Hepburn: Kamisama Hajimemashita, lit. "I Became a God" or "God Began") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Julietta Suzuki and serialized by Hakusensha in the shōjo manga magazine Hana to Yume. The series is licensed for regional release in North America by Viz Media as part of their Shojo Beat imprint. An anime adaptation has been produced by TMS Entertainment and directed by Akitaro Daichi and began airing in October 2012. It has been streamed by Funimation Entertainment in North America. A second season was announced and premiered during January 2015.
Plot
Nanami Momozono dreams of living an average school life just like any other high school girl does. Instead, she must cope up with the fact that her father, who is a constant gambler, has accumulated a bunch of gambling debts on her. As she can't afford to pay the rent, she gets kicked out of her apartment and is now homeless. Despite this unfortunate turn of events, she still maintains a kind heart.
While sitting on a park bench collecting her thoughts, Nanami meets a strange man hanging from a tree because he is being chased by a dog. After saving him from the dog, she learns that the man's name is Mikage. Upon learning about Nanami's current situation, in a perfect example of how good deeds are rewarded, he gives her his home as a token of his gratitude. She accepts the offer because she is homeless. When Nanami arrives at Mikage's home, she is shocked to see that it is not a normal home but a shrine for worship. After being greeted by both Onikiri and Kotetsu who are the keepers of the shrine, she meets Tomoe, Mikage's familiar, and she learns that Mikage used to be the Earth Deity of the shrine and has bestowed upon her his mark so that she may be the new deity. At first Nanami is reluctant, but as she lives with Tomoe, Onikiri and Kotetsu she begins to understand and works hard in her new position as the Earth Deity. As the story progresses Nanami finds herself falling in love with Tomoe, but he rejects her because the love between a human and a yokai is taboo. Despite saying that, Tomoe finds himself falling in love with her too.
Characters
Main characters
Nanami Momozono (桃園奈々生 Momozono Nanami)
Voiced by: Suzuko Mimori (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)
A teenage girl whose father ran out on her because of his gambling debts, and she was often mocked for her poverty by her classmates. She becomes the local land god after Mikage transfers his position over to her. Nanami begins with very little spiritual power, but she works hard at balancing her godly duties with her schoolwork and eventually becomes adept at purifying Tomoe within their present era, successfully nullifying his curse and becoming engaged to him after five hundred years of waiting. In the arc where Tomoe is turned into a fox, she tries to stop Akura-Ou from getting his yokai body back and to save Okuninushi so she can ask him to turn Tomoe into a human. However, Nanami does not have time because she has only six months to because of the life span taken from her by Akura-Ou earlier in the arc. In the second season, Nanami becomes an expert at using her only godly weapon, white talismans, with which she can do many things as long as they do not exceed her in strength. She also uses a "shikigami" called Mamoru in the second season of the anime. His base form is that of a small monkey that can fit in the palm of her hand, but he can take the shape of a young boy. With him she is able to create barriers against evil that can do various things, ranging from purification to the banishing of yokai.
It is later shown at the end of the manga that, after a 10 year time skip, she is married to Tomoe, who is now a human. She is shown to have worked as a kindergarten teacher during the interim, but is retiring due to the advancement of her pregnancy (it is suggested at the end of both the manga and anime that the child is a baby boy). She and Tomoe are then shown to revisit Mikage shrine after having fulfilled/completed the journey of becoming an adult.
Tomoe (巴衛)
Voiced by: Shinnosuke Tachibana (Japanese); J. Michael Tatum (English)
A fox yokai who serves as the familiar of the land god Mikage. When Nanami becomes the new land god, she makes a contract with Tomoe to turn him into her familiar, much to his displeasure. He is very hostile and condescending to Nanami at the start of the series, but this changes as the series progresses.
He has a very cynical and often mocking demeanor, partly because he is distrustful of others, but he can be very charming when the occasion demands it. He is also extremely powerful, and is apparently able to disable other familiars, independent demons and, as a yokai, even some deities without much effort. However, his power is restricted by Nanami's words, which means that if she orders him to do something, he must comply. He can transform himself and others with enchanted leaves, but his real power lies in the use of his Fox-Fire, which can hunt down any foe relentlessly and even manipulate other flames. Tomoe worries a great deal about Nanami and is very aware of how delicate she is as a human, threatening anyone who harms or speaks ill of her. Further within the manga, Nanami takes a journey to the past in order to save her beloved Tomoe from a deadly curse bestowed upon him after he formed a contract with a fallen god in order to live as a human. It is strongly emphasized that he was once in love with a human woman who was very sick named Yukiji. However, it is later revealed that the woman he fell in love with was really Nanami herself when time-traveling. The misconception arises from Nanami's decision to conceal herself from Tomoe (by asking everyone to keep her real name a secret) when she rescues an injured Tomoe from being killed by the villagers. Because she takes care of him in the real Yukiji's house, when Tomoe asks for the name of the woman caring for him, he is only told that he is in the house of Yukiji.
