is a Japanese

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series, strongly influenced by

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

, that follows the adventures of

teenage Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

goddess Yurie Hitotsubashi and her friends. The title is short for . The series was created by , which is the joint pen name of producer Tomonori Ochikoshi, director

Koji Masunari is a Japanese anime director. After debuting in 1985, he has directed many series, including the anime adaptation of ''Kamichu!'', which won an excellence award at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2005, the anime adaptation of '' Magi: The Labyri ...

, and writer

Hideyuki Kurata is a Japanese anime screenwriter, light novelist, and manga artist, noted for authoring the series composition of such works as '' Read or Die'', ''Now and Then, Here and There'', '' Kamichu!'', and '' Gun Sword''. He has been a member of Yōsuke K ...

. It was broadcast by the anime television network

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...

on its respective networks worldwide, including Japan,

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

, where it received its first English-language broadcast. The series was adapted as a manga serialized in '' Dengeki Daioh'', a shōnen manga magazine, and collected in two

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

volumes. In July 2008,

Geneon Entertainment (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan. Th ...

and

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While Geneon still retained the license, Funimation would assume exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. ''Kamichu!'' was one of several titles involved in the deal. However, as of August 2011, the rights to the series had expired.

Story

Yurie is a shy and otherwise ordinary

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

girl who suddenly discovers that, overnight, she has become a , a goddess in the

sense. She has no idea what sort of goddess she is or what her powers are. Her friends give her the nickname ''Kamichu'', a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsEpisode 14 contains a scene in which Yurie is reading a newspaper with date printed as January 1st, 1984. in the city of

Onomichi is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, facing the Inland Sea. The city was founded on April 1, 1898. As of April 30, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 141,811 and a population density of 497.8 persons per km2. The total a ...

, Hiroshima prefecture, on the shores of Japan's Inland Sea. Many of the temples and landmarks shown in the anime are real locations in and around the city, faithfully depicted.

Characters

; : :Yurie is the protagonist of the series. In the first episode, she tells her best friend Mitsue that overnight she has become a goddess; how or why this became so is never further explained. She is remarkably naïve and simple-minded, but always has the best intentions. She has had a crush on Kenji Ninomiya for a long time, and gets very nervous and red-faced around him. Whenever she exercises her divine powers, her hair grows very long and she often falls asleep afterward, due to the taxing effort involved. At the end of the anime she becomes Kenji's girlfriend. ; : :Matsuri is the person in charge of the Raifuku

Shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...

. She runs the shrine with her sister, Miko, and their widowed father, the chief priest. Matsuri is always thinking of schemes to earn money for the shrine or attract more visitors to the it, usually through exploiting Yurie's newfound divinity. Unlike Miko, she cannot see spirits without the

charms Charm may refer to: Social science * Charisma, a person or thing's pronounced ability to attract others * Superficial charm, flattery, telling people what they want to hear Science and technology * Charm quark, a type of elementary particle * Ch ...

that Yurie usually writes (though in the manga and anime, Miko states that Matsuri had been able to see spirits in her childhood). Her name means "worship". ; : :Mitsue is Yurie's bespectacled best friend. She's very down-to-earth, and serves as the "

straight man The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, the straight man is expected to maintain composure. The direct contribution to the c ...

" for her friends, but wishes that her life were more exciting. Yurie often goes to her for advice, which is simple common sense that is always right. She is usually possessed by Yashima when he needs to communicate with people or when he wants to play the guitar. ; : :Miko is Matsuri's shy younger sister. She does the cooking in the house, and is very polite and respectful to everyone. She helps out in the shrine and has the ability to see spirits. She has a crush on the shrine's god, Yashima, whom she often speaks with. Her name,

Miko A , or shrine maiden,Groemer, 28. is a young priestess who works at a Shinto shrine. were once likely seen as shamans,Picken, 140. but are understood in modern Japanese culture to be an institutionalized role in daily life, trained to perfor ...

