By the Grace of the Gods

Isekai has come out in full force recently giving us a lot of different isekai adaptations, many of which appeal to the same sort of video game inspired wish fulfillment sort of set up. And while there is nothing wrong with this on paper, it does end up feeling very samey when these wish fulfillment isekais hit on the same notes over and over again. Endless power, lots of cool video-game like abilities, and a harem of cute girls. I get the appeal but it often leaves a lot to be desired to me. On the other hand there is Kami-tachi. Don't get me wrongKami-tachi is certainly still a wish fulfillment anime, and even includes the overpowered MC that everyone is in awe of. But it also provides something unique and valuable. Release from the oppressive modern day working environment. Ultimately I think this is the shows biggest appeal and I think it works with it well. It shows you the pains of modern Japanese working society and gives you good backstory into the main character and what he had to go through. The many tired nights he had to spend working. The lack of progress or happiness because of these shackles. The early episodes do a good job of setting up this environment. And that combined with our knowledge makes a strong basis for the change that he'd want to see and his initial worries when it comes to authority and work in general. And then we get healing. While isekai certainly isn't normally made to be an iyashikei, I do think the idea of isekai can make a great setting for iyashikei and that certainly is the case here. To me Kami-tachi is a very effective iyashikei because of that set up, and because the idea of having a nice peaceful life where one is appreciated and builds up their life is pleasant. We see the characters around Ryoma care for him and give him praise and basically give him all of the things that he missed in his former life. We see him appreciated for his work. We see him get joy out of his work and out of helping others. We see him make bonds with those around him and have them support his growth. This may all seem normal, and it really should be. But when placed with the backdrop of toxic environments, it feels nice to have one that is normal and caring. And that's what makes it so effective to me. That's what makes the healing so effective. It's just so nice to be able to remove someone from these negative environments and put them into a good one and see them grow and become happy from there. It makes me feel warm and happy inside and I think that it does a good job of showcasing this theme of good working environments and also shows how much life can be better with a good working environment. This theme is actually pretty well thought out throughout the whole show. One notable point of it relates to the many slimes that he has tamed. While slimes are often unimportant creatures, and they are in-world here, Ryoma has tamed many of them and cares for all of them. He treats them all as pets and sets up an environment for them to be themselves and enjoy themselves. These slimes can probably be comparable to a company work structure where the slimes are the peons at the bottom of the structure, usually nameless in the eyes of the company and there to do the dregs of the work. And slimes fit that as they are nameless and faceless, the way that companies can often view lower-level employees. But all the same Ryoma cares for them and treats them like they matter. It just adds to the theme that's there and the positivity and pleasantness of a good environment. I do also like the bonds between Ryoma and his new family. They take him in and give him a new support system and care for him. And again given the context it just makes it that much more pleasant. I also like the bond between him and the princess as they seem to get along well and have just genuine care and interest for each other. One thing that I quite like about it that is different from the typical isekai formula is there is really only one potential love interest for Ryoma, and that is Elia. And Elia also happens to be quite capable and skilled in her own right. Their interactions with each other were quite nice and I enjoyed the two of them supporting each other. Let allow Elia enough room for her to stand on her own and I think overall she is a good and endearing character. While I wouldn't really describe any of this as special, but it's pleasant and cute, and given everything it's quite nice. Granted, as nice as this is I do think the show has it's downfalls. There are other plot-lines in the story that go more towards action and battles which in my opinion don't work as well. The overpowered MC aspect of isekai is still at play here and while I think it's mostly fine, the major battles is where it suffers the most. Simply put the show doesn't have the animation budget to make it look good and the action tends to distract from the novel aspects of the show, and it's iyashikei atmosphere. The art itself is pretty weak and there is some pretty bad CGI at times, most notably the horses. That said ultimately I do think Kami-tachi has something big to offer, it's positive working environment and iyashikei moments were very pleasant to watch and were something I quite enjoyed. Overall it's nice and pleasant and generally a good time to be had with a nice theme and some healing. So I do recommend it to fans of such a theme, or people that want to relax. Personally I think it's worth a watch for that at least.

