pat.kshlerin - 2015-08-20 14:44:59

amazing anime... 
characters were good and op an ed were amazing!!!

breanna68 - 2015-03-28 17:36:35

This was such a good anime. It's like a modern flcl

oren43 - 2015-02-21 02:27:32

Kyousougiga (TV) - a second review

Not many shows try to be different, and even those that do are panned for being pretentious or overly convoluted.  The audience complains about stagnation yet doesn’t appreciate it when an actual effort is made.  True, there are exceptions: Utena, Bakemonogatari and NGE are some shows that tried to be different are are held in high regard because of so.  It isn’t easy to be “creative” or to change the formula.  So when viewing a show that leaps into the fray, oozing ingenuity out of every pore, judging it critically can be a daunting task.

[Background]

Trying to talk about the show becomes a little confusing at times, partially due to the several incarnations it has. For the purposes of this review, we will be focusing on the 10 episode series that begun aired in October 2013, and the additional 3 specials will not be taken into consideration as they are mostly unimportant.  Produced by Toei Animation, Kyousogiga was directed by Rie Matsumoto.  Other works directed by Matsumoto include: Blood Blockade Battlefront (TV), and that’s it as far as ANN is concerned.  The show was influenced by “Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There” by Lewis Carroll (as the main setting is named after it), as well as Japanese folklore.  On the surface, Kyousogiga looks promising, a unique art style and interesting premise, what more could you ask for?

[General]

Kyousogiga introduces the audience to a fantastical world.  Nothing out there is quite like it and it offers a unique experience.  Toei, being one of the oldest production studios, keeps up on this show producing some stunning visuals.  The directing is spotty however.  Interesting decisions are made, but at other times it feels like the show keeps caught up in itself and would have greatly benefited from having one or two more episodes.  It doesn’t overstay its welcome, but problems arise because of it.  Despite this, Kyousogiga is no average show, and doubting it for a second is a mistake that I highly advise against.

[Story]

The story, as a whole, is a rather simple one, though told on a much grander scale.  It tells of a broken family, and everything isn’t all cheery and well.  You are taken through the history of this family and begin to learn more and more about the damaged individuals.

Ok, so now we get to the hard part, well at least the first hard part.  I had to watch the show a few times to understand the show completely.  The plot is dealt out to  the audience in several delineated chunks, often jumping from the present back to the past to different character’s point of view.  Once you understand it though, it isn’t complicated, just following it sometimes can be a little taxing.  Actually, going back the point about how the story is presented, I really like this decision.  By interspersing the story with scenes from the past to develop characters is an interesting directorial decision.  It all feels natural though (for the most part), as if everything was laid out beforehand meticulously to build up and produce a climax worthy of the show throughout it all.  But there are times when this does come back to plague the show, especially nearing the last moments.

[Writing] / [Characters/Characterization]

There are parts of this show that I think are amazing.  Subtle foreshadowing or characterization through dialogue and action are brilliant examples of how characters are really brought to life.  Each of their individual personalities are so deeply ingrained into their characters, making them distinct and distinguishable.  I feel like almost every character was tediously crafted in order to elevate or reflect things in other characters more clearly.  In spite of this, they all felt like their own characters as well and only support each other throughout.

Weaving complex characters but also justifying them contextually is a feat that not easily accomplished.  Luckily, Kyousogiga handles this quite well.  Most of the main characters are vastly affected by one event.  The abandoning of children at a very young age leaves emotional scars that still haven’t fully healed after such a long time.  A demon who acts childish at times, but loses her temper easily and has a case of obsessive hoarding seems hard to explain.  But the abandoning of her had serious ramifications emotionally; she clings dearly onto everything, scared of losing anything ever again.  Each of the characters are affected in different ways, and how they deal with their problems differs immensely from one to the other.  In this aspect, characters are developed and characterized very well.

Support characters are in another boat entirely.  They are bland, underdeveloped, and uninteresting, as opposed to the main cast.  They don’t show up that much and screen time is negligible relative that of the mains, and so in that case it’s not that big of a deal.  I suppose this could be attributed to the low episode count, but nonetheless.

I said that the writing wasn’t half bad, I actually do like it at moments.  But that’s the thing, at moments.  Earlier I mentioned how the show may have benefited from a longer episode run, and there are times when this becomes blatant.  The pacing suffers severely from this at points. Saying that it isn’t consistent is an understatement.  Sometimes it will move slowly, allowing you to get acquainted with characters and further develop the relationships between them.  At other times, the show moves at a blurring pace.  Events and scenes are stringed together without a moment to breathe in between.  The pace of the show can change at the drop of a hat and has consequences because of it.  This could be interpreted as an allegory for the tumultuous nature of the family, how their whole lives have been tossed around by something beyond their control.  While I do like this interpretation, there is something to be said about the determinants it has on the show at moments.

The worst offender of this is in episode nine.  Inari stops in the middle of a high-stakes, high-intensity battle to go on to personally explain all the plot elements they couldn’t seem to fit in anywhere else as he slowly walks across the screen. Info dumping is not something that I really appreciate in most mediums.  In some situations, where appropriate, it can make a setting feel more worldly; other times it completely halts any momentum a story has and bores the audience.  This particular scene seems to never end and isn’t presented in an interesting way either.  There are no panty shots, there are no puns, there are no head-tilts.  There are other moments where characters will change their temperament drastically and this may be a nitpick, but whenever it happened it didn’t sit well with me.  Whenever it tried to explain I felt the explanation was particularly weak, forced, or contrived.  

There was a moment when I came to really appreciate the show, even more so than I did before.  That was the live-action episode.  When I learned that Myoue was based on an actual person and the origin of the show’s name, it all came together.  This is both a plus and a minus.  One of the show’s greatest strengths and yet also a chink in the armor.  How deeply the show is rooted in Japanese culture and folklore is what makes the world so interesting and realized.  However, not being familiar with such it can be hard to appreciate the lengths the creators went to.  Without this knowledge, some parts or elements seem random and confusing.

[Aesthetics]

I’ve talked a lot about Kyousogiga so far, but I haven’t even mentioned one of the biggest draws of it.  Kyousogiga presents itself with bold and refreshing visuals.  Besides some sparse CG thrown here or there, the visuals look absolutely stunning.  Its a small addition, but I actually really like the geometric shapes that fly about in the city, as if reminders that this world is not our own.  Characters are extremely expressive and stylized, that combined with a psychedelic color choices makes the show look visually appealing even in most of the down moments.  A culmination of art styles are utilized in the show and I feel that this choice lended to the overall feel of the show exceptionally.  The more modern style used for characters such as Koto and Myoue are juxtaposed to that for Yase, who looks like she taken straight out of a 70s shoujo manga.  Her design could have been used to convey how she lives in the past, still grasping onto those days of old while her siblings have moved on (well, more so than she at least).  

Diversity of art styles is also shown in the design of the Creator.  He is represented as a painted rabbit, monkey, and frog in the style of the scrolls in which the series is named for.  The Choju-giga are considered to be the earliest, therefore the progenitor of, manga it is fitting that the creator of everything be represented such form.  These aspects only further help cement Kyousogiga’s exceptionally strong theming and atmosphere.

Before moving on the actual animation quality, there’s a scene that I feel were truly spectacular. Whenever the council of three meet, the space that is imagined is amazing.  At first, it seems random, and ok, so it might look kinda of cool, so what.  When I realized it was a cradle, blocks of various shapes that serve as platforms, and all the little trinkets hanging from the ceiling were to entertain the baby, or in this case, Myoue.  It illustrated how Myoue wasn’t ready yet, he hadn’t really grown up, and thus had to rely on his siblings.  All together it was an amazing set piece and was imagined wonderfully.

Overall, the animation is ok.  Nothing reaches KyoAni levels of money...I mean animation, but it does move fluidly for the most part.  There are exceptions where the animation becomes choppy, but other than that its ok.  Not great, but its acceptable.

[Sound/Sound Design]

The OST of Kyousougiga is hands down amazing.  Others may disagree, but the soundtrack is something special.  Surprisingly, Kyousougiga’s OST covers a variety of genres.  From chiptunes to dubstep to grand orchestrations, the variety of genres may seem to be a recipe for disaster, but it actually works.  Whenever I read a review, I almost always read someone writing “the soundtrack fits the mood”, yet they never go on to explain why or even how, and that’s frustrating.  The soundtrack of Kyousougiga not only fits the mood, but brings it to new heights, creating experiences that wouldn’t be fathomable without.  At climaxes, the soundtrack is not a mere accompaniment, but an equal in contributing to the scene as a whole.

Tracks such as “The Founding of The City in The Looking-Glass”, “Council of Three”, and especially “City of Eternity” evoke a sense of wonderment and fantasy.  The gentle woodwinds, triumphant brass, grand choirs, spontaneous piano, and strings create a feeling reminiscent of a fairy tale.  “Yase - Elegance” creates an atmosphere associated with prestige and well, elegance.  “Heartbreaking Loneliness”, with its haunting vocals and disjointed chords sporadically spruced in build up a sense of emptiness.  Hell, there’s even a song with electric guitars, vocal sampling, and violin, and it’s still badass.  Even though the tracks were meant to go with the show, some tracks can even stand on their own such as the aforementioned “City of Eternity”.

I thought the voice acting was pretty good.  I’m no expert on inflection, tone, or flow, but the performances were good in my eyes.. or ears, I guess.  Rie Kugimiya as Koto might be my favorite role as her, as she isn’t so tsundere in this one.  Kenichi Suzumura as Myoue is also very good.  

