Kyousogiga

Title: Kyousogiga Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Slice of Life Rating: 9.2/10

Summary: Hidden within Kyoto is the “mirror capital” where youkai and humans live together and no one ever dies. It is protected by three people - Kurama, Yase, and Myoue - as they await the return of their parents, Myoue Jonin and Koto. One day a young girl named Koto (same name, different spelling) and her little brothers A and Un wander into the city from a different dimension looking for her mother. A mecha-geek with red eyes, it’s not immediately clear whether she’s human or youkai. Her arrival upsets the long peace that had ruled the city.

Review: Kyousogiga was easily my favorite anime of the Fall 2013 season. It was something I’ve been looking forward to for months and it easily lived up to my expectations with its wacky story and magnificently chaotic art style. I was overjoyed to watch the OVA’s pieced together into a full fledged story that really built out the characters and their relationships. The anime achieved to figure out how to entertain me in a way I’ve never been before. More importantly it’s an anime that kept me excited from start to finish and gave me a definitive final episode that left me satisfied. I would definitely enjoy watching a couple more OVA of this crazy family’s everyday life, but only to jump back into the world of Kyousogiga.

Probably the first thing anyone took note of when watching this anime was the art style; it was all over the place, completely insane. The visuals had tiny details going on from foreground to background, and it was absolutely brilliant. The art matched the fast paced jumpy story down to a tee. The characters didn’t all need to have out the world hair colors or style to stand out because their actions spoke louder than their design. Their bodies were constantly moving with quick camera cuts and zooms grabbing onto your attention and never letting go. I loved the references to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with the chess board theme popping up in random places. Everything about it was wild, fun, and eccentric just like the story.

I’d been waiting for this series since the first OVA, and then the following teaser OVA. I’m happy to say that it went above and beyond my expectations. For those of you who ever read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland you probably never really knew what was going on, or perhaps you were trying to find deeper meaning in the novel. When it was converted into a cartoon it was still a crazy adventure of unexpected occurrences. Kyousogiga was exactly the same for me. I wanted to find a deeper meaning; I wanted to to find who played the Mad Hatter or the Cheshire Cat, but ultimately I just went along for the ride. I’m sure if you looked into it you could make the connections to the characters, but was that really the point? The reason I loved the series so much is because the characters were spontaneous  but had method to their madness. I felt my heart strings tug when I learned about the life Kurama, Yase, and Myoue grew up in and laughed at Koto’s unjustified antics. More importantly it was one of the few anime that decided to show the relationship of a family. Kyousogiga made me feel like I had known the characters all their lives in only ten episodes; I felt like I was apart of their family. They dove deeply into the relationships between siblings. Kurama, Yase, and Myoue all tried to rank themselves by the importance they held to the family. As the anime progressed they began to realize that it wasn’t a competition, that family means more than being related by blood. They understood that siblings will make mistakes, argue about the smallest things, and be there for each other when it counts. Koto also showed clear signs of change and really stood out to me by the end of the series. At first she was a wild and selfish girl who only cared to have fun. As she spent more time with Myoue she started to be more sympathetic and understand the burden each of the siblings were holding. The very end of the series was more than an epic display of power; it was a display of love and loyalty only a family could share. I can still hear the music that played in its final moments of whacky, awesome, world-clashing action.

Kyousogiga took the cake in every category. The soundtrack fit the atmosphere perfectly which says a lot about an anime that was all over place. The music went in one ear, swam in my head, and left my emotions heightened with every note. With an impressive thirty-seven tracks in its OST it was easily one of the most impressive in the Fall 2013 season. I could easily see the background music being overlooked because of all the intense visuals and fast paced story so I would definitely suggest checking out the full OST playlist whenever you have the chance. I’m sure you will find a lot of gems you may have overlooked when watching this series.

Final statements: I know this is an anime I’m going to watch again. I absolutely loved the characters, story, art, soundtrack, and message I walked away with. It’s a rare anime that can have a very personal connection to its audience while still being fun. With only ten episodes I don’t see how anyone can pass up this must see anime!