The World God Only Knows: Tenri Arc

The Childhood Friend

The World God Only Knows: Tenri Arc (Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Tenri-hen / 神のみぞ知るセカイ 天理篇) is the 4th installment in Kaminomi. It’s a 2-episode OVA that comes after the Four Girls and an Idol OVA. It also appears to set up the Goddesses arc.

Since there are only 2 episodes in this OVA, it only features a single conquerable girl: Tenri Ayukawa. Tenri is, apparently, Keima’s childhood friend. Although, Keima claims he has no memory of her. But, over the course of the arc, he slowly remembers the time he spent with Tenri.

For her part, Tenri also initially claims she doesn’t remember who Keima is. However, it becomes clear that she was lying when she said that. How could any girl ever forget a guy with as much rizz as Keima?

The fact that Keima doesn’t remember Tenri, though, is a problem I have with this arc. Plot devices like amnesia or suppressed memories aren’t very interesting to me. In order for them to work, the entire series or movie has to be built around them. A good example of this is the non-anime movie Memento.

In the first episode of the OVA, the majority of the runtime goes into introducing the new characters. Not all that much actually happens in it. And then in the second episode, most of the runtime has to do with Keima regaining his memories of Tenri. Conquering Tenri only happens in the final few minutes.

Also, unlike the other girls in the series, Tenri already likes Keima. There’s not much that goes into him conquering her. That’s why it’s done at the very end of the OVA. But, that also means we miss out on some of the best content — when the girls start to get feelings for him.

New Characters

There are four new characters in the Tenri arc. These are Tenri Ayukawa (of course), Diana, Nora Floriann Leoria, and Ryou Asama. Besides those four, the only other characters in the arc are Keima, Elsie, and Keima’s mother.

Tenri Ayukawa is, as mentioned before, Keima’s childhood friend. However, that’s not exactly the most apt description of their relationship. They were in the same class in grade school. But, they didn’t really interact with each other. The one time they did was when they got stranded on a boat during a school trip.

What I wasn’t expecting from Tenri was her personality. Based on the cover art for this OVA, she looks a lot like Tsukihi Araragi. Of course, both Kaminomi and the Monogatari series have the same character designer. But it’s more than that. Even the face she’s making is similar. However, Tenri isn’t like Tsukihi — she’s extremely shy.

Diana is kind of like Tenri’s alter ego. At first, Keima and Elsie thought Diana was a lost soul within Tenri. But, it turns out that’s not the case. Diana is something else and claims that she used to hunt down lost souls.

Nora Floriann Leoria is a demon like Elsie. And like Elsie, she’s tasked with hunting down lost souls. It turns out that when a demon locates a lost soul, they have to call it in to the HQ and claim it. That way, two demons won’t be hunting the same lost soul.

Ryou Asama is Nora’s “buddy.” He’s to Nora what Keima is to Elsie. But, he’s not like Keima at all. He tries very hard to be romantic. And when that doesn’t work, Nora results to other tactics. She believes that hatred is the best way to fill the void in someone’s heart.

Lost Soul or Goddess?

So, I said that Keima and Elsie thought Diana was a lost soul at first. But, she’s not. She actually had a lost soul in her possession that she gave to Keima at the end of the OVA. And what she said to him is that she used to hunt down lost souls.

Does that mean she’s a demon like Elsie and Nora? Not quite. She seems to be something else entirely. And I was going to say she might be an angel. But, then I remembered what the title of the next arc is: “Goddesses.”

It seems very likely that Diana is actually a goddess. Even her name hints at this being the case. Diana is one of the Roman goddesses. And this is why I mentioned earlier that this OVA seems to be leading into the next arc. It introduces the first goddess.

Something else to keep in mind is that Keima didn’t really have to conquer Tenri in this arc. Tenri already had a crush on him from the start. And she didn’t even have a lost soul within her. There was no hole in her heart.

But, then we need to ask the question, why did Elsie’s lost soul radar go off? I can think of two possibilities. The first is that it was reacting to the lost soul Diana had captured. And that seems to be what the end of this OVA wants you to believe.

However, I think the real reason is different. My guess is that her radar was reacting to Diana. Since the next arc is the Goddesses arc, that implies Keima is going to have to conquer goddesses. So, that must mean there’s a lost soul in Diana’s heart — or she’s become one herself.

Conclusion

In the end, I gave The World God Only Knows: Tenri Arc a 5/10. That’s the same score I gave to the previous OVA in the series. Hopefully, the Goddesses arc is better since it’s a full season and not an OVA.

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