Kamigami No Asobi

In a reverse harem, what is even more ultimate than having a group of handsome and hot young men surrounding you? Why, having a group of handsome hot young gods around you! And so that is the case for Kamigami No Asobi. Another reverse harem but this time taking it to a godly level. Oh my. Who is this dang lucky chick to have gods flocking by her side and at her whims and fancies? Having god under your control? That is like an insult or making them so low as to be cheap guys around a single girl. Anyway this series is not that bad as I have mentioned. You know how the various gods of different mythologies are in a world of their own? And you know how gods think highly mighty of themselves? Yeah. Because of that, they are deemed to be ‘disconnected’ from mankind and thus a human girl is sent to teach them all about humanity. Uh huh. Doesn’t it feels odd and like an insult? A mere mortal woman trying to teach high and might supreme beings about what it is like to be human. I mean, how can 2 very different beings actually understand each other no matter how much you explain or teach? Take for example in real life, men and women! Hahahahahaha!!! Oops… Ahem… And so under the guise of teaching those gods about humanity as an excuse for some immortal-mortal dating simulation, well, you won’t know if you don’t try.

Episode 1
There is a battle among the gods. I hope they aren’t fighting over a girl. Yui Kusanagi is the kind of girl who loves training with her sword. It is no surprise since her family runs a dojo and has not thought much about her entrance exams or even love. She hears a voice calling her name. Following it to a storeroom, she finds a beautiful sword and touches it. Before she knows it, she wakes up in a strange place. Her handphone has no signal (because you’re in Heaven, baby!). She comes across handsome guy #1, Hades Aidoneus. He is mean enough to tell this chick to stay away from her because he brings misfortune. She then follows a cute white bunny to hottie #2 Tsukito “Tsukuyomi” Totsuka who seems kind of expressionless. Then comes in his brother, hot guy #3 Takeru “Susanoo” Totsuka who is being rude to her. I think he has a brother complex since he wants to bring him somewhere and warns this cutie pie not to follow. Yui makes her way to the rooftop and realizes this is not Earth. A strange but beautiful place. It isn’t normal either. Does Pegasus prove it? The big horse scares the sh*t out of her. She runs down and bumps into good looking but mischievous guy #4, Loki Laevatein. He is in a hurry looking for someone. More wandering and she bumps into gorgeous hunk #5, Balder Hringhorni. Ah, at least this guy is polite and kind. Someone she can talk too. Although he is a bit clumsy. Clumsy enough for him to trip over her and their face close enough for a kiss. That won’t happen since Loki keeps them apart. This naughty guy doesn’t like her too and won’t tell her what is going on. He leaves her with a candy smoke bomb. Yui hears the voice again and is transported into a room where she meets Zeus. Yes, that Greek God of Gods. I didn’t know Zeus was blonde… She is summoned here as part of his plan. Since ancient times, gods have been worshipped by humans but the connection between the heavens and humans grow weak (I can see why – everyone is paying and worshipping their iPhones more!). He has brought together the gods who struggle the most with their connection to them and to be educated. Yui is to teach them about humanity. Oh sure. A cute young girl to be their teacher? Why not get some old experienced fart? Yui has no choice but to educate them so a terrible future can be avoided. Yui scoffs off at this ridiculous thing since she was kidnapped against her will and leaves. Thoth Caduceus wonders if Yui is the right choice but as Zeus says, she has been chosen by the Sword of Heaven’s Gathering Clouds. That sword? So to say if I touched that sword I can be the teacher to all Gods? I’m going to corrupt them with my otaku knowledge MWUAHAHAHAHA!!! In the garden, Yui meets the final attractive guy #6, Apollon Agana Belea. Another nice dude but he is trying to flirt with her and aiming for a kiss!

Episode 2
Just a peck on the cheek and that was just a greeting. He hears out her problem and since he doesn’t know about this place either, he summons his Pegasus to have a bird’s eye view. It’s a huge floating island in the middle of nowhere? So once everyone gathers in the hall, Zeus introduces everyone (including 2 new hot guys, Thor Megingjord and Dionysus Thyrsos). Takeru and Loki didn’t like each other’s guts already and want to have a go. But Zeus stops them and puts on shackles (earrings, anklets, bracelets, pendant, etc) to seal their power. Otherwise this academy he created will be destroyed. He also shows a pot that must be filled. Each time they understand the human heart, it will be filled. Only then they can graduate. They have a year to do it or be trapped in here forever. I don’t know the rational of materializing several spirits so it looks like the place is occupied with other students instead of looking barren or a reverse harem paradise. Thoth as their instructor further speaks to Yui. Zeus has modelled this academy like humans. She can find any facility here. He assures her once they graduate, she will return back in time to her family. Since she is still against this, Thoth puts his foot down. Zeus has the future of both humans and gods in mind so don’t be a b*tch. Plus, eventually that sword will guide her. In her room, she is greeted with an ‘ugly’ little doll named Melissa. He is her senior and supposedly someone she can talk to if she has any troubles. Basically a pet mascot to look after her. Instead of b*tching about it, Yui looks on the positive side and is going to do this and graduate. Next day during the opening ceremony, only she and the nice gods turn up (Tsukito, Balder and Apollon). Since they are not familiar with the entrance ceremony, they ask and she explains. I don’t know, the way they misunderstood it makes them look dumb… A ritual contract? A sacrifice? And why does Tsukito need to take down everything, and I mean everything Yui says?! So they go try to persuade the rest to come. Either they are not interested or like Loki and Takeru, they’re just interested in pissing each other off. You call that fun? Eventually only Dionysus gets onboard and they make preparations for the ceremony. It begins with Thoth taking attendance followed by Apollon as the representative of the new students giving his speech and oath that they will do their best to learn, study, work, live and graduate together.

