Kamichu!

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Kamichu!
Cover of the first Japanese DVD
かみちゅ！～かみさまでちゅうがくせい～ (Kami-chu! ~Kamisama de Chugakusei~)
Genre	Fantasy
TV anime
Director	Koji Masunari
Studio	Aniplex
Licensor	Geneon
Network	Animax, TV Asahi
Other networks: Animax A+
Original run	28 June 2005 – 27 September 2005
Episodes	16 [12 tv, 4 dvd only]
Manga
Author	Hanaharu Naruko
Publisher	MediaWorks
Demographic	Shōnen
Serialized in	Dengeki Daioh
Original run	June 2005 – January 2007
Volumes	2

Kamichu!: Teenage Goddess (かみちゅ!～かみさまでちゅうがくせい～, Kami-chu! ~Kamisama de Chugakusei~^?, lit. A Deity as a Middle School Student) is a Japanese anime television series, strongly influenced by the Shinto religion, that follows the adventures of teenage goddess Yurie Hitotsubashi and her friends. The series was created by Besame Mucho (ベサメムーチョ, Besamemūcho^?), which is the joint pen name of Tomonori Ochiai, Koji Masunari, and Hideyuki Kurata. It was broadcast by the anime television network Animax on its respective networks worldwide, including Japan, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, where it received its first English-language broadcast.

The series was adapted as a manga serialized in Dengeki Daioh, a shōnen manga magazine, and collected in two tankōbon volumes.

At the 2005 Japan Media Arts Festival, Kamichu! received an Excellence Prize for animation.^[1]

Contents 1 Story 2 Main characters 3 Production staff 4 Reception and awards 5 Media 5.1 Anime episodes 5.2 Music 6 Manga 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Story

Yurie is a petite, shy, and otherwise ordinary middle-school girl who suddenly discovers that, overnight, she has become a kami (神, kami^?), a god in the Shinto sense. She has no idea what kind of god she is or what her powers are. Her friends give her the nickname kamichu from kami (god) and chūgakusei (middle school student). In her journey she meets many gods and learns the ways of the gods in order to become a great god herself. During the course of the series, Yurie grows more in being a better god, but she also grows as a person.

Kamichu! is set in the city of Onomichi in Hiroshima prefecture, on the shores of Japan's Inland Sea. Many of the temples and landmarks shown in the anime are real places in and around the city, faithfully depicted. It is set in the Spring of 1983 to Spring of 1984.^[2]

[edit] Main characters

Yurie Hitotsubashi (一橋 ゆりえ, Hitotsubashi Yurie^?)

Voiced by: MAKO (Japanese), Megan Harvey (English)

Yurie is the protagonist of the series. In the first episode, she tells her best friend Mitsue that overnight she has become a goddess. It is not explained how she becomes one throughout the entire series. She is remarkably naive and simple-minded but always has the best intentions. She has had a crush on Kenji Ninomiya for a long time, and gets very nervous and red-faced around him.

Matsuri Saegusa (三枝 祀, Saegusa Matsuri^?)

Voiced by: Rika Morinaga (Japanese), Lulu Chiang (English)

Matsuri is the person in charge of the Raifuku Shrine in Onomichi. She runs the shrine with her sister, Miko, and is always thinking of schemes to earn money for or bring more visitors to the shrine- usually by exploiting Yurie. Unlike Miko, she cannot see spirits without the charms that Yurie usually writes (thought it is stated in the manga by Miko that she too could once see spirits). Her name means "worship".

Mitsue Shijo (四条 光恵, Shijō Mitsue^?)

Voiced by: Kaori Mine (Japanese), Erika Weinstein (English)

Mitsue is Yurie's best friend. She's very down-to-earth, and serves as the "straight man" for her friends, but wishes that her life were more exciting. Yurie often goes to her for advice and although her advice is simple, and usually is just common sense, she is always right. She is usually possessed by Yashima when he needs to communicate with people or when he wants to play the guitar.

Miko Saegusa (三枝 みこ, Saegusa Miko^?)