, is also the term for a Shinto shrine attendant. ; : :Kenji is the president and only member of his school's calligraphy club. He is quiet, aloof, and rather slow on the uptake. He loves his brushes, and he often does calligraphy for the Raifuku shrine. He only does calligraphy when he is 'inspired', yet it takes him a while to realise that most of his sources of inspiration revolve around Yurie, who has an intense crush on him. At the end of the anime, he becomes Yurie's boyfriend. ; : :Yashima is the local ''

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

'' of the Raifuku shrine. He wishes to be a rock star, so he often possesses Mitsue (who is totally against this) in order to fulfil his dream. He is also often seen with an

Akita Inu The is a historic dog breed of large size originating from the mountains of northern Japan. The two separate varieties of Akita are a pure Japanese strain, commonly called Akita-ken (''ken'' is the on'yomi for ''inu'' meaning dog in Japanese), and ...

that talks. He seems to be close friends with Miko Saegusa, but it is implied that he is more interested in her sister, Matsuri. ; : :Shoukichi is Yurie's younger brother, who like Miko, attends the same school as his older sister, one grade below. Often, he acts more mature than his sister and often teases her, but he does love her. He has a crush on Miko, and acts differently and blushes whenever he is around her. ; : :A kouhai of Yurie, Matsuri, and Mitsue who is also in love with Kenji. ; : :A male student at Yurie's school who was competing for student council. ; :A poverty god Yurie takes in after he saves Tama's life. He shares Tama's body. ; : :Yurie's pet cat. After she began to share her body with Bin-chan, she exhibits a number of human traits which make Shoukichi suspicious. ; : :Yurie and Soukichi's mother. ; : :Yurie and Soukichi's father. ;Ino, Shika, Chou :Ino :Shika :Chou :The three tiny spirits that the God Association sends to Yurie as her assistants. Their names are puns, as they were given by Yurie for unrelated reasons but correspond to the animals that they resemble. Chou is a butterfly, Ino is a boar and Shika is a deer. "Ino-Shika-Chou" is also a winning hand in the cards game,

Hanafuda are a style of Japanese playing cards. They are typically smaller than Western playing cards, only , but thicker and stiffer. On the face of each card is a depiction of plants, ''tanzaku'' (短冊), animals, birds, or man-made objects. One sin ...

Media

Anime

There are sixteen episodes in the anime series. Twelve episodes were broadcast on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...

720p 720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcast ...

, omitting episodes 8, 11, 13, and 16. The DVD release included all sixteen episodes. The opening theme was performed by

Maho Tomita Maho may refer to: Term * Maho, tropical hibiscus tree common throughout the Caribbean (thespesia populnea, Hibiscus elatus, or Hibiscus Tilaceus) * Maho, a West Indian Caribbean slang term for a man who spends too much time drinking beer and fishi ...

, and the closing theme was performed by

MAKO , better known by the mononym name Mako (sometimes stylised MAKO), is a Japanese voice actress, singer and a member of the band Bon-Bon Blanco, in which her prominent role is as the maraca player. She has also performed in a Japanese television ...

. On July 3, 2008,

and

announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While Geneon Entertainment still retained the license, Funimation would assume exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. ''Kamichu!'' was one of several titles involved in the deal. However, as of August 2011, the rights to the series had expired. The titles of several episodes are from Japanese pop songs from the 1980s and 1990s.

Manga

''Kamichu!'' was adapted as a manga serialized by MediaWorks in '' Dengeki Daioh'', a shōnen manga magazine, and collected in two

volumes. There are fourteen episodes plus one short episode in the manga series. Four long episodes consist of two parts (02+03, 04+05, 09+10, 12+13).

Music

Three ''Kamichu!'' CDs were released: # アイスキャンディー Maxi - 2005-08-24 # 晴れのちハレ! Maxi - 2005-08-24 # Kamichu OST - 2005-10-26

Reception

The anime received an Excellence Prize at the 2005

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by a ...

References

External links

Official ''Kamichu!'' website
by Sony Music
Official ''Kamichu!'' website

Interview with Hideyuki Kurata and Koji Masunari
- about the anime ''Kamichu!'' * {{Authority control 2005 manga Animax original programming Anime with original screenplays Aniplex Brain's Base Dengeki Comics Dengeki Daioh Fantasy anime and manga Geneon USA Hideyuki Kurata Japanese mythology in anime and manga MediaWorks (publisher) Religious comics School life in anime and manga Shinto in fiction Shinto kami in anime and manga Shōnen manga Slice of life anime and manga TV Asahi original programming Television shows about spirit possession Yōkai in anime and manga Iyashikei anime and manga