Kamisama Kiss Volume 7 by Julietta Suzuki

Kamisama Kiss Volume 7 by Julietta Suzuki

One volume of Kamisama Kiss is pretty similar to the rest, but that doesn’t really matter because Suzuki’s series is so cute and well-executed. One thing that I was excited to see is a bit of a trend to longer storylines, with a chapter that will be continued in the next volume! This doesn’t happen all too often in Suzuki’s manga as many of the chapters in her books are remarkably self-contained.

This volume starts out with a cute story about new Snake Shinsei Mizuki, who is feeling left out because he has to stay back at the shrine while Nanami and Tomoe go to school in the human world. Mizuki is spectacularly unsuited to the modern world, managing to get conned into buying a goofy looking protection sticker that he wears on his head as soon as he steps foot in the outside world. The next story shows Nanami and Tomoe visiting an amusement park together. Nanami is feeling suspicious and jealous when she finds out that Tomoe has been keeping a woman’s hairpin in his room. Tomoe is still loudly proclaiming that he’ll never fall in love with a human woman, while basically going on a date with Nanami. Nanami’s jealously almost ends up derailing their day, but they end up having a relatively peaceful ride on the ferris wheel.

The larger issue everybody has to deal with is Nanami’s attendance at a gathering called the Kamu-Hakari in Izumo. Mizuki informs Nanami that taking a fox shinshi along will result in Tomoe being harassed. Nanami ends up attending the gathering with Mizuki, but her naivete and expectations that other Kami are going to be nice are about to be tested horribly. One of the most enjoyable parts of Kamisama Kiss is seeing the unique character designs Suzuki develops for the otherworldly beings who Nanami meets, and the Kamu-Hakari gathering is full of new, slightly menacing gods who are not amused at the idea of welcoming a human in their group. Nanami finds herself cut off from any support and encounters Kirihito, a mysterious human with something extra going on. Nanami is promptly sent on a dangerous mission to the land of the dead, while Tomoe tries to live it up since his mistress has left him behind.

While there were a couple of fun stories that focused on individual characters, I was happy to see the turn towards more narrative complexity. It will be interesting to see if Nanami comes away from the Kamu-Hakari with more godlike abilities, or if her human perceptions and emotions will continue to be her best weapons in dealing with other kamisama. Tomoe continues to protest far to much about his emotions and Nanami continues to pine, but after seven volumes I’m still not tired of reading their story.

Review copy provided by the publisher.