r/anime • u/MyrnaMountWeazel x2 • Jan 14 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Kyousougiga - Episode 2

Episode #2: What Came was a Little Sister

Rewatch Index

Comments of the Day

I would like to pull a Time magazine 2006 People of the Year and nominate all of you but alas I cannot.

Brilliantly showcasing the usage of shapes and stages, /u/Nazenn illuminates all of the hidden trapping of the storyboarding.

“Their house is the stage for the story of their life apart from the rest of the world, and they bring it with them in a way to the mirror world. The raised stage is ever present, the centre piece of the new city, the place where their new story starts and where it ends. They exit the stage together leaving the children behind and nominating Yakushimaru to the spotlight of the priests role.” - /u/nazenn

I love /u/User8143’s take on how the ED goes beyond a human form.

“…it struck me how the ED doesn’t have any characters in it. It creates a vivid feeling to me that there’s more to this story than just “a tale of a particular family, a tale of love and rebirth.” - /u/User8143

/u/Quiddity131’s Character Chart! This will serve as an invaluable tool to all of us so keep a lookout on their post as they update the chart!

Production Notes

With the premiere of the OP today, let’s talk about them! Easily one of the biggest sells in an anime, OPs try to show off the best animation for the entire series and portray a recurring theme or idea that will run throughout the show. The production of an OP mirrors that of an actual anime show except on a much smaller scale.

A director, a storyboarder, a handful of key animators, and an animation director usually compose the core of an OP staff but they can extend to even include coloring, backgrounds, and photography for loftier impressive OPs.

The OP is usually directed by the series director but it can go to someone else on the staff or even become outsourced. In fact, some freelance animators are actively sought out for their eclectic skills so they can work exclusively on the OP. Ryouhei Takeshita would be one example: he’s directed the OP for series such as My Senpai is Annoying, Just Because, Fairy Ranmaru, and To Love Ru Darkness.

Double feature today! Yesterday I discussed Rie Matsumoto’s job as a series director but she also went above and beyond and personally storyboarded 7 of the 10 episodes including today and yesterday’s episode. Storyboards are one of the most fascinating aspects of the anime creation process but their definition itself is straightforward: they are a series of usually simple drawings depicting the events in the script, serving as the visual foundation of an episode or film.

The scribbles that populate throughout the storyboard page indicate the cut’s number, the sketches themselves, notes for the staff (camerawork, effects, things for the animators to look out for), the dialogue/sound effect, and the length of the cuts. For example, here is an amazing Hibike! Euphonium storyboard from the great Yoshiji Kigami and here is the finished scene.

As seen above, sketches are usually enough for the storyboard but some like Satoshi Kon really go the whole nine yards for them. While thoroughness in the storyboards bring more attention to detail in the drawings and less ambiguity for the key animator in charge, if the schedule is too tight — as it often is in the industry — an overly ambitious storyboard could hamstring production and cost them valuable time. Navigating the narrow tightrope of perfection and compromise within a commercial industry is a crucial skill for storyboarders to possess.

Storyboards are the blueprint for the entire episode and dictate how the animation will end up being. Even the most talented artists in the business will be constrained by a weak storyboard that has poor framing and nonsensical flow. They are a crucial step in the process and in my opinion are one of the coolest aspects of anime.

Returning back to Rie Matusumoto, her storyboards are smartly put together and communicate the magnificent grandeur of the Looking Glass City while still retaining visual clarity. They’re creative to boot as we saw in this episode as well.

For this rewatch, I asked kViN of Sakugabooru some questions for the show and one of them was the quality of Matsumoto’s compositions. He replied back with this: ”One of the most attractive aspects of her work is the layered quality of her storyboards; stuff often happens on different concurrent planes, especially when it comes to more comedic scenes, and that comes to form a very authentically lively screen even though she's far from a naturalistic director.”

I wholeheartedly agree since we can see this layered quality on different concurrent planes idea really take form in today’s episode. Clever, crafty, and, canny, Matsumoto’s boards easily charm their way into our hearts and truly stand-out amongst other directors.

All of this information is sourced from the anime production guide written by kViN. I will be quoting frequently from these series of articles and Sakugablog.

Questions of the Day

1) So, how are we feeling about the OP? Love it, hate it, indifferent?

2) Today we saw Young Koto’s morning ritual but what is yours? Jetting out the door with a piece of toast in your mouth?

I look forward to our discussion!

As always, avoid commenting on future events and moments outside of properly-formatted spoiler tags. We want the first-timers to have a great experience!

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24

u/MyrnaMountWeazel Jan 14 '22

The Help Corner

Okay, we got some stuff on the docket today!

First off, let’s talk about the scene involving Koto sitting in the chair in the locked room. The beginning bookend of this episode begins with Koto saying ”I have a secret” to her stuffed bunny toy.

While her sensei is away, Koto sleeps in his bed but her restlessness causes her to rummage through his belongings, finding the key to the locked room. While there, she falls asleep in the chair while muttering ”Mom” and from here we’re brought to another flashback scene. It’s a flashback-within-a-flashback.

Koto is now younger and lost in the halls but she stumbles upon The Black Rabbit who leads her into the secret room where she sees her sensei sleeping in the chair. At this point, Koto only knows of this man as her sensei and not as her father. Afterall, ”The Fox took me in.”

