Kamisama no Memochou (Heaven’s Memo Pad)

Returning to Kamisama no Memochou after several months’ hiatus, was a tad surprising. Surprising in a good way, in that the anime had had any sort of lasting impression. That’s not to say that Heaven’s Memo Pad is by any means a bad or even an uninspired anime. Quite the opposite in fact. Especially consider the rather tired and overused premise it has to work with. Hmm, I wonder it that could be part of the problem. In short, I was not expecting Kamisama no Memochou to turn out to be good and memorable at the same time.

As mentioned prior, it’s the premise that is the shows ultimate chink in its armour. Moe-detective and generic-male assistant solve crimes! Oh and the moe-detective has an English name. And she’s supposed to be super adorable but it translates as arrogant and annoying. And the male is bland. And he has a love interest. Who is also bland. It’s insipid and it’s been done to death! Comparing this momentarily with its more recent predecessor Gosick, on the surface neither anime has differs substantially in terms of concept. But whereas Gosick puts very little thought into its individual mysteries, or developing the relationship between the two protagonists, instead opting to be entertaining as oppose to thought-provoking. Kamisama no Memochou takes the same premise and actually turns it into something good. And the title makes more sense than ‘Gosick’.

The series complies several murder mysteries (and a baseball game) into 12 episodes. The length of each mystery varies between two to four episodes. Each one is beautifully written and delivered, with an unexpected amount of substance attached. Perhaps the most heart-wrenchingly touching is the final story arc, since it centres on the attempted suicide of a pivotal cast member. And it doesn’t get an easy wrap-up. None of the mysteries do because some moments in life are just that complicated and joyless. And solving the mystery doesn’t change the course of events, ultimately it doesn’t rewrite the wrong. There are no easy answers and Kamisama no Memochou does an excellent job of phoning that in. In that, it is a thoroughly satisfying work of art.

Protagonists Narumi Fujishima and Alice are stereotypical sure, but not so rigid. Narumi is not the typical saintly male lead as often is portrayed. Naïve yes, but also all too human in some places, in particular the final storyline which deals a fair amount of crap his way. Alice probably gets the rawest deal as her character never truly grows. Still, she never crosses over to full on annoying and her powers of deduction remain consistent. She is smart but not omniscient. The remaining supporting cast do an outstanding job of being both contrived and interesting. They tend not to play on their stereotypes, offering layers and more dynamicity. Interestingly, while the cast as a whole is more subdued, they don’t come across as dull or one-dimensional. They come across as real people.

In all, Kamisama no Memochou is refreshing. It’s intelligently written and executed, the characters are well-rounded and likeable, and it is capable of producing genuine emotion (especially during the final storyline). It’s a pity that the show only made 12 episodes…

Rating: 8/10