Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

The World God Only Knows: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Hell on Earth.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 11, 2012

One of the very first videogames my then very young sons got was Luigi’s Mansion, which if memory serves was a GameCube outing featuring Mario’s semi-mute twin in an adventure in a haunted house. Luigi ambled in his comical way through the many rooms of the mansion and encountered all sorts of spectral bad guys, most of whom he had to suck up into his giant vacuum cleaner nicknamed the Poltergust 3000. The sucking process was always a bit of a trial, and my boys would typically enlist my aid as levels were coming to a close and they needed a little extra virtual muscle. The spirits, who weren’t all that thrilled to be ending their haunting days by getting encapsulated in Luigi’s device, would often bounce around the room and elongate as Luigi aimed the nozzle of the Poltergust 3000 at their spectral forms. Anyone who has memories of Luigi’s Mansion may have more than a bit of déjà vu if they watch The World God Only Knows, for this series, which blends a number of elements which are reminiscent of several other animes (as seems to be more and more the case these days), also has a recurring motif which caps virtually every episode where a rather cute little “demon” from the bowels of Hell named Elsie sucks up “loose souls” into various containers that look for all the world like those old Ball jars your maiden Aunt use to preserve fruit and jam in. As in Luigi’s Mansion, The World God Only Knows’ spectral entities don’t seem overly thrilled about getting vacuumed up into a small container, and they bounce, stretch and moan as Elsie manages to round them up in an attempt to do the dirty work (or perhaps the cleaning work, as the case may be) for her masters from down below. Elsie is helped in her task by a nerdy high school kid named Keima Katsuragi, a kid more intent on playing videogames than he is in managing the affairs of real life, let alone aiding a cute little sprite from Hell.

The World God Only Knows: The Complete Collection is at least a partially misleading title for this collection, as it only covers the series’ first season of 12 episodes (plus a very brief animated prelude which was part of a live action introductory OVA). The series establishes its premise quickly in its first couple of episodes. Keima is a bishōjo gamer, that is, a kid who spends his time in Dating Sims environments where he gets to “conquer” one nubile female after another. He has become something of an internet legend for his gaming skills, though of course the flip side is that Keima has zero (as in zip, zilch, nada) social skills in real life, and shrinks from even casual contact with those of the opposite sex. Keima receives what appears to be a challenging email one day, one which supposedly questions his skills to conquer any female with whom he comes in contact, and Keima, feeling up to that challenge, hits his “reply” button. That is when quite literally all Hell breaks loose. It turns out the email was actually a demonic contract which requires Keima to partner with Elsie to collect “loose souls” which are hiding out in any number of the town’s young female population. (Isn’t that always the way?)

It turns out of course that Elsie was under the mistaken impression that Keima’s internet persona matched his actual real life one, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Unfortunately, Keima’s contractual obligation courtesy of hitting the reply button has saddled him with an explosive collar locked around his neck which will detonate if the requisite number of “loose souls” isn’t collected and returned to whatever ring of Hell they belong to. And so a sort of anime Odd Couple is born, one highlighted by the fact that Elsie shows up masquerading as Keima’s little sister at school by the end of the first episode.

The World God Only Knows is a really odd amalgamation of ideas that has little snippets of everything from Soul Eater to any number of traditional shōnen outings. There’s a structural problem with the series, one that is so endemic to its premise that it becomes at least a potentially major stumbling block. What it boils down to is this: if Keima and Elsie fail to capture any given episode’s “loose soul,” that means Keima’s head explodes and the series ends. Not much suspense there, is there, folks? And so what the series evolves into is an episodic foray into one female character after another needing to fall in love with Keima so that their loose soul is released. (Did I mention that falling in love was the trigger? Well, of course it is, why else would Elsie need a “conqueror”?) There’s little question that more or less every episode (a couple of arcs spill into more than one episode) is going to end with a kiss between Keima and the female of the moment, so whatever fun the series generates is in the getting there rather than the destination, so to speak.

As far as that aspect goes, The World God Only Knows often provides some fun elements, most of which derive from the often bristling, Odd Couple-esque interplay between Keima and Elsie. The various females who waft in and out of different episodes are a mixed lot at best, with various kind of nonessential back stories (at least with regard to the overall arc of the series), and a plot device which leaves them all with amnesia about the Keima-Elsie events after their “loose souls” have been redeemed. This is a weird sort of anime analog to all those live action series which were so popular in the 1960’s, when one or two “travelers” of some sort would journey from locale to locale, interact with the denizens of that week’s town or city, and then move on. (Think of everything from Route 66 to The Fugitive to Wagon Train to Star Trek to the little remembered Rod Serling western The Loner). That means the only through line this series has to offer is the relationship between Keima and Elsie. The good news here is the series does deliver some decent comedy, especially with regard to Keima’s dating-sim obsession and Elsie’s frequent misunderstandings of the differences between life in Hell and life on Earth (those are different, aren’t they?).

The World God Only Knows: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The World of God Only Knows is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a decent enough looking anime which sports excellent line detail, nicely saturated colors and a generally agreeable animation style which also incorporates quite a bit of CGI along the way. The only real downside to this presentation is that any anime fan is going to feel like they've seen a hundred (maybe a thousand) other series that look pretty much exactly like The World of God Only Knows. There are some fairly cool graphical elements, including the neat little skull hairclip that Elsie wears that lights up when a "loose soul" is around, and the character designs, if not exactly innovative, are fresh enough to maintain general interest. Some of the best moments visually in the series come from the ghouls and goblins being released from the various girls, as they all have their own distinctive "identities" and looks.

The World God Only Knows: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The World God Only Knows features two DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks, one in the original Japanese, and another English dub. As so often seems to be the case these days, the English track is mixed higher, with noticeably more punchy lows and midrange. Otherwise, the choice comes down to whether you prefer original languages or not reading subtitles. The English language cast is perhaps a bit "older" sounding that the Japanese, but both lend a lot of flavor to the soundtracks. The series also has some nice J-pop music which helps to up the sonic ante. Fidelity is excellent on both of these tracks. There's not a whole lot of LFE to write home about, but occasionally some of the bombastic "loose soul" scooping gets sonically boisterous.

The World God Only Knows: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Music Videos (HD; 13:19) includes several pieces by Kanon Nakagawa.
• Clean Opening Animation (HD; 1:32)
• Clean Closing Animation (HD; 9:21) contains six different closings.

The World God Only Knows: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The World God Only Knows isn't anything too new or exciting, but it's fairly brisk and enjoyable nonetheless. Any anime fan is going to recognize any number of elements they've seen in other shows, but the series does manage to get to something that feels a little fresher with regard to the relationship between Keima and Elsie, a relationship which also provides some fairly consistent (albeit pretty goofy at times) humor. The series looks and sounds very good on this Blu-ray, and if you don't mind having a certain sense of déjà vu as you watch, The World God Only Knows comes Recommended.