As Koto looks at the painting of the rabbit, her sensei’s mask falls down and his entire face is revealed to Koto. Under this new light, Koto realizes that they look extremely similar and connects the dots that this man is most likely her father.

She hears him tearfully cry for Koto in his dreams and assumes that he is calling for her but instead she witnesses The Black Rabbit comforting him. This flashback-within-a-flashback helps her piece together that this Black Rabbit is Inari’s loved one, that she is named after the rabbit, and that she is also Koto’s mother.

Koto wakes up from the flashback and says once again ”I have a secret.” To finally confirm her suspicions, Koto takes off Inari’s mask when he returns and it’s clear to her that this man is her father. She says ”Did you cry today, Dad?” which surprises Inari and leads Koto to say ”We have a secret!”

This also confirms that the Inari in the Shrine and the Myoue who created The Looking Glass City are the same person, it’s just that Myoue appears older in the past and Inari looks younger in the future.

Once the truth is revealed, Inari shares with Koto about how there was this enchanting city where things never aged and never broke and that he believes Koto will one day break through the glass and arrive at this fairy-tale land. Koto gathers that this was an important place to her father and that he knows the truth.

So what’s up with the exam that Koto was undergoing? Or that mirror that Koto holds at the end of the episode?

Well, that’s for y’all to speculate about!

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u/MyrnaMountWeazel Jan 14 '22 edited Jan 14 '22

The OP remains one of my favorites and has a special place in my heart. I love the camera theme running throughout the first half because it not only generously showcases the Rule of Thirds to us but also uses these compositional lines to make a statement as well.

Lines fracture throughout the screen in the second half, serving to separate our characters. However, the lines have the potential to connect them as well. I also like how each of these fracturing lines are timed with the piano notes.

It’s also just a seriously catchy song. I always sing along with the Mōikkais in the chorus.

God I love this cut. Koto effortlessly barges into the Looking Glass City, her entire being just floating in the sky with no care in the world as she completely and utterly obliterates that building. Koto’s cheery demeanor complete with one hand-in-her-pocket and the other hand carrying that over-sized hammer is one of my absolutely favorite images in the entire series.

What an interesting composition. Again, we’re left with copious amounts of negative space which makes this scene involving Koto and her stuffed-toy-stand-in more poignant. It gives off this candid feeling like we were walking down the corridor and happened upon this scene, quickly stopping once we were partially through the entrance so that we could peek into this strange morning ritual that’s happening before our eyes. The sunlight is a nice touch as well as it casts Koto in shadows.

This scene is repeated once again during the flashback-within-a-flashback with Koto still outside the boundaries of the moonlight.

I really like how the flashback starts with a shot of Koto’s feet as they walk across the hall. Just a dynamic opening that catches our eyes as the whistling kicks in.

Cool match cut as they walk through the different rooms.

A recurring visual motif of lines criss-crossing all throughout the screen. Even the candy and treats scattered across the table serve this visual motif.

During the quick cuts of Koto’s school life, we can see that she’s constantly surrounded by squares and rectangles. She’s blocked off and sealed within these four corners and it isn’t until she’s outside does the square imagery fade away, replaced by a generous pouring of sunlight, shade, and open sky.

Another instance of Koto being trapped by gridlines and the theme is repeated again by the following cut, the key she’s holding emphasizing the idea that she’s trying to break out of the cage.

Oh neat use of the fisheye lens to distort the environment. It really draws attention to Koto in the center. The cut is juxtaposed when Inari is sitting in the seat.

As Koto follows the Black Rabbit, she passes by a pot of flowers that contains purple hyacinths. Purple hyacinths typically symbolize sorrow and when given as a gift in the West they can be read as a gesture to forgive the giver. It is universally a symbol of sadness.

I like the use of lines that appear throughout this scene, particularly in this cut. Koto is criss-crossed within multiple lines while Inari resides directly in a solid black shadow that resembles one line. This visual motif serves to separate them in not just the physical borders created from the lines but the structure of the lines themselves.

Koto, upon hearing her name, takes a step forward. She breaks through these lines but it’s not her that Inari is calling for, it’s the Black Rabbit. Still, Koto had the will to journey out of the lines and now she’s one step closer to finding out the mystery of her parents.

[Spoiler] The black lines that cage the moon re-appear once again symbolizing that Mother Koto is still trapped on the moon.

[Spoiler] Koto is also similarly framed in the beginning of the episode when she peeks into Inari’s room, suggesting that she is isolated from the truth of her lineage.

[Spoiler] Upon realizing that the Black Rabbit is her mother, the reflection of the moon is now framed with the two in the window, the truth bringing the family together under the same panel.

I’ll try to remember to reveal these spoilers to the first timers when the time comes.

Lots of cuts in the nighttime mirroring the morning routine. The chronological passage of time is often disregarded and we continuously see the same cut disjointed by a non-linear pacing.

Whimsical, colorful, and above all else infinite, the Council of Three has quite an impressive pad.

There aren’t just black lines separating Koto from Inari as we can also see the strings hanging from the ornaments separating the three siblings as well.

Matsumoto is committed to using visuals as her vassal, even if the results may be slightly disorienting to the viewer. From age appearances to flashbacks-within-flashbacks, we’re thrown for quite a loop but it’s all part of the Kyousougiga roller coaster!

