I'll get this out of the way first: "Kyousougiga" is an absolute mess. It is a chaotic hyperactive child of color and action and literary referenes that repeats and remixes its story seemingly to confuse you. And yet, if you give it a chance, it will confuse you just enough for everything to make perfect sense. And when that happens, you'll find that this show is one of the most incredible shows of its decade.To start, "Kyousougiga" was originally an original net animation (ONA), meaning it consisted of short epsiodes of uneven length that aired online only, not on television. Those original episodes were released in 2011, slowly adding more episodes until a formal television series of 13 episodes would be aired in 2013. Both rely on jumping between timelines and across different dimensional planes in strange orders, and to help you keep track, makes heavy use of repeated scenes. As in, the ONA will repeat some scenes within itself, slowly revealing more to you as the episodes progress, but the television series itself reuses most of the animation and story directly from the ONA! And so the first puzzle presents itself... how do you watch this project? Both the ONA and the tv series were graciously included in the American home video release. Most will argue that you do not need to watch the ONA at all, mainly because it repeats what you will see in the series, which is where the actual ending occurs (the ONA was mostly left open-ended as an experiment in setting and characterization). Personally, I think the ONA is required viewing before jumping into the series, as both really do not do an adequete job in explaining to you what you are watching. But through repeated scenes slowly revealing more to you, it begins to feel natural, so you can be fully onboard by the time the conclusion rolls around.So you understand the story is confusing and hard to get into at first, now let me try to explain what it is about. In a fantastical setting of an artificial Kyoto, we see a young energetic girl named Koto smashing her way through the colorful city parade with a giant hammer alongside her shapeshifting twin brothers. Admist the chaos, Koto's guardian (a cynical monk) and his siblings (a floating priest and a fashionable demon) try to keep her under control while plotting to use her to bring their mother back. You see, everything started with a monk who was outcast by society for his ability to make his drawings come to life, and in his lonliness came a black rabbit in human form who offered to be his love. They soon gain three children and escape together to a world inside the monk's paintings, living happily until the father and mother disappear, leaving the three children stuck in paradise for eternity, waiting desparately for them to return. All the while, in another plane of existance, young Koto (who happens to have the same name as the loving absent mother) left her world looking for her dad and mentor, who sounds strikingly similar to the absent father of the other group. Where exactly are the parents? Why did they leave? Are the connections between separate groups merely coincidence?Everything I explained is essentially a spoiler for the first half of the series, for which I apologize. The manner in which this is all told is chaotic, using Shakespeare and Alice-in-Wonderland references (among other literary subtext I probably missed) to paint a lively picture about family, love, fate and destiny. I suspect most people will not understand the first few episodes, and many STILL would be unable to explain the story after finishing everything. You have to pay attention, focused entirely on the screen as it plays out, better to marathon while still fresh in memory. If you can pass the test, you'll find a surprisingly satisfying conclusion (difficult to believe after everything I just described), and will be left thinking how smart and clever the whole thing was. Perhaps it was so for the sake of being clever... I will long be wondering how exactly the story was formed and whether it would have been better for someone to come around to edit the thing down a bit.
If the story goes above your head, you still won't think it's a waste of time. The tone and atmosphere of "Kyousougiga" is bright in a way I haven't seen before in anime. Most of the series takes place in a painting, where towering temples, flowing wheat fields, misty mountains and sprawling homes exist alongside colorful characters and creatures that leap and run with the power of a superhero. Poster-child Koto seems to constantly get into trouble, always with a smirk and a grin knowing she'll find a way around it. Fun, but also subtly poigniant and with meloncholy; the opening and ending themes reminded me with each episode that this is a story that takes place inside imagination itself, a place where Gods and man are equal enough to walk together in the morning sunrise. Through these moments, the music and acting all find their chance to stand out. The animation only barely keeps up with the demanding but attractive character designs and environments, and it can get tiring to see a scene repeat for the fifth time to fill time, but a part of me wouldn't change a bit of it.I have to keep telling myself there may never be a series like "Kyousougiga." I think it owes a lot to director Rie Matsumoto, who otherwise is only well-known for directing the first season of "Blood Blockade Battlefront," another fun show that carries over much of the charm of this work. But "much of" is not quite the same... there's a special recipe of things that came together for "Kyousougiga." You might be left wondering what exactly was in that dish you just ate, but I'll forever crave another bite I may never get. Oh well, I'll have to make do with rewatching, maybe watching the scenes again will reveal something new!