Spring is upon us! Did I already tell you I have my tickets for Japan Expo? Is anyone of you going too?
Anyway! Back to the topic at hand.
Inari Konkon Koi Iroha, which we will shorten as “Inari” from now on, is the story of a girl named Inari (I sense this is going to be confusing) who ends up getting some godly power from the deity inhabiting her favorite Inari shrine.(I did it on purpose, I am not sorry.)
Basically, we follow the aftermath of Inari getting her powers as she goes through her daily live, mostly at school, and develops her relationships with other, included several gods.
I started this because I like works that have to do with shinto and a more traditional part of Japanese culture. This is the kind of show I love. I was a bit surprised when I watched, I really did not expect it to be so much focused on Inari’s daily life. It was not bad but it definitely was not what I expected.
In the end, I did not mind so much. The story might have been mostly about Inari and her love for various people but she has power, and she can transform into other people at will. It makes daily life a lot more entertaining don’t you think?
This is the main reason I enjoyed watching Inari. I like how the supernatural kept on creeping into normal lives. I liked how people almost never noticed except for Inari’s brother and the people involved first hand in the happenings.
I also liked how the supernatural was handled, as if it was something almost normal. And I liked the sometimes dark atmosphere that would make its way into what was otherwise a rather joyful anime.
All of these things are things I loved about Inari.
Now it is time to say what I did not love about Inari.The first thing I did not like much is Inari herself. You see, I got the feeling she was pretty weak, not only as a character but also as a human. I feel a bit bad for thinking this but I thought she always took the easy way out of things. Like transforming herself for the sake of love. In a way, it was a nice thing to see how she progressed from this to finally man up so to say and face love seriously. That was good character development, but the character herself, well, not so much. It did not really help that her seiyuu’s voice, Naomi Oozora, kinda grated on my ears. But I’m strong, I can live with that.
I thought more or less the same of Uka-sama, but she was a sad character. You see, she is a god who yearns for a human’s friendship. It is bound to end in a tragedy. She doesn’t want to marry, she doesn’t seem to have many friends. Uka-sama is lonely. It was touching but I also often wanted to scream at her to grow up and stop chasing at the impossible, but then she’d be even sadder.
Her character is a perfect character for a tragedy, it did not go so well with the joyful atmosphere of Inari. Also, her seiyuu might not have been the best choice for her.
As far as other characters are concerned, I have to say that I quite liked the two brothers, Inari’s because he is part hikkikomori and still tries his best to protect his sister. Also, his love is bound to fail and that is too sad. Uka-sama’s because he is just too amusing, looked like my little brother in the early stages of his childhood. Their two seiyuu, Yoji Ueda and Takehito Koyasu, were perfect!
In the end, I mostly enjoyed myself, even if it had some slow moments. I would not recommend it to anyone though, you should watch only if you like romance, because Inari is full of it.
