The World God Only Knows is a 12 episode anime that is based upon the manga of the same name. It follows Keima Katsuragi which is known throughout the internet for his amazing skills at romance/dating games. Although, naturally in real life, he is not attracted to girls and vice versa, girls are not attracted to him, being a geek and all. Keima buries himself into his games, always on his portable game system PFP during school, and then spends every minute of his left continuing to play his games, thus earning his reputation. Yet, Keima is naturally gifted and able to get high scores in exams, just that his physical abilities are a bit on the weaker side.
In the first episode, Keima encounters a demon who takes on the form of a teenage girl called Elsie. Keima accidentally forms a contract with Elsie and now he has to recapture evil spirits that had escaped from hell and hidden themselves within girls' hearts. Thus begins Keima's conquest towards multiple girls' hearts and using his abilities gained from the games in real life. He has to fill each girl's heart in order to push out the demon for Elsie to capture, and to do this, a kiss is satisfactory. Throughout this first season, Keima conquers various girls' hearts that he puts into gaming sterotypes.
Keima's targets include the athletic girl, the tsundere girl with a secret, a super famous idol with a twisted personality whom Keima doesn't recognize, and the shy reserved girl from the library. In each substory, Keima slowly learns about the girl's personality and using his wealth of knowledge coming from games, acts in the way that he expects will work in the situation. It eventually works but not without some hilarious scenes along the way. To facilitate so many girls eventually falling in love with him, once he succeeds and they kiss, the evil spirit is forced out and the girl forgets about him.
Even after the girls lose their memories, some lingering feels remain but it feels like such a shame each time when Keima had spent all that effort and there is no real payoff. Not that Keima himself minds but there never is a happily-ever-after ending at all. The plot of each heroine gets more complicated as the series progresses, which makes it more enjoyable and having a higher emotional impact once Keima succeeds. Most of the humor comes from Elsie's cluelessness on how the real world works and Keima's interpretations of what's happening through his likening to gaming concepts. There are a lot of tropes used so the humor can be predictable, such as Keima's mother being beautiful, elegant and a bit fragile initially but is really a tough person having come from a gang background.
The pacing slows down from time to time, made worse by seemingly random episodes between each of the heroines which shows what else happens when Keima is not busy plotting catching another soul. These episodes feels out of place and the viewer is left wondering what significant that episode really brings to the story as a whole. One of the best things about The World God Only Knows is that for each heroine, you will come to eventually like them. While each has a problem and can seem unlikable at first, you'll warm up to them and probably become your favorite, only for the next heroine to turn up and take that spot.
Coupled with the series' excellent music, including character songs from the fictional idol Kanon Nakagawa , it'll steer your thoughts back to the anime even after you've finished the episode. When all's said and done, the anime has an odd ending that almost seems like a filler episode, which is disappointing. It ends with an announcement of the second season. Overall, The World God Only Knows is an enjoyable anime, but it really is for the best if the viewer has at least some knowledge or experience with games in order to get all the references and empathize with the main character.
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