The World God Only Knows: Goddesses

In most harem series, we generally have the guy who seems to be oblivious to certain factors. These usually include girls who are desperate to get the guy's attention with intense rivalries, jealousy, and sometimes even includes violence. But what if that role was sort of reversed? What if the guy in a series is actually seeking the girls themselves? What if it becomes a certain type of game where the guy is the player and the girls play the roles of the conquests? Well, if there's one thing that's for sure...The World God Only Knows is one of those series where it takes theharem trope to a whole new level of experience. The World God Knows III is adapted from the manga of the same name written by Wakaki Tamiki. The series continues as the third installment of the franchise but has some noticeably changes. Perhaps the most important of these changes is the fact that the anime decides to skip material from the manga. As this series covers the GODDESS ARC, some conquests left from the manga are left in unexplored territory. Therefore, if you want to get more insight on what you're missing out, give the manga a try from chapters chapters 42-55 and 66-113. (this assumes you have watched the Tenri OVA) At any rate, the series decides to go with the Goddess route and oh boy, this sure brings a new twist to Keima's life. Because the series skips material, it is important to absorb most of it in the very first episode. At any rate, this series adapts the Goddess Arc and the Goddesses are the main task that Keima must deal with. The Goddesses themselves seems to be sealed into the girls that Keima conquered previously. The minor problem is that some of these girls' routes (when they were conquered before) are omitted from this adaptation. Therefore, expect some flashbacks and brief scenes that might not make sense if you're coming fresh into this series as an anime only viewer. The story stretches out in a quick fashion as even in the beginning with the conflict immediately comes to fruition with the introduction of an new enemy. Part of what makes this Goddess Arc exciting is because Keima is put on the stress of reconquering some of the girls' hearts but at the same time also with a friend's life in danger. It obviously puts Keima in the driver seat of a stressful player. This is evidenced through the seriousness that he takes the situation at hand as his obsessive habit of playing games and dealing with 2D girls is significantly reduced. Furthermore, Keima feels guilty at himself for getting others involved and seems to a bear a sort of responsibility of some of the events in this series. Indeed, the Goddess Arc takes this series to a whole new level with new surprising challenges. There's a blend now between fiction and reality. Previously, Keima only wanted to conquer girls in order to get it over with and return to normal life. Now, he is fighting for someone else other than himself. Now that my friends deserves some respect. Most of the main and supporting characters makes their appearances in this arc. Some gets more screen time than others while the supporting characters get their spotlights in a set up of 'conquer of the week' format. Keima's mind at the same time is put to significantly use because what's at stake. It still revolves around conquering girls though but this time for the sake of drawing goddesses out of them. It's a hunt where Keima has to play the role of a player. Furthermore, it's racing the clock to save a friend. By the typical TWOGK concept as previously seen, Keima often relies on strategies he gets from his experience off of the games he plays. This involves triggering flags, making the perfect date plans, or formulating strategies to respond accordingly to situations. Luckily, the boy also gets a little help as well. Simply put though, we have two girls or rather supernatural beings who serves as guides to Keima. If you guessed Elsie and Haqua, then you're right. In particular though, Haqua's relationship with Keima is one of the more interesting factors to examine. It seems that her character has become more and more prone to jealousy especially in situations where it involves dealing with the Goddesses. Perhaps the girl now has feelings of her own based on some interesting reactions to his mission. In particular one moment, she blunts out that Keima is needed by her. It does gets more frustrating at some points though especially since Keima is so focused on his task that he fails to notice these certain triggers from Haqua. At the same time, Keima wants to make triggers of his own through whatever means. These usually have various results but viewers can be satisfied that Keima is more of the level headed protagonists of this harem series. As a harem series goes, the show still maintains its themes well. The girls are diverse ranging from a shy library girl, to an idol, a tomboy, an ice queen, or the rich type. It offers a multitude of conquests in a variety so viewers gets a new experience of that TWOGK feel again. The addition is the introduction of the Goddesses (also known as the Jupiter Sisters) Based on the names of the Roman mythology, they are some of the key players of this series. It's also important to note that each of them resides in a different girl and all of them has a different ability. Their personalities seems to also reflect on their hosts as well which makes it much more comfortable for viewers to get to know them better, especially for those who have read the manga. Whatever the case, the Goddess Arc takes a full swing at this new concept and makes it that much more exciting once again. (well maybe not so much fun for Keima) For the adaptation, there are certain elements left out. I won't compare this to the manga but some scenes should have been there for a more pleasurable experience. As being a harem show, it doesn't avoid fan service either that either results in misunderstandings and some skin being shown. Luckily though, Keima is the main male protagonist and not the type that prone out like a typical dull kid from a harem series. When misunderstanding