{"id":13971,"date":"2008-12-04T13:18:43","date_gmt":"2008-12-04T17:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/04\/ask-john-how-many-different-ways-does-kami-sama-appear-in-anime\/"},"modified":"2008-12-04T13:18:43","modified_gmt":"2008-12-04T17:18:43","slug":"ask-john-how-many-different-ways-does-kami-sama-appear-in-anime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/ask-john-how-many-different-ways-does-kami-sama-appear-in-anime\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask John: How Many Different Ways Does Kami-sama Appear in Anime?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question:<\/strong>
\nNotwithstanding that the term “Kami-sama” means god or deity, as well as sometimes referring to one being called God, in how many different ways do you immediately recall “Kami-sama” being represented in anime?<\/p>\n


\nAnswer:<\/strong>
\nThe Japanese idea of “kami” is a fluid one because of its flexibility to refer to a conceptual single god or a pantheon of spiritual beings. “Kami” typically refers to a divine spirit while “kami-sama” is a revered address for a singular divine being. Good examples of “kami” are provided by anime including Kamichu and Spirited Away. Both of these anime illustrate a multitudinous array of divine beings ranging from the gods of laserdiscs and ramune soda to nature spirits. The use of the concept “kami-sama” in anime, though, is a bit more varied.<\/p>\n

In varying anime, the term “kami-sama” may be used to invoke a singular god, or may refer to a literal singular god, a divine being, or a character that acts like a god. Occasionally in anime – forgive me for being unable to recall a specific sequence of dialogue from any particular example – a frightened or desperate character may pray to “kamisama,” Buddha, God, or other divine beings. In this case, the character isn’t specifically addressing a plea to any single, specific god, but rather to the concept of a single divine ruler, whomever that benevolent deity may be. In the Hareluya II Boy anime, the kami-sama is literally the singular God of Christianity. The Kamisama Kazoku television series likewise poses its “kami-sama” as a singular, all powerful divine being, although Kamisama Kazoku doesn’t specifically distinguish its “kami-sama” as the Christian God. Similarly, Dragon Ball Z includes a character referred to as “Kami-sama.” But the Kami-sama of Dragon Ball Z isn’t a divine being. Rather, he’s an alien who has purified himself and taken on the god-like role of being the world’s benevolent observer and protector. Likewise, Kyouka the cat-eared psychic mother figure in Kyouran Kazoku Nikki refers to herself haughtily as “kami-sama,” although she’s not a divine being. In the recently broadcast eighth episode of Kannagi, Nagi uses the word “kami-sama” ambiguously in a way that could refer to an almighty being, or could refer to herself, since she is a kami. And Koge Donbo’s Kamichama Karin playfully uses the concept of “kami-sama” to refer to an angel rather than a formal god.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Notwithstanding that the term “Kami-sama” means god or deity, as well as sometimes referring to one being called God, in how many different ways do you immediately recall “Kami-sama” being represented in anime?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-john"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13971\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.animenation.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}