If you’re a sucker for the old shoujo classics, this is a series that will have you feeling nostalgic straight from page one.
To get to the point..:
Do I recommend this manga? Yes~.
Who would I recommend this manga to? Fans of Kamisama Kiss, fans of fantasy series, fans of strong female leads.
Will I be reading on? Now that I finally got my hands on the next few volumes, yes!
Trigger warnings: None!
Information About the Manga
Who wrote The Failure at God School?
This manga was written by Natsu Hyuuga, Modomu Akagawara, and Seikaisha.
First Impressions and thoughts
I loved this volume SO much… apparently so did everyone else who read it as I couldn’t find volume 2 for over half a year. I finally splurged and bought a new copy of volume 2 off of Amazon just so that I could continue reading the series!
This volume had the most perfect introduction to a series that I’ve read in a long time. While I have been branching out when it comes to sub-genres of manga, and I have been more or less enjoying all of the stories that I’ve been reading lately, there has been a small hole in my manga-loving heart.
My fellow lovers of the classics (think Fruits Basket, Kamisama Kiss,,,) will understand what I mean – while there have been a lot of good recent releases, there hasn’t been anything that compare with the classics. That is… until The Failure at God School! This series took me right back to 2008, and I loved every second of it. If this hasn’t been on your radar, it should be.
What’s it about? *SPOILERS*
This manga-verse is practically the same as current-day Japan, with just one caveat: there are gods walking among the living. In order to be a god, one needs to possess a great deal of strength in a special power, and must complete god school. What does a god do after completing god school? They take up residence at a shrine, and help those that come to pray to them.
Our main character, Nagi, lives in a shrine with her telekinetik younger brother. While their grandmother used to be the god at the shrine, she passed away 5 years ago, leaving the shrine to slowly wither away. Nagi wishes that her brother would inherit the role of god, however he has become a recluse ever since the death of their grandmother. He has no problems showing off his powers to Nagi, and we see him using his telekinesis to speak to her no matter where she goes throughout this volume.
As her brother isn’t interested in becoming the next god at their shrine, Nagi has no choice but to put up brochures around their town.
As she’s walking around town, she hears about a string of recent child disappearances. By total coincidence she happens upon the most recently disappeared child, and she quickly understands that there is something supernatural about these incidents.
The child disappearances were clearly done by a malicious person using godly powers and charms, but our Nagi is able to break through and rescue the child. And while she is able to get him away from danger, they both pass out in a lake not long after. While this could have been a dire situation, a god finds them before it’s too late, and brings them to safety.
This god decides that Nagi could only have escaped the evil the way she did was by using a tremendous amount of spiritual power, and sent her an admission letter to god school. Nagi, positive she has absolutely no power, is clearly very confused. Nevertheless, she sets off for god school.
At school, all of her teachers do their best to help her figure out exactly what her powers are, as there are quite a few possibilities. While there are gods with mind-based powers, like her brother, that’s by no means the only type of power one can have.
Among her time at school, Nagi makes friends with some of her classmates. Each character is slowly fleshed out throughout the volume, and it was very easy to grow attached to just about all of her new friends.
There are a couple scenes that allude to Nagi being incredibly powerful, but come the end of the volume, we still don’t know exactly what her power is.
My Favourites
💛 The amount of mysteries – the child disappearances, Nagi’s mysterious classmate, the god that saved her, what exactly her power could be… there are just too many to count!
💚 The character development – I’m really enjoying learning about all of the characters!
💙 Touta – I love a mysterious white-haired boy so much.
❤️ How kind and helpful all of the teachers are – all manga teachers should be like the teachers in this series.
My Least-Favourites
- How difficult this series is to find! 😦
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