The Day I Became A God
“A Missed Masterpiece”
From its cover, The Day I Became A God looks like another anime that is bound to take you on an emotional rollercoaster. I instantly got reminded of "Charlotte" because, obviously, I'm talking about an anime that "Key" produced. So, I definitely get some sort of originality here. The producer of this anime, Jun Maeda, is famous for producing heart-wrenching and tear-inducing anime like Charlotte. It really makes me wonder what tragedies Maeda-San experienced in his childhood that allowed him to evoke such deep emotions in his work.
Most of the anime produced by Maeda-San starts with his usual classic style, centered around high school students, and looking like a pure slice of life. However, they soon drift into tragedies and become truly melodramatic. They're also given a hint of supernaturalism. It all sounds so appealing, but a few things really disappointed me while watching this anime. Let's just delve deeper into my review of the anime "The Day I Became A God."
The story revolves around a high school student named Youta Narukami, who is preparing for his college entrance exam. It's his summer break when he comes across a mysterious girl named Hina Sato, who claims that she's a goddess and that the world will end in 30 days. Yota does not believe her ridiculous claims, but as soon as she shows her supernatural abilities, Yota becomes convinced instantly. Hina decides to stay at Yota's house, and their adventure, full of fun as well as heartbreak, begins.
Now it's excruciating for me to say that the design, character, and soundtracks feel copy-pasted from Maeda's previous works. It feels a lot like Clannad, but it's a knock-off version. The plot is perplexing, and it's all jumbled up, losing the actual essence of the story. I repeatedly get to see Meeda's cliches from the previous anime he made, and it's just a giant mess. The story followed the repetitive formula that ultimately disappointed me. Maeda's earlier works were also quite similar to each other, but this one makes me wonder, "Where did things go wrong?" The anime's attempts at humor were unsuccessful and hurt the show. It's less amusing and more annoying. As soon as the "emotional" part of the story comes, the plot becomes stagnant and very dull. I expected the plot to be consistent, but instead, it felt like a chaotic mix of unrelated elements. I also find it very weird how none of the characters care about the world coming to an end. Instead, they're busy making their bonds stronger, as if they're not dying in 30 days. It's just straight-up ridiculous.
The only positive part of the anime was in episode 5 with Kyoko. She seemed like an important character that would contribute to the plot, and I finally saw some hope. But after episode 5, Kyoko became a mere supporting character. Overall, the story is nothing but a mess of Maeda's previous works, distorted and mixed up. I was expecting it to have some degree of originality, but unfortunately, it disappointed me.
The characters are as plain and lacking in originality as the plot. They don't feel meaningful or even memorable to me. I expected the characters to undergo some development as the plot progressed. But they're all just lost. Hina's character is very cringey and annoying. She expects everyone to worship her and do whatever she tells them to. It doesn't suit her character and doesn't do justice to the fact that she's going around helping people in need. Surprisingly, she's the center of all the comedic scenes. It only hinders her character development. Yota is your very generic, selfless male protagonist who accepts that he must get everything right. He is seen to lean more towards Hina than towards his actual crush, that is, Kyoka. Overall, Yota is a very dull character with little to no character development. I liked Kyoko, who is beautiful and seems like the only normal person. She had the best chance to develop in the episode, but it's a shame she didn't.
The animation is the only thing that I love about this anime. The colors are vibrant, and the borders make everything look luminous. The well-designed characters captivate my attention repeatedly. The animation goes well with the overall lighthearted vibe of the story. The background, however, becomes a bit plain and unidentifiable at times. They're fairly straightforward and appealing at some points in the anime. Therefore, I have to give it to "The Day I Became A God" because of its colorful and pleasing animation. There was some effort put into the art department. The background music set the mood for the story. They're reasonably excellent. The opening and ending theme songs, however, are not very impressive. They're not very catchy or memorable. Most of the emotional scenes felt a little out of place when it comes to the voice acting because of the forced voice-overs. Overall, the sound department did not disappoint me.
The Day I Became A God is the worst work of Maeda-San, considering his previous masterpieces that were very impressive. It would have been a fantastic anime if it had been released in 2010. But times have changed, and it's difficult to digest such anime. Overall, this anime has a pretty low rating due to the flaws I discussed earlier. But if you want to watch this anime just for fun, then go ahead!
