Shinigami no Ballad - 01

Momo is a Death God (Shinigami) who takes the lives of others with her obligatory talking cat who has bat wings. Their hobbies include watching paint dry and intervening between the lives of elementary school children! Hardcore, this isn't sadly - mix slice of life anime with a hint of Jigoku Shoujo and you get something that wasn't as good as I hoped it would be!



This sad, sad tale opens with Kouta and Mai. They are good friends and Kouta gets taunted by his schoolfriends about it. One day after school, they find a stray cat in a box ala Shenmue. Kouta tells his 'girlfriend' Mai, that she can't take the scrawny thing home as the parental units wouldn't allow it. Mai agrees and proceeds with a cunning plan to keep it at the local shrine. Just like Shenmue again - except we could call it a better name than Blue! Mai refers herself as being the mother and Kouta as the father of Blue, which he doesn't mind because he wants to protect Mai. It is revealed that she collapsed earlier in the year and now she has chronic asthma. At this point we know what is going to happen, I like to be surprised!



Back at school the next day, Kouta and his friend has a falling out over Mai. Mai naturally overhears - I think I'll call this power from now on RADAR as anime in general like to use this device a little too often to build tension!
RADAR definition: An anime character walks in/overhears at the right moment when it concerns them/plot line. ;)
Back to the episode!
Mai tells Kouta to go and play with his friends and she'll look after Blue. He hesitantly agrees, he has a bad feeling however - and he's right. It starts to RAIN. Yes another anime device! Mai is obviously going to die tragically and collapse while looking after the cat. Kouta returns home and his mother receives a phonecall about Mai, she hasn't returned home yet. Oh noes! By the time Kouta rushes out, it's too late..the ambulance of death appears!
A few days have past and Kouta is having a hard time accepting Mai's death. Her seat is empty, her little shoebox is empty and now he wants to 'empty' the cat box at the shrine! Alas, before he does the gritty thing which could have saved this anime frm being mediocre - Momo the Shinigami appears and spurts out friendship crap. Her little scythe of death and talking cat get thrown to the side as Mai steals the limelight reappearing again - Sailor Moon style! There is a moral at the end of the story which seems to be: Keeping cats at shrines cause death! A few tears are shed at the end episode which wasn't even remotely sad - therefore this episode fails at what it was trying to do!



Fans of slice of life anime are bound to appreciate this more than what I did. It was slow-paced and so very subtle. Even though it was trying to be a realistic in a sense, the last bit was so magical girl, it seemed out of place. Momo herself is not really that great of a character and is about as mysterious as the off screen death of Mai. This is a more tame version of Jigoku Shoujo without any entertainment value whatsoever but failing to pull those heart strings. However one thing I did like was the opening song, some good engrish use there! Word of warning: The ending credits has spoilers of the characters who are going to be used in the next lot of episodes! :o

Overall: 4/10 (6.5 for Slice of Life Fans)

Enma Ai is the superior version of Momo!