Kannagi a.k.a. Crazy Shrine Maidens is a Japanese anime that tells the story of Jin Mikuriya, a typical Japanese high school student with a not-so-typical dilemma at hand. After doing an all-niter to finish a statue for a school district exhibition, Jin wakes up with barely an hour to spare to go to to school. Unable to carry the woodedn statue he just finished, he grabs his bicycle in order to carry it to school. If that wasn't enough of a hassle, the statue that he worked so hard to finish on time starts to accumulate particles of earth. The statue shatters, revealing a young girl. Totally stunned, Jin pokes the girl in the face to make sure that he isn't dreaming it up. Jin, still in a stupor, gets patted by the girl like a little boy who got lost. Jin tries to asks the girl questions but gets the table turn on him, as the girl who introduces herself as Nagi, interrogates Jin on how he was able to summon her.Based on a manga of the same title, created by Eri Takenashi, published by Ichijinsha, serialized in Comix Rex on December. 09, 2005. The anime was produced by A-1 Pictures and started airing in Japan on October 4, 2008 and finished on December 27, 2008. Kannagi tells the adventures, or should I say mis-adventures of Jin and Nagi, as Nagi claiming to be a guardian goddess dictates to Jin that in order to atone for using her sacred tree, must assist her to regain her powers as a goddess and destroying 'impurities' that may infest upon Jin's town.
From the on set of the anime, you might mistake as another 'boy-meets-magical girl' s
tory wherein the boy gets entangled in typical useless guy who somehow helps the magical girl defeat some kind of monster sort of plot line. But rest assured, Kannagi is far from it, the only thing that comes close to it, is Nagi using a magical girl toy wand as an improvished exorcist staff. Plus her exorcism chant is rip off of a magical girl spiel from an anime that Nagi became fascinated with after being summon.
tory wherein the boy gets entangled in typical useless guy who somehow helps the magical girl defeat some kind of monster sort of plot line. But rest assured, Kannagi is far from it, the only thing that comes close to it, is Nagi using a magical girl toy wand as an improvished exorcist staff. Plus her exorcism chant is rip off of a magical girl spiel from an anime that Nagi became fascinated with after being summon.
Much of the comedy in the anime comes from the situations that Jin gets into, thanks to the wacky and obliviously non-sensical ideas of Nagi. From having Jin buy a toy wand and paper to make an exorcism staff, to infiltrating Jin's school to build a fan base of followers to adore her, all are the biazare machinations of Nagi. For me, most of the anime's humor comes from the 'puns' that Nagi spurts out whenever Jin tries to scold her for doing something crazy again. Also that, Nagi talks more like a obasan but at the same time a selfish girl trying to pose as a mature woman. Much of the storyline and 'puns' of the anime are the same in the manga, unlike other animes wherein the storyline is modified for commercialized purposes. Kannagi retains the plotline, dialogue,and humor of the manga. thus attesting to the Eri Takenashi's skill as a manga-ka.
In opening theme "Motto Hade ni ne!", Nagi sings on a stage like a J-Pop idol with side clips wherein the cast are portrayed as stereotyped characters in the pop idol industry. The intro was animated to a degree that it imitates how a real J-Pop idol performs on a stage. Another pun perhaps, or just some random idea the producers thought, either way, it was so catchy even I started singing some lines from the song. Minus the baton =)Another short anime series that delivers a punch, Kannagi is a great anime to watch over and over again. A solid story full of humor never leaving a dull moment for you to yawn or pause. But also with rare snippets that we get to see a more sensitive and vulnerable Nagi that is much as kawaii as her comical self. I recommend Kannagi to everyone that wants to watch a great anime with a well-written script and great humor to match. If there are already translated versions of the actual manga, buying them is not a waste of your money.
Sadly, both for the manga and the anime are short lived, the reason for which, the manga-ka Eri Takenasi had to undergo surgery this past December 2008. In a press release by Ichijinsha this past January, the manga is in hiatus while the author is still recovering from surgery. Word in the web, has it that the suspected reason for the halt, is due to unwarranted reactions from a minority of fans of the manga over Nagi's 'civil status'. I for one, pray for the speedy recovery of Eri Takenashi and hope that she gets back to finishing up the manga. I want to read more of Kannagi and see how Jin and Nagi's relationship progress further.
sore demo ji-mi-da-NE!HONTO no koi-da-NE! kitsuite
anata dake ni atsui AN DOU TOROWA misete ageru sotto
Hard day’s night game
TOROke sou
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