The sound design is solid in this show.  Characters and objects have weight and the crashes and breaking of things sounds nice and crunchy.  There was that scene where Koto fights Bishamaru, and she calls time-out.  So then the music fizzles out and the she is swallowed with a gulp.  The characters are very animated, so sfx often help exaggerate their mannerisms or quips.  This is typical in most anime, but the attention to detail here is something that should be pointed out.  Particular sfx choices help give the show some personality and reinforce the wacky world the characters live in.  Transitions such as the sound of a stage-light being turned on, or a bell chimes are nice touches.  But yeah, overall the sound design is pretty solid.

[Best Girl]

Myoue is moe.  There’s so much to this character that is just amazing.  He complains and is a lazy bum.  But his characterization is done so well.  He is upset at about what happened in the past, or rather what didn’t.  He feels guilt, regret, and is forced to join this family that he never asked for.  Unable to leave and unable to fulfil his wish, he begrudgingly tolerates the role.  Thus he always comes off as “on edge”, he essentially is spiteful about his current situation.  When he was given the mantle of Myoue, he took on the appearance of the previous Myoue.  He was forced into this task and forced to live out this role.  Myoue cannot live out his life as he wanted to, thus he becomes the image of what they wanted him to be.

[Final Thoughts]

Kyousougiga is a show after my heart.  It doesn’t sacrifice artistic integrity to appeal to the masses.  It crafts a fantastic world with amazing characters and a rollercoaster of a story, despite that rollercoaster violating safety regulations in some places.  Kyousougiga is ambitious in every aspect of the word, and succeeds in most places.  It can touch you at moments, then surprise you with an action sequence rivaling that of a shounen.  It mishmashes art styles together, yet produces something beautiful in the end.  In the end, figuratively and literally, wonky pacing and particular scenes break up what could have been something incredible.  I still like Kyousougiga, the show delivers on almost all fronts, but sadly does have its slew of problems.

[Recommendation]

Sure, watch this show.  It is well done, and well worth your time.  When there are many shows that are afraid to step outside the bounds, Kyousougiga installs mahogany flooring over that bounds, hires a DJ, hands out glow sticks, and holds a rave all over the bounds.  If you do plan to watch this show, I suggest skipping episode zero, but not the live-action special, and if you are still confused, the wrap-up episode might help.

For a more objective analysis, I've written a piece about how Kyousougiga relates to Alice in Wonderland, Buddhism, and idealism here.

ivah.keeling - 2015-01-24 05:28:49

http://quanreviews.blogspot.com/2015/01/anime-review-kyousougiga.html

rylee.kohler - 2013-11-12 06:31:17

Kyousougiga is a series that I'm pretty sure no one expected, which is the only reason I can gather for no one paying any attention to it this fall season. This a show that absolutely deserves more attention than it is getting and is a real stand out among the anime of the season.

The show takes place in a world beyond the looking glass. This world is ruled by a council of three people who were left here by their parents one day and eagerly await their return. One day, a girl crashes into the city in search of a black rabbit and is taken in by one of the three councilman and the council soon realizes this girl may have a link to their missing parents.

The premise itself is fantastic, and the story has the potential to be something really really great. The problem is, it's taking its sweet time getting to the story. It's not so much that the series is slow or anything like that, but the show feels it is more important to give us the in depth background of each of the main characters before moving forward. Thus far though, this is not necessarily a hindrance but a minor nitpick, because the background of these characters for the most part is really compelling and really just goes to show how much care was put into this series. However, there is still the worry that with the size of the series that the plot may end up being thrown in sloppily, which I sorely hope is not the case, but only time will tell.

The characters of Kyousougiga are absolutely phenomenal. Every single major player in the cast is explored and given equal importance to the story. What's really fascinating is that given whatever direction the show might take, I'm certain that one will find it hard to figure out which side they might want to be on in a given conflict. All the characters are equally likable and you can't help but sympathize with them and want them to achieve their goals.

The art and animation is really a feast for the eyes with it's vibrant colors and rather artsy look to it. Everything looks rather polished and gives a real fantastical feel to the looking glass world in the anime. The animation itself though is rather fluid and the actions scenes that do take place are quite immaculate and fun to watch. The show is definitely a beautiful piece of work.

The soundtrack is also rather good being able to carry the mood in several scenes. Often times I found the songs amplifying the feelings of any given scene whether they be a sad and emotional flashback or a goofy scene involving Koto, A, and Un. The music really wrapped the show up in a nice pretty bow and helped keep up the emotion of the show.

Kyousougiga is really a show that in its short run, I've come to enjoy a lot. The characters themselves are some of the best I've seen in a recent show. The interactions are heartwarming and rather memorable and the plot has a great amount of promise. I can't wait to see what this show will dish out and I really hope it can live up to all my expectations.