Kamisama no Memochou

This was a decent mystery series, but it stumbled in a couple of key places. For starters, some of the mysteries were too easy to figure out. The ideal time for the viewer to figure out a mystery is a few seconds before the protagonist, not two episodes before. The other problem was the characters. The protagonist is bland, passive too much of the time, and suffers from that annoying trope where everyone he meets uses him as their personal manservant, while insulting and abusing him all the while. Alice the NEET detective girl reminded me of a much less endearing version of Victorique from Gosick. On paper I can't quite point to the difference between them, but in practice I like Victorique and find Alice insufferable; maybe it's because Victorique didn't choose her circumstances, while Alice revels in them. All that aside, it did have some reasonable story arcs, and the mandatory baseball episode was pretty good.

Nostalgia is weird. Why did I rate this show a ten? Does it even deserve a ten? No no it doesn't its way closer to a seven or even lower than that, yet I still give it the score of 10/10. It's difficult to see why. The characters with the exception of Alice are cardboard thin, nothing more than a bunch of cliche's perpetuated. It makes it difficult to get attached. The story can be boring at times and yet I can't help but still give this a 10 out of 10. So why would I think that. Well to figure out we have to go back to when I first started seeing anime. I had it in my head to always find a legal way of purchasing and watching anime. So I watched my first few shows through Netflix and Crunchyroll and even bought the first five episodes of Dangarompa before finding it on Funimation. Heaven's Memo Pad was probably the sixth show I ever watched, right in between Another and Stein's Gate. I realized at that point that I loved the mystery genre and wanted to see everything from it. Maybe loved wasn't quite the right word, it was a inconsolable need to see everything mystery, so I watch top ten's anything to find more shows like what I had already seen, and. found this one. When I had first finished it, it shot straight to the top of the best anime of all time list. Blazed past everything that I had seen before, and I found myself deeply in love with it, so much so that I bought it in its entirety, making it the first anime I even did that with. It was just the start of so many first's. My first favorite show, my first defining genre, etc. I was transfixed with it. With the way the story finished it's final arc, with the characters, with everything. Fast forward a few years, my knowledge of the medium was much larger and I had seen probably a few hundred shows, and finished a hundred of those. I consumed anime like food. So wanting to see how I thought of it I rewatched, and strangely enough walked away with the pretty much same opinion, that it was my favorite show of all time. Yet the wording had changed, it was my favorite show not the best show. That spot was now held by Stein's Gate, which never really let go of it. I realized on a third watch a few weekends ago that the show was crippled by flaws. Some have bene listed above, cut and paste characters, two pointless filler episodes that only padded out runtime and that I didn't care about, a meandering story the rest of the time with only two real exceptions (ill get to the later), and nothing else that was anything beyond serviceable. The entire thing began to look good enough, yet I couldn't change the 10 out of 10 score, even though I was breaking a rule that personal enjoyment should only count for 2 up or down. But I kept watching and still got the same joy out of it as I did before. To chalk it all up to nostalgia wasn't quite right becuase even with all of it's flaws I still loved it, I loved the dorky characters and the plot that wasn't anything more than a series of vinyettes that had no real purpose. It's not just the fabulous character of Alice or even the last arc which is still one of the best arcs I have ever seen in anime, but it was a representation of where I had been with this medium that gave life some meaning and the joy that I felt from discovering show after show hung tight in my chest and I realized that even if it is symbolic I must keep this a ten with an go watch it recomendation

