Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai (神のみぞ知るセカイ?, lit. The World God Only Knows), abbreviated as Kaminomi (神のみ?),[1] is a manga series written and illustrated by Tamiki Wakaki. The manga has been serialized in the Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine by Shogakukan since April 9, 2008, with individual chapters collected in eight tankōbon volumes as of April, 2010. The prototype version of the story was first featured as a one-shot in the Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine on its 2007 Issue 32 release, and was titled "Koishite!? Kami-sama!!" (恋して!? 神様?). The 2010 Issue #19 of Weekly Shonen Sunday announced an anime adaptation has been green-lit.
Plot[]
Keima Katsuragi, a second-year high school student, is an avid galge gamer. He is known on the Internet as "The Capturing God" for his legendary skills to be able to "capture" any 2D girl in games. However, in his actual school life, Keima is known as otamegane (オタメガネ), a derogatory portmanteau of the two words otaku (オタク) and megane (メガネ-"glasses").
At the start of the series, Keima receives an e-mail offering him a contract to "capture" girls. He accepts what is thought to be a challenge, and a demon from Hell nicknamed Elsee appears. She asks for his cooperation to help her in catching the runaway spirits. These spirits hide themselves inside the girls' heart, and Elsee suggests that the only method to force the spirits out is by "capturing" their hearts—making them fall in love. Appalled by the idea, Keima refuses after clarifying to Elsee that he is only interested in "capturing" 2D girls and that he detests reality. Nevertheless, with the contract already accepted, Keima would have to help Elsee no matter what; if they fail, both Elsee and Keima would lose their heads.
Main characters[]
- Keima Katsuragi (桂木 桂馬 Katsuragi Keima?)
- Voiced by: Hiro Shimono
- The primary protagonist of the story, a 17-year-old high school student attending Maijima High School Academy. He is known as "The Capturing God (落とし神 Otoshi-gami?)" in the gaming world for his legendary skills in "capturing" any girls in gal games. But ironically, he is called otamegane (a derogatory portmanteau of the two words otaku and megane-"glasses"). At the start of the series, Keima becomes a collaborator for catching runaway spirits when he replies to an e-mail requesting his help to "capture" girls without knowing it was a contract from Hell, to which Elsee appeared and asked for his aid to "capture" girls in real-life. For each individual of the "Capture Targets"—a girl with the runaway spirit in her—Keima utilizes his analytical skills and experiences from dating sims to capture them. Whenever he isn't capturing runaway spirits, he is almost always seen playing video games on his PFP (a parody of Sony's PSP). Also, despite the fact he even plays video games in class, he is still at the top of class in every subject. As the story progresses, his perspective of the "real world" girls becomes different.
- Elsea de Lute Irma (エリュシア・デ・ルート・イーマ ERYUSHIA DE RUUTO IIMA?)
- Voiced by: Kanae Itō
- Primarily known as Elsee (エルシィ ERUSI?), Elsea is a demon who was assigned to capture evil spirits that have escaped from hell. Her feather cloth (the floating scarf she is always seen with) can change the appearance of an object, create disguises to aid the mission or it can hide people in plain sight. She is left-handed and is rarely seen without her broom, as it was from her original role as a cleaner for hell. To stay close to Keima, she tells Mari, Keima's mother, that she is an illegitimate child of Keima's father, and ends up living in the Katsuragi household as well as attending the same class in school. Elsea is often made fun of by the other demons because of the poor grades she had in the demon academy. However, after partnering with Keima, they were able to capture 9 escaped spirits within half a year's time, which earned her the Section Chief's Award.
- Elsee is also a member of Chihiro's band in which she plays a left handed bass. She has also developed an interest in fire trucks.
- Hakua du Lot Herminium (ハクア・ド・ロット・ヘルミニウム HAKUA DO ROTTO HERUMINIUMU?)
- Hakua is a fellow demon and friend of Elsee. She also carries a large scythe with her. She is an outstanding honor student and was promoted to District Chief. However, she failed to capture any spirits in the human world. After hearing about how many Elsee had captured, the space in her heart widened and allowed a powerful spirit to take over. Elsee calms Hakua down, and the two defeat the spirit. Assisted by Keima in her investigation for escaped spirits, Hakua has also taken a liking to Keima. Chapter 47 shows that Hakua also has a partner, an older woman named Yukie who believes that Keima is Hakua's boyfriend.
