Kamichama Karin
| Kamichama Karin | |
| File:Kamichama Karin logo.png Kamichama Karin logo | |
| Genre | Magical Girl, Romance, Shōjo |
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Written by | Koge-Donbo |
| Published by |  Kodansha |
| Manga | |
| Kamichama Karin Chu | |
| Written by | Koge-Donbo |
| Published by | Kodansha |
| Anime | |
| Directed by | Takashi Anno |
| Studio | Satelight |
Kamichama Karin (かみちゃまかりん, lit. Little Goddess Karin) is a Japanese series originally written by Koge-Donbo about a twelve year-old girl named Karin who finds out that she is actually a goddess. The series began as a manga first serialized in January 2003 in the Japanese shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi published by Kodansha. While the first manga series ended at seven bound volumes, a second entitled Kamichma Karin Chu began serialization in the same magazine in July 2006, and as of April 2007, three bound volumes have been released. Kamichama Karin has been licensed in the U.S. and Canada by Tokyopop.
An anime series based on the original manga began airing in Japan on April 6 2007 on TV Tokyo produced by the animation studio Satelight and directed by Takashi Anno.
Plot
Karin is just an average middle school student. She has terrible grades and is a poor athlete. She lives alone with her aunt after the death of her parents when she was young. But after the death of her beloved cat Shi-chan, her luck changes. Karin soon discovers that her only inheritance from her mother, a mysterious pink ring, can help her transform into a little goddess with the help of Athena. Soon after, she begins to befriend others with rings like hers; trying to solve the mysteries surrounding their lives.
Characters
In Kamichama Karin
- Karin Hanazono (花園花鈴, Hanazono Karin)
- Voiced by: Mai Nakahara
- Age: 12
- Appearance: Karin has long, light brown hair that she usually wears in pigtails secured with olive hair ties given to her by Himeka.
- Karin is the main character protagonist of the series. Her parents passed away when she was still young and she was brought up by her aunt. Having no talent in studies and sports she is always scolded by her aunt. In those times her cat Shi-chan was a pillar of support but a few months prior, Shi-chan died. Karin moved in with Kazune and Himeka after they found out about her goddess powers.
- She is an outgoing person, and sticks up for her friends. Her mother's ring allows her to borrow godly power. Her ring is pink and has the power of the goddess Athena (Aphrodite in Chu). Later on, she realizes she has a crush on Kazune, but she knows Himeka loves him and is convinced that her feelings are only one sided. She sees a picture Himeka and Kazune each have of their parents, which are the same. Karin happens to have one exactly like them of her parents.
- She is actually the clone of Professor Kujyou's wife, Suzuka Kujyou.
- Her name literally meant "The Flower Bell of the Flower Garden." with the "Flower Garden" as her family name and "Flower Bell" as her first name.
- Kazune Kujyou (九条和音, Kujō Kazune)
- Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro
- Age: 12
- Appearance: Short, blonde hair and blue eyes. His name literally means peaceful sound.
- Kazune is Himeka's cousin. He is the sun god (Apollo), and is extremely powerful. While Himeka loves bugs, Kazune hates them, partly due to his fear of them. He is a very straight forward person. He seems to be jealous of Kirika, Karin's "prince charming." He seems to have a crush on Karin as he forced her to kiss him.
- His ring has the power of the god Apollo. In Chu, he has the power of Uranus (mythology). Kazune is able to transform because he was made into a clone by Kazuto Kujyou ("father" of Kazune). However, he is incomplete, and passes out after spending time in god form.
- Himeka Kujyou (九条姫香, Kujō Himeka)
- Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya
- Age: 13
- Appearance: Long, straight, black/brown hair. She typically wears her hair down in three little round clips on each side of her head
- Himeka is Karin's friend and Kazune's cousin but is actually the child of Kazune and Karin. She is very important, and she is one half of a goddess, of which the other half is Kirio's younger sister, who also named Himeka. When one Himeka becomes stronger, the other becomes weaker. Ever since she had been young, she had always defended Kazune, who had been a bit of a crybaby. Strangely, the only adult at hers and Kazune's house is the butler. It is revealed later on that she has a crush on Kazune. She is a very nice girl, loves bugs and is a good cook.
- In chapter 0 of Chu it is said that she went to England for studies.
- Kirio Karasuma (烏丸キリオ, Karasuma Kirio)
- Voiced by: Shintaro Asanuma
- Age: 15
- Appearance: Dark brown hair with dark red eyes, wears glasses, tall.
- The main antagonist. He is the student body president of Sakurakaoka Academy, the most prestigious school in Japan, where Karin, Himeka, and Kazune happen to attend. While still a student, he tests the protagonists and fights them off of the campus. Karin refers to him as "Mr. Glasses Man." and Karin is referred by him as "Novice Goddess".
