Our Home's Fox Deity.

Our Home's Fox Deity. (我が家のお稲荷さま。, Wagaya no Oinari-sama.) is a Japanese light novel series by Jin Shibamura, with illustrations by Eizō Hōden. The first novel was released in February 2004, and as of October 2007, seven volumes have been published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation by Suiren Matsukaze started serialization in MediaWorks' Dengeki Comic Gao! magazine in February 2007; the manga transferred to ASCII Media Works Dengeki Daioh in April 2008 after the former was discontinued in February 2008. A 24-episode anime adaptation, produced by Zexcs, aired in Japan between April and September 2008. NIS America licensed the anime series under the title Our Home's Fox Deity. released it in North America.

Plot

Tōru and Noburo are brothers of the Takagami Family who have just returned to their late mother's hometown of Mitsukawa. Toru has Yin in his blood and is constantly targeted by the yōkai and other creatures lurking in Japan. When Tōru is targeted by one, his brother Noburo releases the fox deity Kūgen Tenko who protects Tōru from the monster. Kūgen now acts as the protector of Tōru and Noburo to keep them safe from any threats to them, while at the same time trying to adapt to the modern world.

Characters

Kūgen Tenko (天狐 空幻, Tenko Kūgen)

Female Voiced by: Yukana

Male Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura

One of the main protagonists of the series. Kūgen is a fox deity that has been the Guardian of the Mizuchi family for centuries. Kūgen was sealed by one of their Water Priests because of her mischievous behavior, and was only let out when her services were needed. She was fully released by Noboru after Tōru was targeted by a demon and now serves as their guardian (she herself insisted on it, as her being fully released made her "out of a job"). Her powers are so great that she can defeat most opponents with just her own offensive techniques. She has demonstrated her great knowledge often, being able to figure out ways to beat an opponent even though having a disadvantage. Her natural element is metal (which is attributed to furred animals in the five phases) though she often uses fire magic and she has also shown control over water if it is present. Despite her great knowledge, she is often amazed by many things due to her having been sealed for such a long time with little time out. As such, especially early on, she is excited or surprised by various technology and their uses (such as first seeing a television, her reaction was the same as most depictions: "how did a person get in this box?").

Being what she is, she is capable of transformation, often appearing as either a human female or human male in addition to her natural form. When speaking, she uses the pronoun ore (俺) to refer to herself which is usually only used by males in Japan. She attracts a fair bit of attention in either human form because of her blonde hair and blue eyes, often resulting in a crowd of the opposite gender (in an omake, she is in male form while at the beach since she doesn't want to be bothered by a bunch of guys; that did not work either, as a crowd of girls gathers instead). In human form, she also often leaves her fox ears visible, choosing to either fully transform or simply wear a hat over them (they can involuntarily re-appear if she gets significantly distracted or excited). Kuu has a great love for food, and will happily do various things to get some, such as taking a part-time job thinking she'll get free food for her work.

Noboru Takagami (高上 昇, Takagami Noboru)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima

One of the main protagonists of the series. Noboru is the eldest son of the Takagami family. He is sixteen-years-old and was made aware that he is the head of the Mizuchi family in the beginning of the series. He is in the badminton club with Misaki Sakura. He later becomes seventeen-years-old after enrolling into his second year of high school. He has no spiritual powers, but he is very calm in many situations and can understand others well; he often can handle situations by talking it through, such as how he managed to calm Miyabe down when she was despairing and raging at the same time. Despite his lack of any spiritual power, he has become able to more easily recognize human-transformed beings.

Tōru Takagami (高上 透, Takagami Tōru)

Voiced by: Yu Shimamura

One of the main protagonists of the series. Tōru is the youngest son of the Takagami family. He is eleven-years-old and has strong Yin in his blood, as stated by his grandmother. This is why Tōru may be sought after by Youkai for various reasons. Thanks to this, however, he also has a sense of spirits (although weakly), and was able to fully see and talk with his mother during the Soul Ascension for her. After enrolling into his final year of primary school, he becomes twelve-years-old.

Kō (コウ)

Voiced by: Saori Hayami

Kō is the "sentinel" of the Mizuchi family. She is sent to keep an eye on the Takagami brothers and Kūgen, and therefore must live in Noboru's house for the time being. She tries to be helpful, is dedicated to her job, and does not want to be a bother. She initially is very poor with common household tasks, and is mainly proficient in combat (she was raised honing her skills as a sentinel, not as a housekeeper); due to this, she has broken a large amount of the dishes the Takagami's own, as well as managing to burn the bottom of a pot while trying to boil water. She also is rather socially inexperienced, among other things (such as her method of describing things, which is to try to mimic the action/sounds, with little comprehension resulting) which tends to lead her to be seen as a bit of an oddball despite her very serious manner.

