counterpart.

The World God Only Knows: Goddesses Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray release of The World God Only Knows: Season 3: Goddesses includes the usual Clean Opening and Clean Closing Animations (in HD) and a handful of Sentai Filmworks trailers (also presented in HD).

The World God Only Knows: Goddesses Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The third season of The World God Only Knows aims high and almost hits its target dead center. 12 episodes doesn't give Studio Manglobe enough room to work, though, and the series stumbles a bit, especially as it attempts to tackle a more involved storyline from the manga. Still, there's plenty of fun, entertainment and, hey now, even some drama to latch onto, making Goddesses the best season of the show. Its Blu-ray release is even better thanks to a striking video presentation and a commendable DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 experience. The 2-disc set is light on supplements, sure, but that isn't out of the ordinary for Section23/Sentai Filmworks titles. Fans will be pleased.