Kannazuki No Miko Vol-1: Destiny of Shrine Maiden (2003)
Animation Production: J.C Staff
Released by: Geneon Entertainment
Running Time: 100 Minutes
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

My how the giant robot genre has changed over the past 30 years. What at one point was nothing more than an episodic exercise that centered around robots fighting and brave young people being heroic, has become a playground for serious story writing and character exploration. Today’s review subject is a prime example of this evolution and exemplifies how far we have come in the field of animated robot series, Kannazuki No Miko

From beautiful character and robot designs to exquisite animation and fantastic character play this show is as far removed from the classic good vs evil tales of heroism of the late 70’s and early 80’s as you can get. Let’s check it out.

Story

"The Advent of the Priestess of the Godless Month! Shy, timid Himeko happily attends school with both the popular and beautiful Chikane and her childhood friend, Souma, blissfully unaware of what's in store for her. However, the destiny of these three changes on Himeko's 16th birthday when the mark of the sun appears on her chest. What does this solar mark represent? At the same time, why has a black aura of agony burst forth from Souma? Who is the enemy? The legend of the eight-headed beast returns to Japan!
"-- DVD Box

Review

Volume one of Geneon's domestic release of Kannazuki No Miko contains the first four episodes in the series, which include:

Episode 1: The Land of Eternity
Tomorrow marks Himeko’s 16th birthday and she could not be more excited especially since she will get to celebrate it with her friend Chikane who happens to share her birthday and is the most popular girl in school and from the wealthiest family in the region. However what was to be a special day quickly becomes a catastrophe as a giant monster appears and seems intent on capturing Himeko!

Episode 2: Overlapping Sun and Moon
Himeko and Chikane are saved by a giant robot controlled by her friend Soma. Shortly after the attack and rescue the two girls learn that they are the Solar and Lunar priestesses of prophecy. Their mission, to once more seal the Orochi back within the lunar shrine from which it has escaped. In order to do this they will need to survive the attacks of the eight necks of the Orochi and each of their robots!

Episode 3: Secret Love Shell
To help her deal with all the changes that are taking place in their lives Chikane asks Himeko to move in with her. Now surrounded by the elegance and wealth of Chikane’s family our young heroine is as overwhelmed as any one person could possibly be. This isn’t the time to relax though, her training needs to begins as soon as possible to take over her role as a priestess as soon as possible.

Episode 4: Directions of Affection
Today is a day for relaxation and Himeko has decided to take up Soma’s offer to go out to the amusement park. Just when things are looking up though another one of the necks of Orochi appears and its looking for payback from the one neck that betrayed them all, Soma!

As I started watching this show I thought to myself, “cool, this looks like it’ll be fun”, which turned out to be a correct assumption by the end of the DVD. What I could not have anticipated though was the approach taken with the main cast, their relationships to each other and how the writers would subtly play with them to convey a variety of ideas and notions to us. The prime example of this would be the relationship between Himeko and Chikane, who are the show’s leads and the only two people in the world that have the power to seal away Orochi.

On the surface theirs is a typical anime duo relationship, with Himeko playing the role of the daydreamer who is clumsy, shy and has great admiration for others, especially her friend Chikane. Chikane on the other hand plays the role of the cool and confident person, the one who is always in command of a situation and knows what she wants. Together they complement each other strengths, weakenesses and personalities quiet well, which serves the story and character development favorably. Where it gets interesting is in the way the writers inject this duo with some subtle references to a more emotional bond between them and even with other characters around them such as Chikane’s head maid, who develops a strong degree of passive anger towards Himeko, who she feels has become the object of her master’s heart.

This relationship angle is in no way unique to the anime world, but the way its handled here felt fresh and added nicely to the proceedings. Adding to it is the more overt and traditional relationship between Himeko and Soma, who have been life long friends. Soma comes close to confessing his feelings to Himeko at a couple of points here, but something usually comes up or distracts them from the moment adding to the overall emotional rollercoaster ride that is this series, not to mention the larger overaching plot of the priestesses defeating the eight necks of Orochi so as to once more imprison it within the lunar shrine.

The main storyline btw is handled with ease and provides us with tons of entertaining moments, that include giant robot battles and evil general conferences. Speaking of which I loved the idea of having regular people fill in for the typical costume-clad evil general. Seeing a manga artist and J-pop singer take part in these type of organizations is unusual to say the least and add a much needed comedic layer to Kannazuki. The giant robot battles are about what you would expect with mecha designs that take their inspiration from Gundam and Sunrise’s Brave robot series.

On the animation front this show’s quality is exactly what you would expect from a modern series as it features crisp drawings, a fluid frame rate and amazing visual effects. The mecha scenes were particularly impressive with great attention to detail and continuity from frame to frame being given to each scene that features the necks of Orochi. In addition the background paintings were superb with great usage of color and framing.

The DVD itself is another nice release by Geneon, that features a very nice transfer of the original series. The video was nice and crisp with colors coming across brightly and animation lines showing up sharply. The audio transfer was good and clear with no noticeable issues. Inside the DVD box there is a small insert with information on the dates for each of the other volumes in this series’ release, a limited edition poster board and a coupon good towards future releases in the series. In addition if you get the special boxed set you’ll get a small replica of the pendant that Himeko wears in the series. The packaging for both the DVD and the box is superb and definitely worth checking out (BTW the DVD case features a double sided cover)

Final Thoughts

Kannazuki provides an interesting twist on the traditional giant robot/magic girl save the Earth from evil invaders storyline that makes it stand out from several similar titles currently out in store shelves. I found it to be fun and engaging and certainly would want to see where the story goes next, which I find is always indicative of the quality of whatever I watch.

Recommended to all anime fans, especially mecha afficionados.

Jeffrey Couto