Episode 3
The bad gods are playing truant while the good gods are just messing up class with their own klutz. Thoth leaves since nobody is really paying attention to his lesson so Yui pleads for him to stay. He reminds her that time is ticking and unless they understand about humanity and love, they’ll be trapped here forever. Suddenly the season changes into summer. Looks like Zeus has a hand in this. Good timing. He announces summer vacation starts tomorrow. So Yui and the good gods think of ways to make the bad gods come to school and it is suggested a trip to the beach would be a good idea. That night Apollon sees Yui practising her sword. She finds out Zeus is his father and he never listens to them and does things his way. Hades is his uncle while Dionysus is his brother. He hopes all of them can graduate. Amazingly all the bad gods were convinced to come. But they’ll have to walk all the way to the beach. It’s the journey that counts, right? Thanks to the seal, they have to experience the limitations of a human’s body too. Finally at the beach, the guys take off their clothes to reveal their swimsuits for our much needed fanservice of nice body and nice abs. Suddenly the season chances to fall before they can go into the sea. It’s freezing. Zeus trying to see them overcome the obstacle together? Apollon and Tsukito try to maintain positive and won’t lose out so they go into the ocean. Freaking cold! And they caught a cold. At the rest house, Loki and Takeru find this ridiculous and want to leave but Apollon tells them to wait as he will find a way to make this more fun. He goes out to the bird bath to try some prediction. Flowers? Thanks to the shackle, his prediction is unclear. Yui gets an idea for it when Balder and Tsukito report Loki and Thor are leaving because they don’t have obligations to listen to a fellow student. This makes Yui appoint Apollon as the student council president and explain what it is. He is the perfect candidate since he is trying so hard to make this work. So he has everyone wait in the rest house while he and Yui head to the store. Loki thinks Apollon as Zeus’ son is pretending to be their friend and working to ensure his plan goes well. Hades denies because he knows Apollon has love more pure than they can imagine. When Loki’s patience runs out and is about to leave, Apollon and Yui return just in time to start the fireworks. Amazing sight, isn’t it? So this is the ‘flower’? Little trivia: Humans created fireworks! In the end, everyone had fun with the sparklers and warmed up to each other (at least it’s a start). On their way back, Apollon becomes frantic when he thinks Yui has gone missing. She just stopped to look at some flowers. He comes rushing and hugging her. He was scared thinking she had disappeared. He regains his composure and they head back with the rest.

Episode 4
Yui talks to the gods about clubs. While some have the decency to join, others won’t. Especially Hades who doesn’t intend to participate in group activities although he seems to like astronomy. Yui is at a lost and seeks Thoth’s help but why does he need to get rough with her and tell her to think about it herself? She goes talk to Hades who maintains she should stay away and that he is happy to do his club activities alone. She continues to follow him but it suddenly rains (Hades’ misfortune instead of Zeus’ doing) and she got swept away in the river. Hades saves her and reminds her again. Next day, she continues to talk to him but it seems his misfortune is affecting her when the accidents of other gods’ club activities befall on her. Do I hear “I told you so” coming up? Later Yui talks to Apollon and Dionysus about this and they explain Hades is the king of the Underworld, the realm of the dead. They think of doing something nice for him and remember his favourite foods of daifuku and strawberry. Yui gets an idea of combining them both into a single snack and brings them to Hades who thinks she is trying to bribe him. He accepts her kindness and finds happiness in the snack. Very rare for the Underworld king to put up such an expression, eh? He then shows her a hideous scar on his chest. All those who died with regrets have their grudges engraved in him. The grudges pile up into misfortune that not only affects him but others as well. Again, stay away from him because he can never be happy. Yui starts thinking he avoids people not because he is a cold bastard. He is thinking of others and what is best for them. Along with the good gods, they follow him to go stargazing. But it soon starts to rain and he is immediately going to leave. The guys stop him and strip to their swimming trunks. It’s a waste the last time not being able to show off and they won’t lose to this misfortune this time. Funnily, the rain misses Balder since nature loves him so much. What? Yui talks to Hades while the rest plays in the rain. She says that there is a blessing in the misfortune. If she had never fall into the river, she would never have felt the happiness of him saving her. However he still knows what happiness is despite all the misfortune because there are others who care about him. When the rain stops, they see the starry sky. Hades adds that he used to gaze upon the stars from the Underworld and saw those glimmer of hope. Had he lived in the Heavens, he wouldn’t have known this joy. He agrees with Yui that he mustn’t wallow in misfortune.

