Momo, Girl God of Death

5 WORDS OR LESS REVIEW: Nothing special. Bland. If I would describe Shinigami no Ballad in one word, I would describe it as bland. I usually like loli anime, but Shinigami no Ballad barely caught my attention. Cute girl gets her hands dirty by working a job that involves death. Such premise is almost similar to the plot of Hell Girl, except Hell Girl had more “zing” to it. There were no high or low points in Shinigami no Ballad – it was monotonous during the whole 6 episodes. There wasn’t really a climax either. You’d think the last episode would be more exciting than the first5 episodes, but nothing really set it apart from the other episodes. I think the problem lies in the storytelling – the sequencing of events were a bit off, there were some holes in the story, and you couldn’t really relate to the events or the characters. Speaking of the characters, the characters didn’t grab me either. As much as I like lolis, I didn’t like Momo at all. I thought her personality was weird, she seemed almost bipolar. Whenever she did her job, she seemed cold and stoic, but in the end she would always cry for some reason. It wasn’t really explained why she was such a crybaby, but apparently her assistant cat (Daniel) thinks the same. As for the other characters, they were all forgettable and almost insignificant. They all lacked charisma. The character design needed work too. I didn’t like how the characters looked like each other – if they had the same hairstyle, there would be almost no way to tell them apart. Furthermore, nothing about the character design was striking. In fact, as a whole, Shinigami no Ballad’s visuals were bland. I don’t completely hate Shinigami no Ballad, I actually like the voice acting. The voices really matched their respective characters. Also, a lot of notable names on the cast list, such as Ai Shimizu (Koyori in Sola, Tamao from Strawberry Panic), who played Daniel. Other notable names are Daisuke Ono (Yukito from Air, Koizumi from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), Kana Ueda (Yumi in Maria-sama ga Miteru, Sakuya from Hayate no Gotoku) and Ryoko Shiraishi (Hayate from Hayate no Gotoku). I’m a little disappointed that these voice actors were only present for one episode each. The music wasn’t bad either. I liked the playful BGM, but it was still lacking. There was nothing really special about the BGM. It’s the same for the opening and ending themes. It was okay, but not great – the themes didn’t grab me at all. If any, they made me a bit sleepy because both songs were too mellow. I’m glad that Shinigami no Ballad was only made up of 6 episodes, but then again, I think that more episodes would make it better. Shinigami no Ballad definitely has potential to become a great story, probably even better than Hell Girl, and I think having only 6 episodes stifled that potential a bit. More episodes would definitely provide more room for that potential to shine.

Shinigami No Ballad is a 6 episode series consisting of 6 short stories (each story 1 episode long).　The main premise of the story is centered around a Shinigami named Momo and the people she deals with.　(By the way, A Shinigami is a ‘gatekeeper” to the afterlife’)　While there were great moments in the　individual stories, I found the series as a whole to be rather lacking.　Although all of the story premises we’re great, the last 3 episodes suffered from a bad case of “cheesy storytelling”. Story 3.8/5 ———— The first 3 episodes we’re brilliant. The stories we’re all done very well with a great “mystery” aspect to them.　Granted, its difficultto pull of an effect story in 20 minutes, but from the first moments, these episodes we’re quite enthralling. (4.5/5)　Now, where this series suffers (and gets a much lower score) is in the last 3 episodes.　As stated above they suffered from a case of “cheesiness” and seemed rather predictable and bland.　If they had maintained the same momentum as they had with the three preceding episodes, the series would have been MUCH better off. Characters 2.2/5 ———— Not good. It honestly felt as though it could have been the exact same character playing in each episode.　There were no “defining characteristics” that made individuals stand out from episode to episode.　Nothing memorable or exciting in the character department. Sound 3.5/5 ———— The music and sounds were very fitting and well executed most of the time. There we a few moments when the style seemed out of place with the atmosphere, but by-and-large, a job well done.　The musical style is your typical anime-esque type background music. A helpful bout of strings, piano, and electronic keyboard create a classic anime atmosphere.　The sound effects were very standard and casual, but well placed and executed. Art 4/5 ———— It would be silly to expect complex animation or art style in an anime as simple as this one.　Though the art wasn’t exceptional, it did fit the style of the story perfectly and had a rather unique feel to it.　Job well done. Overall 3.5/5 ———— In the end, Shinigami No Ballad was a rather decent anime.　The first half of the series excelled with excellent plots and storytelling. I just wish they had stuck with it for the last half as well.　Although not extraordinary, the anime as a whole was an enjoyable watch and certainly not a waste of time. Recommended to anyone who wants to see a series that light-heatedly experiments with the idea of death and reflection on ones own life.

This review, like the anime, is short. Frankly(sorry to the fans), I feel that my experience of watching this series was not precious. Viewing this was not a waste of time yet it wasn't really enjoying either. For some people, this is deep, tells about death in a artistic and anime-like way and I agree with them but still Shinigami no Ballad left no impact to me is incomparableto other series that really blows my head and heart.It does tell us that we should accept death and move on for its is just a fleeting moment i n the world that is very precious yet misunderstood; however, this message was not portrayed in a way that will make the audience rethink. Momo is cute but also are many other girls and she did not really show more of her character;we know little of her personality. The show may have failed to keep other viewers interested and I really did not find a lot of uniqueness and surprises from this anime, it was typical. This is one of the shows that I personally label as the "ones that some insist to be deep because there is deepness in it yet in reality it is just like other heartwarming animes". The six episodes seemed looonnnnggggg to me because of the slow pacing. On the good side, kids can watch this and will not fear the concept of death. As a conclusion: this anime tackles a deep issue in a shallow way.