violence: significant and bloody language: moderate nudity: minor (some characters in undergarments or covered by sheets) sexuality: significant (but only implied, never actually depicted) Due to his father's work, Narumi Fujishima has moved around a lot since he was a kid, and over time he slowly gave up on trying to connect with other people. At his new school, he joins the computer club because there are no other members and he doesn't have to deal with people. One day as Narumi is napping on the roof, he is interrupted by the only member of the gardening club, Shinozaki Ayaka, who pressures Narumi into helping out with the gardening club's duties. Narumi's growing friendship with Ayaka leads him to the ramen shop where she works part time, which is also a hangout for a group of NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training: essentially unemployed individuals) who call themselves the NEET Detective Agency. Headed by Alice, a hikikimori (recluse or shut-in) and child genius, the NEET Detective Agency essentially "dishonors the dead to comfort the living, and harms the living to honor the dead" by digging up the city's dirty secrets. There are several different plot arcs within this short anime. Some deal with very heavy themes like teen prostitution, drug dealing, money laundering, and suicide. Another less serious plot arc pits the NEET Detective Agency against a local yakuza (gangster) group in order to determine the future of a local video game arcade. Because of the serious nature of many of the cases involved, I would rate this anime a PG-13. There is significant violence throughout, especially gang related violence and street fights. Individuals are beaten severely during interrogations. Blood and disfigurement are depicted, and I get the impression that at least one character was killed after an interrogation, though it is never actually depicted on-screen. Individuals die from overdosing and there are two suicides depicted in this series, one of them bloody and disturbing even though the body is never really depicted. Concerning nudity and sexuality, during the teen prostitution arc, a girl is show several times in lingerie. Sexuality is implied throughout the series, especially during the teen prostitution arc but also several times after, since one of the NEETs is a playboy and uses his sex appeal to elicit information from women. There is no single overarching plotline to this anime; instead there are 5-6 short arcs which last usually 2-3 episodes each. The last arc is the most depressing of them all due to the involvement of one of the main characters, however, the anime has an implied happy ending. The anime is also a bit vague about certain things that one might think would be important. Who is Alice? Where is her family? How did she come to be living above a ramen shop? Just how does she solve these crimes? None of these questions are really answered by the end of the series, but the story arcs glide smoothly from start to finish while conveniently glossing over these details. Some of the plots seem a bit contrived, for example during one investigation of a string of burglaries it is revealed that there are two culprits who have been tresspassing, but neither is aware of the other. Pretty unbelievable. This anime is also very naive about the nature and operations of the yakuza; there are at times incidents of shocking violence that belie the polished personas of some of the characters, but the anime goes out of its way to suggest that the yakuza it depicts are all really good, honorable people deep down inside. It is a somewhat bipolar depiction that hints at the brutality of the criminal underworld while simultaneously portraying it as romantic and cool. Some of the endings to plot arcs have an almost fairy-tale like unreality to them. The characters in this anime are interesting enough, but nothing special. Narumi is a pretty naive character who sometimes has flashes of inspiration which contribute to the successful conclusion of a case. Narumi is the caring protagonist who brings those around him together, but his naive about his associations with some of the underworld groups he comes across also have some dangerous results throughout the series. Ayaka is the cheerful classmate/best friend with an obvious crush on Narumi, and Alice is the socially awkward and withdrawn brains of the NEET squad. You will quickly recognize their stereotypes once you see them. The other members of the NEET Detective Agency are largely forgettable and exist only to give Alice some "gophers" to do legwork, errands, and observation. The most interesting of the bunch is Major, a military-obsessed college student who looks like a kid, but whose technical skills contribute to much of Alice's information gathering operations. The yakuza are self-absorbed, arrogant, violent, and stubborn, though generally portrayed as "honorable" and decent at heart. While some characters are portrayed as very intelligent or tough, there are no superpowers here, and toughness doesn't keep some characters from taking a beating, and intelligence doesn't keep some characters from overseeing the obvious. In this sense, there is some realism to this anime. While I personally enjoyed this anime overall, I would not recommend it for children or for individuals who want a happy, lighthearted anime. Although the plot arc endings are overall satisfactory, you will be dragged through some considerable filth during the duration of this anime, and some of it will leave a bad taste in your mouth. If you want a detective/mystery anime, you can find better. If you want an action anime, you can find better. If you want a feel-good anime, you can find better. If you just want to be entertained, however, and don't have unreasonable expectations, this anime isn't too bad.

This isn’t the tastiest anime dish available. I honestly can’t think of anything remarkable to say about the show or its characters beyond the following. The main character is about as interesting as a kleenex, but hey, at least he's useful. The show seems like it was produced exactly following a recipe. It also reminds me of something I heard someone say about Murder She Wrote: they do a bunch of stuff for an episode or so, then produce some conclusion that has nothing to do with what’s been on the screen for all that time. Okay, so that’s exaggerating a tad. You get the idea though.

I rather enjoyed this anime, although short, it made up for it in many difference ways, for starters each character had his or her own, unique personality trait that made this particular anime worth watching and holding onto, like a best friend, that you hold dear. But, one that you trust with all of your heart, no matter what happens, you'll know that certain best friend will never leave your side no matter the cost, under any circumstances, you know that you two will always be close, no matter what obstacles are placed before you, deep down you know you'll have each other's backs, that is what kind of anime this is to me.