Sunday Without God Episode 1
What They Say:
Ai is a merry gravekeeper, spending her days digging empty graves for the villagers. No one has died in the village since her mother passed away years ago, but that is all about to change with the appearance of a handsome young man…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Known as Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyōbi, or Kaminai, Sunday Without God is a new twelve episode series baed on the light novel and manga by Kimihito Irie and is animated by Madhouse .The show got a quick pick up from Sentai Filmworks and certainly presents an interesting idea that’s tied with very atmospheric and moody animation that definitely makes an impact and is certainly appropriate for the content. With the light novels having run since 2010 and having seven so far, there’s more than enough material to work with and hopefully we get something that feels like it has a bit of closure at the end here, since light novels typically aren’t written in the same way as manga, though there are certainly some similarities.
The show revolves around Ai, a twelve year old girl who five years earlier took on the role of gravekeeper in her village after her mother died. While that was a difficult moment itself, the situation has certainly changed in interesting ways since that event changed her life. While she took on the role, nobody has died since then in the village. Ai continues on with what she’s supposed to do, digging graves of course, but they haven’t been filled in years. For her, she’s been alone all this time and doing dark work, but she’s also managed to keep a surprisingly positive attitude about her and has managed to keep moving forward in her own light, friendly and amusing way as she spends her days doing god’s work. It’s very easy to believe in god in this world as they did go through an event where god spoke through to the world, saying that the other side is all full up and that he’s failed, that the human world will come to a standstill soon.
All that helps are the gravekeepers who seemingly do have the ability to help people move on to the other side through their interactions, hence Ai taking it very seriously and trying to do her best. That all starts to change though when a man named Hampnie Hambert arrives and runs into her, threatening her with his gun at first, but then just questioning her about who she is before moving on. Amusing, he makes up his name but it turns out the name he uses is her father’s name, which of course is just a super coincidence. His arrival seemingly coincides with a tragic event in the village itself as everyone has seemingly died, except for one guy who tries to kill Ai, only to be taken down himself by Hambert. It sets an interesting stage as we see Ai having to deal with the situation, which recalls her own past with all of those that she lived with, and sets it against a beautiful if tragic atmosphere.
In Summary:
The opening episode to the series here is one that certainly accomplishes a few a things right out of the gate. We get the foundation for how the world is working at this point and the all full up aspect, provided you’re supposed to take that as literally as they show it, and we see how Ai has coped not only with the loss of her mother but also the role of a gravekeeper and what that means in this new world. Giving her most of the first half to herself definitely worked to make her more accessible and then bringing in Hambert works to show a new side of her while starting to get a feel for him in much the same way she is. There’s a lot to like here, but it’ll be curious to see where it really goes now that it’s taking itself on the road, which can lead to some interesting but familiar stories rather than something that really grapples with what’s going on.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.