Anime: Kannazuki no Miko

Kannazuki no Miko is an interesting mix of different themes. Overall, it comes across as a dark series about an inability to escape fate (reincarnation) as well as showcasing how bad the world can be (through the pasts of the villains, in a similar way to the histories of the characters in Angel Beats). The fate here happens to be the duty of two girls who must repeatedly sacrifice themselves to save the world from destruction. While this theme seems familiar (reincarnate + repeat), the series adds in twists such as a Yuri aspect and random, and I mean RANDOM mechs.

If you're for a dark, lustfully Yuri show with overly-pretty heroines and some really great mixes from Kotoko, then give this a shot. Just be warned that it is a wild ride, and you may be quite lost with all the mechs and themes.

Animation:
The animation is a bit dated by 2011 standards but it is still fair and not distracting. While not as crisply drawn, the character designs are very well done, and the heroines are quite the eye candy (and no you don't need size Ds for eye candy). There is a bit of blood at times and a few suggestive scenes of betrayal, rape, and other such unpleasantness of the world but nothing to make you lose your appetite. As for the action sequences, as in Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora, I really don't see the point in the mechs. They're quite beyond ugly to look at and the battle scenes are not impressive, I'd much rather look at more shots of the heroines.

Sound:
The OP and ED are Kotoko at her best. These tracks rock, in a very techno-electronic way, enough to warrant getting the OST just for the tracks. The actual BGM is a bit more mellow with a soothing symphonic track that can just as easily create some tension at critical points in the show. VA wise, Ayako Kawasumi and Noriko Shitaya do a great job of voicing their respective character, one giving a commanding, confident presence while the other giving a very sweet, comforting voice. Together, they make a compelling duo that helps bring the characters out.

Story:
So yeah, apparently the world is going to repeat a cycle and implode by tormented individuals, who want the world to end, and the only thing to prevent these mechs from consuming the world is to form your own mech, though summoning it seems to be quite difficult here.

Anyways, the main heroines struggle to battle their way to save the planet, or do they? This series is a pretty interesting ride as there are some fairly huge twists towards the middle-end of the series, and at the end you realize that some really painful decisions had been made / have to be made. This is one of those series where you grow to a huge climax, though this one a bit darker than most. My main problem here is that a lot of the explanation isn't very good, especially the reasoning behind the villains motives as well as a lot of the magic-ness at the end. Furthermore, I don't quite get why they even bothered to introduce Oogami, other than to show the power of "love" between the heroines?

While the story is VERY deep and involved (good at keeping me on edge), I think they introduced so many elements that it didn't feel all that uniform and integrated.

Character:
So there is a bit of character development here, primarily focusing on the heroines relationship; though it does detour at some points due to Oogami's intervention. Expect quite a bit of drama there. The two girls are drawn to each other as they're "fated" to meet and love each other, while I don't completely buy into that line of thinking, it's passably done here. What is also interesting is Oogami's trial to win over Himeko, and his selfless sacrifice to try to protect her, despite supposedly being a villain.

I also liked the contrasting personalities of the heroines, one being very calculative and a "model student" and the other your typical cute girl who can't seem to do anything but you'll forgive her since she's so kawaii.

The main fault I find here is that the supporting characters (including Oogami) don't feel completely integrated, and despite having a significant impact on the plot, they aren't really explicated.

Value:
Yes you get some points here for being fairly unique, and for a unique dark tone. For some reason, despite being rediculously similar to Kyoshiro both in plot and background setting, I preferred Kyoshiro's ending and overall theme. Perhaps the combination of dark + yuri just didn't go well with me, or perhaps I just got Oogami confused with Shin Asuka too many times. As a last note, this is one of those shows where you end up philosophizing at the end trying to reason over the flurry of events. It's also one of those few times that I ended up completely inconclusive.

Ah, Kannazuki no Miko (KNM), what a ride that was. I am into anime since early 80’s and I got to live through all kinds of fads, even before the internet era. This happens to be a show that created a sort of tsunami when it first aired, because yuri anime were still rare back then and the weird blend of mecha with lesbianism and mysticism made many to believe it was the greatest thing ever conceived.

