Kamisama Kiss 4

Julietta Suzuki – Viz – 2011 – 8+ volumes

Every volume I read makes me fall in love with this series just a little more. Everything about it, including the folklore-based story, the fact that it has really great characters, and just the general happy mood of the whole thing, all of it is truly endearing. I can’t put it down.

The first chapter is another school story. It’s time for finals, and the way that all the other girls focus on Tomoe and Kurama makes Nanami begin to question her relationship to Tomoe. He’s fiercely loyal, but is it out of duty, or does he have a genuine fondness for her? Tomoe, while he does seem to bend over backwards for her and have zero interest in romance, doesn’t seem that fond of Nanami, and is definitely not affectionate, so it leaves Nanami wondering and hoping. She does find comfort in the small things, though, and this chapter’s plot is mostly about making a friend of hers happy with kind words from Kurama.

Watching Kurama and Tomoe menace each other will never get old, I think.

The second story starts with a warning from Kurama to Tomoe about how Nanami might be falling in love with Tomoe. Tomoe dismisses this, telling him that his master is above such human emotions. But the chapter is about just that, and Nanami uses her influence over Tomoe (and by “influence,” I mean the fact he’ll grumpily follow her anywhere) to score a date. This chapter… does not end well. I don’t want to spoil it, but these two go through one of the most epic Standard Dramatic Events I’ve ever seen in shoujo manga.

And the aftermath of that chapter causes problems later. The rest of the chapters in the volume tell an ongoing story. It starts with the fact that Tomoe is still a big softy that will do anything that Nanami asks, even when it puts him in danger. Though he knows better, he goes into the ocean anyway at Nanami’s request, and winds up imprisoned by Ryu-Oh, a one-eyed vengeful sea demon. For as vengeful as he is, I liked that he was still a little goofy and not too intimidating. But he’s powerful enough to take Tomoe, and Mizuki has to help Nanami go back to the past to retrieve an item, then go save Tomoe.

The whole thing’s a little funny, a little epic, and just a little bit sweet. Again, it’s the wonderful characters that really make this series for me, but… pretty much everything about it is wonderful. The way that Nanami has to reconcile Tomoe’s terrible past with his present self (she has to get an item from him in the past in order to give it to Ryu-Oh), the lengths she goes to in order to save Tomoe despite not being a supernatural being, how being human handicaps her, and the funny conclusion to this very serious story are all things that just endeared me more.

One interesting thing… Nanami has to take drastic measures in order to save Tomoe. It makes me wonder if the Kamisama link between them is still active, and if the thing she does here will have an affect on the story later. It’s all good stuff, though, and I’m really, really looking forward to the next volume.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.