First Impressions – Kyousougiga
From an immensely confusing (yet awesome) OVA to a slightly less confusing (yet still awesome) TV series~
Well, I definitely haven’t seen the 2nd episode yet (I’ll watch it later today… maybe), but the first episode of Kyosougiga went above and beyond what I was hoping for~~
Ah, nothing like starting off a new Fall show with a week-late first impression (which was definitely my fault). Anyway, Kyousougiga was one of my most anticipated Fall shows and, like its original OVA, it certainly didn’t disappoint. Now, please bear with me as I haven’t seen the second episode yet (which was released not too long ago and I’m still mad I didn’t manage to finish this before then) and head on to read some of Karakuri’s and mine’s thoughts.~
The other side of this Looking Glass is Kyoto
If I remember correctly, this series is loosely based on Alice in Wonderland. …And the justification for Koto being the Alice figure here was rather nice. The set up for the Wonderland here was really well done (and not confusing for once), and you really get a feel for how Myoe grew up there/ how lives work there. There are small changes, like how the 3 siblings grew up, but for the most part, everything is forced to stay the same with nothing created or destroyed. The world is bright and looks like it’s on LSD, but I suppose even that can be stale once you live in it for 100+ years. The world has been stuck without any progress for a really, really long time, so despite the heroine coming into the plot at the very last moment this episode, you got a really good feel for just how necessary her appearance is in this story. Looking at what we’ve seen before in the OVAs, it’s no wonder everyone gravitates towards Koto and treats her like some special figure. She’s their hope in a way, the fact that she shares her name with the rabbit aside. Plus now, I can see why absolutely everyone would put up with her and her siblings destroying things on a regular basis.
Just the typical first episode confusion…
Koto’s and her brother’s entrance into the city certainly warranted the shock Myoe/Yakushimaru had since it looks like the original Koto made sure no one could enter or leave the city by removing the gate from which they entered. How they managed to come in, whether its magic or some type of technology like a portal, is just one of the many, many questions I’ve been thinking over since watching this first episode. While a few things from the original OVA now make a decent amount of sense, I say this first official episode has given us more questions and mystery that I was originally anticipating. Yet, I love the complexity that this story has. There’s just so much to it, so many layers of questions. For example, where did the original Koto and Myoe leave to (though I’m assuming the original Koto has returned back to her original rabbit form, as indicated by Koto); what did original Myoe mean by the ominous “Well be back for the beginning and the end one day”; how did Koto, A, and Un make it into the mirrored Kyoto; and of course, what does the appearance of these three siblings mean for the mirrored Kyoto? It kind of makes me frustrated, but at same time, I’m ridiculously excited to see how all this pieces together. I know I’m overly gushing at the mystery of a show when it’s obviously the first episode, but I mean, the OVA was confusing, but now it just doesn’t even seem to compare. Luckily we at least have a background now, and decent knowledge of the main players aside from Koto and her brothers (which I see they cover a bit more in the newest episode).
I love how this all played together with the mini stories that we saw in the OVAs. We’ve had most of the plot all along, but they just told it in the most confusing manner possible. This first episode certainly connected the dots nicely, while still keeping the confusion that this series seems to like. I guess I’m just extremely impressed at how they managed to pull a coherent plot out of all of the nonsense they’ve shown us before. More explanations would be nice, but there are quite a few things I think they can get away with not explaining. Like Myoe (the first)’s ability to bring his drawings to life, or how the mirror world exists in the first place. Though of course, I would like to know where Koto came from and what happened to the original Koto. …And where this storyline synchs up with the first OVA, but I’m sure they’ll get to that eventually.
So far we have magic, dimension-traveling, and possible reincarnations, which is always a great start for an anime. Kyousougiga definitely seems like it’s going to be a strange and unique ride. The atmosphere of the show already feels very fairy-tale like in its own wonderfully quirky and mystical way. The animation is of course stunning, and I’m absolutely in love with the character designs, as with practically every thing else. All around it’s an interesting show with an interesting concept that hopefully gets executed well. So far though, I have a lot of faith that despite how confusing and strange this story is now, it will work out in the end some how.
