Kamichu!

This presents itself as a Miyazaki-style show, but unfortunately it’s not. The premise is interesting, but the characters are all anime stereotypes instead of the realistically observed characters we know from Miyazaki’s films. It always seems like the show couldn’ve gone a bit further. The stories are consistently weak, e.g. the local shrine god runs away – but then he comes back. The gods’ convention could’ve been stranger or more of a revelation; Kamichu could try using her powers more than every 4 episodes (!). Her shrinegirl friend pushes her into using her god status to make money, but this is never seen as problematic. Even the OP/ED music starts off sounding great, then quickly becomes blah and forgettable. It seems like laziness or cowardice stopped this show from fulfilling its potential. From the DVD notes, I think the show’s creator was specially interested in all the minor gods that are seen in the periphery, and I think the show might’ve been better if he’d focused more on them.