Kyousougiga

The Giga ROSSMAN

Whoa! A show that almost perfectly mimicked Studio Gainax's FLCL and Gurren Lagann-like vibe! And it did it WELL! How the fuck did they manage that?! That's like the Holy Grail of anime productions!

Kyousougiga is a strange one, but it's also a very fresh breath of slightly insane air. The primary focus kind of reminded me of (don't laugh) Tenshi ni Narumon's (I SAID DON'T LAUGH) in how its main point was simply asking the question "What really makes a family?" Kyousougiga though has no antagonist to speak of, though it features world-ending events, a few giant conspiracies, and some family members who need to learn to not be such assholes to other family members. It's kind of like watching your own family unit, only if you all lived in a kind of crazy world where no-one died, girls with giant glass mallets hopped around smashing everything in their way to splinters, and every so often the skies would open up and allow you to throw all your old useless junk up into the void instead of taking the trash out. There's a sweetness to the story, but also lots of sibling rivalry and familial obligations which might give some of you flashbacks (depending on how dysfunctional your own clan was growing up).

Kyousougiga starts out a long time ago, and is all about a Buddhist monk named Myoue who could make any of his drawings come to life. One of his works of art, a black bunny named Koto, fell in love with him and made a pact with a bodhisattva (a super compassionate being who keeps itself from moving on into Nirvana in order to help others who are less fortunate than itself) to gain a human body in order to show her creator how much she loves him. Together Myoue and Koto raise three children in bliss, until they hear that their presence and the holy man's strange powers are drawing (HA!) unwanted attention from the capital. That's when they decide to pack up and move into the city of Mirror Kyoto that Myoue drew, and live the rest of their lives in unending happiness... But that doesn't really last forever, as most eternities don't. After a while, Koto realizes that the terms of her deal with the bodhisattva were met (that Myoue would return her love), and that she'd have to return her borrowed body to the holy being if she stayed, so the two lovebirds leave their (still young) children in charge of Mirror Kyoto and they just walk away... Essentially trapping the kids in their unending playland.

The three kids (one Myoue Jr, one oni girl named Yase, and frog-like Kurama) grow up and rule over the pocket universe they inherited in a loving manner as "The Council of Three," but after centuries of this existence they grow tired of their lives and the same-old, same-old that only ever happens around them... And then, it happens. A ball of lighting crashes into the super-tall shrine in the center of Mirror Kyoto, and at ground zero Myoue Jr. finds a young girl who looks like a mix of Myoue Sr. and Koto (and this mysterious, mischievous, and mirthfully mannered teenager is even called Koto herself)! Duhn-dun-DUUUUUUUUUHN!

The rest of this series is all about all the secrets and pasts and secret pasts that haunt the Myoue and Koto family. The non-sequential way that the plot unfolds really adds to the strangeness and the uniqueness of this tale too; this is another series not meant for people who have a hard time following DBZ's plot. We skip around time like a child playing hopscotch, we suddenly find ourselves surrounded by strange god-like characters in all new settings we've not seen up till that point with no explanation, and rules, although fairly solid, are meant to be broken by those with the skills or giant hammers to break them.

Kyousougiga is a total breath of fresh air. I had been starting and stopping so many series lately within 3 or less episodes because they were just complete retreads of crap that was already cliche 10 years ago. Kyousougiga though felt new and, well, INTERESTING from the first episode. The second episode just made things infinitely greater, and the twists thrown at us in the third episode made this thing even more addictive. Although it's only 11 episodes long (counting episode 00 as a full chapter, which you should), I felt more happiness after watching this anime than I had for anything larger or grander in a long time.

Still though, if this show encourages more people to try and duplicate the insane and wacky FLCL vibe again I will be pissed... It worked this ONCE, anime directors. Let it go and try for something new again, please!

Kyousougiga (never bothered to look up what that even means) is a good one. Its style may put a few people off from the start, but I encourage you to try it for a few episodes before making a final decision on it. It's worth it. So is punching Hulk Hogan in the junk for being such a pervy douchebag who raised a couple of awful kids, but he might hurt you if you don't hit him hard enough at first.

I give Kyousougiga 92.57 out of 99 Mallets of Justice!

BOB FROM THE FUTURE

I fell into a mirror universe once. It was not half as entertaining as Alice in Wonderland or this Kyousougiga series. For example, in neither Wonderland or Kyousougiga there was never a mirror version of my mother with a giant penis between her motherly breasts that was covered in multiple smaller penises. Nor was there a dog that looked just like my dog from my time, Puppy Willikins, only this mirror Puppy Willikins ate other animals and the body parts of anybody silly enough to try and pet him.

This anime was entertaining, but it the stakes really seemed pretty tame to me. There was some drama to be sure, but it all seemed fairly non-urgent to me. Like those in charge had thought of a funny and new environment to play with, but had forsaken any real terrors or trials while they spent all their time making this universe that they created semi-insane... Only with 100% less crocobears and vagina-gnomes.... I swear to the Lord Miyamoto that if I ever get trapped back in that mirror world I will commit seppuku after setting off the nuclear device that powers my emergency rave glow-sticks and blow them all to Hell... Including my mother's penis chest beast.

This 21st Century Japanese anime was fairly entertaining. I would tell you to consider it, especially if you're having a really shitty day falling through time vortexes without a back-up Compound Unit Negative Time-reflector if yours breaks after that cheap 25th Century prostitute stepped on it when you refuse to pay because she had a giant chest penis that brought back horrible memories of your mirror-mother.

KUNI

This was a strange tale to be told. It's basically a show based on some really ancient Japanese scrolls showing cartoon versions of rabbits, monkeys, and frogs partying, singing, and dancing... How they turned that very first manga into an anime series with girls who blow things up with sub-space hammers and monks that ride Vespas around while patching up holes in their world I'll never know.

Watch it if you can, and smoke 'em if you got 'em... I know the anime directors surely did before starting to draw this series.