Episode 5
Because Takeru is the only one not in a club, Thoth orders Yui to do something about it. Heck, even Loki and Thor are in the going home club although it isn’t a real club but technically… You get the point. She tries talking to him but he accuses her of only thinking of herself to graduate and doesn’t care about him. That night he sees her practising her sword and she again reminds him to join a club. He challenges her to a sword fight in which he will do so if she wins. Otherwise she will never bug him about this again. Yui actually lost the fight but Takeru decides to postpone it till next time as he views her as weak. She needs more training till she is strong enough. More training like running. Uh huh. He hints she can join him in morning and night running. And so Yui joins him in every session till the point she sleeps in class. One rainy day, she thought the session is cancelled but is surprised to see him doing it. She tries to follow but falls off a slippery cliff. This brings tragic memories for Takeru so in his desperation to save her, his shackle breaks and he transforms into his true god form to save her. However Zeus considers this a violation and will suspend him till he repents. What the heck, he doesn’t want to listen to reasons that he was trying to save her? If Takeru fails to repent, he will be expelled. That means, turning into a statue for eternity! Later Takeru apologizes to Yui that it is his fault because he didn’t think she would come. Tsukito then explains when they were young, Takeru witness a goddess who took care of them fell off a cliff. Everyone thought he pushed her and didn’t believe him thanks to his uncouth nature. Zeus discusses with Thoth that the gathering of gods in his garden makes this place unstable, that is why the shackles are in place. The gods must learn to control their emotion. Takeru is about to go apologize but Yui tells him not to for he has not done anything wrong. As he only wanted to save her, his desire to that causes the shackles to break. The desire to save someone is a natural human emotion. The other gods support Takeru because they feel a class without him isn’t the same. Isn’t this enough proof that they are learning about humans? Because Zeus still disagrees, Yui points out that he is the one who least understands about them and should also study them. Humans can recover from their mistakes. Saving their friends in trouble is normal. That is what it means to be human. If he still didn’t get that, he is an a$$hole so thankfully Zeus tells Takeru to continue his studies. Heading back to class, the gods discuss the kind of ‘club activities’ Takeru was doing all the while. There is no such thing as a no-club club… Yui thanks him for saving her. He admits that he thought humans are weak but she is pretty strong.

Episode 6
Thoth has made Totsuka the discipline officer. He is taking his duty-cum-mission seriously and inspecting everyone and everything. No stones left unturned! And then he collapses. Seems he has been doing this job since 5am! Thoth of course is unforgiving as he says he has abandoned his post and will not graduate at this rate. Since Totsuka is in charge of organizing tonight’s moon viewing, he vows to make it a success. Loki then has Yui and Totsuka wear a lover’s ring each. Instantly their fingers are attached to each other. They cannot take it off and anyone who attempts to do so will get zapped. The only way to have them off is to tacitly understand each other. Like becoming a couple. Totsuka will accept this new mission and overcome it. Loki will teach them how to fall in love and explains what a kiss is. Totsuka is actually going to do it but several of the concerned gods pull them apart. They got zapped in the process. With them glued together, it becomes hard for them to concentrate in class. Thoth doesn’t even want to continue teaching and furthermore, he doesn’t want to help out since this is their mess so why should he clean it up? Totsuka then begins preparing for the moon viewing and according to this magazine, he is going to have Yui fall for him. This guy really does it by the book. But you can guess why it is not working… Anyway it is hard for them to get things right. Failure rate very high. Whether is making the wooden benches or preparing snacks for tonight. The other gods keep a close watch on them. Especially those who are very concerned at their close proximity (looking at you trio, Balder, Apollon and Takeru). As they continue to do things together, Yui learns that he is so devoted to his job because it gives value to his existence. It would be meaningless if he doesn’t fulfil them. Yui disagrees because he is who he is and the missions he does has got nothing to do with it. He still doesn’t quite understand. Basically he isn’t really interested in doing things and just doing it because it is his mission. Yui explains from her side that she enjoyed every moment with him preparing all this. They manage to get everything done (I wonder how they even change into their kimonos). The highlight of this is Loki playing his wasabi snack on everyone… As they Yui and Totsuka, although he still doesn’t understand, he felt tonight’s moon is much prettier. Yui agrees. In that instant the ring breaks. But they haven’t become a couple. Who says they needed to become one? Tacitly understand each other… They figure Loki played them out and the concerned gods are relieved but also worried as they misunderstand they might have become a couple.