Misaki Sakura (佐倉 美咲, Sakura Misaki)

Voiced by: Yui Kano

Misaki is a friend of Noboru's from school who wants to be more than friends with him. Due to a number of things, often beyond her control (such as Kūgen erasing her memory of an event), she hasn't gotten much closer. She has an overactive imagination, jumping to conclusions about other people's relationship to Noboru, especially Kuu and Kou, as they are living in his house. At one time, Kuu put a technique that will make Misaki into a temporarily powerful guardian for Noboru. She herself has no knowledge of this, as she is unconscious while in that state.

Supporting characters

Tsukuyomi

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya

A kami from the Department of Custody's Group 1, an organization which protects, controls, seals, and/or destroys things and/or beings that are potentially dangerous to society, finding them and deciding the best course of action for dealing with them. She is usually seen with her companion Bekira. She has some history with Kuu, though a long time past.

Bekira

Voiced by: Masumi Asano

Bekira is a Bokor who is an employee of the Department of Custody's Group 1. She specializes in magic-based therapies against all spiritual and other diseases which she treats accordingly as well as treating Tsukoyomi's disease. In response to the question of what species she is, she replied "I chose to stop being human." When she first appears, she is traveling with Tsukuyomi searching for Byakki (who had been stolen from their custody). She also helped Kūgen stop Momiji Miyabe when she had been controlling numerous people she'd bitten where she threw one of the special injection darts at her.

Miyako Takagami (高上 美夜子, Takagami Miyako)

Voiced by: Yui Horie

Miyako is Tōru's and Noboru's deceased mother having died before the beginning of the series, shortly after Tōru's birth. She had a friendship with Kūgen, and adores cute things, including animal mascots (to the point that she nearly strangled/crushed Haruki with a hug while he was wearing an animal outfit, which led to their eventual marriage). Early in the series, Ebisu informed Kūgen that her spirit had not yet passed on, which led her to do a Soul Ascension, both for Miyako to pass on, as well as to let Tōru actually meet her.

Haruki Takagami

Voiced by: Mitsuru Miyamoto

Haruki is Tōru's and Noboru's father. He has been rasing his sons since the death of his wife. He has an amazing tolerance for the mystical, thanks to her.

Ebisu (恵比寿)

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono

Ebisu is the local deity of the area where the Takagami brothers live. Ebisu is the "god of commerce". He runs a convenience store close to his shrine where he has two stone imperial guardian lions named Kōga and Eiga which he can bring to life. He is a real god unlike a yōkai like Kūgen Tenko, so he is able to overpower Kūgen without trying too much especially by the use of kotodama since he is the most powerful while in his territory. He usually seems very jovial and friendly but is extremely sharp and sly and sometimes might be harsh. He keeps note of any new yōkai that enter his domain.

Enjyu

Enjyu is an Oni with orange hair, usually done up with two buns covering her horns. She is the leader of the local group of Oni, which also run a church. She desires Byakki as whomever is imprinted by her will be recognized as the king of the Oni. However, she also is very kind, caring about all of her people, and wouldn't kill Tōru despite him being the one currently imprinted by Byakki. She and the other Oni have a love for the internet an online shopping, having paid for Byakki's delivery and obtained various other powerful things that way.

Byakki "Shiro-chan"

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya

Byakki is a White Oni (the only one of her kind). Unlike other Oni, she doesn't have any horns, and her entire appearance is white. Her skin and hair are both naturally white, and she only wears white (though she isn't seen dressed in anything but wraps that seal her powers most of the time). The other non-white she has is in her eyes which are a deep red. Byakki is quite unique in her powers for she is extremely powerful and agile, to the point of being nearly unbeatable by many beings. In contrast, she has virtually no defensive capabilities, meaning that if she gets injured it could easily defeat her. Along with her amazing offensive abilities, she feeds off of the forces of other beings, absorbing from them with no more than a momentary contact with her hand or even her clothing; the amount she drains varies, usually just leaving the being affected weakened but can cause them to collapse for several days if she takes a large amount; this can obviously be used in combat to easily defeat nearly any opponent, though it will obviously fail if her opponent has nothing to absorbed. She was given the name Shiro by Tōru when he first met her, since no one there knew her real name.

