is a Japanese anime television series produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex and directed by Yoshiyuki Asai. It aired from October to December 2020. The story was originally conceived by Jun Maeda, who also wrote the screenplay, with original character design by Na-Ga. Both Maeda and Na-Ga are from the visual novel brand Key, and The Day I Became a God is the third original anime series created by Key following Angel Beats! in 2010 and Charlotte in 2015.
While preparing for the upcoming graduation exams in the final year of high school, YÃ Âta Narukami meets a mysterious young girl named Hina Sato, who claims she is a god named Odin. She tells YÃ Âta that the world will end in 30 days, but he remains skeptical despite her making numerous correct predictions. The story revolves around Hina assisting YÃ Âta as he helps people around town while she adjusts to her new life. As he spends more time with her, he begins to uncover more secrets about her life and how she became a "god".
The Day I Became a God is the third original anime series from visual novel developer Key's Jun Maeda and Na-Ga, in collaboration with Aniplex and P.A. Works, after Angel Beats! (2010) and Charlotte (2015). On April 19, 2019, P.A. Works producer Mitsuhito Tsuji expressed desire to work on a new original anime with Key and Maeda. On November 26, 2019, Key teased on Twitter that it had eight projects in the works for its 21st anniversary, which included the ' original video animation project, the Kud Wafter anime film, Maeda's Heaven Burns Red video game, an unnamed visual novel, and four secret projects. On April 1, 2020, the Twitter account for Angel Beats! and Charlotte teased that a project in 2020 would be revealed.
On May 10, 2020, Key, P.A. Works, and Aniplex held a livestream on Niconico, and formally announced The Day I Became a God anime project. The livestream revealed that Maeda would be credited for the original work and script, and Na-Ga with original character design, and the anime was scheduled for an October 2020 premiere. P.A. Works also tweeted that the project had been in development for "a while", and the voice acting was pre-recorded. On May 25, 2020, a special "prologue program" aired on Tokyo MX, revealing that Ayane Sakura would be voicing Hina, as well as revealing Charlotte director Yoshiyuki Asai would be returning as director. On July 25, 2020, a second livestream was held, revealing the first full promotional video, and also revealed additional staff and cast members, with Manabu Nii serving as character designer, and Manyo and Maeda composing the series' music. The stream also teased a second promotional video being released in September 2020.
The series aired from October 11 to December 27, 2020, on Tokyo MX, BS11, GTV, GYT, ABC, and MÃÂtele, and other channels. It also aired on BBT, BSS, NCC, tvk, and AT-X. The series ran for 12 episodes, and it was released on six Blu-ray and DVD volumes from December 23, 2020, to May 26, 2021, in Japan. Nagi Yanagi, in collaboration with Maeda, performed the opening theme song , as well as the ending theme song "Goodbye Seven Seas".
Funimation licensed the series; they streamed it in North America, the British Isles and Latin America on their website, on AnimeLab in Australia and New Zealand, and on Wakanim in Europe. On October 30, 2020, Funimation announced that the series would receive an English dub, which premiered the following day. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll. The series is licensed by Muse Communication in Southeast Asia and South Asia, and it was streamed on iQIYI and aired on Animax in Southeast Asia.
A manga adaptation, illustrated by Zen, was serialized on Kadokawa Corporation's ComicWalker and Niconico Seiga websites from November 14, 2020, to January 25, 2022, via Dengeki G's Magazine. Two volumes were published from May 27, 2021, to February 26, 2022.
The series received a mixed reception. In reviewing the first episode, Vrai Kaiser of Anime Feminist said that while the series was not bad, its writing could unearth "a kind of camaraderie in the face of despair," but that these two months were "preceded by 20 minutes of noise," but that there was potential in the series. In a review of the first three episodes, Meru Clewis on the same website said they approached the series enthusiastically due to fond memories of Angel Beats but was apprehensive, saying it had the potential to be "really, genuinely interesting" if Hina's character was improved, and hoped that the series gets better.
In another review, on the same website, Noise criticized the series for featuring a "lot of insidious ableism" in the last few episodes, perpetrating harmful ideas about treatment and agency of disabled people, embodying clichés and stereotypes that disabled people often embody in popular fiction, and the ableism of the series' big plot twist as tying into the "disability superpowers" trope. However, he also said that there was an "incredibly uncomfortable sexual undertone", a "coat of romantic sugariness", criticized the series for promoting a "regressive...narrative about disability," and said that the series had some high points, including a touching subplot, while citing The Duke of Death and His Maid as a better example of "coded disability" in anime.