'Kamichama Karin' anime ~ there was time when grass was greener

Do you have a saying like this in your language? 'Grass was greener in the past', or something like this.

'Kamichama' is a masterpiece created in 2007, and is still one of the 'classic' pieces. Middle 2000s was the time when - still - bishounen were really cool, when main heroines were really cute, when strong people were strong, when enemies had their own reasons, but were enemies nevertheless, when the good was good and forgiving, and everything was probably just a bit too simple for real life, but much more touching, because everything was made to look sharp, fierce and pierce. And there was humour. True, good, silly but funny.

the story
centers on your average girl-next-door, Japanese version. An ENFp, I would say: extroverted, intuitive, feeling. A bright, cheerful, understanding, social, active and brave heroine, who is at the same time sensitive and vulnerable. Her partner is, of course, as he should be, an ISTj - thinking, sensing, introverted. Concentrated, taciturn, reserved and materially-minded, but serious and caring. A row of your-average-supporting-characters includes a shy friend to admire, positive and over-energetic classmate to laugh at, beautiful senpai to look up to and fall in love with, and cunning arch-enemy to hate. Most of them are only 13-14 years old, as it should be in a shoujo.
The story starts with a picture of three select good-looking boys

And shows the Heroine in a beautiful uniform of a Goddess

And bishies only grow in number...

All is good but...
STOP. something's wrong here...
It's Koge Donbo, you remember?
Karin's cat has died, and she is extremely lonely

But Karin isn't that fragile, too

Karin, as she should be, sometimes reminds Dejiko greatly with her delighted, displeased, curious, sad faces

and the unbeatable logic of Japanese anime directors

Other characters in the anime represent compassion, true love, friendship and loyalty in hard times

And of course, the first main obstacle between the Heroine and the Hero is the fact that she loves another

But the Hero doesn't give up that fast and tries to win his points by extreme fanservice

There still may be girls who don't like the Hero himself, as an individual. For those, mangakas and directors are ready to give something else

 but keep the ratings as low as it is necessary to leave the anime within the 'shoujo' genre

 Sometimes we simply need to relax and let go

And those who learn Japanese will certainly benefit from complicated phrases to listen to and decipher

But since this is a serious artwork, there should, there must be some psychedelics

And sometimes we need to remember the roots. Even though 'Karin' will probably be my favourite work by Koge Donbo, I think that he doesn't know the world of anime who never saw Di Gi Charat.

And still, let's not forget this is a shoujo anime with your average adventures like going to the sea, school performance, summer festival etc.

But again, even bishies have their weak points

And enemies, too

And princes, huh?

But still, I must warn you. Only a half of 'Karin' is that hilarious, the other half is deadly serious and I am serious when I say this. There were moments when my heart literally skipped a bit, not because of a fangirl's 'KYAAAH!', but because I was truly empathizing with the characters, like when they feel scared

or sad

or angry

and when they struggle with themselves

>____<
and I was going to be completely serious huh? But how can I when the authors are so sarcastic about what they do? And that's exactly what I respect most in anime creators and mangakas. Being able to laugh while working, being courageous enough to make your characters end up in silly situations and make them behave foolishly - that's great. I mean, a funny character with a tragic past and a psychological trauma is better than a character with a tragic past and a psychological trauma.
The main problem of 'Karin', as of many other animes that are based on an unfinished manga, that the ending gives a hint on what happens in manga, but doesn't show it properly, which makes one think 'hey, you better didn't show this at all'

and while
music
in 'Karin' was nothing outstanding, but not bad (if I may say such horrible things about ALI Project and Marble)

voice acting
was more than perfect. First of all, Sawashiro Miyuki as a male character sounds fabulous. Her intonations and timbre sometimes made me feel uneasy because of their originality. I firmly believe she is one of the rare pieces of gold in our times of faceless cute girls. However, other voice actors were as good. Let's leave mr. Akira aside, he is his usual somebody please f*ck this poseur self, Nakahara Mai - a voice actress I'm not really acquainted with - was very good as a main heroine, not too annoying and not too feeble, just what the doctor prescribed. At first I didn't like Shitaya Noriko's voice, she seemed too slow, but then I understood it's the way the heroine was meant. Katou Nanae was really cute and funny voicing the 'battle cat' perfectly. And I cannot possibly say nothing about Kaida Yuki, who voiced a bishou...jo? Though it's clear from the very beginning, that her character is a girl, the girl pretends to be a boy which explains the choice of a voice actress, and I could not sit still when she appeared on the screen.

conclusion
But still, I loved 'Karin' the same way a child loves reading fairy-tales. Yes, as a fairy-tale. The recent 'Beauty and the beast' was disappointing, but 'Karin' was not. And surely I would recommend it for young girls, their elder sisters, mothers and aunts of all kinds. Grass was greener some time ago, and very simple but beautiful flowers were blooming on it.
oh, simply beware of some fanservice