happens, he tries to take advantage of it and makes it into a strategy. In fact, Keima still is confident and calculating which makes him independent and even admirable. There's also certain elements of this series that makes it stand out with the new twists such as the new enemy. However at the same time, we see comedy packaged with hilarious dialogues, misunderstandings, and awkward moments. These usually involves Keima in a situation where he is uncomfortable with or something that he didn't anticipate as part of his plan. At other times, there's the comedy that seems to be a bit forced and repetitive. Another factor that might of prevent a better success for this series is the way the tension of the romance aspect seems to feel somewhat weaker. This could be the result of the rushed sequences of a series that is condensed into only a mere 13 episodes. But what's more than that though could be a lack of new transition as in new girls/targets. Rather than introducing any new girls for conquest, some of the conquests feels like deja vu in a way that might once again seem a bit repetitive. Additionally, some of Keima's choices might seem controversial for viewers especially for those has their favorite girls already made up in their minds. Visual wise, the series makes both good usage of coloring and style. Manglobe again is involved with the production so expect a similar if not the same format of the designs. The characters themselves are designed to look different and reflect on their personalities. For instance, Yui is designed to look like a tomboy while Kanon has that style of an idol. Keima of course stands out as the main protagonist as a “God in one world, otaku in another”. The OP song "God only knows -Secrets of the Goddess-" by Oratorio The World God Only Knows reflects on the nature of the arc with the Goddess being the highlights. There are also montages of some of girls are shown along with possible foreshadowing. The voice actors and actresses does a great job in their roles. Keima's calculating voice is reflected in his style while most of the supporting characters fits in their own. Some of the voices of the girls also matures their personalities well. In contrast though, the OST seems bit mediocre and barely noticeable. For a harem series, this sure takes its themes to a different style. Season 3 of TWGOK deals with the Goddess Arc so expect new surprises and a little more emotions here and there. At the same time, there's the fun and nostalgia bought back from the previous series. Just be aware that this series skips some of the manga material involving certain routes. After all, it adapts the Goddess Arc. Therefore, it's best to re-read some of the chapters that were never adapted. (maybe will be in the future in OVAs?). I hope you enjoy this series though just like the previous ones if you're still a fan of TWGOK. It's time to conquer the 3D world once again!

When was the last time you saw a sequel to an anime and thought to yourself, "this was say better than the previous seasons." Rarely. Am I correct? Well with the third instalment of to Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai franchise, I can promise you that this instalment surpasses the previous two. The story of this season continues in a similar fashion to the other two, however in this season Keima has to reconquer his former heroines from the past. Unlike the other two seasons, by the end of this anime we get to see hints that Keima will develop a lot as a character, butstill remain the same Keima we know and love. The art of the anime is very similar to the other two seasons. Nothing really changes with each of the characters in terms of design, and art. The art remains phenomenal, I very much liked how there's a great amount of detail in each scene, you can pause at anytime during a scene and see the level of detail within the frame, definitely makes me appreciate this anime more. In terms of sound, everything seems fine. The voices of the characters seem well suited for each of the personalities of each one of them. Background music was appropriate was appropriate to each specific scene during the anime. The OST is quite charming itself, although it might not be a cup of tea for everyone since the sound is quite intricate. Now for the characters, most of the characters remain the same, but unlike the other two seasons we definitely see character development, however it is mainly just Keima. Unfortunately Elsie is not a main character in this season, which was a little upsetting for me since I liked her as a character and her bubbly personality, but for the focus of this season, I think it was natural that she was not put in as a main character just because this season sets a different aura than the other two. In terms of Keima's development, as I said before we get small hints here and there near the end of the anime that he’s going to mature, and potentially give up his love of gaming? For the enjoyment, I definitely enjoyed this season a lot more than the other two. In my opinion the first two seasons were very similar, it was just Keima going around conquering females and helping Elsie with her quests. This season it is quite fresh, similar yet different compared to the prequels, but the concept of conquering females remain, which is what the viewers and fans want when watching this anime. The only problem I had with this season was with the last Heroine, it felt very rushed and the flow of the anime just felt off at that point. Even though that was the only thing I did not like, it still wasn't enough for me to enjoy this anime. Personally I’m not a big fan of harems, but this is one of the few harems that I did enjoy. Overall Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Megami-hen was an excellent anime; I’d rate it as a 9 out of 10. But in order to really appreciate it you must watch the first two seasons. With that being said I would definitely recommend this anime to anyone who enjoys a good romance or comedy, but watch the first two seasons first! This is first review on MAL. Please comment on my profile to give me feedback !

Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Megami-hen. (Long titles FTW). As the third installment of this series, many fans who haven't read the manga should probably be expecting what is to be expected of this series. This review is literally after I finished the series. Story: For those of you who haven't seen or heard of this series, the world god only knows is the story of a gamer who is forced to make girls fall in love with him in order to capture loose souls, forcing them out of the girls' hearts in order to be captured. However, the story of thisseries is similar, but very different. The story of the Megami-hen series revolves around Keima as his usual self, capturing goddesses, not loose souls. Because of this he must go back to his previous "capture targets" and figure out if they are hosting a goddess within them. And because the whole plethora of girls is dwindled down to 6, it becomes a proper harem rather then the deconstruction that it's always been. Characters: Keima, as the main protagonist, is a visual novel lover. Instead of actually giving a damn about the girls he conquers irl or in-game, his only purpose is to "get to the ending", which if you've played visual novels, means the girl falls in love with you. Though his character has pretty much remained unchanged throughout the whole span of TWGOK, this season adds a twist, making him reconsider the ways he's actually treating these girls. Next, Haqua. Yes, I know Elsie is in this series, but she barely plays a significant role. With her introduction to the anime in the second season, Haqua is a character from Hell and plays a very good supporting role. Her character is fairly well rounded as she plays a significant role in capturing said goddess'. As a tsundere, well, it's pretty obvious. However, what makes her such a great character, is her reintroduction later in the season after disappearing for some time. Because of this, she becomes more of a badass and becomes somewhat of a different character altogether, in a good way. (Personally, she's my favorite character of the whole series). And finally, Chihiro. As one of the previous capture targets in the second season, it's expected that she would play a generic role. However, she does more then that. As one of the only girls in this series that have an actual somewhat real personality, she is the main influence on Keima which results in him regretting what decisions he has made in the past. Because she somewhat understands what is going on in the last few episodes, Keima's and herself get huge character development and become incredibly stand-out characters. Animation and Sound: Oh, where to begin. The animation in TWGOK is fantastic as always, simplifying itself to a chibi whenever it wants, and creating incredibly detailed scenes whenever it wants also. For example, closeups with Keima, and Chihiro's final scene in the series. Because of the addition of goddesses, the animation for their wings and individual feathers were superb at the least. Especially in the final episode. But for the most part, the animation is well done, with a few "skippy" scenes here and there. One scene in particular in the final episode where there is some, awkward instrument playing. But in hindsight, it can be overlooked. The sound, oh yes, another thing to be giddy about. The soundtrack for this series is usually pretty stand-out. This season did not disappoint. As always, they try to put in some "heavenly" tones and some techno sounds whenever they do an opening, but this time, they went over the top! The opening itself has very well done pictures and the music sounds so godly and fantastic that it is truly one of a kind. It also has a surprising amount of english words within itself. The ending on the other hand has a more somber feel to it. While the pictures in the ending are practically all the same, the sound of the ending is very calm and very rewarding sounding. It's happy, it's sad, and overall, great. Personal enjoyment: I have always loved the TWGOK series. Ever since I started, I have never been able to leave it alone. When I first saw the premise of this season, I was surprised how much the series switched in terms of plot. Luckily, it was a good switch rather then a really bad one. (SAO) The series itself really puts the main character in situations which he's not used to, and allows much more character development which for this character, is much needed. As a personal fan, I'm debating over if this series should get another sequel or not because, this series ends on such a note that it can actually end right here and now. But on the other hand, there is so much more potential to be discovered and it really puts me at a standstill. However, as a personal complaint, the last episode, sort of rushed. The first half of the episode was fantastic and at its peak, but the second half sort of died down too fast. All of the possible action bits and goddess magic was squeezed into a 5 minute time-frame, which is a bit of a let-down. Nonetheless, TWGOK is one of the most well known harem animes out there, and if you are a fan like me, I would highly recommend this to you. But know this, in order to watch this season in specific, the other 2, plus the Tenri-hen OVA's must be watched first. It is the only way to know what exactly is going on here.