Episode 7
With winter coming, Yui and Balder have to come up with the winter cultural festival. Lots of students clamour around Balder for who knows what. Yui helps him get away. She learns of his ability to attract people. Because his mother loves him so much, all harm avoids him. Except if he hurts himself. He feels Yui as someone special as he has not being affected by his charms. Loki sees how close they are and isn’t impressed. Yui suggests that they do a Christmas market and for their booths, they should divide themselves based on their mythology origins. This doesn’t sit well with Balder because this means him being separated with her. This stalker even tells her he has counted how many times she smiles and he talked to her! As punishment, she must have dinner with him every day. Loki purposely barges in seemingly trying to break them up. Yui joins them in BBQ but Loki tries to give preferential treatment to Balder. I suppose Loki is the only one who doesn’t know because he is really shocked to learn Yui is human and not a god. He can’t believe it. She is here to represent humanity? All the more reason why he needs to break them apart. Over the next few scenes, Loki is always cutting in between them till Balder had to tell him off about his cruelty to Yui and not disappoint him any further. Thor tells Yui that they are close to each other since young. Loki’s mischief has everyone ostracise him unlike Balder who naturally attracts other. They are poles apart but that is what attracted them together. Loki tries to avoid Balder’s question so he asks back why Yui is so special. Well, Balder is pretty special to Loki. There’s that promise they would do anything and everything together, right? On the night of the festival, Loki confronts Yui and this time he is serious in wanting to make special memories together till they graduate since Yui hopes they can create good memories from now on. That scary face… However his plan backfires when Yui thinks positively. She is glad he will join them till they graduate and wants to be his friend because she thought he always hated her. Balder sees this from afar and is not amused. So as the lighting ceremony gets underway, now it is Balder’s turn to confront Yui as he gets the wrong idea she is in love with Loki. In that case he will only make her look at him. By kissing? Loki gets in between just in time and couldn’t understand why Balder won’t just look at him. He belongs to him!

Episode 8
Loki lets Yui escape. Back at her booth, Thoth buys all their red bean soup. Egyptian god likes red bean? She sees Balder coming and runs away as she doesn’t know how to face him. She ends up in Apollon’s booth as he is selling life size candle Santa Claus. See when they melt… I didn’t know it was Halloween… Then she sees Thoth forcing people to buy his mummified dolls. That’s how he got his money… And then at Loki’s booth (because Thor made her stay in his place), he pretended he never said about the special memories and Balder belongs to him. He won’t tell her what is going on too but warns her not to get too close to Balder for her own sake. Well, Balder heard this. He looks very much like a yandere now. He believes Loki is in love with her. The more reason he will never let her go. He takes her away and in some isolated place, he explains about people being attracted to his inborn light power unlike her who is not charmed and says what she feels. In fact, Loki is the other person like this. However he won’t give her up. Loki comes by and this riles up Balder. His light power goes berserk (light cuts!) so Loki braves it and eventually hugs him to calm him down. Balder becomes unconscious. Loki will tell Yui everything provided she doesn’t tell Balder what happened. As Balder’s power attracted people, he wasn’t surrounded with real love. He was lonely. Till Yui came along to fill that loneliness. When his emotions go out of control, he turns into a different person. A different Balder hurts others and himself. That is why he was trying to keep them apart. As she is unaffected by his light power, he understands why he finds her attractive. Loki was hated by the gods since young and they treated him like the enemy. No one cared about him and he could have turned into a hateful being until he met Balder. No matter how much he hurt him, his love for both good and evil changed him. One day a god tried to kill Loki. Balder jumped into his defence. Let’s say that everyone got hurt. He couldn’t remember what happened buy Loki assured everything would be alright. Balder wakes up not having memories of what happened. He asks if Loki likes Yui. He denies but blushes. With that, they made up. They manage to attend the closing ceremony of letting go lanterns into the sky. Balder apologizes he caused trouble for everyone because he rushed into things. He feels fortunate to have such people around him. Later on, Thor reminds Loki and the latter assures he will kill Balder himself.

