Kamichu!

Kamichu! (かみちゅ！), whose full title is *Kamisama de Chūgakusei* (meaning "A Deity As a Middle School Student"), is a Japanese anime television series with Shinto influences. The story centers on Yurie Hitotsubashi, a teenage girl who becomes a goddess, and her friends. The series was produced by the creative group Besame Mucho, a joint pseudonym for producer Tomonori Ochikoshi, director Koji Masunari, and writer Hideyuki Kurata. It aired on the Animax network across Japan, East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The first English-language broadcast premiered on the Anime Network in North America in 2006. A manga adaptation ran in the shōnen magazine *Dengeki Comic Gao!* (later *Dengeki Daioh*) and was collected into two tankōbon volumes.

In July 2008, Geneon Entertainment and Funimation reached a distribution agreement for certain North American titles. Under this deal, Geneon kept the license while Funimation handled manufacturing, marketing, sales, and distribution. Kamichu! was among the titles included, but by August 2011, the rights had expired.

**Story**

The series takes place in a contemporary setting (2005, the year of broadcast) in Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Japan’s Inland Sea coast. Many temples and landmarks in the anime are real locations in that city.

Yurie Hitotsubashi, a shy and ordinary middle school girl, wakes up one day to discover she has become a kami—a Shinto goddess—without explanation. Unsure of what kind of goddess she is or what powers she has, she receives the nickname Kamichu from her friends, a blend of *kami* (god) and *chūgakusei* (middle school student). Throughout the series, Yurie encounters various divinities and spirits while learning how to be a better goddess and a better person.

**Characters**

**Yurie Hitotsubashi** (voiced by Mako in Japanese, Megan Harvey in English) is the protagonist. In the first episode, she tells her best friend Mitsue that she became a goddess overnight, though the reason is never explained. She is naïve and simple-minded but always means well. Yurie has long had a crush on Kenji Ninomiya and gets flustered around him. When she uses her divine powers, her hair grows long, and she often falls asleep afterward from the effort.