Of course a few years later all the lackluster faded away, and so did the interest in this show. You see, it didn’t need much for the greatest anime era of all times to come along (2006-2007) which offered a mountain of REALLY good shows. Comparing them to KNM was like the Hanging Gardens next to a flower pot. And that is what is was actually, a small flowerpot which instead of one flower sprouting on it, it actually had three (mecha, lesbianism, mysticism). Needless to say, it felt special only because most of the fandom has no idea of good storytelling (as usual), knows no similar (and better) shows, and bites the premise and spits pacing and quality like they are unneeded elements. Sorry to disappoint them but I am not an idiot.

Seriously, I never liked this show, neither was ever part of the fan club, even back when everybody wanted to part of a group and this was the hottest title yet. Because I learned to appreciate the finer things in a show and not the superficial exterior, a thing which makes KNM look like a huge coconut with an extremely thick exterior and very little juice inside.

But allow me to be more specific. The story of KNM is about two teenage lesbian shrine maidens in need to prevent an eight-headed snake from destroying the world, through the use of magic and huge robots, while battling each head individually, which is practically a huge robot divided into eight machines and respective pilots, all incarnated every X number of generations in an attempt to eat everything (or something). To make things more complicating, one of the heads is a teenager boy in love with one of the lesbians and thus renegades to their side, while at the same time one of the two heroines gets fed up along the way and decides to join the villains. All of which happen within 12 episodes full of mecha battles, mystical training, erotic/romantic moments and funky soundtracks. Yeah, the premise is indeed awesome and on paper it’s a masterpiece.

In practice, it leaves much to be desired as all its cool points end up being average at best.
-The mecha action is just there for no reason at all. It offers nothing plot-wise and it’s not even good action-wise. You can remove it without a problem and take along with it 20% of the total duration.
-The mysticism part is important to place the setting into a pre-existing context, as the story is based on old Shinto myths. Who doesn’t like Shinto with its rich mythology and its philosophy which defines the Japanese mentality? Not to mention, Miko uniforms are in the top 10 most famous sexual fetishes. But again, it’s not as if the story couldn’t be defined with a fictional mythology. It’s not as if you will become less wise without it; it’s loosely using the myths to begin with.
-The lesbian part ends out being its most strong point. The core story is after all love and how a heartbrake can lead to despair, destruction and betrayal. But again, it is not as if the exact same thing couldn’t be done with a heterosexual couple. The element of the lesbians is nothing but a bait for those easily swayed by such superficial taboos (and boy is the anime fandom full of those). I bet the show wouldn’t be half as thrilling back then if it had a (plain, boring, typical) normal relationship but at the same time it’s not as if it’s what makes the anime stand the test of time. Because as we can see today, it failed.

What I am trying to say here is that the only thing that was somewhat interesting back then was the weird blend of technology with magic and erotic taboos. It’s otherwise not doing a good job at being anything other than the usual fuss.
- If you see at the three elements separately, you can easily tell how average it plays out. The mecha battles are performed in the stereotypical way of special attacks and occasional power ups, mysticism is nothing but a vague background element, and the lesbian relationship follows the exact same pattern most similar stories do. They don’t even combine with one another in order to be in need of all three at the same time. You can easily make three separate shows with them.
-Add to that all those following mecha shows like Aquarion or Demosbane or Asura Cryin’ which also combined weird elements (and are equally terrible as anime) that took away the uniqueness of the whole deal (in terms of lameness).
-Add to that the dozens of yuri titles that the industry is so overflowed with today to take away the interest in KNM’s more than typical couple.

But that is not enough, there is even another annoying thing in it. Besides the main couple, all other characters remain nothing but blunt archetypes, with the snake head pilots to be all some lame sexual or shounen stereotypes with a blank character sheet. Yet for the lulz of it, in the final episode we get 3 seconds of each one of them in a flashback, explaining why they have a grudge with the world. By the way, at that time they were all dead and we were seeing that postmortem, in a lame attempt at fleshing them out. Thanks a lot idiots; they are already dead (in fact this famous Hokuto no Ken phrase is quite true to the series, as even there the villains would also be fleshed out in a similar fashion, moments before they kick the bucket).

As for the art, well, it looks average today with the attention to the shrines and that funky moon backgrounds to offer a dreamy feeling that make the artwork look better. Otherwise, the action has jerky movements and boring-looking explosions, with all the attention being given only to those tender romantic moments between the two lesbians.

