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Kamisama no Ekohiiki japanese drama review
Completed
Kamisama no Ekohiiki
2 people found this review helpful
by blbubu
Feb 22, 2024
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.5
Story 10.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

Perhaps..... one of my favorite Dramas. Ever?

I think part of my enjoyment of this drama was that I had NO idea what I was getting into, all I knew was that there was some sort of body-swapping going on with very light queer undertones in the form of WLW. I really wasn’t expecting this show to fully embrace bisexuality in the beautiful form that it does. It explores what liking someone is, what gender means within a romantic context, and whether we fall in love with someone’s appearance, their soul, or both things at once.

This show has so much heart, absolutely every single character - even including minor ones - is extremely well characterized. They’re not perfect, there are times when you just wanna smack them in the head, but they’re real, and they’re human and they’re trying their best. The two main leads do an excellent job at making you believe there are different souls within their bodies, both characters with distinctive personalities. Sakurada Hiyori as Yashiro has to be the standout for me, she absolutely kills this role. The rest of the cast is really lovable as well, all with different personalities. I believe some people do not like Kenta for a few episodes and you might feel like this as well, but just know that there is growth in his character (just like with the rest of the ensemble), and I personally thought his prickly, sometimes greasy, personality added so much dimension to the main cast and diversity to how they reacted to situations.

[PLEASE SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO KNOW THE ENDGAME COUPLE - a great part of my enjoyment was going in completely blind.] I never expected a gay couple to be the main focus of the story, not only plot-wise, but thematically as well. It is so easy to fall into bisexual stereotypes, and this show could’ve easily gone that route, but Yashiro is still explicitly shown to be attracted to girls (like Rin), yet his love for Kenta is the one thing that remains unwavering through it all, no matter the circumstance. For a few episodes, I was unsure of who the endgame was going to be - I watched this show thinking it was going to be a straight romance. I thought maybe Yashiro and Rin were going to end up together, maybe Yashiro was going to stay in Kagura’s body and be with Kenta - honestly, the whole cast had amazing chemistry with each other, so I wasn’t opposed to these couples (even the ex-couple had amazing chemistry!). It was still so heart-warming and beautiful to see the male/male couple be the endgame and I was so happy for them. The whole theme of them wanting to change the world was so wholesome and I loved that they reached that conclusion for themselves. This isn’t really a flaw of the show, but Kagura and Rin had unbelievable chemistry with each other as well. I was really rooting for a lesbian couple here, which sadly doesn’t happen, so please be aware of that. Last thing, it was nice that there were queer characters sprinkled throughout the show, not just amongst the main cast - most notably the student who has a crush on Rin (I believe he is implied as bisexual/pansexual), the man in love with Kami-sama, and, I was left unsure, but maybe Kami-sama as well.

Is this show perfect? Well, technically no - I was left wondering whatever happened to certain characters like Ami and Yukihiko - although I’ve come to the conclusion that Ami’s story just ended and there wasn’t much more we as the audience really needed to know. And I wished we could’ve explored Kami-sama’s story a little deeper. And YET - it does feel near damn perfect to me, from the acting to the story, the themes, even the cinematography. I am really glad that I found this gem of a show when I wasn’t looking for it, and I wish more people watched this silly little thing with so much heart and appreciated it as I do! Thank you from the bottom of my little bisexual heart.
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