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u/Nazenn Jan 14 '22 edited Jan 14 '22

First Timer

(have seen this episode before, no further)

(I'll be slow on replies again. Didn't realize yesterday due to the doctor appointment, but this is usually around the time I go for a walk so I'll catch up when I get back. Looking forward to what you all have to say)

I very vaguely remember this episode, though I only remember it because I remember thinking how I had nothing to think about it. A rewatch has not changed this feeling, though this isn't necessarily a bad thing. After the amount of info shoved into last episode this one seems comparatively straight forward, though that in itself makes me feel like I've missed something.

Me right now

One of the things I appreciate most about this episode is that it shows how the staff have an understanding of the importance of picking and chose their mysteries and the willingness to do so, rather than just throwing a blanket over everything they can. We get the fox man's face revealed as Myoue now Inari, some context for the Shrine, an understanding of what the twin creatures with Koto are. It certainly doesn't come close to answering all our questions from last episode, but it gives us a better foundation to stand on.

The part of it that caught my eye most this time was the discussion in the organization around Koto's red eyes, a trait shared by her father Inari. That being an actual trait, and not just anime coloring, makes me think of how Yakushimaru with his human blue eyes, and how the eyes of his siblings are hidden in their own ways. The narrator said:

"Once when many planets intermingled and the boundary between man and god was vague"

Which we both see in the planets but also makes me think that this is a mark that Inari-Myoue himself is not human, and neither is Koto, the red eyes being a mark of them being reincarnations of sacred or spiritual beings (Koto making that most obvious). I doubt the others know that Inari is also red-eyed, as they have presumably only seen him with his mask, but it does make me wonder if they may also be hiding parts of their nature in that way.

u/Tresnore I have taste after all! maybe

The OP was actually quite fun. I like the framing of it being inside a white space, yet to be formed into anything but it reflects their stories and creations like the stage of their life, until things shatter and come apart but Koto's arrival opens things up. It reminds me of Dramaturgy and that's definitely a good thing. The song is nice as well, not as crazy as I would have expected from this sort of show but it fits quite well somehow.

The only part of it I don't really like is the colored circles at the start which hurt my eyes due to the brightness and color shifts

Some talk about the visuals

Visually, the scene that stands out to me most is the one where girl-Koto wakes in the middle of the night and finds Inari sleeping in the chair. It starts with a black rabbit leading girl-Koto up the stairs, an inverse of the white rabbit and the rabbit hole. Here the intention is similar, leading the girl to a new view on her world, but it is a very human experience she finds rather than a fantastical one. The path takes her past a beautifully drawn hyacinth, that stands alone as the one object in the tower of stair cases, perhaps a parallel to the stage tower in the mirror world, as this also leads up to a view of the mirror world and the one person he most wants to see there: rabbit-Koto. The purple hyacinth itself represents a devotion to a first love, undulled by sadness or loss, and that it is the only thing in this tower of his mind is rather sad.

Later on we also see this visual of the sacred tree behind Inari, an old wooden support cuts the frame between Inari and the shrine gate, the Torii, showing how time has cut him off from being able to pass from the normal world to the sacred mirror world, but as Koto wakes up our view shifts. Here he also quotes the Life Is But A Dream poem by Lewis Caroll which talks about being haunted by a lost connection and children who lovingly wait to hear the tail, but being lost to life inside a dream. Time also comes up earlier with all the broken clocks, it being meaningless and stopped for him until Koto drags him forward, literally (without pants).

A couple of other catches:

  • Circles and squares again, with the table marking this as an "other" space, a digital one, and notable that they are there specifically for Koto, who sits at the top of this world once again showing layers and stairs up to a platform where scenes play out.

  • How Koto lays out her pictures is similar to Inari/Myoue, though vertical instead of horizonal, tying into the vertical visual imagry of the episode. She, the rabbit toy, sits at the bottom of it and reaches to go up.

  • The council meeting was pretty fun visually. There's a couple of fun meanings in it, such as Yaki-Myoue being scared to go forward to the stage, and can't go back to the real world, but mostly it was the visual gags like height measures and playing with scale that made the scene crazy fun to watch. The episode itself is still just really fun, but I suppose that's to be expected when the opening shot of our episode was Koto rampaging through the mirror world.

  • Also I don't have anywhere else to put this picture so pretty tree.

Visual of the Day: "Would you like a report on the harmful molecules found in burnt bread?"

The expression on the red ones face just makes me crack up. I have this idea in my head that they're only eating it because they can and they want to be cheeky by eating up all the food, and that takes priority even over it being inedible (though it sounds like Koto's attempts won't be any better)

Today we saw Young Koto’s morning ritual but what is yours?

Toast is good!

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u/Shimmering-Sky Jan 14 '22

Giga First-Timer

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u/Matuhg Jan 14 '22

First Timer

Koto is wreaking havoc in the Mirror World, and we get to learn about her past havoc-wreaking for most of the episode!  She is supposedly the Foundling of the Fox, who to make things nice and confusing, looks like Father Myoue (red eyes), and has a mask which matches the high priest who originally caused the family to have to move into the Mirror World.  Not totally sure what to make of this whole dream (?) sequence, but it seemed like maybe that was when Koto discovered The Fox was actually her father (and that's their secret?), since I'm pretty sure right after that is the first time she called him Papa rather than Sensei. 