- Tenri Ayukawa (鮎川 天理 Ayukawa Tenri?)
- A shy and reticent childhood friend of Keima, who was a former next-door neighbor and classmate until the Katsuragi household relocated seven years ago. Ten years later, when she and her mother visits Keima's house over the summer vacation, Tenri is exactly the same as before: the reserved nature and hairstyle, and the bubble wrap in her hands. At first, it is believed Tenri possesses a runaway spirit within her, who manifests as a much more confident, strong, stoic version of herself with eyes visible. She is able to switch with the other personality at any time, or communicate with her in her head, and vice-versa. The other personality, if not in possession of the shared body at the time, can communicate to other people including Tenri through her reflection via a reflective surface. The personality reveals to Keima that her existence is not a 'Weiss' (former name for runaway spirits), but those that were responsible for ending the Old Hell, and sealing away all the runaway spirits. The entity, named Diana, merged with Tenri during a school trip, when Tenri and Keima were trapped in an underground cave and surrounded by many runaway spirits, enabling the two to escape.
Media[]
Manga[]
Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai is written and illustrated by Tamiki Wakaki, serialized in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday since April 9, 2008.[2] Wakaki created a prototype version of the story which debuted as a one-shot in Weekly Shōnen Sunday 2007 Issue 32 and was titled, "Koishite!? Kami-sama!!" (恋して!? 神様!!?).[3] Publication is ongoing in Japan by Shogakukan; the first tankōbon was released on July 11, 2008, and as of April 16, 2010, six volumes have been released.[4]
The series is licensed in South Korea by Haksan Culture Company, and the first two volumes of the series has been simultaneously released on August 2009 with limited edition supplement for each.[5]
Light novel[]
A light novel entitled The World God Only Knows―God and the Devil and an Angel (神のみぞ知るセカイ―神と悪魔と天使 Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai Kami to Akuma to Tenshi?), written by Mamizu Arisawa and illustrated by Tamiki Wakaki, was released on May 19, 2009, published by Shogakukan under their GAGAGA Bunko label.[6] The novel features a completely original story disparate from the series, with original novel characters.
A second light novel entitled The World God Only Knows 2 Prayer and Curse and Miracle (神のみぞ知るセカイ 2 祈りと呪いとキセキ Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai Inori to Noroi to Kiseki?) was released on May 18, 2010.[7] It includes a story featuring Hakua, an original character from the manga.
Anime[]
An anime adaptation of the manga has been officially announced in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday 2010 Issue #19.[8] So far, it has been announced that script writer Hideyuki Kurata, character designer Watanabe Akio, and director Shigehito Takayanagi will be working on the project.[9][10] The studio in charge of the animation is Manglobe.[11]
Reception[]
The third volume of Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai was the fourth highest-selling tankōbon in Japan on the Oricon Comic Chart for the week of January 13 and January 19, 2009, with over 50,500 copies sold that week.[12] The following week, it was the twenty-first highest-selling manga volume in Japan, having sold 30,600 copies the week of January 20 and January 26, 2009. As of January 2009, the third manga volume have sold about 81,100 copies.[13]
References[]
- ↑ As seen on Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine.
- ↑ Wakaki, Tamiki (2008-04-09). "4/9:孫悟空の髪の毛のごとく。" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2009-07-26.
- ↑ Wakaki, Tamiki (2007-07-25). "7/25:外れメール送信終わりました。" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2009-07-28.
- ↑ "神のみぞ知るセカイ 8" (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ↑ "Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai question" (in Korean). Haksan Culture Company. 2009-07-21. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
- ↑ "Shogakukan : 神のみぞ知るセカイ" (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
- ↑ "Shogakukan : 神のみぞ知るセカイ2" (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
- ↑ "Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai Manga Gets Anime Green-Lit". Anime News Network. April 2, 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
- ↑ 2010, May 14 - Announced at Tamiki Wakaki's blog (Japanese)
- ↑ As seen on Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine 2010 Issue #25, #26.
- ↑ As seen on Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine 2010 Issue #27.
- ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, January 13–19". Anime News Network. 2009-01-21. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, January 20–26". Anime News Network. 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
External links[]
- Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
- The World That Only God Knows at Websunday.net (Japanese)
- The World That God Only Knows Anime - Official Site (Japanese)
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ko:신만이 아는 세계 th:เซียนเกมรัก ขอเป็น เทพนักจีบ zh:只有神知道的世界