The series primarily focuses on a young-looking girl named Momo, who is a shinigami (a death god) who leads the souls of the deceased to the other side. She has long white hair, wears all white, carries a large black scythe, and her ID card to prove her identity as a shinigami. Unlike other shinigami, Momo tries to ease the suffering of people, whether they are alive or dead. One thing that she does is to convey messages from the dead to the living. Momo also cries a lot, and says that she cries for the dead because they no longer can.
Momo has a familiar, which is a talking black cat named Daniel. Daniel wears a bell around his neck, and he has bat-like wings. Sometimes, the living can hear Daniel's bell when he and Momo are nearby.
Each episode of Ballad of a Shinigami focuses on a character who has had someone close to them die before the start of the episode, or someone close to them dies during the episode. One character has to deal with the death of a friend during an episode. Another character thinks he's going to die after Momo tells him that he will soon. A third character wants to find a treasure left behind by his recently deceased grandfather. A girl tries to keep her family going after her mother passes away. Another character is afraid that a ghost rumored to haunt an elementary school is the ghost of his recently deceased sister. In the final episode, a girl tries to commit suicide and thinks she has died. In every case, Momo and Daniel play some kind of role in helping these people deal with their problems.
I thought the animation in Ballad of a Shinigami was very well-done, and I was very moved by the first episode of the series. Visually, there's nothing inappropriate for younger viewers. However, with the topic of death being a central focus of the series, I wouldn't recommend it for very young viewers. Personally, I would recommend Ballad of a Shinigami to anime viewers who are 12 or 13 years of age and older.
| Momo, Girl God of Death ~ Ballad of a Shinigami | 6 | 2006 | Tomomi Mochizuki | Group TAC | Maiden Japan |
