The World God Only Knows S1 review type thing
I don’t have a lot to say about TWGOK, but the first season was definitely something solid. I’m surprised at how much I actually ended up enjoying it after everything was said and done. My complaints overall are few and minor, if I can really complain about anything it mostly has to do with the arc with Kanon being just “ok” for the most part, nothing bad about it but I was just coming off the first two arcs and those really interested me. Shiori’s arc was kinda like that too, I’ll say it was the weakest in terms of interaction between her and Keima (although I feel like that was the intention, as she’s the shy type, and Keima expressed his overall disinterest during the conquest), but Shiori herself did really appeal to me with her inner conflicts and emotions, the most out of all four “love interests” in fact (“love interests” in quotes like that because the romances felt shallow, which isn’t exactly a complaint since it felt like the series clearly established that Keima isn’t at all into real life romance, and will only take his advances to a certain point).
Episode 8 is also another thing that I could come close to complaining about, it felt largely incoherent and not only did it not accomplish anything, it felt like it didn’t mesh well with the rest of the anime in terms of humor or flow. It wasn’t bad and didn’t do anything wrong in terms of its content, I just didn’t see it as serving any purpose.
Nearly everything else the show did can be counted towards being a positive. I found the animation charming and the music pleasing. The main characters in Keima and Elsie interacted wonderfully whenever they did, although at times I felt as if that potential between the two wasn’t used enough. The “love interests” were all done well overall, and none really stuck out in a negative way (sans Mio at first, but as the arc progressed, I warmed up to her quickly). The first two arcs especially were excellent, and like I said before, despite not being a fan of Mio herself at all initially, the dynamic she and Keima share really clicked with me and helped her to grow a lot more as a result. Ayumi’s arc prior was like that as well, only she on her own appealed more to me than Mio did, and the dynamic a bit less so.
So if I were to rank the arcs by how interested I was in Keima’s interaction with each girl, it’d go something like: Mio > Ayumi > Kanon > Shiori, but if I ranked the girls by themselves, it’d be: Shiori > Ayumi > Kanon > Mio. Overall, I’d say Mio’s arc was my favorite to sit through, then Ayumi’s, then Shiori’s, then Kanon’s.
I’d give the first season a low 9/10. Nothing was exactly bad, but I feel like there was missed potential in places. That aside, the first season was altogether engaging, and I’m looking to continue with the rest of the series at some point.
ok i lied maybe i did have a lot to say