Preview:
Now that we have the story of the mirrored Kyoto, its creators, and the three siblings that run it, we can focus on the young Koto and her twin brothers, and possibly how they’ve come to this Kyoto. Catch you in the next Kyousogiga post, which will hopefully be earlier than this one, heh.~
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Don’t worry, I haven’t seen the second episode yet, either. In fact, I’m downloading it right now. The fact there was an OVA to this didn’t occur to me but I checked this out because it seemed interesting and there was an episode 00 recap. Overall, the confusion is far reaching. I have absolutely no idea where this is going but I’m willing to ride this crazy train at its break neck pace. The unpredictability here is reminiscent of FLCL.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
I love this series and this is true since the first OVA came out. I never really kept up with the online streaming ones later but man, the prelude 00 and first episode was pretty good in jogging my memory.
I like the mirror world concept and love the characters. Also, have to say SuzuKen is doing a marvelous job with Myoue and let’s not forget Rie Kugimiya, for whom I was moe-fisting Fosh today in the morning on how Koto’s character is a perfect tomboy, reminding us of Kagura from Gintama.
Overall, a good beginning of an interesting series.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Koto and Myoue are the best! They really make a hilarious team when they are together <3
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 38 comments
This is definitely my favorite anime of the season so far. Heck, it may end up being my favorite anime of the year, depending on how the rest of the show and the other anime this season play out.
I was intrigued when I watched episode 00. I hadn’t watched anything else of Kyousogiga previously. I didn’t understand what was going on, but it was crazy and I liked it and I wanted to continue watching.
But oh my god, it was this episode got me hooked. I wasn’t expecting the show to be so… heartwarming. Based on what I had seen before, I thought it would end up being a show that had craziness without any purpose other than to be a lot of fun, but I was wrong. After this, I had to go and watch the ONAs. I’m a total sucker for stories that deal with family, which, based on this episode and the second, seems to be a pretty big theme.
The characters are refreshing and fun and just go really well together. The visuals are pretty amazing. It’s so bright and colorful and the compositions are gorgeous. And the music is lovely, as well.
So really, I don’t have any complaints so far. I adore this show.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
As a virgin viewer, can I just jump straight into it? Or do I need to watch the OVAs to “get” it?
Also I would like to see how you guys is going to convince me to follow this since I never heard of Kyousougiga until now. 😛
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 77 comments
No need for the OVA’s.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
From what I hear, you’re not likely to ‘get it’ even if you watch the OVA’s. 😉
I think it’s ok, but not amazing. Might be a little too high concept for me.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 77 comments
The appeal for me is in appreciating the characters and figuring out their motivations.
It’s very character-driven.
(this is coming from someone for whom FLCL makes perfect sense, though)
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Thk for the advice, both of you. Might give it a try when I’m a bit free.
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
Kyousougiga has undoubtedly been the gem of a pretty mediocre start to fall season (well, that and Kill la Kill). I only caught episode 00 last week, which I absolutely adored for its whimsical fast paced and beautifully animated action, despite the fact that, as everyone said, it was confusing as hell. Episode 1 really explained a lot, though it could only cover so much in the span of 24 minutes, still leaving a lot of questions open. The visual style is still just as good, and I’m loving Rie Kugimiya as Koto. She’s such a great talent, and she pulls off the short round tomboy so well.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Kyousougiga for the freaking win! It is probably my number one of the season so far and the artstyle is so fun to watch especially with the fighting and also the voice work from Rie Kugimiya is great as Koto even though it reminds me of her role as Kagura from Gintama.
Episode three was fantastic <3
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 318 comments
Yay for Kyousougiga. I’m so with you. Love this show already.
And I agree about the voice actors. And Kugimiya-san is just amazing, she dives into the character so well.
It’s funny thought, that I was getting a feeling of Kagura too. Nice to hear that it’s not only me.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
I always felt that the original stuff they produced for this concept was unfinished or rushed. It’s good to see the material get the time it deserves to flesh out some of the insanity of the original.
Kugamiya is WIN !