The World God Only Knows: Goddess is the anime this season I've been most excited for. And even with that expectation, the overall feeling I have going in, and ending of the season is pretty positive. The ending itself didn't end happily, it was more of a bittersweet endings; that being, their main goal was successfully completed, but both Keima and Chihiro ended up getting hurt during this adventure. And with an ending like that, it is both an interesting way to convey character development, but also good way to represent that just because Keima acts like everything is a game, doesn't mean it will end like one.
That idea of things not being a game was played with well on this season of The World God Only Knows. From the fact that the girls -- who were previously conquered -- had goddesses in them and remembered their conquest, was a great element that took Keima out of his comfort zone of getting away scot-free. I like Keima as a character, but the previous season wasn't challenging him as a character to allow him to grow.
Now that we had this discomfort from the start, it made for an entertaining entry point to launch a story about a conflict between Heaven and New Hell versus Old Hell. Funnily enough, the focus wasn't really on it toward the end, and that was actually a good thing in my opinion, because the thing that submerged was far more interesting.
It was derived from the plot itself, and that was Keima figuring out if Chihiro or Ayumi had a goddess in them. Since Keima has to deal with real people without lost soul, if something bad happened, they will remember; and man did Keima fuck up by going for Chihiro's flags. He chose wrong and it was Ayumi who has the goddess in her, which ended up forcing Keima to make Chihiro cry, in order to break off pursuing any farther and going for Ayumi.
The reason I say the ending itself was bittersweet is because the way the anime showed it's conclusion was of great contrast. One scene is all goddesses are fixing what Vintage fucked up, and on the other is Keima and Chihiro basically parting ways. I never really found Chihiro that appealing as a character before, but viewing everything she went through changed my mind very quickly.
I don't hate Keima for what he did, because it was very much necessary. However, I'm sure Keima can't play off what he has done this time, and he probably won't forgive himself. I really like where this anime is going and hope for a fourth season -- based on it's record, I'd be surprised if it didn't. All that is left in the conclusion of this season of The World God Only Knows is that sad face Chihiro makes when she finishes her song. Oh the feels...
