victor89 - 2015-03-13 19:21:46

Prologue:

Mostanime tend to end on some kind of “to be continued” ending, or as some people in the community refer to them, “Read the Manga”. The World God Only Knows II had that kind of ending; it teased the many future conquests to come and that was it. No continuation, no closer, just “life goes on.” Sure, we got a small one episode OVA, but this only made that hunger worse for more Keima, more Elsie and more conquests. That is until a little OVA came around called The World God Only Knows: Tenri-hen. The question here was “Was the wait worth it?” “Does it push forward the series that fans so desperately want more of?” I am Wexter and this is The World God Knows: Tenri-hen.

History:
TWGOK: Tenri-hen has arather similar animation staff to the first two seasons. We see thereturn of Hideyuki Kurata as script writer, Akio Watanabe ascharacter designer, and Hayato Matsuo as soundtrack composer. Theonly difference is that the director of the series sees a change, asShigehito Takayanagi who directed the previous two seasons leaves andSatoshi Ōsedo (who has worked on Hajime no Ippo: The New Challenger.Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (2012) and its followup season StardustCrusaders as an episode director) takes his place. TWGOK: Tenri-henwas released as a two part OVA packaged with the 19th and 20thvolumes of the manga.

Plotand Characters:

This OVA series is based off the Tenri arc of themanga (Chapters 57-64 of Volume 7) and it is slightly different than your average conquest. Summer vacation has arrived for the students of Majima Private High-School, and Keima could not be any happier. He ventures home to get a much needed break from balancing his school life and driving loose souls from hell out of the hearts of young maidens. Keima is barely able to get a foot through the door before his mother reintroduces him to a face from his past: the young Tenri Ayukawa. Tenri was a friend of Keima’s until the day that the Katsuragi family moved away when Keima and Tenri were young children. However, something is amiss. Tenri can radically change her personality from a shy and insecure girl to that of a violent and confident one. This seemed to be caused by a strange loose soul, though Keima is unable to capture it due to it already being assigned to another buddy duo. Unfortunately for Keima, things are never that simple due to Tenri’s lingering feelings for him and the strange nature of her situation;the buddy duo is after Keima’s head in hopes that Tenri hates him and that his death will fill her heart, forcing out the loose soul. Keima is now forced to figure out the mystery of Tenri and her loose soul whilst avoiding being murdered by the other buddy duo.

The overall plot to this OVA is great. The threat of death has always been on Keima as that is part of the contract he is in. Now, however, it is a lot more real as he is literally being chased by it. That, along with the mystery of Tenri and the loose soul, brings a new dynamic to the average conquest — Keima is not trying to release it from Tenri; he is just trying to figure out what it is. The pacing is smooth and the comedy is hilarious; it has many callbacks to the previous seasons. Overall, this plot is a joy to watch as it unfolds. There is never a dull moment, the plot is constantly progressing, and the twist that this OVA provides is extremely interesting.

Overall the characters get modest development. We get some backstory on Keima and how he met Tenri. We also get to see how he was as a child, which is always great. Elsie does not get much to do in this arc, but that is a modest sacrifice as the focus is really on Keima, Tenri, and the Loose Soul, though she does get to have some rather funny moments and gags. This OVA is also the first time we get some antagonists, in the form of the buddy duo of Nora and Ryō. Nora is violent and rather vulgar, which is a nice change of pace from Elsie and Haqua, who, despite being devils, never really fit the bill. She is a real threat and really shows how diverse the population of Hell really is. Ryō is the total opposite of Keima. Where Keima picks up the slack in conquests and is the reason why Elsie is even able to capture a loose soul, Ryō is totally inept. He cannot do anything right and watching him fumble and seeing Nora’s annoyance with him makes the duo quite fun to watch, even though they are the villains. We also cannot talk about the characters of this OVA without mentioning the title character Tenri. Tenri, as I mentioned, is shy — she does not really speak that often, forcing the loose soul to do most of the conversing. She is modest and makes for a rather adorable heroine; her dynamic with her loose soul really makes you question from the start if it even is one. Tenri as a character is a little shallow compared to some of the previous conquests like Kanon, Kusunoki, Chihiro, and Jun. Though she is adorable enough, and her dynamic with Keima does make up for her lack of depth. Now, we do need to talk about another character who I have been tiptoeing around, so if you have not seen the OVA and don’t want to be spoiled, skip to the next section of the review. Ok, spoilers. The loose soul is named Diana, who claims to be a goddess who was responsible for saving Keima and Tenri when they were children. Due to Diana’s poor condition at the time, she entered the heart of Tenri to regain her strength. She is interesting, as she works as a mirror to Tenri. Whilst Tenri is shy, Diana is confident; whilst Tenri avoids confrontation, Diana is not afraid to get into it. She also has a rather shaky relationship with Keima, saying that he should take responsibility for Tenri’s feelings and fall in love with her. This makes for the banter between the two characters to be quite enjoyable. Spoilers Over. Overall, the characters in this OVA are just a joy to watch.