Voiced by: Ai Nonaka (Japanese), Rachel Hirschfeld (English)

Miko is Matsuri's shy younger sister. She does the cooking in the house, and is very polite and respectful to everyone. She helps out in the shrine and has the ability to see spirits. She has a crush on Yashima. Her name, Miko, is also the term for a Shinto shrine attendant.

Kenji Ninomiya (二宮 健児, Ninomiya Kenji^?)

Voiced by: Issei Miyazaki (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English)

Kenji is the president and only member of his school's calligraphy club. He is quite aloof and a bit slow on the uptake. He loves his brushes, and he often does calligraphy for the Raifuku shrine. He only does calligraphy when he is 'inspired', yet it takes him a while to realize that most of his sources of inspiration revolve around Yurie.

Yashima-sama (八島様, Yashima-sama^?)

Voiced by: Kousuke Okano (Japanese), Yuri Lowenthal (English)

Yashima is the local god of the Raifuku shrine. He wishes to be a rock star, resulting in him often possessing Mitsue in order to rock out (who is totally against this). He is also often seen with an Akita Inu that talks. He seems to be close friends with Miko Saegusa, but it is implied that he is more interested in Matsuri.

Shoukichi Hitotsubashi

Voiced by: Makoto Tsumura (Japanese), J.D. Stone (English)

Shoukichi is Yurie's younger brother, who like Miko attends the same school as his older sister, one grade below. Often he acts more mature than his sister, and he often teases her, but he does love her. He has a crush on Miko, and acts differently and blushes whenever he's around her.

Bin-chan

A poverty god Yurie takes in after he saves Tama's life. He shares Tama's body.

Tama

Yurie's pet cat. After she began to share her body with Bin-chan, she exhibits a number of human traits which make Shoukichi suspicious.

Ino, Shika, Chou

The three tiny spirits that the God Association sends as Yurie's assistants. Their names are puns, as they were given by Yurie for unrelated reasons but correspond to the animals that they resemble. Chou is a butterfly, Ino is a boar and Shika is a deer.

[edit] Production staff

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] Reception and awards

The anime received an Excellence Prize at the 2005 Japan Media Arts Festival.^[1]

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] Media

[edit] Anime episodes

There are sixteen episodes in the anime series. Twelve episodes were broadcasted on TV Asahi in 720p, omitting episodes 8, 11, 13, and 16. The DVD release included all sixteen episodes.^[3]

The titles of several episodes are from Japanese pop songs from the 1980s and 1990s.^[4]