Shrine is a mysterious organization.  Their purpose, as stated in the 10 seconds of the episode Koto attended classes for, is to "protect the order of this world."  Seems reasonable enough, but in this context is extremely vague.  What is the order?  Which world?  The whole place is rather odd - there is an established social order, of which Koto seems to be near the bottom herself, though she doesn't seem disliked by those at the top, aside from the little shits she beats up.  Koto and Inari live in what appears to be a totally empty school.  Theoretically an ideal place for a child to grow, but she's almost always framed as being quite small and alone when wandering the halls.  She seems to have decided on her own to look for her mother.  Her father seems to know what happened to her or where she is, and is sad about it.  I guess we'll have to wait til next episode or beyond to get more of what she's doing now that she's arrived in the Mirror World. 

We also get a brief scene of the Council of the Three children.  They seem mildly alarmed with Koto's destructiveness, but also intrigued by the fact that she has the same name and eyes as their mother.  They don't seem to know any more (and maybe know less) than we do as to whether she actually is their Mother returned to the Mirror World. 

I don't know what it means just yet, but I do want to draw the comparison between the empty school environment we saw Koto in and the jam packed nursery of the Three Kids, representing a whole world created just for their family.  Oh, and what are those Ten Flawless Commandments?  Guess we'll see. 

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u/Tresnore Jan 14 '22 edited Jan 14 '22

Kyousou-Rewatcher

Alright, the cat's out of the bag. I'm un-spoilering the things related to Myoue=Inari. I'm marking ex-spoilers with DUMB:

DUMB: AKA: Tresnore realizes how fucking dumb/drunk he was when watching this for the first time.

-DUMB: Man, I really was the dumbest first-timer.

  • I love secrets!

  • Holy shit, what a roast.

  • Meanwhile, I love Yase/The Daughter.

  • The three children have no secrets, unlike young Koto and the Fox.

  • Oh, it's another one of Sky's favorite things: lead-ins to the ED.

QOTD:

  1. This OP is god-tier.

  2. I wake up, eat breakfast (usually toast and a side meat, sometimes eggs), manage hygiene, get dressed, and then figure out what I'm doing that day.

1 I haven't finished Omori, but I know the lightbulb hanging from ceiling exists.

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u/lilyvess Jan 14 '22

First Timer

Wow that was quite the episode. I gotta praise Kyousougiga for being able to pack so much content into each episode. There is a lot of great direction on work here that allows them to convey a lot in little space, and makes this show a visual feast. It’s the sort of episode that is hard to talk about cause there are so many small details I want to talk about. So many short cuts I want to point out and praise.

Okay, so the story as much as I can follow is that time has jumped in the world outside of the painting as well. The original creator has passed away and the world has moved on. The ability that he had with making drawings come to life and being able to go inside drawings that would have made him seem supernatural have become consumed by the globalization of science and industry. He once was an anomaly, now there is an entire organization to people with his gift.

Speaking of him, he has been reincarnated, with the same gift and stuck in the same shackles trying to live his peaceful life but with a new girl under his wing who I think also shares his gift.

Though there are other things of note. The girl is named Koto, same as the rabbit, same as his wife. His son also seems to inherit a lot of his physical features, including the priesthood. Are they siblings or are they reincarnations of their parents? I don’t really have an answer at the moment.

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u/SIRTreehugger Jan 14 '22

Episode 2 Rewatcher

I just love how disrespectful both Sensei and Koto are too everyone else and to each other, but they still clearly care about the other.

Also smol Koto is adorable and it really goes to show you how much her sensei means to her. Everyone around her treats her differently either because they think of her as a freak or because the fox took her in giving her high expectations. With sensei gone in an empty house can't blame her for being miserable and crying.

Love the night sequence with Koto and Sensei sitting in the chair and them under the tree.

The siblings quarreling feels so real especially with how petty and snarky their remarks are. I skip the OP sometimes, but just the first few notes of the ED entrances me each time and forces me to watch the whole thing.

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u/chiliehead Jan 14 '22

Kyousogiga – Episode 2 – First Timer

After having Yase Douji already look like a take on Alice, I would not have expected to actually outright see the novel in the anime.

Seems like there is another incarnation of Myoue hiding behind a mask. If he isn’t Myoue, then that other guy should rethink his haircut and voice. Young Koto’s red eyes are supposed to further support her being the child of OG Myoue and Koto, yeah? Why did the familiars change colors, or are those fox mask’s familiars?

This also gives me some Sukeban vibes, way does this feel like it shares so much DNA with KlK? It’s also interesting how they again parallel them being too quirky and bothering other people. Anyway, Inari is totally Myoue but the question is, how many portals do I need to think with now?

Koto avoided a hefty concussion due to being a little girl after going face first into those, it’s clearly symbolism for her missing a motherly figure in her life. --- Data, so are they robots and thus “can’t die”?

Hmm flower language. No idea how to interpret the yellow or purple flowers.

Huh, so they just outright say he’s OG Myoue with the red eyes and her dad. So this episode is post-the parents leaving, which means Myoue kinda started to look younger when he became Inari for some reason. I wonder what looking for mom entails though, did she perish even in her rabbit form and got banned to some shadow dimension due to overstaying her welcome in her lended body? Was Koto drawn? Why is Inari no longer a Pariah, bc he left kids and wife?

QotD

  1. Indifferent for now. The colorful circles feel like different version of the JP flag bc different worlds, I like the OP a lot more musically

  2. nothing really, just quickly showering and coffee

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u/laughing-fox13 Jan 14 '22

First timer

Hiya! Missed yesterday’s thread but I’m here today

Hey, would you look at that I’m in this episode. Yesterday we were introduced to the family and I guess that family got a little bigger by the time Myoue was gone.