Gyokuyou Tenko

Male Voiced by: Wataru Hatano

Female Voiced by: Mikako Takahashi

Gyokuyou is a silver fox deity who is the half-brother/sister of Kūgen (it hasn't been clearly stated which, though female appears the most likely). Unlike Kūgen, Gyokuyou does not prefer to live with humans, largely due to the sealing of Kūgen. Gyokuyou was given the nickname "Tama" by Tōru when they first met.

Mubyou

Voiced by: Kaori Mizuhashi

Mubyou is the "God of Vagabonds" of a nearby land that protects the Sakasaen, as well as several other lands. She travels between each of them, residing in each for a year then moving to the next. She wears a mask resembling an owl, but most people see it as that of a tanuki. Because she can't watch one area constantly, she has a duplicate puppet of herself watch the lands she's not in.

Mubyou (duplicate-puppet)

Voiced by: Kaori Mizuhashi

Mubyou is Mubyou's companion, a puppet that appears like herself and fills in for her while she travels between the lands she watches. Her two sock puppets, which also act as her hands, take the form of a guardian wolf beast and a guardian sheep beast; after they were destroyed, as well as herself getting injured, Mubyou repaired her, as well as giving her new, human-style hands (she always had the hand-structure as a humans, but instead of a skin-covering it was the puppets). Because of her desire to be complimented/cared for by Mubyou, she threatened Tōru, and even tried to get Mubyou and Kuu to fight to the death; when all her plans failed, resulting in herself being temporarily consumed in flames, she started crying, telling Mubyou why she did it all, and apologizing. Afterwards, she continues to watch the land in Mubyou's absence, as well as helping the others.

Momiji Miyabe

Voiced by: Shizuka Itou

Momiji Miyabe is a purple-haired beautiful student at Akagi High School (which Noboru goes to) where she is the school diva. Her family is the benefactors of the Department of Custody. She has been living alone since her parents are both gone as her father Jyuzou works away from home. This leads Momiji to eventually try to attack the Takagami brothers hoping she could get her father worried and come home. Momiji has a tendency to flirt with Noboru having developed a liking for him. Momiji is actually a Golden Werewolf with light brown fur, long yellow hair, and a yellow mane who can temporarily turn others into werewolves that she controls by biting them. Her victims can either be cured by the effects wearing off through a specialized injection that is either the same or similar to the one that suppress Momiji's own powers forcing her back to her human form. When Kugen took down Momiji, Bekira arrived and threw one of those special injections at her. Noboru and Kiyomaro told Momiji that her father still cares for her despite being away and not to be angry with him.

Media

Light novels

Our Home's Fox Deity. began as a series of light novels written by Jin Shibamura, and drawn by Eizō Hōden. The novels are published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko publishing label. The first novel was released on February 10, 2004, and as of October 10, 2007, seven volumes have been published. In 2003, the first novel in the series won the Gold Prize in the tenth Dengeki Novel Prize contest.^[1]

Manga

A manga adaptation illustrated by Suiren Matsukaze started serialization in MediaWorks' Dengeki Comic Gao! magazine on February 27, 2007.^[2] On February 27, 2008, the manga ended serialization in Dengeki Comic Gao!, but continued serialization in ASCII Media Works' manga magazine Dengeki Daioh on April 21, 2008 and ended on May 27, 2013. Eleven tankōbon volumes have been released under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics label.

Anime

A 24-episode anime adaptation produced by the animation studio Zexcs and directed by Yoshiaki Iwasaki aired in Japan on the Chiba TV television network between April 6 and September 14, 2008. NIS America licensed the anime series under the title Our Home's Fox Deity. and released it in North America.^[3] Three pieces of theme songs are used; one opening theme, and two ending themes. The opening theme, "KI-ZU-NA ~Haruka Naru Mono e (KI-ZU-NA 〜遥かなる者へ), is performed by Hitomisora (Yoshida Hitomi & Sora Izumikawa). The first ending theme, "Kaze ga Nanika o Iō to Shiteiru (風がなにかを言おうとしている), is performed by Saori Hayami, and was used for the first eighteen episodes. The second ending theme, "Shiawase no Kotodama" (シアワセの言霊), is performed by Yukana, Saori Hayami, and Mikako Takahashi, who are the voice actresses for three female characters in the anime.

References

External links

• Our Home's Fox Deity. at ASCII Media Works (in Japanese)
• Anime official website (in Japanese)
• Our Home's Fox Deity. (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia