Kamichama Karin

:Karin is the protagonist of the series. Her name literally means "The Flower Bell of the Flower Garden," with the "Flower Garden" as her surname and "Flower Bell" as her given name. Karin used to live with her aunt because her parents died a long time ago, but she moved in with Kazune and Himeka after they found out about her goddess powers. She is an outgoing person, even though she does bad in school and sticks up for her friends. She is in 7th grade. The ring Karin originally thought was her mother's ring allows her to borrow godly power. Her ring is silver and has the power of the goddess Athena (Aphrodite in "Chu"). Karin, at first, was in love with Kirika Karasuma but later falls in love with Kazune, not just because she finds out that Kirika is a woman. It is later revealed in the later volumes of the manga that Karin is actually Kazuto Kujyou's wife, Suzuka Kujyou, (Suzuka is Karin backwards, since "suzu" is another way to read the character "rin"), which was stated in Volume 7 that Karin was returned to an infant by Kazuto Kujou.

;Nihongo|Kazune Kujyou|九条 和音|Kujō Kazune:anime voices|Miyuki Sawashiro :Kazune is the main male protagonist. His ring has the power of Apollo Greek god of sun (in the sequel, he has a different ring with the power of Uranus). He is in 7th grade. While he acts cool during much of the story, Himeka states that in the past, he was weak and cried frequently, only becoming his present self when he turned ten years old, after knowing who he was. While Himeka loves bugs, Kazune hates and fears them; in Kamichama Karin, Himeka reveals that Kazune's fear of bugs developed when he and Himeka ran into a giant bug when he was little (which, ironically, was Karin in a bug suit). Even though he is a clone of professor Kazuto Kujyou, he is incomplete and passes out after transforming in god form. He often speaks to Karin in a way that she deems sexist, talking about things like the inherent stupidity or weakness of girls (this is used against him in Chu when Jin calls him a 'girly boy') Kazune is in love with Karin (and tells Michiru such), and has known since the age of ten that Karin is his wife, Suzuka. He himself is the clone of his "father". The older Kazune, Kazuto, put his reseach in Himeka, and then split them in half to protect his work from his former partner, Karasuma Kirihiko. In chu, Karin's and his son, Suzune come from the future. He warns them that Kazune goes missing in the future , and later it is discoved that he actually died soon after Suzune was born.

;Nihongo|Himeka Kujyou|九条 姫香|Kujō Himeka:anime voices|Noriko Shitaya:Himeka is Karin's friend and Kazune's "cousin". She is also Suzune's "sister" due to the fact that she is the child of Suzuka and Kazuto. Originally she contained Kazuto's god reseach data, she was then split into two by Kirihiko attempting to steal the research data. One half lives with Kazune, while the other lives with the Karasumas. When one Himeka becomes stronger, the other becomes weaker. Since she was a young girl, she has always defended Kazune, who was a bit of a crybaby when they were little. She loves bugs and is a good cook. She is in 7th grade. Like Karin, she does poorly in school. It is later revealed that she is Kazuto and Suzuka's daughter. She tells Karin at one point that while she has a strong affection for Kazune, it is not necessarily a romantic attachment, as Kazune is "kind of like a brother and kind of like a dad" to Himeka (referencing Kazune's identity as a clone of Himeka's father). She also witnessed Kazune and Karin kissing in the anime.

;Nihongo|Kirio Karasuma|烏丸 キリオ|Karasuma Kirio:anime voices|Shintaro Asanuma:Kirio is the main antagonist. He and Kirika are adopted by Kirihiko while they were children. He is the student body president of Sakuragaoka Academy. He tests the protagonists and fights them outside the campus. Karin refers to him as "Mr. Glasses Man" (meganekko), "Four eyes-san" or "Glasses Guy". His only true relative is his twin sister Kirika, but he does have another "sister" by the name of Himeka. In the anime, he is a running gag character; often leaving before ever winning and revealing his plot to Karin and the others while they didn't know, thinking they did. His ring has the powers of the god Ares. Later in the series, his ring is destroyed by Kazune. He then gets possessed by his father, Kirihiko, by the Zeus ring he wore after his broke, but in the end Karin and Kazune saved him.(episode 26) He then returns in Chu. Now, with the other Himeka, he is trying to create a new Zeus ring using the 'seed of chaos.' In the first series, it is stated that he's not truly evil, but just wants the second Himeka to be safe. However, his reasons are not known in "Chu"

Media

Manga

The "Kamichama Karin" manga series has been released into a total of seven full volumes. Koge-Donbo admits in volume one at how the point of Karin's "I am God" was to have her say something stupid and how the manga started was as a gag. "Kamichama Karin" was originally going to be a two chapter one-shot manga, according to Koge-Donbo. Due to its unexpected popularity, she continued the story. The story continues on in a sequel series "Kamichama Karin Chu." again with seven volumes in regular special edition volumes released in Japan. The special edition volumes include the same basic content as the regular editions but include additional content making them highly valuable to manga collectors. The special editions feature different cover artwork including a gold foiled logo on a clear plastic dust jacket. Each special volume is accompanied by booklets which contain whole extra chapters to the story (usually the information in these extra chapters is supplementary, and not critical, to the main story).

equel

The adventure continues in "Kamichama Karin Chu" with the main cast now in the eighth grade. As Kazune comes back from his trip to London, Karin and the gang are back together again. Karin and the gang travel through time, along with a new comrade: a celebrity named Jin Kuga, fighting a new enemy, the Seeds of Chaos. Besides Jin, there are two more (known) new characters: Rika Karasuma and Suzune Kujyou. Rika is later revealed to be the Himeka Karasuma from the future. Suzune is a cute little boy, actually Karin and Kazune's future child, that appears to Karin to warn her of the danger. Rika seems to be trying to make Jin their comrade. And to Jin, Karin is apparently "his goddess". Jin and Kazune fight over Karin once in a while. Himeka Kujyou goes to England to study abroad. However, she comes back, and meets Rika Karasuma, who is actually the other Himeka from the future. She is the antagonist.

In the sequel Karin's fate has been altered, and she must hurry to save her future with Kazune Kujou. In a dream, the future Karin speaks to Karin, telling her that in the future, Michii will lose his life, Jin will lose his memory, and Kazune will lose all his power and eventually die. Karin cries out that it won't happen, but she has woken up.

Del Rey Manga released volume one of the 'Kamichama Karin Chu' manga on June 24 2008. [citeweb|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345504036|title="Kamichama Karin Chu" 1 by Koge-Donbo|publisher=Del Rey Manga|accessdate=2008-07-30] Volume two of the 'Kamichama Karin Chu' manga is scheduled to be released on September 30 2008, Volume 3 released January 27, 2009 and Volume 4 April 28, 2009 by Del Rey Manga. [citeweb|url= http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345505934|title= "Kamichama Karin Chu" 2 by Koge-Donbo|publisher= Del Rey Manga|accessdate=2008-07-30]

Anime

An anime of "Kamichama Karin" debuted in Japan on April 6 2007. Animation was done by the animation studio Satelight. The story starts off in "Kamichama Karin Chu", the sequel to "Kamichama Karin". Karin and Suzune are running through a park when Rika attacks Karin. Karin's Chronos Clock (which has the power to time-travel) gets the Seed of Chaos implanted into it and brings her to the first time she met Kazune at Shii-chan's grave. After that, the events follow the storyline of the manga. "Kamichama Karin" was shown in Japan every Saturday. An original soundtrack has been released.

Theme songs

;Opening theme:Nihongo|"Ankoku Tengoku"|暗黒天国|Dark Heaven by Ali Project;Ending theme 1:Nihongo|"Anemone"|アネモネ by Mai Nakahara;Ending theme 2:Nihongo|"Kūchū Meiro"|空中迷路|Labyrinth in the Sky by Marble

References

"Kamichama Karin Chu 3" by Koge-Donbo- [http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/manga/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345506757] "Kamichama Karin Chu 4" by Koge-Donbo- [http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/manga/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345506764]

External links

* [http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/kamichamakarin/ "Kamichama Karin"] at TV Tokyo jp icon
* [http://www.tokyopop.com/S-1416/ "Kamichama Karin"] at Tokyopop
*ann anime|id=7461