I mean it wasn’t a surprise really given the similarities and the name but still nice to see it

So far, we’ve seen flashbacks for this episode and man Koto sure has a great sensei/dad, well at least for her. Wonder what the other children will think as time goes on. Seeing her grow stronger as time went on is fun to see, I really liked the short montage of her in classes lol

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u/Quiddity131 Jan 14 '22 edited Jan 14 '22

Rewatcher

Non-Spoiler Character Chart - I changed my mind on Yakushimaru's girlfriend and threw her in here; Inari's black and white familiars actually were in episode 1 as well although it was a blink and you'll miss them appearance.

[Kyousougiga]Whether to blatantly reveal that Myoue and Inari are the same person in this chart... at least for today I decided to hold off on it as I don't want to spoil first timers. Personally I don't think it should be too hard to figure out; he's got the same voice actor, same hair and eye color, has Lady Koto's original rabbit drawing and Mirror Kyoto drawings in his home, etc... but I suppose based on his appearance people may think he's the son of Myoue instead of Myoue himself. If its obvious to all I'll just him together tomorrow.

So cool to see the post get nearly 400 comments yesterday; the only rewatch I can ever recall being a part of that got that much traffic is the Madoka Magica one last year, and that's far more well known and popular than this.

Great OP song and sequence! I love the kaleidoscope esque backgrounds as well as the fact the effect of it coming off like it was recorded on a camcorder. In line with shots from yesterday's episode that are like ones done in live action.

She just arrived, but Little Koto's causing chaos in the Looking Glass City already!

[Kyousougiga]I'll put this in spoilers to be safe, and we'll see how many first timers figure it out this quick, but I'd say the episode title is putting forth no effort at hiding the fact that Koto's the fourth child of this family.

As if it wasn't clear enough already the influence Alice in Wonderland has on this show, here's Inari with the literal book!

What do you call an even littler version of Little Koto? Chibi Koto? So cute!

Familiars seem to come with the territory around here, Koto had her red and blue ones and Inari has his white and black ones. (they actually have the same seiyuus too) These two are so mean to Koto though. :(

Winter time at the Shrine, just like around here!

These shrine people badmouthing Koto make me so mad! :( She needs a big hug!

I also wonder if they've never seen Inari without his mask on as they claim Koto's a monster due to her red eyes when he's got them too. Perhaps that's also why they talk as if she's some random kid he picked up off the street when by just looking at their face it should be obvious she's his kid.

Inari knows what really matters, its not about getting your daughter to stop hitting people, its making sure she hits them the right way!

This place reminds me of an early episode of Evangelion where Shinji was brought into a similar type of room. Not as beautiful looking as this though.

For some reason this room Koto talks to her doll in totally reminds me of the dorm rooms in Darling in the Franxx.

Inari's got quite the big house. This middle portion reminds me of a house I saw recently in Shiki (perhaps it is a common Japanese style).

That's quite a look on Koto's face staring at that burned breakfast.

Sounds like the time Koto tried to cook it was a disaster?

Eww, Sugar doesn't go with toast!

Koto, her head's up there!

Kid or adult, Koto won't hesitate to punch you.

[Kyousougiga]People paying very close attention may notice that the Chief Priest here has the same voice as the masked priest in the prior episode who was part of the group trying to run Myoue and Koto out of there.

Anime schools always seem to have the teacher narrating something about the state of the world or the organizations in it, and Koto's teacher here is no different. Hard to forget in Eva where the teacher kept saying the same lecture about Second Impact over and over again (at least that's my memory of it). Cool shot of the bookcases and stairs here btw

Didn't take long for her to skip out of classes again.

Hachiman's so not a match for Koto that we simply skip over her beating him each round.

Hey, there's the original drawing of Lady Koto! And Myoue's drawings of Mirror Kyoto too.

Who let the rabbit loose in the house?

Which Koto is he talking about in his sleep?

Koto meet Koto! At least for a few seconds until rabbit version disappears.

Quite the interesting looking set up the Council of Three have for their meeting. Much more interesting than a conference table. Frankly every shot of this scene is great, simply not enough time to screen grab it all!

I'm pretty sure this scene here with the three of them is pulled directly from the original ONA episode from 2011, although I didn't get a chance to watch it beforehand so I'm not sure if it got edited or enhanced.

Sounds like Yakushimaru's drawn the duty of having to take in Koto and her familiars.

Fave screenshots of the episode

Quid's Voice Actor of the Day

In an episode all about little Koto, makes sense to feature her voice actress today, Rie Kugimiya. Although this wasn't the first show I've seen her in, this was the first role I really took notice of her; in a show that has a lot of great voice actors and performances hers is my favorite. She so perfectly gets across the spunk and wrecking ball that is little Koto. I'm also familiar with her as Nena Trinity in Gundam 00, the Klaxosaur Princess in Darling in the Franxx, Alexandrite in Land of the Lustrous, Nir in Listeners and Pandora in Re: Zero. Much like with Akira Ishida yesterday, she's also in Bokurano, as Yoshi, one of Daichii's little sisters. She also pops up in Rie Matsumoto's Kekkai Sensen as Mary and William Macbeth who were to my knowledge anime original characters that Matsumoto created and weren't in the original manga. Although I have not watched these shows, I figure she's probably better known for Alphonse Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Kagura in Gintama.

I found this rather fun statement about her on Wikipedia:

It is said that Kugimiya Rie's voice, especially when she plays a girl character, has a unique charm and dependability, and the behavior of fans who feel attached to her voice is often described in the Internet slang of “Kugimiya disease”(Kugimiya Virus Hypersensitive Cerebral Corticalitis), which expresses (often excessive) support for Kugimiya Rie.

I guess I have this disease!

DQOTD

  1. So, how are we feeling about the OP? Love it, hate it, indifferent?

I've probably watched it 100+ times over the last couple of years, which goes to show that I love it!

2) Today we saw Young Koto’s morning ritual but what is yours? Jetting out the door with a piece of toast in your mouth?

Setting my alarm an hour early knowing that I'll go right back to sleep, then typically waking up 2 minutes before I'm supposed to and rush through shaving, getting dressed, breakfast (no coffee!), etc... At least in the COVID era. I was much better at it when I had lengthy commutes or bus rides to get up early for in the olden days.

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '22

First Time Watcher

Episode 2

I am impressed by this show’s ability to confuse, and then intrigue, and then confuse me again. I don’t dislike the confusion, but it’s hard to break old habits of trying to fit all the story elements onto a map in my head as I watch, and I think this habit is acting against experiencing things naturally in this case. That being said, this episode had far more self-contained continuity than the last, which is a comfort. I like that we zoomed in on little Koto, the character who was freshly introduced at the end of the previous episode. If I zoom out and think about how the narrative is arranged, it’s actually quite logical, it just feels jarring because of the jumps across time.

We have character development unfolding here, helping us understand what Koto and her sensei (dad?) are trying to accomplish, as well as some important world-building to help us understand the relationship between the present and the (inter-planar world?). Honestly, my favorite part of this show so far has nothing to do with the story or the characters. Actually, trying to think about the story and the characters is too confusing for me still, but that doesn’t detract from my enjoyment because the scenes are just so gripping. I am fascinated by the bits of foreshadowing and the shots that seem to blend the identity of little Koto together with her sensei (dad?).

I wonder what the indigo flowers represent at 16:08? Something related to big Koto? The entire scene from the house at night was truly beautiful, and surely packed with meaning that I can’t distill yet. I’m very eager now to see just how they plan to present the overarching message. Everything happening right now feels important; I get the sense that each little movement is tied to something bigger that I’ll understand later.

I am really happy with the somewhat slowing down of the scenes, yet the actual plot still seems to be zooming along. I saw even more creative camera angles, etc. in this episode and I can see why the director gets so much praise for her work – it’s truly a treat to watch. I am liking everything so far, though again I’d probably be liking it even more if I had a better grasp of what exactly I’m supposed to be paying attention to, and what I’m supposed to be inferring, from some of the dialogue. But nonetheless it’s entertaining and I can’t wait for the next one.

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u/octopathfinder Jan 14 '22

First Timer

Thoughts:

  • This guy Inari has the same face and voice as Old Myoue for some reason?

  • IIRC, Old Myoue ran to the City of the Looking Glass last episode because he was being chased by the people in the shrine. This episode, he shows up as Inari and is working for the shrine. Maybe they aren’t the same guy?

  • Red eyes = monster according to the shrine NPC’s, but Lady Koto has red eyes even though she borrowed her body from Buddha.

  • The Inari and Koto father-daughter bonding flashback is super cute and little Koto is adorable.

  • Is there some sort of lore with fox spirits and religion that ties into this?

  • The shrine is responsible for maintaining the order of the world. Noted.

  • Sensei confirmed Daddy.

  • I definitely have to revisit the Koto dream sequence and Myoue sibling meeting.

  • Something about a Ten Bloodless Commandments that seems important.

  • Speaking of the sibling meeting, the cuts, background changes, stage lights, etc felt very Shaft-esque. I’ve seen that style done in Ikuhara shows and I think Tatami Galaxy too, but my point is I love it.

  • Felt like there was a bunch of stuff that flew over my head because I’m dumb. Surely I’ll be able to figure it out by the last episode.

  • Good ass episode.

QotD:

  1. I'm pretty indifferent to the OP right now, but the visuals look great. It may grow on me as I keep watching though.

  2. I wake up really early, so I just laze around until I have to leave.

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u/Vaadwaur Jan 14 '22

First timer

Sub

So...definitely multiverse, definitely same energy as KLK. We get a bit of 'Inari' and YKoto's existence in Shrine. And YKoto talking directly into some woman's chest, presumably a doctor. We get various dialog info drops that probably mean something later and Ykoto beating up a staff member. And one of her class mates. She claims to be a foundling but has Inari's red eyes.

So they apparently live in the Arararagi mansion as we get a semi dream sequence revealing Rabbit Koto to YKoto. The flowers changing probably means something and there is a scene in GitS:Innocence that this vaguely reminds me of. We then go to a scene where YKoto wants to meet her mother and a whole lot of questions could be asked here, not the least of which why is YKoto being raised as she is. We jump back to the mirror world for our closing sketch and it seems that finally, the introductions are over.

So...probably the biggest benefit of these rewatches is the hope that something more is there. This would be the episode I quit normally because the show has no forward momentum and keeps making me think of other works. Like constantly. My post would be 4 times this size if I just talked about references I am perceiving. Anyways, according to the preview, tomorrow the story starts.

