manga
Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...
series written and illustrated by Tamiki Wakaki. It was originally serialized in
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the ...
's ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...
'' from April 2008 to April 2014, with its chapters collected in 26 ''
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.
The manga was adapted into three
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, 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 Japane ...
television series produced by
Manglobe
was a Japanese animation studio based in Suginami, Tokyo and active from 2002 to 2015. The studio was formed on February 7, 2002 by Sunrise producers Shinichirō Kobayashi and Takashi Kochiyama. Manglobe filed for bankruptcy in September 2015 af ...
, which were broadcast in Japan from October 2010 to September 2013. In North America, the anime series were licensed for English release by
Sentai Filmworks
Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...
.
Plot
Keima Katsuragi, a second-year high school student, is an avid player of gal games (video games that involve interactions with anime-styled pretty girls). He is known on the Internet as for his legendary skills to be able to "conquer" any 2D girl in games. However, in his actual school life, Keima is called , a derogatory
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsElsie appears: a Spirit Hunter. She asks for his cooperation to help her in catching the evil spirits that have escaped to the Human Realm: the "Loose Souls", which were once Old Demons from Hell. These evil spirits hide themselves inside the hearts of girls, feeding off the hosts' negative emotions to replenish their power and strength, thus becoming whole demons once again (and in turn, the host becomes an empty shell of a person). Elsie suggests that the only method to force the evil spirits out is by "conquering" the girls' hearts, making them fall in love with him and filling up the gaps which the escaped evil spirits hide in, in which she is then able to capture them. Interested only in video game girls, however, Keima is appalled by the idea, and refuses the assignment as he has no romantic real life experiences whatsoever. Nevertheless, with the contract already agreed, Keima has no choice but to help Elsie no matter what, as they will be beheaded by an invisible (to others) purple collar around their necks if they fail.
After winning the hearts of fourteen girls (and capturing the spirits residing in them), Keima and Elsie are given an even greater mission: to awaken the six goddesses known as the Jupiter Sisters. Each sister is dormant in the heart of a girl among those they have previously helped, thus Keima must locate them and conquer their hearts a second time. This time however, they remember the encounters he has had with them already, due to the goddesses inside them, causing high tension and constant possible failure as he tries to conquer the girls simultaneously. However, his time is limited as a rebel demon faction called "Vintage" is planning to capture the goddesses and take over the world.
After Vintage's plans are thwarted, Keima starts seeing visions of a child who is somewhat familiar to him. The goddesses send Keima and Elsie to the past with the task of helping her. Upon arriving, they team up with a mysterious girl who apparently has some connection with Dokuro, Elsie's superior in the underworld, and Keima discovers that several occurrences in the past are different from what he remembers, leading to a tragic chain of events that he must avert to ensure that the present stays unaltered, as well as another demon faction which releases giant humanoid monsters.
As Keima completes his final mission, he discovers the truth about one of the giants and is able to reconcile with it. He is relieved from the collar and returns to his normal life in the real world.
In addition to Keima's romantic comedy adventures, the series makes fun of and parodies common, and popular cliches about dating sims, anime character stereotypes, and pop culture.
Development
''The World God Only Knows'' was authored by Tamiki Wakaki. He cited the 1996
visual novel
A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...
''The World God Only Knows'' is written and illustrated by Tamiki Wakaki, serialized in the Japanese manga magazine ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...
'' April 9, 2008 and April 23, 2014. Wakaki created a prototype version of the story which debuted as a
one-shot
One shot may refer to:
Film and television
* One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so
* ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake
* ''One Shot'' (2 ...
in ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' 2007 Issue #32 and was titled, .
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the ...
compiled its chapters in twenty-six ''
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, released from July 11, 2008 to June 18, 2014.
The series is licensed in South Korea by
Haksan Culture Company
Haksan Publishing Co., Ltd. ( ko, 학산문화사, translit=Haksan Munhwasa, lit=Haksan Culture (company)), a subsidiary of Daewon Media, is a South Korean publisher, famous for its large selections of domestic and imported comics (manga/manhwa) a ...
, and the first two volumes of the series were simultaneously released on August 2009 with a limited edition supplement for each.