The World God Only Knows is well known for its different take on the harem genre. The main character, Keima, is out to make girls fall in love with him at first to save his own head, but later for more important reasons. It contrasted greatly with the common stereotypical harem series that had an oblivious main character with girls that were head-over-heels in love with him. However, the Goddess Arc, for which this third season is based off of, is the story arc that propelled this series from something fresh and interesting to something that really became something special. While this anime adaptation hasa few flaws, The World God Only Knows: Goddesses is mostly able to carry the manga's greatness with it, and rise to become the best TWGOK series yet. This third season follows Keima as he searches to find the goddesses who are residing in the hosts of his previous conquests, and has to make them fall in love with him all over again in order to bring out their power to fight back against Vintage, a group from Hell that wishes to revive Old Hell. The story is great, with the individual conquests mostly being very well done. The humor, drama, and romance from the previous seasons are back, and make the conquests as enjoyable as ever. This arc also really brings forward the lore that has slowly been presented through the last two seasons about Hell and presents an interesting tale involving it as well. The last conquest, the Mai High Festival Arc, is especially great, as it really raises the bar with a great story that unfolds, with interesting twists, higher stakes, and hilarious and heart-wrenching moments, as well as bringing about a great climax and resolving the Vintage conflict. However, a couple of problems do arise from the way they decided to adapt this arc. For some reason they decided to adapt this arc without first adapting the remaining normal conquests in between the second and third season. They also expect you to have watched both OVAs (Tenri Arc and 2-B Pencils) beforehand. As such, it rushes the pacing on the two conquests based on girls not seen before, trying to cram in the details of the previous conquests, as well as it being a little confusing for those who haven't read the manga or seen the OVAs, although it isn't too big of a problem because most people should catch on fairly quickly. Another issue is that the amount of content they are trying to fit into 12 episodes some 80 chapters, while the previous seasons had nearly one chapter per episode. This does cause the pacing to be a little quick in the beginning, such as the prep for the Goddess arc as well as the two conquests mentioned previously. However, I do want to give props to the director Satoshi Osedo for being able to fit all this material and still make it fairly reasonably paced. Other than the issues mentioned before, this anime does very well with pacing, and did pretty well trying to work around the problems it had no control over (like the skipping of conquests). I think it is reasonable to say that it even has better pacing than the original series, which dragged on especially in some parts (the buggy game episode and Shiori's arc come to mind). Overall, these issues aren't really that big of an issue, but since I love this series so much I have to nitpick at a couple things. This issue really goes away after the Tsukiyo arc, as it doesn't even bother the Yui arc that badly, but it is there for a little while. The characters are definitely one of the greatest things to come out of The World God Only Knows. Keima is awesome as always, but this series takes it even further than before. This arc really starts to develop and change his character, as the stakes are raised higher and he really starts to see the consequences of the way he goes about his conquests. He also starts to take things much more seriously, beginning to see that it's not a game anymore, most notably seen as how he is missing his iconic PFP for most of the season, and doesn't even really touch a game other than at the beginning and the very end. He starts to begin feeling the emotional consequences of the conquests on himself as well as on the girls. Besides Keima though, Haqua also receives decent development during this season as well, going from the naive, rule-abiding girl she is to a more mature and stronger leader, fighting back against Vintage. The other characters in this season are great as well, with seven of the better girls returning (or showing up for the first time) for Keima's conquests, as well as Tenri/Diana and the Hell members like Nora, Lune, and Elsie. All of them are pretty interesting and enjoyable to watch on screen. This cast of characters, alongside the star-studded voice cast, really is one of the greatest parts of this show. The art of this show is pretty good but not as great as it could be. The character designs are great as always, but the animation quality doesn't always follow suit. Manglobe has never really been known for the best animation, so its expected that they aren't going to suddenly be on KyoAni level animation for this show, but it still is a little bothersome. By no means is it bad, it just isn't as great as it could have been, with a few blips in the art every once in a while. Other than that though, the art is pretty good. It's saying something when the weakest point isn't really all that weak. The music is well done as always. The soundtracks help to accent the mood in the moment, whether it be the climax of a conquest or a moment of despair. The opening is also probably one of my favorites this season, and probably ties with first season for the best TWGOK. Saori Hayami sings beautifully as always, and produces a great opening. The closing songs are pretty good as well, although not as good as the opening. "The Memory of My First Love" (Hajimete Koi wa Shita Kioku) is probably one of the best, as the lyrics really fit the mood of the last episode, and Saori Hayami's "With... You..." is a notable mention as well. Overall, the music and art of this season are pretty good, even with a few flaws. If you couldn't tell, I really like this season of The World God Only Knows. Despite a few flaws, it is definitely my favorite of the three and would definitely recommend it to anyone who has seen the first two. In a way it is like The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, as you need to see the previous seasons for it to make sense, but it is the best of the them all. I enjoyed this show greatly, with a great story, humor, and characters, and it resparked my love of the series after the slow down in the manga (although it has picked up since then). Hopefully Manglobe will find some way to animate the missing conquests, but if not, so be it. This was a great season. Anyone who loves The World God Only Knows should check this show out, and for all fans, as Keima says: "I Can See the Ending."