is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 originally written by Koge-Donbo

Koge-Donbo

, is a Japanese manga artist. Koge-Donbo* started her career soon after college as a doujinshi artist. She got the idea of a unique pen-name, Koge-Donbo* from Akira Toriyama's pet cat. She made her first official US appearance at Otakon 2004 in Baltimore, MD as a Guest of Honor...

 about a seventh grade girl named Karin who finds out that she can transform

Henshin

is the Japanese word for "transformation," literally meaning, "to change or transform the body." This word is primarily used in manga, anime, and tokusatsu dramas for when a character transforms into a superhero. usually have a "henshin call", a catchphrase which they recite when they transform...

 into a goddess

Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....

. The series began as a manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 first serialized in January 2003. Kamichama Karin was serialized in the Japanese shōjo

Shojo

The term refers to manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10-18. The name romanizes the Japanese 少女 , literally: "little female". Shōjo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction — often with a strong...

 manga magazine Nakayoshi

Nakayoshi

is a shōjo manga magazine published by Kodansha in Japan. First published in December 1954, it is a long-running magazine with over 50 years worth of manga publication history. The target demographic for Nakayoshi is aimed at young girls between...

and published by Kodansha

Kodansha

, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...

. While the first manga series ended at seven bound volumes

Tankobon

, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

, a second entitled Kamichama Karin Chu (meaning Mini-goddess Karin 2) began serialization in the same magazine in July 2006, and as of April 2008, the series end with seven bound volumes being released. The first one came into the stores on June 24, 2008. Kamichama Karin has been licensed in the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 by Tokyopop

Tokyopop

Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...

. An anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 series based on the original manga began airing in Japan on April 6, 2007, on TV Tokyo

TV Tokyo

is a television station headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Also known as , a blend of "terebi" and "Tokyo", it is the key station of TX Network. It is one of the major Tokyo television stations, particularly specializing in anime...

, produced by the animation studio Satelight

Satelight

is a Japanese animation studio.-History:The studio was founded on December 1995, in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, their first project being Bit the Cupid, the world's first fully digitally-animated television series. The name Satelight consists of S for Sapporo, A for Animate, T for Technology and E for...

 and directed by Takashi Anno.

Characters

Voiced by: Mai Nakahara

Mai Nakahara

is a voice actress. She is employed by I'm Enterprise. Some of her hobbies include cooking and watching movies, and she is skilled at kendo. She worked with voice actor Ai Shimizu in eight anime where most of the characters they voiced in together had close connections: DearS, Kage Kara Mamoru!,...

Karin is the protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

 of the series. 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 she can tranform into a god. She is an outgoing person and sticks up for her friends, even though she does bad in school. She had a cat named Shii-chan that passed away in the beginning of the first series. She is in 7th grade and is 13 years old. 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

Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...

. It is later revealed in the later volumes of the manga that Karin is actually Kazune Kujyou's wife, Suzuka Kujyou (Suzuka is Karin backwards, since suzu is another way to read the character rin), Suzuka Kujyou is Karin Hanazono. She is also the mother of Himeka and Suzune. It is shown that whenever Kazune becomes drunk (even with the so much as the smell of alcohol) he acts perverted towards Karin. They end up together and will end up loving each other (without either of them knowing at first in the beginning of the anime). At the end of Kamichama Karin Chu, it is shown that she and Kazune get married.

Kazune is the main male protagonist. His ring has the power of Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

 Greek god of light (in the Chu sequel, he has a different ring with the power of Ouranus). He is in 8th 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 Or 13 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') He himself is the clone of his "father". The older Kazune, Kazuto, put his research in Himeka, and then split them in half to protect his work from his former partner, Kirihiko Karasuma. Because Karin is Suzuka, he is "married" to Karin and they get married for real at the end of Chu. He is also the father of Himeka and Suzune.