Episode 9
Yui dreams of Apollon and a mortal woman, Cassandra. As their different beings cannot make them together, he gives her his power to make them the same. It has been 6 months and Thoth has organized a major event: Midterm exams! Yui is freaking out because she never thought there would be exams in this place. I mean, gods taking exams? Yeah well, seems none of them really paid attention or took down Thoth’s notes. They’re screwed. As they study together, Yui finds Apollon acting weird. He is murmuring he doesn’t deserve happiness. Then she gets whisked away into some dream. She sees Cassandra opening the box Apollon gave her but falls into great despair. Apollon realizes Yui is not with him and quickly looks for her. He clings on to her like as though he will not let her go, screaming like a frantic kid. It took the other gods to separate them. Yui starts to ponder about this as she sees yet another dream. Cassandra drowned herself and Apollon was devastated when he found her lifeless floating body. That night she sees in a trance heading out. She follows him and tries to stop him from drowning himself before Cassandra’s ghost. Hades and Dionysus help bring them back to Apollon’s room. They explain Cassandra killed herself when she saw the helpless future. Apollon cried for days. Despite that, Cassandra’s soul never came to the Underworld most probably she had lingering grudges. Hades cautions Yui that Cassandra as a ghost may try to cause her harm. Apollon starts going crazy so Yui rushes to see Zeus for help. He continues Apollon’s story that he blamed himself for Cassandra’s death and became trapped in his thought he must never find happiness. That is why Zeus brought him here. If there was a way to save Apollon, he would have done so. Yui is still adamant to save him even with Thoth being the ultimate pessimist that there is nothing she can do. Because if Zeus can’t, what are the chances of a human. Don’t underestimate… She sees Cassandra before her and pleads to her. Surprisingly, Cassandra says her words don’t reach him. The harder she tries, the more he is hurt. She wants to save him and possesses Yui’s body to confront Apollon. She regrets she realized too late when she saw death will do them part even if he became a mortal, all the more reason why mortals treasure their limited time together. He still blames himself for causing her death. However she doesn’t wish to see him suffer and is happy for the times they have spent. She wants him to find his own happiness. Her words reached, she is now able to pass on. Goodbye. Things return to normal and Apollon’s shackle breaks. So to say that if they work hard enough, the shackle will come off in no time. Motivation and hope for the rest. But they forgot one big thing: The midterm exam!

Episode 10
Thankfully everyone did well in their test so as a reward, they will have to do a play. In 3 days! Seems they are fixated in doing Cinderella. Because with Yui as the princess, naturally who is going to be the prince? Uh huh. This is where your male catfight begins. Each claiming they are fit for that prince role. Even Hades. But he is being ignored… The only way to solve this is via lottery. So this is how it went: Cinderella = Yui; Prince = Apollon; Fairy = Balder; Servant = Loki; Step sisters = Takeru and Totsuka; Fathers = Hades and Dionysus; Various roles = Thor. Thoth may seem like he hates it but from the way he reacts, he might actually be looking forward to do the narration. So the play begins like as you would expect. Some I thought are so wooden in their acting… Dionysus’ role ends fast so he goes to gather his wine. A mysterious and mischievous lad, Anubis Maat test tastes and somewhat likes it and steals the bottle. Dionysus is appalled to see his wines missing and goes to hunt the wine thief. Heck Anubis even accidentally spills coffee on Thoth’s script so he has to improvise and adlib. Yeah, notice all the cursing lines he identifies everyone with… As the play nears the end, Loki too goes adlib. Because he feels he should be the star and kidnaps Cinderella. Then it twists into some sort of battle royale because the one who gets to give Cinderella wear the glass slipper gets to marry her. Everyone is in! Including Hades. But he’s being ignored… Just then Dionysus who is chasing Anubis end up on stage. In this frantic chaos, everyone slips and gets knocked out cold. When it’s over, it looks like a murder scene! Unconscious bodies with red ‘blood’ all over! And when everyone wakes up and is going to finish the play, Yui accidentally drops and breaks the glass slipper. Thoth improvises and ends this on a happy note. They are given a standing ovation! I bet they never seen the original Cinderella before. Later everyone is happy how fun it was despite the chaos. Then gloom falls on them when the thought of everyone will be separated once they graduated. Yui tries to maintain positive that they can still meet up and that they should have fun as much as possible. Suddenly Balder collapses.

