(one-shot 25-minute episode, aired on the web a few days ago)
What’s it about ?
A girl has gotten stranded with her two younger brothers on a wacky parallel version of Kyoto. They’re kinda wreaking havoc on it through demented chase scenes, but the higher-ups of the place think she may be the reincarnation of their Divine Creator figure…
Characters
Koto, our heroine. Somehow she got her hands on a weird transparent mallet with colored balls inside. Anyway, she wants only one thing : to go home, and doesn’t care about anything else in the plot.
Myoue, one-third of the triad in charge, who took the three siblings under his wing (although the property damage exasperates him a bit). Doesn’t think she’s a reincarnation either.
Yase, the second third of the triad in charge (the third one’s a bit of a non-entity), and the big proponent of the “reincarnation” theory. She really wants to make it work, despite Koto’s obvious disinterest.
By the way, the original Koto was the mother of the triad.
Rounding up the cast are a couple of law enforcement people who are ordered to stand down and can only bemusingly watch Koto and her brothers’ rampage.
Production Values
The selling point here is clearly the demented and hyperactive animation… so it’s then quite a shame for it to air over an eyebleed-o-vision webcast. There was clearly a lot of money spent on this, but it’s wasted on this format. The eventual BluRay should look great, though.
Overall Impression
I have watched a short anime tour-de-force with impressive production values that managed to skillfully and unobtrusively weave exposition about its rich world into an enthralling chase scene. But that was Noiseman Sound Insect, more than a decade ago ; Kyousogiga clearly aims for something similar but doesn’t quite manage it.
I think the problem is that it’s so wrapped up in its energy that it forgets to deliver crucial exposition (Koto is stranded in a parallel workd and wants to go back !) properly until the halfway point ; the stakes are thus muddled for far too long for me to really care. One-note characters are kind of a given in this type of exercise, but they fail to entertain much even on that level.
It’s a shame, because there was potential for a fun mindless piece here ; but the screenplay definitely needed a few rewrites to streamline it and make it more compelling. As it is, it’s just kinda there.
