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REVIEW: The World God Only Knows Episodes 1-12 streaming

Omigosh, this show sounds SO right up my alley... I hope it gets licensed soon!

I went in expecting it to lambaste the otaku's ideals and how different 'reality' is from video games.

Omigosh, this show sounds SO right up my alley... I hope it gets licensed soon!

− Filler episodes in between the main story arcs are fun, but not nearly as compelling.

I went in expecting it to lambaste the otaku's ideals and how different 'reality' is from video games.

Carlo Santos wrote:

− Filler episodes in between the main story arcs are fun, but not nearly as compelling.

(emphasis mine)

These are side story episodes and not filler. They come from the manga. From my understanding, filler is usually used to refer to anime only episodes used to fill out the season when the show is in danger of running out of original source material. Prime examples that I see people complaining about most often are Bleach and Naratu.

Megiddo wrote:

I went in expecting it to lambaste the otaku's ideals and how different 'reality' is from video games.

I was expecting this too, and Elsie seemed surprised when his game tactics worked in real life to start with. In the end, my take was that the loose souls make the girls like game girls instead of real girls.

Carlo Santos wrote:

− Filler episodes in between the main story arcs are fun, but not nearly as compelling.

(emphasis mine)

These are side story episodes and not filler. They come from the manga. From my understanding, filler is usually used to refer to anime only episodes used to fill out the season when the show is in danger of running out of original source material. Prime examples that I see people complaining about most often are Bleach and Naratu.

I enjoyed the show for the opposite reason most of you seem to dislike it. Out right satire and parody is more often than not just a smattering of spite. It's too easy to do, and it doesn't say all that much. It's both jaded and one sided. It's just that snarky kid you knew in high school given a voice through some artistic medium.

For me, what makes this show wonderful is that it does cast Keima in a positive light. He has heroic tendencies, and they are his own. He's a good guy, somewhere deep down there, and he's pretty good at helping all of these people out. And it's not that he's a good person because of his games. Nor is he any worse than he could be. He is an individual, and he merely bases his decisions off of knowledge that he's gained from his games, and that's it. What I absolutely adore about this show is that it never says that Keima is in the wrong for liking what he does. He doesn't drown himself in games. He's not waiting for real life to instantly become more ideal. What he has isn't traditional escapism, but a very real choice, a desire to play games because he actually, honestly loves them.

There are a lot of ways to live through life, and a lot of things to do while doing it, and what makes Keima admirable is that he does what he wants and loves to do. It would have been so much easier, and so much less meaningful to just make him some loser that the audience can laugh at as they feel good about not being an eroge or any other some such fan themselves.

And on a final note, I must say that the final arc was by far my favorite. Then, the first, second, and finally the third.