The three leads are Himeko, a girl about to enter womanhood on her 16th birthday that is afraid of her own shadow; Chikane, a wealthy young lady with the kind of self assurance and skill that comes only from within; and Souma, a boyfriend of Himeko and moody type who seems drawn towards a different path. The two girls seem to have a very close relationship (yes, I mean like they could end up making out together type of close) and their birthday's are just around the corner when all of a sudden, a demon appears out of the morning sky to wreak havoc. This demon dragon is named Orochi and when a solar eclipse appears, we find out that he has found a way to extricate himself from his resting spot on the moon. Generations ago, a group of powerful priests sealed him in there and such powers are handed down genetically.

A lot takes place in the first few episodes but we find out that the two girls are important to the prophecy in that one is the lunar priestess and the other is the solar priestess though neither seems to be aware of the strength they hold within. Souma, on the other hand, finds out that he's one of Orochi's "necks" (basically a stooge to be ordered about as needed) and is ordered to kill his two friends. He ends up in a powerful & giant mech robot that appears from the ground beneath him (as though appearing from a crevice caused by the earthquake about them) and starts to follow his nightmarish order when something from within stops him. He loves Himeko and the power of that love keeps him from carrying out his order, allowing him to openly rebel in an act of defiance that has never happened in recorded history.

This sets off the other bad guys who attempt to pick up his slack and he eventually fights them off, with some exposition by the forces of evil in an alternate dimensional resting spot where other members of the evil team have assembled. Souma's guardian explains some of the background legend and everyone is aware that the overpowering evil within Souma is so close to the surface that he could falter and slay them at any time. His pure love keeps him going as an agent of good, even though his destiny is not going to allow him to keep at it much longer. For their part, the girls soon find themselves trying to maintain a semblance of their everyday lives, Chikane as the most popular and gifted gal in high school and Himeko as her friend. Here's what the cover said about the show:

"Shy, timid Himeko happily attends school with both the popular and beautiful Chikane and her childhood friend, Souma, blissfully unaware of what's in store for her. However, the destiny of these three changes on Himeko's 16th birthday when the mark of the sun appears on her chest. What does this solar mark represent? At the same time, why has a black aura of agony burst forth from Souma? Who is the enemy? The legend of the eight-headed beast returns to Japan!"

The episodes of the first volume were 1) The Land of Eternity, 2) Overlapping Sun & Moon, 3) Secret Love Spell, and 4) Direction of Attraction. Taken as a whole, they lay down the basic aspects of the universe set up for the show. It's a contemporary setting in a small town in rural Japan where the cultural aspects of obscure religions are taken seriously though with a grain of modern day skepticism too. The ladies are coming of age nicely and Souma is trying to figure out his place in the world as all three attend the local high school. The bad guys were introduced; including one as a close friend of Souma, though there really wasn't enough time to truly explore this aspect of the series yet. I'm going to rate it as a Rent It since so much of the writing seemed like it was rushed (making me think the show was originally designed as a full season but got scaled back early on in the production) but I have to admit that as the other two volumes are released, they may well elevate the score since it was a close call.

Picture: Kannazuki No Miko: The Solar Priestess was presented in an anamorphic widescreen color 1.85:1 ratio picture as shot by director Tetsuya Yamagisawa for airing on Japanese television. The colors were bright and cheerful, the anime style itself kind of lacking in detail. It looked as good as the covers did, and the robot designs were interesting though the abundance of visual effects kept me from analyzing the picture too closely most of the time. The frame rate was nothing special but it was about average for a recent release from Japan, marking another Geneon title with few flaws.

Sound: The audio was presented with the original 2.0 Dolby Digital Japanese track, a new English language dub (also 2.0 DD), and English language subtitles. In terms of which track was better, I had to defer to the original in terms of the flow of the language but it was far from the worse dub I'm listened to of late. The subtitles seemed to closely follow the dub with few variations for those who care and offered a standard track as well as a signs only stream to enjoy. The dynamic range of the two audio tracks appeared to be almost identical as did the separation between the channels. Unlike a number of other releases lately, the bass didn't seem to be substantially higher on the dub and each showed a moderate amount of directionality (though not so much when the battles weren't taking place).

Extras: I received the limited edition to review and it included the box that will (hopefully) hold all three volumes of the series. There was some colorful character art on both sides that did not mimic the DVD case, making it a nice surprise. There was also a cute shell necklace like Himeko wears in the series, though this just told me that it was designed for a younger audience than the "16 Up" on the bottom of the box and a plastic cover that was cute as well. The last insert was a coupon for $3 off if you buy one of the next volumes in the series. On the DVD itself, there was only a clean opening and some trailers though, a bit weaker than I had hoped for.

Final Thoughts: Kannazuki No Miko: The Solar Priestess was a decent opener to a half season long show concerning the eternal fight between the forces of good and the forces of evil. The character development was skewed towards the trio of heroes and there was a bit of fan service going on for you perverts out there but as stylishly appealing as the show may have been, it lacked substance to me and seemed like a lot of elements were rehashed from other shows. It may well turn out to be a great series but based solely on the first volume, check it out first so that you know what you're getting into.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVD Talk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, and Best of Anime 2005 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.