It is often implied that he loves Nanami, such as through his random acts of kindness for her and refusing to kill in front of her. He often gets very jealous of other boys who hang around her. He is also very loyal to Nanami, as shown by him kissing her to seal their contract again after it had been broken. It is later revealed that he is just as in love with Nanami as she is in love with him, but Nanami is unaware of this fact because of Tomoe's rejection of her earlier in the first series. After Nanami goes back in time to save him, he accepts his feelings for her and they renew their engagement that they made 500 years earlier. Soon after, Tomoe meets an old shrine maiden that he once met as a child and it frightens him how fast humans can grow old and die. He wants to become human so that he can grow old with Nanami. He takes a potion from Kurama, which he mistakenly believes will turn him human, but it is actually the Potion of Origin, which turns him into a fox. Nanami prepares to stop Akura-Ou from regaining his body and to save the god Okuninushi so she can ask him to turn Tomoe human. Later Nanami receives a flower bud which will bloom when Tomoe learns how to feel affection for humans. If he were to eat the bloomed flower, he would then return to his normal form.
It is later shown at the end of the manga, that a 10-year time period has lapsed, and that he is married to Nanami. He becomes human after their marriage ceremony happens by going to Okuninushi and doing some bidding. He is shown working at a company which he enjoys working at. Nanami gives birth to a baby boy they both created. It is later shown that they return to Mikage shrine after Nanami has completed her journal to become a full adult.
Mikage (ミカゲ)
Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese); Joel McDonald (English)
A mysterious man who was once the land god of the shrine, and who left twenty years ago for unspecified reasons. He met a newly homeless Nanami and bestowed the land god mark on her, saying that she was better suited to be the god than him. He has light hair and glasses and wears a trench coat and hat. Throughout the manga he is portrayed as someone shrouded in mystery on what his true motives really are, but it is hinted that his plan has been to show Tomoe that humans and yokai can fall in love and that Nanami may be the one who can reach Tomoe. Yet, it is not clear if this is his only reason for the circumstances and events he set in motion. Although he did not appear much in the beginning of the manga, he has since recently returned back to his shrine, but he accepts Nanami as the land god and not him.
Kurama (鞍馬)
Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio (Japanese); Sean O'Connor (English)
A wildly popular idol with the gimmick of being a "fallen angel" with goth makeup and a bad boy attitude. He is a crow tengu from the Kurama mountain, who initially wished to become the land god by eating Nanami's heart. After being thwarted by Tomoe and subsequently saved by Nanami, he gives up on this scheme and regards her as a friend, even allowing her to stay at his apartment when she temporarily loses her godhood. He has a lingering dislike for Tomoe, and the two are prone to insulting each other whenever they meet. He left Kurama mountain seventeen years ago and has been living in the human world since then. He is also shown to have a more human-like attitude compared to Tomoe and Mizuki. He also has feelings for Nanami and always tries to flirt with her, but he seems to have accepted her relationship with Tomoe. His real name is Shinjūrō (真寿郎).
Mizuki (瑞希)
Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto (Japanese); Micah Solusod (English)
A lonely snake familiar of the abandoned and submerged Yonomori shrine. When Nanami saves his life from her cruel classmates by releasing him out a window, he falls in love with her. He abducts her soon after, intending to marry her. In spite of this, Nanami takes pity on him and promises to visit after Tomoe rescues her. He hates Tomoe, evident to his constant mocking and bantering. He even goes as far as to manipulate Nanami various times through the act of "helping" to try and deter her feelings towards Tomoe, though she is unaware. He later becomes Nanami's familiar to save her from a sea demon after she inadvertently sacrifices herself to save Tomoe. He has the power to make wonderful sake. He also says that he can be himself whenever he is with Nanami.
Onikiri (鬼切) and Kotetsu (虎徹)
Voiced by: Natsuyo Atarashi (first season), Naoko Matsui (second season) (Onikiri) and Chika Ōkubo (Kotetsu) (Japanese); Jad Saxton (Onikiri) and Josh Grelle (Kotetsu) (English)
The two bald, childlike yokai attendants at Nanami's shrine who wear masks. Just like Tomoe, they are able to shapeshift. They are extremely fond of Nanami, Tomoe, Mizuki and Mikage. It is implied that there is an unpleasant sight underneath their masks.
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