#	Title	Original air date[5]
01	"The Spice of Youth" "Seijun no Ijiwaru" (青春のいじわる)	2005-06-29
When Yurie announces during lunch that last night she became a god. Matsuri, as the daughter of a shinto priest, tries to help her figure out what kind of god she is. During their efforts, Yurie accidentally creates a typhoon, which she has to dispell to save Kenji.
02	"Please God" "Kami-sama Onegai" (神様お願い)	2005-07-06
Matsuri decides her family's shrine will host a festival in honor of Yurie, but discovers Yashima, the god of the shrine, has gone missing. Yurie travels to the land of the gods to convince him to return.
03	"I Didn't Mean It" "Sonna Tsumori ja Nakatta no ni" (そんなつもりじゃなかったのに)	2005-07-13
The god of poverty arrives in town, sending the local economy into a depression; and Yurie's pet cat, Tama, goes missing. These two events may have something in common.
04	"Earth's Crisis" "Chikyuu no Kiki" (地球の危機)	2005-07-27
The God Association sends Yurie three assistants to help her deal with petitions. As her first task, the Prime Minister summons Yurie to help communicate with a Martian.
05	"I Don't Like Being Alone" "Hitori Bocchi wa Kirai" (ひとりぼっちは嫌い)	2005-08-03
Yurie catches a cold and stays at home for a few days, but her friends don't come to visit. Feeling lonely, she uses her powers to depart from her body as a spirit and visit them instead.
06	"A Small Decision" "Chisa na Kesshin" (小さな決心)	2005-08-10
Kiyomi, a freshman, comes to Yurie seeking love advice - but the object of her crush is Kenji Trying earnestly to help her rival nonetheless, Yurie joins Kenji's calligraphy club with her.
07	"Lovers of the Sun" "Taiyou no Koibito-tachi" (太陽の恋人たち)	2005-08-24
On their summer vacation, Yurie and her friends go to a quiet part of the seashore and explore an abandoned beach house. The gods living there want to know what's become of the people who once enjoyed themselves there, and Yurie fulfills their wish.
08	"Wild Times" "Yasei Jidai" (野生時代)	N/A
Strange packs of cats have been roaming the town recently, and Tama is among them. Yurie follows her and turns into a cat to meet the charismatic feline Tyler Meowden, who wants to revolt against humans. She and Tama fight to stop him.
09	"Crossing the River of Time" "Toki no Kawa o Koete" (時の河を越えて)	2005-08-31
Yurie and her friends meet an old man named Gen who was once a crewman of the battleship Yamato. Shortly afterwards, she receives a message from the sunken battleship, which wants to visit its home port again.
10	"I Choose You" "Kimi ni Kettei" (君に決定)	2005-09-07
As another of her business ploys, Matsuri convinces Yurie to run for student council president, but they encounter unexpectedly fervent opposition.
11	"Love is Missing" "Koi wa Yukue Fumei" (恋は行方不明)	N/A
Miko and Shoukichi run away to a nearby town together for mysterious reasons. Yurie and her friends spend the day trying to find them.
12	"Mysterious Adventure" "Fushiigina Bouken" (ふしぎなぼうけん)	2005-09-14
For the month of Kannazuki, Yurie attends the "God Convention" in Izumo. While there, she temporarily transfers to a local middle school where everyone treats her with utmost respect.
13	"We Do As We Like" "Yaritai Houdai" (やりたい放題)	N/A
Matsuri, as the daughter of the shrine, becomes offended by the foreign holiday of Christmas and stages "Yurie-chan Thanksgiving Day" in order to combat it.
14	"Dream Colored Message" "Yume Iro no Message" (夢色のメッセージ)	2005-09-21
During her winter break from school, Yurie spends an entire day under the kotatsu. She receives several New Years cards, including one from Kenji.
15	"A Small Step" "Chiisana Ippo de" (小さな一歩で)	2005-09-28
When Yurie resolves to give Kenji chocolate for Valentine's Day and confess her love, the entire school and everyone in town pitches in to help her.
16	"Look, Don't You Think Spring Has Come?" "Hora ne, Haru ga Kita" (ほらね、春が来た)	N/A
Yurie and Mitsue help Matsuri and Miko clean the shrine storage rooms. As she spends the night there, Yurie tells her friends that Kenji is her boyfriend.

[edit] Music

Opening Theme:

• "Fair Weather Followed by Fair Weather" (晴れのちハレ!, Hare Nochi Hare!^?)

Lyrics by: Bee'

Composition and arrangement by: Junpei Fujita

Song by: Maho Tomita

Closing Theme:

• "Ice Candy" (アイスキャンディー, Aisu Kyandī^?)

Lyrics by: Bee'

Composition and arrangement by: Noriyasu Agematsu

Song by: MAKO

CDs
3 Kamichu! CD's have been released:

1. アイスキャンディー Maxi - 2005-08-24 ^[6]
2. 晴れのちハレ! Maxi - 2005-08-24 ^[7]
3. Kamichu OST - 2005-10-26 ^[8]

[edit] Manga

Kamichu! was adapted as a manga serialized by MediaWorks in Dengeki Daioh, a shōnen manga magazine, and collected in two tankōbon volumes.^[9]

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] See also

• Arahitogami: More information on human being as a God(dess) in Shinto religion.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Kamichu! website by Sony Music (Japanese)
• Official Kamichu! website (English)
• Interview with Hideyuki Kurata and Koji Masunari (Japanese) - about the anime Kamichu!
• Kamichu! (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia