Review of Kyousougiga

Kyousougiga is phenomenally done. The art is superb, and the characters are genuinely interesting. This is an anime with themes--family and love, duty and purpose--and it explores them coherently and purposefully, in a way that is central to the plot and story, but with enough room to the sides for excellent visuals and the aforementioned characters to shine. STORY The story, on the first watch, is confusing. This is because the plot is not shown as a whole until the anime is over. This is NOT a bad thing! A storytelling choice like this is certainly unconventional, but after getting over one's initial reluctance with the strangewithholding of information, the ride is enjoyable.

In the end, the plot exists to expound on the true messages of the series. The show should not be watched for the superficial plot. The plot exists to present ideas about what a family is and ought to be, what love is and how it is truly expressed, the purpose in one's life and the meaning to it all and whether there needs to be a meaning anyways. It would be very difficult to watch this show without noticing these ideas, even though they are very simply displayed.

ART

The art is absolutely wonderful. Heavy nods are given to a particular set of scrolls from 13th century Japan. It faintly echoes the paint brush art of said scrolls. Animation, during fight scenes, is lovely to watch. The animation is, more importantly, stellar in seemingly mundane moments outside of fights--like when a character embraces another with love, it is done in a way that conveys volumes about her feelings, emotions, and personality.

( A note here--the plot does falter a bit in episodes 8 and 9, but they land the ending very well, in a way that forgives them.)

SOUND

The musical decisions will remind you greatly of FLCL. The musical genre is the same, and it plays in the background of many scenes. Personally, I find it distracting to have songs with words playing while people are talking, and so I don't warm to it so much.

There are many, many orchestral pieces, which do their part to bring your attention to what is important and why. They are a bit overdone in parts, but the mixture of orchestra pieces with rock songs is nice.

CHARACTERS

The characters are wonderful in every way. The aforementioned themes of the story are told through their human vectors. This anime does an excellent job of presenting interesting, novel, compelling characters. Only the protagonist, Koto, feels remotely rehashed--everyone else is like a new face, someone I've never met in another anime.

OVERALL

This anime is artistic in nature. Its focus is thematic, presented through characters and plot, with stunning visuals to guide you through. It can be consumed quickly, enjoyed thoroughly, rewatched with excitement, and in the end, it leaves you with things to think about without pulling you into the depths of philosophic rumination. It is the best anime I've seen in a very long time.