Finally the soundtrack is VERY good and practically the best thing in the anime. It has many good funky tunes and songs that contributed a lot to the illusion that the show is more than it appears to be (when it’s not).

Bottomline, it is an average anime with bad use of its elements, little reason in rewatching or even remembering it in the longrun.

And now for some excused scorings.

Story
Yuri solar and lunar miko are brought together by fate to stop the evil Orochi villians intent on destroying the world. They've got to battle, so why not do it in cheezy Gundam looking robots? Big time yuri, sexy priestess matched with cute priestess will their love save the world or destroy it?

Animation
Pretty decent animation, robot battles, lots of lightning and action, the characters are drawn to be super cute all the males look pretty effeminate to stick with this sort of anime. The settings are pretty well done having a good amount of attention to detail.

Sound
Slow background music adding a sense of drama most of the time, picks up during battles, nothing special, but good enough to get the job done. VA also pretty average Himeko was the best super cute voice to go with the super cute Solar priestess.

Characters
This is where this anime was saved from the garbage bin. The characters are very understandable and they don't get all crazy complicated like is the norm in so many cases. Himeko, solar miko, is a very gentle, forgiving, undemanding girl who is just plain sweet, can you say stereotype? Chikane, lunar priestess, aloof, sporty, sexy and under the surface strong and kind also a stereotype, but not in a bad way. Ogami, he is the most selfless character in the anime and if he wasn't in there the story would be lacking. His love for Himeko is absolute in that if she's happy his goal in life has been achieved. These characters as stated above are very typical for the stereotypes of certain characters, but the apparent care and love they show towards each other, is accomplished so well that it really didn't make a difference to me.

Value & Enjoyment
I really didn't think that yuri would pull at my heart strings as much as it did in this series. As it came to an end the extremely pure love and heartbreaking ending should have left me sad and upset, but it did not. That is because the level of true selfless love was shown and related so well, that seeing it that way was just uplifting. The resolution did seem a little rushed and the reason the lunar priestess acted the way she did toward the end, wasn't exactly what I would have liked, as it sort of freed the character from taking responsibility for some of her reproachable actions. However it only had a minor affect on the story for me and stopped the feeling that was growing, that love can be turned negative by just a drop of resentment, which was the trap in which it seemed she had fallen. Make sure you watch after the credits after the last episode, as they throw in a tidbit at the end, which might help you if you thought the story was just to sad. But like I said even though the ending wasn't happy, the portrayal of the mikos' love was enough to leave me pretty happy, even if the last episode was almost completely two girls crying. :shock: FIN

Kannazuki no Miko main selling point is that it has very pretty lesbians. It'd be reasonably watchable without them, but the relationship between Himeko and Chikane is really the best part.

Animation:
The art style produces very, very pretty characters. Even if you don't pay attention to the plot, it'd probably be worth looking at just to ogle the characters.

Aside from that, the animation quality is decent, as are the mecha designs.

Sound:
Th opening is awesome. The rest of the sound is good, but not at that level of excellence.

Story:
The story serves mainly to provide drama, which it does well. Paying much attention to it generally results in finding a plot hole, so it's generally best to just accept everything that happens if you want to enjoy the series.

Characters:
Kannazuki no Miko appears to have been written largely to make yuri fans happy. Which is to say, the characters don't behave realistically, or even believably, but I still really enjoyed it.

Kannaduki no Miko was another of those series where the "fluff" sections (Sound and Animation) were solid, but the really important parts, like plot, just weren't there. It was a fun series, and it had its merits, but overall it was never really able to rise above mediocrity.

Story
This is one of the big weaknesses of the series. There was a plot, and it was at least occassionally interesting, but it just wasn't well put together. There are plot holes, characters which fight or make up sometimes almost at random, and a general sense that the authors were struggling to get their point across. Indeed, it's only during the very last episode that we even understand why the two main characters are fighting each other (and that's not a spoiler, you can pick that up just from watching the OP); forcing in the whole "here's what's REALLY happening" speech is a sign of lazy writing, which is ultimately what I saw far too much from in this series.

Indeed, one thing I noticed multiple times through this show was how closely it toed the line between a regular series and an H-series. Not only were virtually all of the characters extremely well-endowed girls, you also saw lesbianism, rape, child abuse, and people ripping off each others' clothes far too often for it to be a coincidence. This is, at heart, an H-series that was cleaned up for a more general audience. Yes, it's an extremely good story for one of those, but for a regular series, it just doesn't quite work.

