Manga Chronicles Part 1: The World God Only Knows
Entry posted by Arcadeotic
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This'll be a continuous thing I'll be doing.
Every time I finish a manga, I'll be doing a review/final impressions on it.
Do note that I might do this for a manga that's still ongoing, although I'll avoid such an occurrence and will mark it so in the title.
The World God Only Knows
This manga is one of my favorites and one of the best I've read so far. Since I finished re-reading it yesterday, I'd decided it would be a good point to start this series at.
Nonetheless, Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai is a manga created by Wakaki Tamaki and consists of 267 chapters and one alternative final chapter. It was made in the span of 6 years and it's main genres are harem and romance, with a spin of fantasy. In it, Keima Katsuragi hs unwillingly made a contract with the devil and now has to capture Runaway Spirits with Elsee from the Runaway Spirit squad by making the girls, which the spirits have possessed, fall in love with him. The manga consists of 3 major arcs, first arc being the Conquest Arc, second being the Goddess Arc, and the third being the Childhood/Jupiter Sisters Arc. Let's begin.
The overarching theme of this manga is the evolution of Keima from a reality-despising otaku to a game-loving man with a respect for the real. This is also seen in the ending and his endings through the series.
There are plenty of characters in TWGOK, but they're put into one of three categories: "conquest targets", some who don't matter that much, only for the conquest, "conquest targets", who matter as the story progresses, and the major characters who appear constantly in the whole story, like Elsee and Keima.
The conquest targets who don't matter are nice for the time they appear in, but Don't provide anything new to the story, par from giving more depth to the main cast, like in Reiko and Nanaka's case. All of these characters are rather shallow, but that's to be expected when they only get a few chapters to show in.
All of the "main conquest targets" seem really shallow at first like every other target, but accumulate depth as the story progresses. I especially took a liking in Shiori and Tenri, but all of the characters are great. All the Jupiter sisters have a greatly improved personality from the time they were conquered. For example, Yui's personality has thoroughly progressed from the time she was captured. Tenri's personality doesn't really progress visibly in the story, but at least you can see the change in Tenri when you arrive at the end, where she plays a big part at. Shiori and Tsukiyo's personalities never really develop, which is a shame. The other main characters, mainly Elsee, doesn't really develop at all until the end, where everything you thought about her comes crashing down. Some more minor characters, like Dokurou and the classroom teacher, play a large part in the latter arcs.
The main point of the manga is undoubtedly Keima is the main point of the manga. In the beginning, he's a cold-hearted and analytical pessimist who loathes the real world. As the story keeps going, a change in Keima is ever-present. In the first arc, he doesn't have any visible change other than Kanon's queries and Chihiro, where the change in his thinking is completely seeable.
As the second arc begins and Kanon gets injured, an evident change is seen in Keima's acting. He becomes more serious and stops his favorite past-time, gaming, almost completely, whereas he always gamed whenever he had the chance in the Conquest Arc. He also shows emotions of love for the first time in the end of the second arc.
In the beginning of the first arc, he sort of reverts back to his original ways, but he really is saddened by the events in the end of the second arc. When he gets the gift from Dokurou, do the things start moving. He gets even more serious, and the reader gains all of the knowledge that'll fill in the blanks. This part of the story handles Keima's inner conflicts and does a good job with it, and makes this part the shortest of the arcs, but in my opinion, it's the best part of this manga. The tie-ins, Keima's development and the concept of time travel are well executed, and gives a nice ending to the manga.
Overall, The interactions of the character is tied strongly in the story, especially Keima's.
Speaking of Keima, I strongly like him as a character. His personality has many points I value, like logicality, smarts and calm thinking. The way he brings his "god-complex" and games to almost every conversation is a nice twist on things. He is by and far my favorite protagonist in manga thus far.
The art of TWGOK is really good. It's pretty iffy for the first 10-20 chapters, but that's to be expected for a mangaka's first work. Going to the end, it does get much better. The art style shows thick outlines, clear emotions, flashy movement and a clear difference between black and white. It's pretty much my ideal art style I look for in a manga.
All in all, the manga is constructed well. It has clear end-points, colorful characters, a strong supportive cast, great main character, gripping story and progression, and loads of references to the medium I oh so love.
It really is one of the best mangas I've ever read and it is my favorite manga to date.
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