Kamisama no Inai Nichiyōbi

Title:Kamisama no Inai Nichiyōbi
The Sunday Without God
神さまのいない日曜日
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , ,
Notables: NAMIKAWA Daisuke
TOYOSAKI Aki
God abandoned the world on Sunday. As a result, nobody in the world can die or have kids. A little girl, Ai, is the grave keeper for the village. Ai is given a unique task to help the would-be dead to try find peace. One day a boy who identifies himself as Humpnie Humbert a.k.a the Man-eating Toy, appears in the village killing everybody and shooting at everything and everyone. Ai talks to Humpnie and finds out a shocking truth.
(Synopsis courtesy of ANN)

12 episodes



"神さま" ("kami-sama") = "god", "の" ("no") = genitive marker, "いない" ("inai") = "being absent", "日曜日" ("nichiyoubi") = "Sunday", i. e. "The Sunday of God being absent".
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 9 9 7 7 7 8 Ggultra2764 [series:2748#1552]
Sunday Without God is a title set in a post-apocalyptic future where the concept of death no longer exists in the world as those who die are no longer able to pass on and those known as Gravekeepers are the only ones who have the ability to allow those among the undead to be put to rest. Ai is one of those Gravekeepers as she learns things in her small village home and a mysterious white-haired man are not as they seem on the surface, being connected to the unique phenomena that has plagued the world of this series.

Before I go on with this review, I would like to comment on this show's major weakness in that it doesn't really do much at addressing major elements to its world. It is never explained how the phenomena within Sunday Without God takes place or how particular people are able to gain supernatural powers, hence requiring viewers to accept things within the series at face value. It's essentially a major storytelling issue that one will have to overlook in order to get the most enjoyment out of this series possible.

Moving on from this, Sunday Without God is focused on Ai journeying throughout the world of her series as she explores how others are affected by the concept of death no longer being within the world and acquiring companions throughout her journey that aid her. Most arcs in the series are meant to serve as an observation of how the societies and characters cope with lacking the ability to pass on, with a major element to this series being that those among the undead for prolonged periods of time can drive one to lose their sanity the longer they remain in the world. The Ortus arc addresses how undead within the series live in a society that they can integrate into without being rejected by those among the living, making for the best arc I seen within the series in its focus on what led so many undead to become part of this society. With its observational focus, the series maintains a neutral viewpoint with how viewers take in what they see through the majority of arcs and doesn't preach for one right or wrong viewpoint.

The only instance a right and wrong viewpoint comes up is during the events of the Goran Academy arc which does cause the series quality to dip to a degree at this point of the series. Beyond this, the only other weaknesses I can remark on with Sunday Without God are that there were some points where I felt there may have been pandering to the audience employed with moments revolving around Ai's naivette and cuteness, as well as the fact that the series lacks a proper ending since the journey of Ai and her companions continues beyond the end of the series as its light novel source material was still ongoing as of the end of the TV anime.

Gripes aside regarding aspects to its storytelling, Sunday Without God is still a solid drama title delving into a world that explores how people handle the idea that they can not pass on once they die and focusing on the companions that Ai gains throughout her journey to better understand the world. It's at least worth a look if you like seeing anime that attempt to tell a worthwhile story without being too pretentious over how it tells it.

Last updated Saturday, November 29 2014. Created Saturday, November 29 2014.
Unevaluated Stretch [series:2748#628]
(One episode watched):

So... what? Something about everybody's a living dead because God has forsaken the world? And 'Gravekeepers' are supposed to put them away? But why is Ai still alive? How can guns kill people if they're already dead? Is there any way to fix the problem? Who are the good guys and the bad guys? But I don't know much of anything about either Ai or Humpnie, so why should I care? Right from the start I got a feeling that this was going to be a supernatural but nonsensical sort of show. The scenario of divine indifference is pretty messed up, but without any answers it's not very interesting. Whatever the 'shocking truth' that was mentioned in the synopsis is, it either hasn't come about yet or it wasn't shocking at all. Why does an entire episode go by without at least giving us the basic framework of the plot? I don't know much of anything, and as a result I'm just bored.

Last updated Tuesday, July 02 2013. Created Tuesday, July 02 2013.

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