- His only true relative is his twin Kirika, but he does have another ‘sister’ by the name of Himeka. His ring has the powers of the god Ares.
- Kirika Karasuma (烏丸霧火, Karasuma Kirika)
- Voiced by: Yuki Kaida
- Age: 15
- Appearance: Dusky brown hair with dark red eyes, tall.
- Kirika is Karin's prince charming. He is Kirio's twin brother. At first, he does not believe that Karin is a goddess, but comes to believe in it. Kirika is unwillingly forced to fight Karin because of the other Himeka and his brother Kirio. Later on the manga in Volumes 4 and 5, it is revealed that he is a girl. She gives help to Karin and Kazune when her father revive through her brother, Kirio.
- In Goddess form, she is Nyx, the goddess that Kirio sent out in the first book to see if Karin was actually a goddess. She is named for the Greek goddess of night, Nyx.
- Himeka (妃路)
- A girl living with Kirio. The other half to Himeka Kujyou. In the beginning of the series she is unhealthy, and spends most of her time in bed asleep. She is portrayed as evil for splitting life with the other Himeka, but she is only a container for Kirihiko Karasuma's research and therefore protected by the Karasumas.
- Michiru Nishikiori (錦織みちる, Nishikiori Michiru)
- Voiced by: Akira Ishida
- Age: 14
- Appearance: Dirty-blonde hair, semi-long. He has heterochromia (one eye is a different color than the other). This was caused because of the car accident Michiru was in. Kazune's 'father' saved him by making a replacement left eye.
- Michiru, also known as Micchi, is an exchange student from England. Being very amorous, he often makes romantic advances at Karin as well as Kazune. Micchi is also an orphan; his parents were killed in a car accident. That's how he met Kazune's father who saved him and gave him the ring. He is in the same grade as Karin but is older than his other classmates because he spent a year in the hospital. He seems to have information given to him by Kazune's father about the rings, the divine power and the family relationship between Karin and Kazune.
- In Chu, his ring has the the power of Neptune.
- Miyon Yi (李 美永, Japanese: I Miyon, Korean Hangul: 이미영, RR: I Mi-yeong, M-R: Yi Mi-yŏng)
- Voiced by: Kazusa Murai
- Age: 12
- Appearance: Hair a blueish shade of aquamarine, long, fluffy hair that ends in tight curls. She is always wearing tassel hair clips
- Himeka's best friend from elementary school. Although she lives in Japan with her mother, she's actually Korean. She has a crush on Yuuki and hopes that he would get to music school.
- Yuuki Sakurai (桜井優生, Sakurai Yūki)
- Age: 12
- Appearance: Dark, bowl cut hair parted to the side
- Miyon's friend from elementary school. Plays the violin, although he's embarrassed to admit it. He thinks Karin tested into their school and thinks she's very intelligent. He has a power which can make a forbidden ring (at last known as Zeus's Ring) shine.
- Nyke (ニャケ, Nyake)
- Voiced by: Nanae Katou
- Age: Immortal
- Appearance: A brown-gray cat with a small star on its forehead.
- Karin's cat, also known as Shi-chan, that died and then was resurrected by the goddess, Nike, who lived inside her. She helps Karin now by giving advice and by turning into a shield. In one instance, Karin uses her as a projectile.
- Ami (愛美)
- Age: Unknown
- Appearance: A big bow tying her hair into a high ponytail
- A childhood friend of Michiru who appears in volume 6. She appears to hate the professor for the change in Michiru after the accident.
- Ami, in someone's request, came to Japan to deliver a mysterious notebook to the Kujyou house. The notebook contains information of god transformation. She witnessed the kissing of Kazune and Karin and called Karin a "Scandalous Maid". (Karin was in an apron at that time.)
- She has a poor sense of direction.
- Kazuto Kujyou (九条和人, Kujyou Kazuto)
- Kazune's father. A professor at a university.
- Kirihiko Karasuma (烏丸 桐彦, Karasuma Kirihiko)
- Kirio and Kirika's father. A mysterious character.
- Kazusa (和佐)
- Kazune's sister. Assume the form a bird using the power of god transformation, she has bunny ears in human form. She has the power of Artemis and helps Karin in place of Kazune.
In Kamichama Karin Chu
- Suzune (鈴音)
- Voiced by: Kimiko Koyama
- Came from the future. The son of Kazune and Karin. He resembles Kazune.
- Jin Kuga (久我 神, Kuga Jin)
- Voiced by: Suzuki Tatsuhisa
- A popular idol, he has the power of Hades. His missing mother has blood relationship with Kirihiko Karasuma. Refers to Karin as "his goddess."
- Rika Karasuma (烏丸 リカ, Karasume Rika)
- Voiced by: Kozue Yoshizumi
- Mysterious girl who sets the Seed of Chaos. The seed caused Karin's Chronos Clock to reverse.