Musicand Sound Design:

As this is an OVA series which continues from the main show, there isn’t much of a new soundtrack here. If you enjoyed the previous seasons’ soundtracks you will not overly mind; Hayato Matsuo really did deliver in those seasons, as they successfully fit the theme of the series with it sounding like a larger and more orchestrated version of a visual novel soundtrack. However, the ending themes,  "Hikari no Kiseki" ("Miracle of Light") and "Mirai e no Tobira" ("Door to the Future"), — both by Eyelis — are unique to this OVA series. Both songs are extremely catchy and fit the themes of this OVA quite well, and they also have different animated sequences to go with them. The sound design is also really good here, just like in the main show. The series is filled with comical sound bites that suit the scene that they are used in and altogether it is just a really good sounding OVA.

Endingtheme 1, "Hikari no Kiseki" ("Miracle of Light")by Eyelis

Art and Animation:
Since this series is an OVA that had its two episodes spaced out over the release of two volumes of manga, this allowed Manglobe to give each episode a healthy budget and time to really shine. Let’s start with the character designs. The old uniforms from seasons one and two are replaced with Majima summer uniforms, which are a lot brighter in tone. This makes sense, as this OVA takes place during the summer. Keima and Elsie are wearing more whites, pinks, oranges, and light greys, which is a nice change of pace from their more traditional burgundy and dark grey outfits. Tenri’s design is also really nice as it really fits her shy girl persona, but it can also suit her more confident and booming persona. As well as this, her design is a homage to Wakaki’s previous manga series Holy Crystal Albatross’ villain Pigeon. The overall tones that are used in this OVA are very bright and vibrate with very crisp blues, pure whites — overall, it is just stunning to look at. The animation is very good as it is extremely smooth and each scene has fantastic framing that can match both the dramatic and comedic scenes. This series just looks great.

Epilogue:
This was a shorter review, but at this point it’s clear that this OVA just hits the ball out of the park. The only negatives I can really think of are that the OST is just season one and season two again, and, compared to some of the previous heroines, Tenri is less fleshed out. Those, though, are minor complaints, as this series is great overall. Though I do rate OVAs a bit different from a main series, as I tend to look at how they are within their own series and how they stand on their own, TWGOK: Tenri-hen is fantastic and a must watch for fans of The World God Only Knows. The question is, can Season 3 top it? We will need to find out next time.

Pros:
+ A fun spin on the series formula
+ Great character with great interactions
+ Really well done animation and aesthetics
+ A really good audible experience
+ Amazing ending themes that suite the OVA's themes 

Cons:
- Tenri is not as fleshed out as previous heroines
- The OST is just season one and two again

savion34 - 2013-08-27 03:07:08

I'm going to keep this short because OVAs are mainly short, and so should their reviews.

Story: 8

This story is along the same lines of the rest of the heroines Keima saves with his unimaginably good wit and charisma, but this time it revolves a friend, Tenri, who has come back after going away for ten years. You can probably can guess the whole plot line of the OVA, but there are points of heart wrenching drama, cutesy romance, and light comedy familiar to The World God Only Knows style.

Animation: 7

If you have watched the animation with the other two seasons, then this should be no different. There is the basic low-lights and high-lights with a nice and bright color palate to match the playfulness in this anime. The only drawback like in the other seasons is when the camera isn't up close with the characters, and the characters start getting a little fuzzy on the lines and animation. I don't remember there being an opening to this OVA, but the ending is very pretty to look at. It's pretty standard, animation-wise.

Sound: 8

I liked the sounds and the voice acting due part in this anime. Yep, that's all needed to be said.

Overall: 8

I fully enjoyed this OVA and think this a worth a watch because it does help with the GAPING plot hole when you begin watch The World God Only Knows: Goddess Arc. I recommend watching this if you like the series, and not if you don't. This is a standard heroine conquest with a lot to like.