As a manga reader, this adaptation was both nice to see and a bit disappointing. The manga is full of world building, lore, character growth, and some pretty good action that all get cut for the anime. They had a clear goal in mind for what point to end the season. It's a logical one, and they keep the pace pretty consistent. However, to get to that point, the show skips so much that it feels like parts and entire characters are missing. For example, the manga has a mini-arc and fight scene in the mines that's completely skipped. It's one of the only times the protagonistactually gets angry, which is also shown through his brutal attacks, and you learn more about him through the interaction. Skipping that fight makes him seem extremely bland and emotionless, and it's like if Dragon Ball skipped the first time Goku got angry and wrecked his opponent. Thankfully, the anime does keep most of the important and slice-of-life aspects, such as his relationships with the ducal family and learning magic. It also keeps a calm pace throughout, as opposed to rushing like most Isekai, due to all the story skipped. Long story short, it's a decent show if you want something more relaxed. If you want more, or are at all intrigued by the premise, consider giving the manga a read as well.

This is the usual isekai where he has all the powers, literally all the magic, and he figures things out that no one else in the world managed to despite only having been there for three years. Everyone is always impressed by him, by everything he does. He's shy and always embarrassed about being praised, which is constantly. The praise goes further because he's a child, even though he's a forty year old japanese business man. The usual thing. Although it's extra weird because they seem to be pushing some romance with an actual child and, again, he's a forty year old japanese business man. Althoughthe guy isn't some pervert and there's nothing sexual about it, so your choice on how weird you find it. He also starts out with super strength despite being in the body of a small child, to the point where he can kick through a big tree right when he gets there. We also discover that he's not just figuring things out, he created two new species without even knowing it. This is explained by the literal god who created them, who is surprised by what he did. He's immediately praised by noblemen and gods. He starts out with three gods, then by episode three we're told even more gods are taking interest in him. Despite these gods generally not being interested in isekai protagonists, he's just that good, even better than the other isekai protagonists. He receives more blessings from more gods. Also after hunting for three years he's a master archer and is basically legolas. He can just do everything pretty much from the start, and there's always people watching him and praising him for it. Despite being given this power, and despite not even knowing what he's doing when he does things like create new species. It's that kind of show. It would've been more interesting if he was at least just given the ability to use every kind of magic, with a a focus on taming magic, he'd still be overpowered but it wouldn't be so boring. There was really no reason for him to be so physically strong, or to be an expert archer, he doesn't even need it. Everything's just kind of thrown on there despite the redundancy, seemingly just for the sake of making the self insert character stronger. The protagonist is also boring, he's just a generic polite guy. That's it. They give him some kind of sad backstory about being abused as a child and working for a black company as an adult, but none of it really matters. Once he's a child he's basically just a blank slate. There's almost no reason to even make him an isekai protagonist, other than an explanation for why he's so overpowered. Although there is at least an interesting use of slimes, depending on your definition. You see, in episode one, we're introduced to his slimes. One of the species he made is shit slimes, which eat shit. In episode four he gets a quest to clean communal bathrooms that are full of shit, so he has his shit slimes eat the shit. This is an important mission that only he can do, because the shit has created a miasma that only he and his slimes can deal with. I'm not joking, this is a whole episode. He has to go in to spray shit off the ceiling and the walls with water magic so his slimes can consume it. While he's doing this there is a regiment of adventurers outside guarding the toilets, making sure no one goes into the dangerous communal bathroom. They're out there praising his work ethic and bravery. The shit slimes multiply because they've been eating so much shit, and one thousand of them combine to form a king shit slime. The king shit slime has a gluttony skill that lets it eat more shit. He has over three thousand shit slimes, so he has three king shit slimes going around eating shit while he sprays the walls and ceilings. This is a real episode. If you wanna see an overpowered block of wood get praised constantly, then get embarrassed over being praised, then watch this show. This is validation the anime, except the validation is for external factors that had nothing to do with you really, so even as some self insert fantasy about being praised all the time it fails. Unless you think everything you're handed is something you deserve because you're such a nice guy. I'm not sure why they even made it an isekai, the story he makes up to tell the nobles would work fine for the actual story. It'd also make the character more interesting and make the romance thing less weird. He could just be an overpowered kid, he could even still talk to the gods since he was praying in the cave for years, he could still have blessings, I don't see why they made this an isekai. He pretty much acts the same as the other kid, and he doesn't have much of a personality, so the isekai aspect seems pointless. They get creative with the slimes though, it's interesting enough to hold your attention, but everything else drags it down. At some point they even make a business around the slimes, which I won't spoil, but they go more in depth with the way it works and setting up the business than certain shows like meikyuu black company which are supposedly centered on business. I'd like it if they went even further on these things and had less of the isekai circle jerk shit, but it's still the strength of the show. Although he did basically get a golden spoon shoved into his mouth when he met the nobles, basically becoming part of their family, but it's still okay. Just another aspect that would be improved if he had to struggle a bit more, even with his crazy magic powers.