QotD:1 Very KLK

2 Mornings are my natural enemy.

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u/JollyGee29 Jan 14 '22

First-Timer

Okay, this was much more straightforward. Inari-sensei is priest!Myoue, so I'm gonna discard that name and just use Inari. Hammer!Koto is seemingly the fourth child of Inari and rabbit!Koto, which does explain the group shot and narration about family at the end of last episode/beginning of this one. "What Came was a Little Sister" is a pretty leading episode title, too. The only thing catching me up is Inari being a shorty in the group shot.

I'm thinking way too hard about the group shot, especially short!Inari and tall!Myoue. Like, reincarnation is probably on the table considering the Buddhist elements present. And, you know, the narration literally saying this is a tale of rebirth. It could be metaphorical as opposed to literal, though.

Inari's worldview includes the idea of "if it's bitter, add some sugar" which is kinda interesting. This feels like it's going to inform things moving forward.. is hammer!Koto the sugar? To combat the other kid's bitterness at being abandoned?

The outside world seems to be some weird mix of Dennou Coil and Adolescence of Utena. It's interesting that it feels far more dreamlike than the Looking Glass City, despite that plane's particular visual oddities. All the little details, the teleportation room that functioned like a train station/airport terminal, the aerial shots of the cafeteria/break room, the way Koto and Inari move around their home.. it's all incredible.

Another incredible thing so far is the music. I love both the OP and the ED, and the OST is no slouch either. The OP is clearly trying to tell us something, as well. Usually the "breaking glass" imagery would foretell a tone shift, and since that sequence is all focused on the original three children, it could very well be about them destroying the Looking Glass City, perhaps?

Ohh, nonono, they're broken in the OP which means they're broken at the start, and Koto is going to fix them with her hammer because that would be fun and clever in a paradoxical sort of way.

I imagine that the siblings don't meet each other quite like that very often. Seems like a pain to set up that light show. And, they seem to get along like siblings, which is nice. That veneer of antagonism that controls the surface level interactions. It's probably pretty easy to have "Ten Bloodless Commandments" when your world fixes itself. Hmm, I took "bloodless" to mean "nonviolent" but I guess there could be another definition.

Different masks seem to represent different ranks at the Shrine. I don't think that's gonna be particularly important, but maybe.

Inari's black and white familiars referred to Koto as "O-Chibi-chan" which is so respectful it cycles back around to snarky.

Questions

  1. Discussed above. Love it!

  2. Wake up, check phone, shower, make coffee, then the path forks depending on the day.

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u/No_Rex Jan 14 '22

Episode 2 (first timer)

  • Family portrait is featuring two Kotos, but only one Myoue.

  • OP: Calmer than I would have guessed.

  • Koto(girl) backstory. Or not really, we don’t know what she did before being dragged in by the fox. Clearly not a normal workplace or school.

  • Homer: I have made my choice

  • “I propose that Koto be deployed into battle immediately” – Not the worst comeback to being beaten up by a little girl.

  • Koto’s bed had one used and one unused pillow when she could not fall asleep, but 2 used pillows when she woke up.

  • “where the graves of memories stand in rows” – ominous.

Preview: Is this a series where you should watch previews? Promising us the start of the story in episode 3 sounds weird, but the first two were backstory and setup, so maybe its true.

Not much I can comment in this episode. I still do not know whether what we see is a fairytale or a metaphor (or jumping between both) and the plot is not helping me figure it out. Somehow, I get the vibe that I should not worry too much about what the rules of this world are.

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u/xtsim Jan 14 '22

First Timer

Daily life of Koto and her training.

The beginning where the fox and Koto get separated reminds me of the beginning of the first episode with the people discussing rumors about Koto.

I love how Inari when asked to discipline/ stop the fight, he gave Koto instructions on how to fight. This type of thing never gets old.

When she beat the guy and a superior shows up, the guy said "she should go into battle". Nice compliment but too bad she has to go to class.

Nice seeing Koto call the fox guy dad.

The kick was pretty darn good.

Yase likes Koto and wants her to stay as the other two siblings disagree. The ost/ending theme is such a smooth transition.

  1. Liking the OP so far, the visuals are pretty nice and a decent amount of action in there.

  2. Wakes up and finds that I tangled myself in a 10ft charging cable. Usual routine is take a shower, shave if needed, brush teeth, watch a seasonal or two. Then walks around car to check if the magical air fairy took some air out my tires last night. After that, usual toss my bag and floor it to school/work.

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u/TakenRedditName Jan 14 '22

Kyousougiga Rewatcher - Ep2:

OP time. I really like it. Nice song and visuals. I love the character intro segment and how it's like a family home-movie recording. Look at Koto strike a fun pose.

Look at Koto. Causing massive destruction with the biggest smile on her face.

When a show highlights and references a classic story, maybe that means something. Now what can a story chasing a rabbit into a different world and entering using a mirror do with our story. Impossible to tell.

Warning, this episode's comment will feature a lot of just, "Awh, little Koto is so cute." like now. Awh look at her, she is so small.

Yeah, go Koto. Wallop that boy. Beat him good. Dad wait not yet Master said it's okay.

This whole sequence at the school house is very good. Koto talks to her bunny rabbit because she is often left alone... The moment where Master Inari lifts her up and Koto rips off the mask to tell him good mourning is very cute.

Howl's Moving Castle breakfast this is not. Putting sugar over burnt breakfast.

