Customer Reviews

Kamichama Karin Volume 1

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As far as the plot goes, Kamichama Karin is a rather generic 'magical girl' story- an ordinary girl suddenly gains magic powers (wowie zowie!) and is forced to fight evil. Sound familiar?
All the characters seem, at first glance at least, to be nothing more than flat archetypes. There's the kind, sweet, motherly girl; the mean, rude, expert fighter guy; the nauseatingly 'normal' girl (the main character, of course); the dashing, polite, gorgeous male love interest; the wisecracking cute mascot. Yes, they're all here.
Not helping matters is the incredibly poor dialogue. For some reason, the translators felt obliged to pump it full of incredibly irritating slang at bizarre moments. This is especially strange-sounding when you realise that half the cast consists of wealthy kids who probably would have been brought up to be extremely polite.
However, even with all of its faults, Kamichama Karin is quite entertaining. It is genuinely funny at times (although the later volumes seem to be less so), and there really are some really heartwarming bits. And it's cute. Good grief, is it cute. I practically had a heart attack while reading the extra chapter in volume 3. Kamichama Karin was drawn by cuteness expert Koge-Donbo (of Di Gi Charat fame), and it shows.
In short, the plot is only okay, while there is some humour and general 'warm fuzzy feeling'-ness. And it's very, very, very cute.

Okay, so basically the story starts with Karin visiting the grave of her dead cat Shii-chan (who originally, I thought was a boy o_O oh well.). Kazune comes and talks about how it's stupid blah blah sexist piggyness blah blah. Karin hits him and runs away, and let us fast forward to the third book =)
There, Karin, Himeka, and Kazune meet Michiru at school. Michiru (Or Micchi for short) had two different colored eyes blah blah blah and at first, he kisses Karin on the cheek and Kazune on the lips (Big commotion going on after that). Kazune punches him and he starts freaking out. Blah blah let us fast foward once more.
They go to an onsen to 'bond friendships' and actually, Micchi tried in a vain attempt to bring Kazune and Kirio together as best friends. Meanwhile, he's madly hitting on Karin who apologizes to Kirika everytime. BUUUT; there is proof that Kirika-senpai is actually indeed, a girl. While Himeka and Karin first walk into the hot springs a womman rises up and walks away, and if you look extremly hard you would see the hair length of Kirika's hair is the same match as when he bends down. Plus, he always wears the school uniform, giving him a veil that hides his body.
And last of the clues, is on the special episode part of volume three, when Karin is sucked into the past. Clearly, she sees younger Kirio with a little girl who calls him "Big Brother" (And Kirika in the future calls him that, too). And thus, I end this with a momentary sentence:
Kamichama Karin is one book where romance is fantasy and Humor is real.
P.S: I got my cousin good when I told her Kirika might as well be a girl because I saw a bit of the manga where Kirika transformed into the Mysterious Goddess. Hee hee.. she slapped me.

I own all 7 volumes of this manga, and I absolutely adore it. I've read it at least 4 times, and still never gets old on me. The art is beautiful, and the story just draws you in and doesn't let go, it instead makes you want more!

I've always been a fan of Donbe-san's work, but she is also most well known for her series Digi Charat. Though I've never seen it, Kami chama Karin definitely shows some of the humor that she's(Donbe-san) known for in her other series. The artwork is beautiful, and the random side comments and humor make me laugh.

I definitely enjoyed this alot more than Pita-ten (which was cute, but kind of too cheesy for me)

Karin is one of the stronger female main character types, so not so much of that whiney wussy stuff... Similar age group as well, barely hitting puberty, but it fits the style of drawing. Still the love hate relationship between Kazune (Main male character) and Karin, mixed in with some suspiciously familiar history of them having godlike powers from somewhere in their family line... Oh well, I'm really lookin forward to the next one anyway :D

I wish that the original chapter cover images inside were of higher quality though.. the ones in the book look like really crummy photographs of bad scans in black and white.

My daughter writes: "I LOVE Kamichama Karin. It is about a 7th grader who thinks she's all alone. She discovers that the ring, left to her by her mother, gives her the abillity to become a godess. She is very clueless to these powers and seeks help from her new friends. I could NOT put it down!"

I bought this book at Borders and since I already knew what the story was like since I read the first chapter at Tokyopop.com were it was published I loved it so much I wasn't planning to get it so soon but I found it so adorable I just had to buy it. Kujou is my least fave character because of his sexiest remarks about Karin! Karin is obviously my most fave character becuse of how she has a ring and all that stuff. Himeka is my second becuase I don't have room for two fave characters. But she so beutiful and the fact that she is the oppisite of Kujou. Karin being a goddess is sooooo cooool!!! And the others gods are so interesting. Plus Shi-chan was so cute and the fact that she died crushes my heart. Anyways the three main charaters that show up most in the story all have lost their parents. But some good things happen to Karin not only does she understand that she's not alone plus she ends up making new friends living in a 5 yes 5 star hotel plus she also gets to go to an exclusive school where she gets to wear an awesome uniform. Karin meets some enemy along the way that try to destroy the ring that she has. This book is so fun to read since I do have Di Gi Charat and Pita Ten I am a fan of Koge Donbo's work. Buy this book you won't be dissapionted!