Game Review- Okami!

"Okami"-Japanese word for 'wolf'. And that's just exactly what you are in this RPG (?) by Clover. I beleive it's rather new in North America, about a year old. I bought it a few months ago, and it took me a month and five days to beat it. And wow, was that a fun month and five days.
Enter Nippon, the country in which you will be playing. 100 years ago, a dragon named Orochi lived, demanding female sacrifices and spreading evil all though the land. Everyone despaired, until Nagi was born. Nagi sought to kill Orochi, and when he thought all hope was lost during battle, a wolf came as if from the heavens. Shiranui- the sun god. Shiranui helped Nagi defeat Orochi but was killed in the process. For the time, peace had returned to Nippon. But now- 100 years later, a decendant of Nagi released the sword that was keeping the evil at bay. Now Orochi is back, and he means buisness. But then, the statue that was built in the form of Shiranui came alive. And this is you. Ameterasu- Shinarui reborn! And who is that little flea who says he's an artist? Issun! As the wolf Ammy, you and Issun must travel Nippon, reviving the cursed lands while learning all 13 Celestial Brush techniques.
Now, I thought Okami was very fun and original. My three favourite parts about this game are the painting, the graphics and the music. I'll break it all down.
Painting. You are a sun god, and you have (or, 100 years ago, 'had') 13 Celestial brush techniques. You must get them back, and slowly but surly you will become more powerful as the game progresses. You can paint bombs to kill your ennemies, or slash them with a line of paint to cut them. There's also techniques to make it day or night, to slow down time, and to control various elements. I found this very interesting, using paint to fight! You also have various weapons that float on your pretty wolf back which you can use only in battle (you can use the paint whenever you want).
Second, the graphics in this game are BEAUTIFUL. It's basically one big moving Japanese watercolour, which is another reason that makes this game so unique. Half the time I didn't want to do my missions, I only wanted to stare at the beautiful landscape around me.
And last, the music. Okami has tons of music and each peice is really fun. There's a theme for practically every character (I love Issun's theme). It's all just so pretty to listen to. Like with the graphics, I could just stand in one place listening to the music playing in my mission.
Okami is also very fun to play because there's lots of emotion in it. Whether it's Issun and his crude humor or something serious like having to part with a character, it's all so..sucking-you-in-ish. If you know what I mean.
Okami was TOTALLY worth the 30$ I payed for it and I would recommend it to any RPG fan or anyone that generally really likes games. I find it hard to see anyone hating this game.
[Oh, and Waka is my favourite character. Look out for him. 8D]

Story: 4/5
Graphics: 5/5
Music: 4/5
Side quests: 1/5 (because there's like, none. -Emo sob.-)