- She calls Kirio her brother.
- Shingen Tsutsumi (堤信玄, Tsutsumi Shingen)
- Kirio's friend.
Other characters
- Kazune-Z (和音ーズ, Kazune-Zu)
- Voiced by: Ikeda Chigusa, Kotobuki Minako, Obata Noriko, Sakamoto Natsuki
- Kazune's fan club. Their goal is to "preserve" and help Kazune in any way possible. For example, when Kazune was tired out from helping Karin and fell asleep in class, the girls all raised their hands so the teacher wouldn't call on Kazune.
- Michirian (ミッチリアン, Micchirian)
- Michiru's fan club. One of the members is a very pretty male student.
- Jin's
- Jin's fan club. Made up of his idol fans.
Adaptations
Manga
Kamichama Karin has seven volumes in the series. Tokyopop has released all of the volumes as of May 11 2007. The sequel, Kamichama Karin Chu, is still running, and is up to volume three.
Sequel
The adventure continues in Kamichama Karin Chu with the main cast now in the eighth grade. As Kazune comes back from his trip to London, Karin and the gang (except for Himeka) are back together again. Karin and the gang travel through time, along with a new comrade: a celebrity named Jin Kuga, fighting a new enemy: The Seeds of Chaos. Besides Jin, there are 2 more (known) new characters: Rika Karasuma and Suzune. Rika's exact relationship to the other Karasumas is unknown. Suzune is a little boy, actually Karin and Kazune's future child, that appears to Karin to warn her of the danger. Rika seems to be trying to make Jin their comrade. And to Jin, Karin is apparently his "goddess".
Currently, volume three is out in Japan. There is no word from Tokyopop of translating Kamichama Karin Chu as of yet.
Anime
An anime of Kamichama Karin debuted in Japan on April 6 2007. Animation is being done by the animation studio Satelight.
The story starts off in Kamichama Karin Chu, the sequel to Kamichama Karin. Karin and Suzune are running through a park when Rika attacks Karin. Karin's Chronos Clock (which has the power to time-travel) gets the Seed of Chaos implanted into it somehow brings her to the first time she met Kazune at Shi-chan's grave. After that the events follow the storyline of the manga. Kamichama Karin is shown in Japan every Friday.
Themes songs
- Opening theme
- "Ankoku Tengoku" (暗黒天国, Dark Heaven) by Ali Project
- Ending theme
- "Anemone" (アネモネ) by Mai Nakahara
Miscellaneous information
- Kamichama Karin is often considered a parody of the mahou shoujo (magical girl) genre. Examples include battle cries (which, on page 183 in volume 1, Koge Donbo admits the point of Karin's "I am God" was to have her say something stupid and how the manga started as a gag) and how Karin & Kazune once switched transformations when their rings were switched.
- Switching rings can work, but the battle costumes and powers will stay with the ring. For example, when Micchi swaped Kazune and Karin's rings, they had each other's costumes and powers.
- Kazune acts very feminine as shown when Himeka and Karin was going on a girls day out, he decided to follow. While on the shopping trip Karin and Himeka manipulated him to carry their bags, at the cafe Kazune was going to order ice-cream but decided not to as Karin and Himeka said that they were going to pick it as it would make any girl happy. At the end all three of them go to the movies, Himeka and Karin choosing a very sad, yet stupid love movie which left Kazune in tears.
- Kazune collects godly rings, and keeps them in a box. One day, Karin opened the box and put all of the rings on her fingers. Kazune caught her, and stuffed the rings back in. For the twenty-four hours that followed, their hands were stuck together.
- If you look closely, you'll notice that Karin's, Kazune's, and Himeka's hair grew considerably from when they first appeared to the second volume. Koge Donbo's reasons for doing this are unknown. It may be due to a time lapse.
- In a bonus story, most of the characters go to the beach, and Kirio accidentally steals Karin's bikini top instead of her ring.
- Kazune once put on an apron. cat ears, shorts and made his eyes all droopy to provide "service" for the Kazune-Z.
- Kamichama Karin was originally going to be a two chapter one-shot manga, according to Koge Donbo. Due to its unexpected popularity though, Donbo continued the story.
- Miyuki Sawashiro, the seiyuu for Kazune in the anime, is no stranger to Koge Donbo works. She is the voice for Petite Charat/Puchiko in Di Gi Charat, and also did Kotarou Higuchi in Pita-Ten.
- Kazune and Himeka are in the series Kon Kon Kokon also by Koge Donbo.
- In the bonus story in volume 4, when Kazune and Karin's hands get stuck together, their situation is similar to a chapter in Pita-Ten where the only way to separate is to say something nice to each other.
- Suzune's name is written with the second kanji in Karin and Kazune's first names. His name literally means "bell sound".