Homeless and in debt, high schooler Nanami Momozono thinks things are looking up when she rescues a man and he offers to let her stay at his home. She soon discovers that his home is a rundown shrine. Trying to leave, she is mistaken for the man she saved – the man that is also the land god of the shrine, Mikage. Finding out she was tricked into being a god and not wanting to be homeless, Nanami tries to embrace her new divine duties, but has to deal with a hot-headed fox familiar to keep things running smoothly.
Kamisama Kiss is a shoujo romance anime that, at a glance, doesn’t look very good, but it ends up being much better than you would expect. Due to the wide array of unique supernatural characters and comedy that outmatches its run-of-the-mill drama, you get a romance show that is genuinely entertaining even if you aren’t in it for those squee moments.
Anime Like Kamisama Kiss
For Fans of Accidental Godhood
Gingitsune
Gintarou is a fox spirit that has protected the same small temple since the Edo era. The owners of the temple have always possessed the ability to see him, but only one family member at a time can have it. After her mother passed away, Saeki Makoto inherited the ability and using the fox spirit’s power, she tries to help her community.
The similarities here are obvious ones. You have a normal girl who ends up with mysterious powers as well as a sassy fox companion. However, the key difference is that Gingitsune isn’t oriented towards romance, but it shares the common similarity of helping people that is prevalent in Kamisama Kiss.
The Goddess is a Middle School Student (Kamichu!)
Yurie Hitotsubashi is a middle school student who spends her days studying and trying to get Kenji, the clueless boy she likes, to notice her. One day she playfully tells a friend that the night before she had become a goddess, which attracts the attention of another classmate, Matsuri. With her family’s Shinto shrine in financial trouble, Matsuri asks her to become their new goddess. Now Yurie must balance school life with granting the wishes of those that seek her help.
Kamichu is a lot like Kamisama Kiss if Nanami was better at her job as a land god and didn’t have a tiny army of familiars helping her do it and taking her on crazy adventures. Instead of poking their nose into the supernatural world, Kamichu is about trying to grant the wishes of those that pray at the shrine with a lesser emphasis on romance.
Inari Kon Kon
Below average high school girl Inari Fushimi has one positive perk, she can’t overlook a person in need. One day, she ends up rescuing a fox cub, only for the god of the Inari Shrine, Uka-no-Mitama-no-Kami, to thank her. As thanks he grants her a small drop of his power that allows her to transform into anyone at will. The problem is, a human possessing even this small amount of a god’s power draws a lot of attention from the supernatural world.
What happens when a human becomes a god through circumstance? You will find out in both. In both shows, it is a curious and uncommon experience that attracts the attention of a number of beings. While, at times, these situations are resolved through light violence, in most cases in both shows, they are resolved through finding common ground.
For Fans of Brooding Previously Bad Boys
Inuyasha
Kagome’s normal life came to an end one day when a demon dragged her down into a well at the shrine where she lived. When she next woke, Kagome finds herself 500 years in the past in Japan’s feudal era, a time in history fraught with both war and, apparently, demons. It is there she learns that she is a reincarnation of a priestess tasked with guarding the Shikon Jewel, a jewel she died with. With the jewel returned to the world with her, Kagome must fight off the demons that want to gain its power, including Inuyasha, a half-demon that was once a lover of her past self right up until she sealed him to a tree.
In my opinion, Kamisama Kiss is Inuyasha come again. Having many fond memories of Inuyasha, it greatly enhanced my own enjoyment factor through nostalgia. Basically you have a supernatural brooding man with a dark or haunted past and you have a normal girl that rehabilitates them with their love. Though, there is significantly more action in Inuyasha than in Kamisama Kiss, but the romance is on point in both and incredibly similar in feel.
Noragami
There will be times where you may happen across an odd phone number written in red. If you call it, you will get in touch with a young man who introduces himself as the Yato God. This Yato God is a minor deity and the self-proclaimed God of Delivery. He dreams of having millions of worshippers, but there isn’t a single shrine dedicated to his name. He spends his time doing odd jobs for spare yen until the day his weapons partner deserts him. Just as things are looking down, he happens across a young school girl that saves him from a car accident by taking the hit for him. She survives, but her soul becomes loose. Together they set out to find a way to tighten her soul back up.
While Noragami isn’t about the main female becoming a god per say, it is rather that she is a normal girl who ends up deeply entwined in the supernatural world. Her companion in all this, similar to Kamisama Kiss, seems rather average, but of course he is some sort of secret badass with a dark past. While romance is present in Noragami, it is not the primary focus like it is in Kamisama Kiss.
Inu X Boku SS
Ririchiyo Shirakiin is the sheltered daughter of a rich family, but she has been dependent on them her entire life. However, while she seeks to change that, she has a sharp tongue that needs minding. When she moves into a high security apartment complex to start her new life of independence, she discovers that the residents are not only strange, but everyone in the apartment – including herself – are half-human and half-yokai. Furthermore, as a condition of being able to move out, she now has to live with her new bodyguard, Soushi – a handsome and oddly submissive secret service agent.
While Ririchiyo and Nanami could not be more different, both girls find themselves in a situation where they have their own personal caretaker. Of course, Soushi is a little different from Tomoe as well, but their roles are the same. They take care of their lady and defend her indefinitely while feelings develop between them. While Kamisama Kiss has more supernatural situations, Inu X Boku SS has more tinges of supernatural intermixed with normal life.
For Fans of Overpowered Familiars
Black Butler
Young Earl Ciel Phantomhive is a noble in the service of Queen Victoria of England. Not only does he handle the business affairs of his family’s toy business, but he travels around solving mysteries that irk Her Majesty’s kingdom. However, he doesn’t do it alone. After the death of his parents and in his darkest hour, Ciel formed a pact with a demon to help him get revenge on those that wronged him in exchange for his soul afterwards. Now this demon poses as his butler, Sebastian, a man with superhuman abilities.
Both shows are shoujo series about relatively normal young children that has a supernatural familiar that are incredibly powerful. It is a kitsune demon in Kamisama Kiss and it is a type-less sort of demon posing as a butler in Black Butler. While Black Butler is significantly darker than Kamisama Kiss and has no romance, if you enjoy unwavering loyalty and the protection of demons, these series have your back.
The Familiar of Zero
Louise is a self-absorbed mage at the prestigious Tristain Academy. Unfortunately, she can’t cast magic right and her classmates call her Louise the Zero. One day during a summoning ritual, Louise messes it up again and summons a boy named Saito. At first she treats him as a slave until she discovers a powerful brand on him, the sign of a legendary familiar known as Gandalfr.
While Kamisama Kiss deals with more folkloric magic native to Japan, The Familiar of Zero is steeped in the more traditional fantasy aspect of magic. However, both shows feature rather unremarkable girls with more remarkable familiars. Over both series, you watch both the female leads and the familiars grow in power and as people.
Our Home’s Fox Deity
The Mizuchi bloodline has been the constant target for yokai. The current generation of this bloodline, Toru and Noboru Takagami, were left a secret weapon to protect them by their grandmother. The weapon is Tenko Kugen, a fox deity that comes to live in their house with a shrine maiden name Ko.
Both shows are clearly similar in the aspect that you have normal people with somewhat supernatural powers that end up being protected by kitsune. Aside from Our Home’s Fox Deity lacking any real romance aspect, the differences are in the details such as the gender of the kitsune and the fact that Our Home’s Fox Deity focuses on siblings and not just one homeless girl.
If you have more anime recommendations like Kamisama Kiss, leave them for all the thirsty shoujo fans to enjoy in the comments section below.
