Oct 10 2011 12:53 AM So Kamisama Dolls, a show that initially gave off the silly impression ended up being quite decent in the end.
The plot? It follows Kyouhei Kuga who leaves a sacred village to spend 4 years at a university in Tokyo in hope of "changing" his life and "escaping" the chain of fate binding him to the village he grew up in. The story really stays as a mess for about half of the series before we finally get through most of the character introductions, Kyouhei's moping, and Utao's incompetency, and eventually sets up for what is a more climatic conclusion. We all knew that the final result was going to involve breaking this tie between Kyouhei/Aki and the village and while we (obviously) did not reach that finale, the set up leaves a sequel as a possibility to finish that story. The final 4-5 episodes really set the tone for the show as the mysteries of a Kakashi became more apparent and as Kyouhei learned the "true meaning" of not being able to escape the village. Overall, the final episode was a relative flop after a strong episode 12. While I liked the cliffhanger, I was hoping for the show to end more on a high note than a flat one. Also, Hibino falling for Kyouhei was a nice change of pace since you don't see that too often anymore, especially this "early." Nice to at least see them adapt that part of the "college" characters.
Animation wise was pretty average for this series, especially coming from Brains Base. The mech designs were nice, but that seems to have been where the budget went (and possibly to Natsume Yuujinchou San). Art was nice for the OP/ED sequences but facial expressions were incredibly cheap in the actual episode.
OP/ED themes were both by Chiaki Ishikawa. OP was mediocre, but the ED theme was at least decent. Seiyuu was okay, but Utao was annoying from beginning to end. That's really about it.
Character was relatively strong in this show. The unveiling behind Kyouhei and Aki's mysterious past was certainly interesting yet unimpressive. It's hard to believe why Kyouhei lost his Seki "title" from that incident though. A little bit more detail on Utao and Kirio would have been nice though, especially on how Kirio became who he is.
Enjoyment? Like I said, this show started off slow and really only the latter half of the series mattered. The beginning half was really Utao learning how to control Kukkuri for the most part, which at the end of the show, she still is incompetent. In addition, we had Kyouhei moping around about his past and Aki teasing him. From the final "preview" it seems like Kyouhei regains control of Kukkuri at some point, which isn't surprise, and is probably better this way given Utao's incompetency throughout the series.
Overall, the show was only a little bit more impressive than I initially gave it credit for. It was only a few of the better shows that debuted in the summer, but it's not like this summer season was all that impressive anyways. I do hope, however, that the make a sequel, especially after teasing us with that that final segment.
Preliminary Score: 6/10
Final Score: 7/10 
