365 Days of Manga, Day 261: Kamichama Karin Chu

KAMICHAMA KARIN CHU • Del Rey • Koge-Donbo • 13+
The best thing about Kamichama Karin Chu is that Koge-Donbo’s art is cute as the dickens–no one draws sweeter chibis, and unlike Peach-Pit’s bland cuteness, her work has a very personal sense of whimsy. She needs it, because plotwise, Kamichama Karin is just like every other “magical girl” manga–the story of Karin and her true love Kazune, who can transform into Greek gods and goddesses with the power of the “god transformation rings.” (Kazune’s main character trait is that he is a sexist pig, and about half the time, Karin raises an objection to his obnoxious comments.) The original series ended with Karin and Kazune discovering that they had been husband and wife in a past life (or something like that), and the sequel (”chu” is baby talk for “two”) teases us with the promise that it will take their relationship to “the next level,” but even if that were permissible in a manga from Nakayoshi magazine, would we really want to see such things drawn in Koge-Donbo’s art style? In truth, the sequel has even less plot than the original manga. There’s some storyline about Karin’s search for the Three Noble Gods, and a new snobby boy competing for Karin’s affections, but each chapter is basically self-contained and has the same mood of short-attention-span silliness. The art is adorable, but it’s pretty hard to follow and goes nowhere. (Review by Jason Thompson – originally printed in Otaku USA magazine.)
* 1/2 (one and a half stars)
Today’s winner is Karyna K. of Florida! Congratulations, Karyna! Pretty soon you will be like our previous contestant Sam A., pictured here:

Sam sent in his photo and posted it to deviantart, making himself eligible for five more manga. Thanks for showing us your face, Sam, I hope you liked the manga and you like the new stuff I’ll send you! The next batch goes out on Friday!