In Chu, Karin's and his son, Suzune come from the future. He warns them that Kazune goes missing in the future (with a woman Suzune claims), and later it is discovered that he actually died soon after Suzune was born. When he learns of this, he stays away from Karin, believing what he did was horrible and had caused the future Karin too much trouble. Karin punches him after discovering this was the reason why he avoided her, saying she knew he disappeared in the future but was working hard to change that.

Himeka is Karin's friend and Kazune's "cousin". She is the daughter of Kazuto and Suzuka. However, it turns out that she is somewhat Karin and Kazune's daughter, due to that Karin is Suzuka and Kazune is Kazuto's clone. Because of this, she is also Suzune's "older sister". Originally she contained Kazuto's god research 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 8th 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. Later in the series, Kazune says that Himeka is his daughter (along with Karin in Kamichama Karin 7), which surprised her.

Kirio is the main antagonist. He and Kirika are adopted by Kirihiko while they were children. He is the student council 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

Ares

Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...

. 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 order to save the future Kirika who is sick. To do that, he has to revive his father, whom currently resides within Kuga Jin.

Kirika is Kirio's fraternal twin sister, but for most of the series poses as a young man and Kirio's twin brother. With slightly masculine features to go along with her natural feminine beauty, as well as a kind personality, Kirika came across to many as a princely figure, which caused Karin to instantly develop a crush on her. At first, she does not believe that Karin is a goddess, but comes to believe in it. Kirika is unwillingly forced to fight Karin because of the other Himeka and her brother Kirio. Later on the manga in Volumes 4 and 5, it is revealed to the protagonists that she is actually female. Kirika explains that after the deaths of their parents, Kirio was all she had, but when he started becoming interested in the God rings, she felt as if he were slipping away from her. She at some point chopped off her hair and started pretending she was male in an attempt to in a way emotionally follow Kirio in his footsteps and prevent him from straying too far away. When Karin reveals to Kirika that she had had a crush on her, Kirika replies that in her own, strange way, she had a crush on Karin too, stating that she admired Karin for being able to be powerful without having to hide her gender. She gives help to Karin and Kazune when her father revives through her brother, Kirio.In Goddess form, she is Nyx.

Michiru or Micchi is a transferred student from England and at one time lived with Karin, Kazune and Himeka. When he was little, he was involved in an accident that killed his parents and crushed his left eye beyond repair, and almost died. But Kazuto made an eye for Michiru, and saved his life. Since he was in the hospital for a year, he is a year older than Karin, Kazune, and Himeka. Michiru shares a close bond to Kazune, because he first thought of him as Kazuto, and still respects Kazune. In the manga, Michiru's friend Ami brought a notebook containing information about Himeka for Kazune to read. Michiru is a bit a pervert around Karin, and in the manga, he stole Kazune's first kiss. In Chu, his transformation is the god Poseidon

Poseidon

Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...

 .

Jin Kuga is first introduced in Kamichama Karin Chu. He is first seen as any regular "idol" that's new to the show bizz. Jin has a strong confidence in himself and wishes to regain his father's 'honor', as revealed later on in the series. Around the last volumes, it even shows that Jin is actually the father of Kirio Karasuma, who is Kirihiko Karasuma. Just like how Karin Hanazono is actually Kazune's wife, Suzuka Hanazono/Kujyou. Jin tends to 'glomp' and show a lot of affection for Karin which tends to make him Kazune's 'love rival' for her. Even though Jin normally has his sweet an adorable personality, he can sometimes be a pervert (Koge Donbo herself even puts it on his quick profile in the manga) around Karin. In the Chu series, Jin has the ability to transform into the god of the underworld, Hades

Hades

Hades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades...

.

Suzune is first introduced in Kamichama Chu and appears in two episodes of the anime. He is the son of Karin and Kazune, and is Himeka's "younger brother". He came from the future, sent by the future Karin, to warn Karin and the others of the upcoming battle with the Karasumas and the tragic outcome. He is around five years old when he first appears and wears outfits with rabbitt ears on his cap. He has Kazune's hair and facial appearance but has Karin's eyes and personality, and is a cute little boy. Both Karin and Kazune love him and protect him. He is the one who tells Karin of the future, including of Kazune's absence (Suzune thinks Kazune left with another woman, but he actually died soon after Suzune's birth) and gives karin the Time Clock. Like all the characters, Suzune can transform, this one into Cupid.

