Kannagi

Hey first anime post.

So I recently finished an anime called Kannagi.  The basic plot summary is a first year high school student (sophomore in America, so 15 years old) named Jin Mikuriya is living alone.  As a child, he saw a mysterious shrine maiden appear before him, but she suddenly vanished with the wind.  Jin, in the present time, decides to carve a wood statue in her image.  However, he doesn't realize that the wood he used was from a sacred tree cut down recently.  The tree was the embodiment of a god, Kannagi, who took root in the town to protect it from "impurities" that bring misfortunes upon those who are posessed by one.  With the tree cut down, the impurities are now able to run free.  When Jin carves the statue out of the sacred tree in the image of the shrine maiden, the sacred wood is used as a vessel to materialize Kannagi into a human form.  Thus begins the exorcising adventures (not really) of Kannagi and Jin.

I say not really because this anime is more classified as a romantic comedy.  When you're a 15 year old boy living by yourself, things tend to get complicated when a beautiful self-proclaimed goddess imposes herself on your life and takes up shelter in your room.  To make matters worse, he has a childhood friend, Tsugumi Aoba, who was entrusted by Jin's fatehr to look after Jin.  Both her and Jin are still relatively young, so they are new to the whole love thing.  She kind of knows she loves him but refuses to accept that fact, although her true (often jealous) self shows up from time to time.  Kannagi also has a sister, Zange, who materializes by possessing a human body.  These two sisters must gain worshippers in order to maintain their godly powers, which also results in some crazy stuff happening.  As an extra twist, Hakua Suzushiro, the girl that Zange possesses, has a huge crush on Jin (although you assume she is the quiet, shy type who hides in a corner because Jin doesn't seem to know who she is when they first meet), and Zange agrees to try and win Jin for her host body.

This is one of the best romantic comedy animes I've ever seen.  Although some of the events that happen are rather ridiculous, and the side characters all have quirky (and often perverted) personalities, the anime flows nicely, and actually avoids the whole exorcism deal (and covers up the lack of very nicely).  The focus is on the life of Jin and the crazy web he is trapped in after he meets Kannagi, and the anime is mostly comedic but becomes very dramatic in the last few episodes, all of which are done very well.  I recommend this for anyone who watches anime, and make sure you find the Ayako fansub version, because there are a lot of references made in the anime that you might not immediately get without them captioning it for you.  Here's the opening, although it has absolutely nothing to do with the anime, except showing what the characters look like. *correction* This is an edited version of the opening, showing only Nagi singing (the cut parts are Nagi as a Japanese idol doing stuff idols do, with the help of the other characters of the show).  A little side note: the opening and ending of the anime are sung by the voice actress for Kannagi.