So I have this friend who really likes anime (though she prefers manga). Unfortunately, she only likes very romance-heavy shojo. She’s always telling me about how such-and-such is the greatest series ever, and how I need to watch it
right now.
Yesterday her current obsession was an anime called Kamisama Kiss based on a manga of the same name. It’s about a girl who becomes a shinto goddess and gains a bishonen yokai familiar in the process. Its premise is very similar to that of Inuyasha, but the atmosphere is more like a shojo and there is no giant shonen plot- it’s almost pure romance and comedy.
I’m kinda surprised by how much I like it. I shouldn’t be- after all, I did like Inuyasha apart from its excruciating pace, and I don’t really have anything against romance… but something about this show makes it seem a little more… I dunno. Questionable. Maybe it’s the frequent kissing as part of the familiar deals, but I think it’s mostly the fact that the series is, at its core, a fantasy about having a super yokai bishonen boyfriend who does all your housework and has to do whatever you say.
It’s mostly the “has to do whatever you say” part that rubs me the wrong way- in Inuyasha, the dynamic was a special case, and Inuyasha was a legitimate danger to Kagome and the villiage, so it made sense. In Kamisama Kiss, ALL familiars are required to do whatever their masters say. Some are happy, some are miserable, but at the end of the day, they’re all pretty much slaves no matter how well the kami may treat them. But maybe I’m thinking too hard about this. At least Nanami is better about abusing her power than Kagome is. It just makes me uncomfortable because I know I’d find the story all kinds of messed up were the genders reversed. On the other hand, I also dislike stories where there is a huge difference in power between the male and female leads. Maybe this is better than having an unrestrained yokai run around and have lots of power over the human girl. I don’t know.
On the other hand, it’s still a lot of fun. Tomoe apparently has some limited ability to go against Nanami’s orders, and on the whole he doesn’t seem too upset about his lot in life after the first few episodes. It’s fun to watch him and Nanami argue, and it’s sweet to watch them worry about each other. I dislike tsunderes unless there are 2 of them in a relationship, at which point they become hilarious and occasionally heartwarming.
It’s just that the premise is a teeeensy bit creepy.

Other than that, I like it. Especially Tomoe’s reaction to being told that Nanami likes him- he accidentally drops her off of a building. It’s kinda hilarious and sweet at the same time, like most of what happens in the show.