Episode 11
As Balder lies in bed, the rest think he must be tired from the play. But something feels wrong because he collapsed during Christmas market too. Later Yui and Apollon heard Thor talking to Loki that things are not changing for the better and the only way left is to kill Balder. They are shocked and thought he was joking. Sorry. Loki also lied about Balder changing into a different person in his rampage. As the God of Light, he also attracts darkness. In short, he is also the God of Destruction. Zeus enrolled him here in hopes learning more of humanity would help him suppress his darkness but it is not working. At this rate he will be a weapon of mass destruction that will not only destroy this academy but all the worlds! Wow. That destructive, huh? The only way left is to kill him. But how can he when harm avoids him? Well, there is always exception to the rule. There was a mistletoe that broke free of the vow when his mother made. Thus this mistletoe blade is the only thing that will kill him if pierced through his heart. Because Balder is his precious friend, all the more reason why he has to kill him and can’t let him do something he wouldn’t want. Balder wakes up and he doesn’t know what is going on. Everyone pays their visit as usual. Yui feels so bad because all this feels so wrong. To kill the person you love to protect him just feels so screwed up. Apollon promises to find another way to save him and also to trust in them. He has told the other gods about it and they too share their concern. They will not abandon their friends so don’t treat them like strangers. Too bad they have to cut short this warm fuzzy feeling because Thor breaks the bad news that Loki and Balder are missing. Seems Loki brings Balder to the edge of the land (nice sunset). Balder gets nostalgic about the past. He hints he knows what Loki is trying to do. Actually, he does. He now understands what is going on and encourages Loki to kill him. Of course he couldn’t. Loki breaks down. Blah, blah, blah. You saved me. Blah, blah, blah. I can’t save you. Blah, blah, blah. Loki was hoping Yui and the others could do something or there would be some other way but it doesn’t look like it. Thor shares his sentiments too and that he isn’t wrong. At that point, Loki and Thor’s shackle break. Balder is glad they have no more regrets and apologizes for making them take everything upon themselves. He will end this by falling off the cliff. Hey, he is the only other thing that can hurt himself, no? Is this where the term drop dead comes about. Oops. Just kidding… BALDER!!! NOOOooOOOooOOOooOOooOOOOoooo!!! :(.

Episode 12
Well, what do you know? Balder turned into a God of Destruction. How convenient. Now his light is just zapping and destroying everything. Not even Zeus can prevent this. Loki and Thor could see that Balder isn’t completely taken over yet and plan to save him as they transform into their god form. Apollon joins in. Hades and Dionysus are helping to evacuate the students. They want Zeus to help them too but he is too busy trying to protect the place. Not only until Hades and Dionysus use their bodies to protect the students did Zeus finally turn them back into spirit form. Safer that way. Nobody has to worry minor characters will die. With Hades and Dionysus’ shackles coming off, they head to save Balder. Loki sees a small gap that could reach Balder. He fails to get in and becomes discouraged. Takeru had to lecture him to believe in them that they want to save Balder too. And with their shackles off too, it’s time for more gods to save Balder. Yui notices the pot filled. Her sword reacts to it and absorbs them. She could feel everyone’s heart wanting to save Balder and must bring this to Balder. Before she gets crushed by a slab, for once Thoth uses his intimidating move to save her to get her ass going. She is sad to see Loki trying to sacrifice himself to save Balder. Riding with Apollon on his Pegasus and the other gods making a clear way for them, they manage to enter the core. She gives her sword to Loki and in turn he stabs Balder in the heart. He returns to normal, the place returns to normal, everything calms down and everyone happily reunites. Just when Balder’s shackle comes off, the place starts crumbling down. I guess Zeus was already at his limits. The gods combine their powers to protect Yui and send her back to her world. Yui is in distraught. Can no longer be with hot handsome hunky-dory gods ;p. The gods have their final thank you or I love you words for her before she vanishes right to where it all began at her dojo. As if it was just all a dream but her memories retained. She rushes to the storeroom but couldn’t find the sword. She weeps uncontrollably that she cannot see the (handsome) guys anymore. Yui becomes gloomy for the rest of the few scenes, thinking about the times she spent with them. If this was going to happen, should have erased her memories as well. But do not be in despair. Because one day she hears the gods calling for her. It’s not her imagination. Here they are right before her! In the flesh! They want her to teach them again. Gladly.

Playing With Gods
Hah. I take it that the gods flunk their part in Zeus’ garden. Otherwise why be sent down to Earth to continue learning? Or it could be that they really want to be with Yui and purposely head down to Earth and continue learning with her. I can imagine the chaos that will now take place because suddenly our dojo girl has 8 hunks by her side, what more I assume they are going to transfer into her class. And definitely all the guys will stay away from them because you know, you don’t want to mess with gods, right? Definitely. And so I thought the ending although was a little cheesy, was to make us feel good because it would have been such a disaster for Yui to end up alone crying by herself so might as well have the gods be with her again with whatever absurd reason for them to reunite with her again after some time.

I can’t help feel the irony that gods actually need to learn about humans because I thought they were supposed to be omniscient. But then again, different gods in different cultures have their different roles and perhaps personalities. Speaking of gods of different mythologies, I thought they should have added a few more mythologies like Indian, Chinese or even Roman gods. But then again, if they were to increase the number of gods just for this, the entire place would be just damn crowded and we won’t be able to focus on anything. So learning from Yui is indeed a blessing in disguise because as seen they get to understand the human heart well and even be humane (saving your friends in trouble is a human trait, I suppose). I just thought and snickered when Zeus was told off a little that he should also joined in the class. I agree. He thinks he knows everything? Maybe. But ironically that makes him the least who understands about humans. He sends other gods to learn with Yui but he himself hardly understands about them. I guess it is different when you are the big boss. For whatever reasons he have for saving the future of mankind and gods, looks like at least it is starting to bear fruit with Yui and the gods building a close relationship with one another.