A 3-chapter spin-off series, titled , portraying Kanon Nakagawa as a
magical girl
is a subgenre of Japanese fantasy media (including anime, manga, light novels, and live-action media) centered around young girls who possess magical abilities, which they typically use through an ideal alter ego into which they can transf ...
, ran in ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from March 13 to March 27, 2013. The series was published along with additional chapters in a book, bundled with the limited edition of the 21st volume of the main series, released on April 16, 2013. Another spin-off series, titled , was serialized on the ''Club Sunday'' website in 2014. It was later released into a single volume with three additional previously published chapters on July 17, 2015.
Light novel
A
light novel
A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...
entitled , written by
Mamizu Arisawa
is a female Japanese light novelist from Tokyo, Japan. In 2001, Arisawa won the silver prize in the eighth installment of MediaWorks' Dengeki Novel Prize with her work ''Infinity Zero''. Following this, the novel was published by MediaWorks unde ...
and illustrated by Tamiki Wakaki, was released on May 19, 2009, published by
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the ...
under their ''
Gagaga Bunko
is a light novel publishing imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueish ...
'' label. The novel features a completely original story, disparate from the series, with original novel characters. A second light novel entitled was released on May 18, 2010.
Anime
The
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, 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 Japane ...
adaptation was officially announced in the issue #19 of Shogakukan's ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...
'' in April 2010. It was announced that script 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 ...
Shigehito Takayanagi
is a Japanese anime director.
Works
Anime television series
*''Azumanga Daioh'' : Storyboard (eps 7, 14, 18, 23), Episode Director (eps 7, 13, 18, 23)
*''Cardcaptor Sakura'' : Storyboard (eps 40, 46, 57, 68), Episode Director (eps 40, 46–47, 5 ...
would be working on the project. The studio in charge of the animation was
Manglobe
was a Japanese animation studio based in Suginami, Tokyo and active from 2002 to 2015. The studio was formed on February 7, 2002 by Sunrise producers Shinichirō Kobayashi and Takashi Kochiyama. Manglobe filed for bankruptcy in September 2015 af ...
. On September 18, 2010,
Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and t ...
announced the anime would be streaming online on their site. The anime aired on
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...
from October 6 to December 22, 2010, with the second season airing from April 11 to June 28, 2011. The third season, titled , aired on TV Tokyo from July 8 to September 23, 2013, and was simulcast on
Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and t ...
Sentai Filmworks
Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...
announced that they have licensed both seasons of the anime in North America and released the first season on DVD and
Blu-ray Disc
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
in January 2012.
Original video animations
A prologue OVA episode was released and bundled together with the tenth manga volume on September 17, 2010. A second OVA episode, titled , was released on a DVD, bundled together with the fourteenth manga volume on September 16, 2011. A third OVA, titled , was released in two parts with the 19th and 20th volumes of the manga, on October 16 and December 18, 2012. A spin-off OVA based on the character Kanon was announced in the 2013 combined #2–3 issue of Shogakukan's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' magazine. The spin-off is titled and was released bundled with the 22nd volume of the manga on June 18, 2013.
Reception
The third volume of ''The World God Only Knows'' was the fourth highest-selling ''
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 ...
'' in Japan on the Oricon Comic Chart for the week of January 13 and January 19, 2009, with over 50,500 copies sold that week. The following week, it was the twenty-first highest-selling manga volume in Japan, having sold 30,600 copies the week of January 20 and January 26, 2009. As of January 2009, the third manga volume have sold about 81,100 copies.
Carlo Santos of
Anime News Network
Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ...
reviewed the anime's first season and gave it a B where he was surprised how much he enjoyed the great storyline despite its plot description alone might be off putting to some saying, "By most expectations, anything involving ditzy demon girls and gaming-obsessed geekboys and a rotating lineup of high school beauties should have been the stuff of critical derision. Yet the show's sharp sense of humor, honest emotions, and polished production values prove that working with familiar clichés doesn't have to result in a clichéd product. With the right prodding and poking, any anime series can indeed become greater than the sum of its parts."
In a 2019 ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' article about the best anime of the 2010s decade, Lauren Orsini considered it to be one of the five best anime of 2010; she wrote, "What makes this show a standout of its genre is Keima's individuality; he's not a viewer stand-in, but an interesting and flawed character in his own right. Sharp production values and creative character design make this show a visual and audio treat".