Review of Kyousougiga

“Life, what is it but a dream?” - Lewis Caroll. Kyousogiga is like that one random YouTube video that you get recommended out of the blue, yet you watch it out of spite and end up having the most wonderful time. It’s a story about family, love, home, loneliness, and life itself. And yes, these messages and themes are a dime a dozen in all of media, anime especially. But in every saturated medium, there will always be that one show that sticks out, one that genuinely is filled with passion, one that tries something different with itself, that is Kyousogiga. It might be astory told countless times, but here, it’s executed in a way unlike anything before. A great way to put it is: Kyousougiga is to stories about family and love, what FLCL is to stories about coming-of-age and adolescence.

The show’s narrative and method of storytelling do not move streamlined through a straight path, rather it's fairy-tale-esque, turbulent and hectic, causing havoc and randomness as it passes, it involves perspective shifts and time skips, all of which cause the show to be somewhat bonkers and contain many imperfections here and there. But, there is beauty in chaos and these imperfections are what makes the show (almost) perfect.

The ensemble of characters that the show features is one of its strongest points; they are as vibrant and animated as its visuals. While most of them don’t get actual development in these ten episodes, all of them aren’t devoid of depth and are all laden with distinct personalities - but each suffering in their respective ways. Even if they aren’t literally “humans”, these personalities and quirks assigned to them, combined with the stark chemistry between each other, make them appear as one of the more realistic families in the medium. Whether it be the ever-caring mother, the spoiled middle child, the moody youngest sibling, or the observant and competent eldest child, they are all characters that we feel lived in or have encountered. Each living with their broken sense of self, their fractured relationships with one another; but as the story makes headway and their similarities are brought into the vanguard, they slowly begin to understand one another.

As mentioned earlier, the show does come with its blemishes and fallacies, and they mostly have to do with the story's pacing and the way it explores its themes and ideas. The story is divided into multiple chapters, and if the earlier chapters are crazy and move at bullet speed, down the middle, it decides to settle down for a while and turns into somewhat of a slice-of-life show, and then nearing the finale, it picks it’s quick pace back up again and bothers us with a very awkward exposition dump in episode 9.

Coming into how the themes are handled, they are somewhat of a missed potential. Kyousogiga is definitely heavily inspired/influenced by many foreign works and stories - say Alice in Wonderland, but it’s (almost) surely an inspired masterpiece. As mentioned in the initial paragraph, the show tackles a wide array of themes - from familial bonds, love, sibling rivalry to loneliness, what human existence means, and many more. But due to the restraint its 10 episode run time holds against it, the show isn’t fully capable of exploring all the ideas it initially strived out to. While yes, the show’s handling and traversing of the themes it does are innovatively and stirringly brilliant, it unfortunately only explores themes that have been read and analyzed a lot; this, as it is, isn’t an issue but when it teases us with potential to wander into some unique, less delved in ideas like the dynamic between the ‘created’ and the ‘creator’, how the pressure of lineage can affect us, how loneliness changes people; it becomes a bummer when they are all just brushed off and only talked about very briefly in the series.

Along with its cast, the visuals and direction of Kyousougiga are one of its strongest pillars. They are striking, quick, psychedelic, poppy, ecstatic, and vivid; and it brings a sense of personality and charm to the story that is rarely seen, displaying its own individuality - like it’s characters - and distinguishing itself from others in the medium as a distinct piece of anime. The animation was done by Toei Animation - the studio behind industry giants like the One Piece, Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon franchises - and was without a doubt very much different from their previous works. Kyousougiga’s style is very much caricatured and hyperbolized, effusing lots of flair and panache. The character designs are unique and distinct, and are able to convey extremely believable expressions and emotions. The show’s main setting - The Mirror Capital - too is crafted mesmerizingly, with personality and artistry, filled with it’s paper-cutout-like buildings, items and anachronisms.

The OP and ED of the show were pretty good too, they both really well fitted the show’s overall tone and messages. Another thing to add is that, Kyousougiga’s cast is made even more lively by its composite of extremely talented and experienced seiyuus: Rie Kugimiya (Kagura, Alphonse Elric, Taiga), Kenichi Suzumura (Hatake Kakashi, Okita Sougo, Weng Li-Yang), Akira Ishida (Gaara, Katsura Kotarou, Nagisa Kaworu), just to name a few prominent ones. They all bring so much life and energy into the cast, and just makes you root for them even more.

Overall, the show is thoroughly joyful and entertaining. When overlooking some of its slip-ups in the aforementioned areas, it’s a treat for both your eyes and soul. If you’re up for some feverish, evocative, touching and radiant family drama with tinges of comedy, then Kyousougiga will not disappoint at all.

Thanks for reading.