And thus getting close to Yui is one reason and excuse for us to have the romance drama. You can tell from their reactions (because most of them have 1 episode personally in focus with them and Yui) that they take a liking for her. It feels like it is more than just-because-I-am-a-god-and-you-are-a-mortal-woman-I-find-you-interesting kind of feeling. It is because Yui is mere human that she is perhaps different than other gods they interact and thus the attraction. Now we know why forbidden love attracts and is so tempting but usually never works out. Although the romance drama for this series is quite okay, you won’t really feel that the gods are actually competing with each other to get Yui. I suppose that is one trait in all reverse harem animes (think Uta No Prince-sama, Amnesia and La Corda d’Oro series) unlike harem animes targeted at guys filled with mind numbing fanservice and catfights. They focus on the drama and developing without resorting to such cheap tactics (I figure girls don’t like to see guys fighting each other over a girl).

Despite Balder and Apollon are the ones who clearly much daring and bold in confessing their feelings to Yui, you don’t feel that there is the danger of Yui going to choose to be with any one of them. Because she is more concerned in building their bond and graduating together as friends. In this sense you could say that she fulfilled her role magnificently. To make those gods to even come back for her, that is something. It’s like she’s god! Haha! Something ironic that I feel is that as they gradually bond with each other, the feelings of separation are something they dread. Well, I thought if they wanted to stay together, they could always not fill up the pot and they can be stuck in this garden forever, right? They can be forever and ever together that way. Heck, Yui didn’t even feel homesick when she seems getting along fine with the other gods. But Balder had to go berserk and destroy it. Can’t Zeus make another one? So it seems they might be working towards graduation but do they really want that?

Just like in reverse harem genres, each of the guys has their own personality. From cheerful and nice guys to brooding and taciturn guys to those with lots of angst. Like they say, variety is the spice of life. It would be boring if everybody was as happy and polite like Apollon or Baldur or everyone is just as mad as Takeru. So with different gods and their personalities, there are different approaches to them but eventually all of them fell for Yui’s charm. Thanks to the shackle that limits them to their human form, the more reason and excuse why those gods are acting like humans, even more so like young adult guys. At least they know how tough it is being human. Weak and fragile but yet strong.

Totsuka I feel is the retard joker of the group despite he displays no emotion. Because among the rest of the gods, he is the ‘dumbest’ one. Ah well, in every group there is bound to be one who isn’t too intelligent and a retard. Remember Snow White’s 7 dwarves? Yeah… It is like a running joke that Totsuka literally takes down notes everything that others say. Even when they tell him not to, he still takes it down. I don’t know. Has looking at the moon all the time caused his brain to be retarded?

Hades is a little funny himself. I thought as the ruler of the Underworld, he would be somewhat menacing. I mean, a place where you govern dead souls isn’t a place for cheery gods. Okay, so the Disney adaptation turned him into some cool antagonist-cum-joker equipped with his own witty lines. But as far as this anime is concerned, Hades is much toned down and sometimes I can’t help view him as the worrywart of the group. He fears his misfortune will affect others. That is a good sign to show that he cares but to see him this down and gloomy? Maybe being the ruler of the Underworld has made him so. I wanted to think it is the shackles that suppress his power but when I look at Takeru so filled with angst and Loki being the mischievous little devil, I thought those limiters couldn’t be it. It is just him.

Oddly with half of the series having at least an episode dedicated to one god, I find it odd that Thor and Dionysus don’t have theirs. It makes them feel like they are just supporting characters. Well, 6 gods are already too much for a mortal girl to handle, what more 8? I thought it would be more the merrier but I suppose there is just a limit. Besides, Thor doesn’t talk much and I figure Dionysus is happy with his gardening and wine. Besides, Dionysus is the God of harvesting, winemaking and wine. I thought it would have been ‘complete’ if he had wine and women ;p.

Thoth has this habit of cornering Yui and then slamming his palm against the wall or pillar. Is this a sign to intimidate her? He acts like he is tough or knows it all but something tells me he is as lost as the other gods. Because he doesn’t want to help out, giving excuse that they should clean up their own mess, etc. It is like he may not know a thing. Sure, it encourages them to be independent and think for themselves but I thought he should have put it in a better way. Because it makes him so arrogant. I mean, some hapless mortal comes to you to seek a little help and what is this? You turn this poor little girl away? And he is supposed to be the God of Knowledge… Even odder, he has this liking for red bean soup. Do they serve those in Egypt?