Manga

The Kamichama Karin manga series has been released into a total of seven full volumes. Koge-Donbo

Koge-Donbo

, is a Japanese manga artist. Koge-Donbo* started her career soon after college as a doujinshi artist. She got the idea of a unique pen-name, Koge-Donbo* from Akira Toriyama's pet cat. She made her first official US appearance at Otakon 2004 in Baltimore, MD as a Guest of Honor...

 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).

Sequel

The adventure continues in Kamichama Karin Chu with the main cast now in the eighth grade. Kazune returns from his trip to England and so 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 little boy who is actually Karin and Kazune's future child, that appears to Karin to warn her of the danger. 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 Kujyou. In a dream, the future Karin speaks to Karin, telling her that in the future, Micchi 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.

Karin also got a new upgrade in her hair style. In volume 7, when she transformed with Micchi's ring, she gained two little white angel-wing looking clips with her original olive hair ties. She wears them normally, starting in chapter 1 of 'Kamichama Karin Chu'.
At the end of Chu, Karin is seen wearing heart-shaped hair accessories in place of the angel clips.

Del Rey Manga

Del Rey Manga

was the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann. It was formed as part of a cross-publishing relationship with Japanese publisher Kodansha. Some of the Del Rey titles, such as Tsubasa...

 released volume 1 of the Kamichama Karin Chu on June 24, 2008. The last volume, 7, was released on January 26, 2010.

Anime

An anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 of Kamichama Karin debuted in Japan on April 6, 2007. Animation was done by the animation studio Satelight

Satelight

is a Japanese animation studio.-History:The studio was founded on December 1995, in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, their first project being Bit the Cupid, the world's first fully digitally-animated television series. The name Satelight consists of S for Sapporo, A for Animate, T for Technology and E for...

. 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.

Songs

Opening theme: by Ali Project

Ali Project

Ali Project is a Japanese band with a strong Japanese Aristocrat-style image, consisting of and .In the band's earlier days, their musical style tended towards light, cheerful and/or refreshing songs. However, the sound has changed in recent times to take on a darker and more mysterious tone...

Ending themes: by Mai Nakahara

Mai Nakahara

is a voice actress. She is employed by I'm Enterprise. Some of her hobbies include cooking and watching movies, and she is skilled at kendo. She worked with voice actor Ai Shimizu in eight anime where most of the characters they voiced in together had close connections: DearS, Kage Kara Mamoru!,...

by Marble

Marble (band)

marble is a Japanese musical duo, originally named The Student's and formed in 1999. The members, Micco and Tatsuya Kikuchi, met and became friends while they were both enrolled in music school. Kikuchi was the main musical support for Micco at that time, who was acting as a solo artist...

Character Songs: by Mai Nakahara

Mai Nakahara

is a voice actress. She is employed by I'm Enterprise. Some of her hobbies include cooking and watching movies, and she is skilled at kendo. She worked with voice actor Ai Shimizu in eight anime where most of the characters they voiced in together had close connections: DearS, Kage Kara Mamoru!,...

/Karin Hanazono

by Tatsuhisa Suzuki

Tatsuhisa Suzuki

is a male Japanese voice actor and singer from Okazaki, Aichi, Japan, though was born in Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan. He is affiliated with I'm Enterprise and Lantis. He is a graduate from Japan Narration and Acting School...

/Jin Kuga

External links

• Kamichama Karin at TV Tokyo
  TV Tokyo
  is a television station headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Also known as , a blend of "terebi" and "Tokyo", it is the key station of TX Network. It is one of the major Tokyo television stations, particularly specializing in anime...
  
   
• Kamichama Karin at Tokyopop
  Tokyopop
  Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...