Characters
There are two main characters, both female: one is super-passive, with major "daddy" issues. The other is a lesbian who spends the whole series lusting after the first one. They're both very well-endowed, like many H-characters would be. Sure, there are other characters, but none of them are ever either interesting or particularly important. From the very beginning, it's pretty clear that it's all about these two, and at most other characters only steal the spotlight for a very short while.

This would be OK if the two characters were interesting, but unfortunately, only one of them is. Chikane, the Moon Priestess, at least has some depth, and actually does a decent job of preventing the show from being completely predictable. Had the writing been better, she could have really shined, but even as it was, she by herself pulls up this score to a respectable level. I'd go into more detail, but the truth is that I wouldn't want to spoil any of her best scenes. You'll have to see them for yourself. Also, her maid, one of the minor characters, is entertaining. Yes, she's a bit one-dimensional, but she's still fun to watch.

The other main female character, Himeko, was OK. She was a bit dull, and there wasn't anything particularly special about her, but she wasn't terrible either. And in all fairness, while she did get a bit more screen time, it was generally clear that she really wasn't the star of the show. So the fact that she never developed any interesting traits isn't a disaster. But she (and everyone else on the show) was still too dull for this area to get any kind of really high score.

Animation
Overall, the animation quality is OK. The characters are well-done, and I did enjoy the general look of the show, but the action scenes were sub-par. However, if you're the sort of person who enjoys ecchi scenes mixed into your shows, you'll probably bump this up a notch, since there are a few of them, and they're fairly well done.

Sound
This is without a doubt the great strength of Kannaduki no Miko. The OP is quite possibly the single greatest anime OP ever produced, and the ED is very solid as well. It gets a 10 just for those two aspects, but the truth is, the voice acting is pretty good too. No one comes out and hits a home run, but no one stinks either (OK, the cat girl is annoying, but she only has a few lines here and there, so who cares).

Value
You can certainly enjoy plugging the OP / ED back in a few times to listen to it, but as far as the actual show goes, I certainly wouldn't recommend going back and watching it again. There are a couple of entertaining scenes here and there, but by and large the fun was seeing where it was going; it's just not going to be the same the second time around. That said, there weren't any wasted episodes, and there really weren't much of any filler scenes either. That bumps this area back up to something respectable.

Enjoyment
Despite all of the flaws that plagued this series, it was actually fun to watch. By and large, it was clear where things were going. (though the last episode was at least somewhat surprising), but for some reason I still wanted to see how things turned out. Even though it was "stupid" far too often, it somehow still retained enough of a charm for me to want to watch.

So if you're looking for a fun show that borders on H without actually hitting it, and that has occassional moments where it shines, give this one a chance. It's far from great, but it's not terrible. And besides, the OP and ED are well worth the time spent on the show even if you don't like it.

(Writers note: If you read this review, RATE this review. Authors thrive on feedback, whether it be a simple happy face, or an in-depth critique.)

Kannazuki No Miko is a Shoujo anime filled romance, unrequited love, and heartbreaking sacrifices. It is also a Shounen anime, with plenty of mechs, sword clashes, heroic “I will protect you!” pronouncements, and Super Dragon Power Kick’s. The way these two supposedly incompatible genres blend together is one of Kannazuki’s greatest strengths, along with a Shoujo-Ai relationship that is well written, pulls no emotional punches, and will leave all but the most emotionally hardened crawled up on the floor, bawling tears of both sadness and joy. If you’re one who enjoyed Mai-HiME, Saikano, Evangelion or any other series that opens with happiness and gets consistently darker as they progress, then Kannazuki No Miko is must-see anime for you.

Kannazuki’s animation, while not particularly fluid, is beautifully rendered. Characters faces and outfits are drawn attractively, and with great attention to detail. Backgrounds vary greatly, from the oil painting of a secret rose garden, to the harsh environment of the Earth’s moon. The shoujo scenes favor still frames over fluid movement, which, though mildly annoying, is quickly forgotten after the first few episodes. The mechs used in the shounen scenes are animated more fluidly, with only a handful of re-used footage used overall.

