Joseph Luster
July 29, 2008 
Koge-Donbo’s (Di Gi Charat, Pita-Ten) Kamichama Karin Chu might be one of the most ADD shojo titles I’ve ever read. As a sequel to Kamichama Karin (published by Kodansha in 2003), the story is pretty straightforward. Karin Hanazono is a young goddess, betrothed in the past to her friend Kazune Kujyou with whom she currently lives. Kazune is also a god, and returns to Karin after studying abroad in Europe only to find a child in Karin’s bed that claims to be theirs, and offers them both rings that will grant them transformation into their god forms. Their mission: find the three noble gods and give them their own rings in preparation for a battle against the Seeds of Chaos.
Didn’t I say it was straightforward? Let’s all remember to pat the backs of those talented folks that synopsize titles professionally, because it’s a hell of a task with something like this, even though it isn’t very complicated in the manga itself. What makes Kamichama Karin Chu more scatterbrained than necessary, though, are the page layouts and wildly designed panels, hence the ADD aesthetic that can make it a longer read than need be, even when taken as an at-times intentional parody of the mahou shojo genre.
It’s kind of interesting at first, because there aren’t even really panels in the traditional sense. Sure, there are partitioned spaces that convey dialogue and action, but they tend to be studded with jewels and flowers and fabrics and other such feminine add-ons. This will be a nice touch to those that just want to gush over nice artwork that juts out over other artwork, creating a collage-like atmosphere on each page, but it will probably become a distraction to those that want to get into the story.
There are a lot of asides in the manga, too, and they tend to break up the flow of the narrative from time to time. It’s like the characters jammed straw after straw of pixie sticks down their throats before walking into each panel, and I found myself feeling the throes of a sugar rush just from reading a single page. Oddly enough, a bonus story titled “Chapter 0•bCrLf details a few events leading to Kazune’s departure to Europe in a much more enjoyable manner with traditional layouts.
One of the original goals of series creator Koge-Donbo (a pen name taken as a nod to Akira Toriyama’s pet cat) was to make this follow-up accessible to those that haven’t read the original Kamichama Karin. Though the experience will certainly have less meaning to those just being introduced to the characters, it can be enjoyed by anyone thanks to a few background details given in the beginning. Still, it’s hard to recommend a story that’s so all over the place to anyone that doesn’t start the morning with a large glass of chocolate milk and a stack of pancakes (even if I’m sometimes guilty of this myself!), so non-fans should approach this sugary tale at their own risk.
Publisher: Del Rey
Story & Art: Koge-Donbo
Rating: T 13+