I feel Melissa doesn’t play any sort of vital role in this anime. He is sent to take care or aid Yui but I figure he must have helped her behind the scenes or those short scenes where he gives her advice and encouragement. But overall I think the show could be done without this doll. Otherwise I feel his only role is to be some sort of mascot. Heck, I think Tsukito’s pet bunny should make a cuter looking mascot. Same case with Anubis. In the first half, he makes very short and mysterious cameo appearing here and there just to keep us viewers guessing who the heck this animal-like kid is. Could he be some future antagonist in the end or something trivial. He looks like a retard only second to Tsukito. His most prominent episode was that Cinderella play and after that he becomes some sort of ‘pet’ to Thoth as seen hanging out by his side most of the time. Oddly, Anubis is supposed to be the Egyptian God of the Dead…

Those who love the bishonen type of art would definitely find the art and drawing for this series to be very pleasant to the eye. Sometimes I find it odd that the gods here lean more towards anime bishonen guys (duh!) instead of being the mythological gods that they are. I mean, can you imagine Norse and Greek gods looking so much like hot Japanese anime studs? It feels weird. As if they are just borrowing the names of those gods but everything else differs. But then again, in Latin countries, some men are named after the son of God, Jesus. Even in their god form, it feels like they are somewhat in some fancy cosplay with some of them baring half their top.

In the voice acting department, I don’t know, I somehow feel that nice cheerful guys sound so gay. Like Miyu Irino (Syaoran in Tsubasa Chronicle) as the voice of Apollon and Hiroshi Kamiya (Trafalgar Law in One Piece) playing Balder. Especially Apollon whose nickname calling penchant (he doubles the names of those he calls, for example, Bal-Bal, Loki-Loki or Thor-Thor) makes it sound so gay. So one kind. Maybe it is better (or not) than gods who are filled with angst such as Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Shun in Kimi To Boku) as Takeru. Yuuto Uemura (Rokusuke in Mushishi: The Next Chapter) does Totsuka and really makes him sound like a retard. Quite the irony for a god. Daisuke Ono (Sebastian in Kuroshitsuji) proves he is best voicing gentleman kind of roles but as Hades he is just gloomy. Better than being angry, no? Other casts include Saori Hayami as Yui (Ikaros in Sora No Otoshimono), Yoshimasa Hosoya as Loki (X-eins in Valvrave The Liberator), Hirofumi Nojima as Dionysus (Yuusaku in Toradora), Noriaki Sugiyama as Thor (Sasuke in Naruto), Toshiyuki Morikawa as Thoth (Naraku in Inu Yasha), Hochu Ootsuka as Zeus (Shiro in Arakawa Under The Bridge) and Tomokazu Seki as Melissa (Chiaki in Nodame Cantabile).

The opening theme is Till The End by the sextet behind the voices of Apollon, Balder, Loki, Hades, Takeru and Totsuka. Looks like another reason why Thor and Dionysus aren’t really part of the harem and makes them feel like they are just supporting characters. Anyway this opening piece sounds like your typical boy band group. Imagine if your hunky gods are singing this. Definitely heavenly… Imagine this as a godly version of Uta No Prince-sama. The same sextet sings the ending theme, Reason For. Although sounding like another boy band group, this one has a little techno in it. In the ending credits animation, they depict those 6 guys as 6 golden apples. Trying to hint something about the forbidden fruit?

On a trivial note, the next ending preview is more like a theatre for the gods to just rant their nonsense. Usually it lasts only for 10 seconds. Memorable ones I like such as Balder looking forward to the kind of food he is going to eat net (but Loki doesn’t give a damn), Totsuka and his retard-ness, Thoth intimidating us viewers because we are staring at him (you’ll be forgiven if you give him his favourite red bean soup) and Thoth couldn’t understand a thing Anubis says (because he has no proper dialogue lines!). And my personal favourite one is how Zeus keeps trying to correct Melissa in pronouncing Yui’s name. Because Melissa is a little lisp, he always pronounces it as “Kutanagi” and the doll always insists he does pronounce it in that corrected way. Eventually the correction goes awry because Zeus too starts pronouncing “Kutanagi”. Infectious? A good reverse psychology on how to screw with people…

It seems like a very strange joke to send a human to teach gods about being humans. During their absence ‘taking time off’ while learning about humanity, I wonder who is in charge of their respective roles. I mean, if Hades is in Zeus’ garden, who is it is keeping an eye on the Underworld? I don’t know if he has some assistant or appointed somebody temporary for the job. I might have watched a handful of reverse harem animes recently but I can’t really judge if this one is the better one among the rest. It is still pretty decent to watch since there are decent character developments (never mind the plot about gods learning to be humans from a human). Even if you aren’t into reverse harem genre, this series should be okay because I don’t feel there are any strong elements that would try to convert and ‘corrupt’ you into a reverse harem lover. So the important we learn is that regardless of the kind of status you have, it is essential to understand each other so that we can cry and laugh together on the same footing. Now you can’t say that would be an act of God, would you?