The mechs themselves leave something to be desired, with a pretty standard Gundam/Macross design, but their clichéness does not detract from the action scenes, which are fast paced and exciting. The early episodes use a unique editing method, where an event will play out while being inter-cut with short scenes that explain what brought the story to that point. This is an editing trick to make normally mundane scenes seem to go by faster, and it works well.

The music is, for lack of a better word, perfect. The opening song, RE-Sublimity by Kotoko, is a fast paced techno-mix, with a beautiful female vocalist and chorus that reminded me of Origa’s Rise, currently reigning champion of opening themes from Ghost In The Shell – Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig. The ending theme, also from Kotoko, is Agony, a quieter piece of Techno/Industrial that swells up during the final moments of each episode before breaking into the ending credits riding a giant wave of emotion.

Kannazuki No Miko marks only the second time in my own personal anime history that I have sat through both the opening and ending music of a series in each episode, the first time being when I watched Fantastic Children. The music during Kannazuki is excellent, though less noticeable than the OP/ED. The few times that the music became noticeable were during pivotal scenes of emotional turmoil, which the music enhanced effortlessly. The sound effects did not stand out, which is a good thing. Suffice to say, the music of Kannazuki did a fantastic job of carrying the weaker moments (some of the less inspiring mech fights) while enhancing the great ones (most of the Shoujo-Ai).

Don’t let the cover art fool you! The cast of important characters in Kannazuki is very small, with only three in particular being of any real importance to the story. Himeko is your typical clumsy anemic girl, who rises above such clichés with her innocence and gentle naïveté. She is beautiful and lovable, which makes the second half of Kannazuki even sadder, as her world slowly falls apart.

Chikano Himemiya is the princess of the school, perfect in everything; a truly powerful presence. She is treated as nobility by her classmates, who refer to her as Miya-sama. Miya-sama’s heart is stolen by Himeko, when she naively refers to her as Chikano-chan. For those who have seen the Crest of the Stars/Banner of the Stars series, this relationship and its early progression is very reminiscent of the relationship between Jinto and Lafiel, another romance that began with a commoner treating a noble as an equal before realizing the nobles status.

Then there is Souma. Souma is in love with Himeko, while at the same time plagued with the blood of the Orochi (The Dragon), which is telling him to kill her. With so much time given to the three main characters, especially to the growing relationship between Himeko and Chikano, the supporting cast, made up mostly of villains, is seen little and talked about even less. However, they are entertaining and fun when they’re on screen. They’re barely given names, and yet their personalities, whether they are wretched, as in the female priest, or cute and cuddly, as it is with the cat-like nurse, make them enjoyable to watch.

The story is a an epic tragedy, filled with suspense, heartache, and joy. Long ago, an evil god ravaged our world. Two priestesses, the Solar Priestess and the Lunar Priestess, combined their powers and sealed the evil god in a temple on the moon. Every so often, the reincarnated descendants of these priests are called upon again to reseal the evil god before he can break free and wreak more havoc on the Earth. This time, the priestesses are none other than Chikano and Himeko.

Their task is not an easy one, however, for when the evil god begins to stir, eight disciples of Orochi (the eight heads of the dragon) awaken on Earth to kill the priestesses before they can reseal the evil god. One of those disciples is Souma, who fights against his Orochi blood and instead defends Himeko, the Solar Priestess, whom he loves.

The first episode feels like an episode of Kareshi Kanojo No Jijou (His & Her Circumstances) in the way it crams in an incredible amount of information into a mere twenty-two minute episode. The series chugs along after that, with Souma defending Himeko and Chikano while they attempt to resurrect their powers. There is a big twist at the halfway point, which I will not spoil, except to say that I was completely blindsided by it. The second half is much darker than the first, as circumstances and events begin to spiral into chaos. The ending is heartbreaking yet satisfying, leaving no question unanswered.

While I have not seen many Shoujo-Ai anime (there aren’t that many to see yet), of the few I have, this is definitely the best of the bunch. A spectacular music score, an engrossing main cast, and an epic tragedy with a twist that will leave your jaw on the floor. Kannazuki No Miko is great fun for any lover of Shoujo, Shoujo-Ai, and/or Shounen anime.

Final note: If you are not a fan of Shoujo-Ai, stay far away from this title. The Shoujo-Ai elements are very strong in some of the episodes, and will likely upset those who find Girl love disturbing.