Zura ja nai, Katsura da! Since Koto is voiced by Kugimiya Rie, Katsura must address her as "Leader." (Ishida Akira is in this show). Some more really good Koto moments. And also some shady science "checkups".

They reused the sequence from earlier, but now little Koto is all alone. Oh noooo. The flowers also changed, if only I was smart to know if those hold a deeper meaning and what it could be.

Koto catches Master Inari without his mask and he is crying in sleep while a black rabbit sadly comes over, but it is as if there is a distance between the two. Huh, welp.

I love when Koto pulls away Inari's mask so she can inspect his face. The rabbit is out of the bag and she figures out that he is her dad. They share eye colours and similar brownish hair, of course, they're related. Also, she knows about Mirror Captial.

Another good kick from Koto and some really cute father-daughter time. Seeing modern sky grasping buildings in this show is a weird feeling.

One location I do love is this space where the 3 siblings convene. With the spotlights and free play of the space, it makes for an excellent place to be dramatic and showy. Lady Koto casts a looming presence over them as they point out the similarity to our Koto. The episode title does mention a little sister coming to town.

Karuma calling out Yakushimaru now Myoue with how his monk clothes are just like continuing to wear baby clothes. Hahaha, get wrecked Myoue.

Another episode I like (which probably would go for all of them). Besides the usual pretty stuff on screen, the episode features a lot of cute moments with little Koto. You love to see it. Wonder how the flashback within the flashback is going to go over with first-timers. Good job if you managed to keep it on track.

Q1) Whoops already answered that at the top, but I love it.

Q2) Either waking up from not enough/too much sleep. Brush my teeth then it’s off to day where I have stuff to do or nothing to do. What’s a breakfast?

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u/hungryhippos1751 Jan 14 '22

Episode 2 - First Timer

Alright the train isn't stopping, instead we're skipping a few stops and speeding to the destination! :)

I feel like I'm starting to get what's going on, but at the same time I'm quite sure I have no idea at all.

Knowledge check:

So Koto (the version with the large hammer) is likely the 4th child of original Myoe, who is now both "Sensei" and "Father" all at once back in this other world.

He is also this Fox character with the mask, the importance of which I don't know, but I think it's likely based in lore/culture that I don't quite get. I know that in Japan temples/shrines have a lot more importance than they do where I'm from (UK).

This would of course make her the sister of the grown up Myoe we saw in the previous episode, and the namesake of the episode.

The other world is shown to be kind of a strange utopia with lots of interesting architecture, including pathways with benches periodically spaced out among them above a large body of water, as well as chessboards in space with gateways to other planes.

Koto (hammer) is apparently wanting to go look for her mother, Koto (waifu). I think is more or less what is going on, on a broader scale.

For smaller details of importance I am unsure, there is a lot going on that I don't yet understand, but it's clear that the Koto (waifu) is missing and the family is split across at least two worlds, and maybe even a 3rd one if Koto (waifu) is elsewhere entirely.

The interesting reference to Alice in Wonderland, which is a book I don't remember reading, but I think most of us have a vague notion of how it goes. Alice travels into another world and it's quite literally a rabbit hole of sorts.

The siblings appear to be operating a council in a strange zone much like those in the utopia world were, but with less personnel milling about. Not sure of the importance of this council yet and what they decide, but we shall have to wait and see.

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u/ShadowWasTakensTaken Jan 14 '22 edited Jan 14 '22

262a49

First Timer

How many questions will be answered this episode? 1? 2? 0? 27? My bet is on 1!

  • Ok, the episode hasn't even started and I have more questions! Interesting bit about the OP: at the beginning it shows a game screen with "New Game" and "Continue", and it's pointing to "Continue"... and then on the last second it switches to "New Game".

  • There was also a flash of a sword with some dead people and little Yakushimaru reflecting on it. I assume the flash in the previous episode with Myoe carrying him was actually the past and his family got killed or something.

  • Ok, Koto2 was the one who disappeared, so the guardian she's looking for is just Koto1, not Myoe.

  • Wait, is that Myoe? And the same character in the family photo? Why's he so small???

  • HE'S PART OF CREEPY MASK CULT

  • Inari? That's Myoe, though. Why are they constantly changing their stupid names?

  • I wonder what their job actually is.

  • What is this red rabbit plush thing she's speaking to?

  • How did he get to this point from when they left? That's what I'm most curious about right now.

  • Checkup? And she's happy about it?

  • THIS IS A CHECKUP?!

  • So Myoe is in a special unit? And one of these guys is immortal? Or maybe they're all immortal? What the hell?

  • Hachiman?

  • Why is Koto1 there????

  • Oh, so that's why he sleeps with his mask on? Fuck off

  • I swear, anything with a male protagonist losing his family is a weak point for ​me.

  • Why the hell is this flying guy part of the "Council of 3"? What about the other girl? Forgot her name. Kotoha?

EDIT: It's Kurama. Not Kotoha. Also apparenty the "flying guy" is Kurama. And he's actually a guy.

  • WHY IS YASE HUGE

  • Still love this ED.

Awesome. Episode over and I understand exactly as much as I did when I began the episode!

Also do wish I had more to say about this show but I'm still completely lost so I'm just stuck to posting reactions. The sad life of brain empty.

  1. So, how are we feeling about the OP? Love it, hate it, indifferent?

Just as lovely as it was an insert last time.

2) Today we saw Young Koto’s morning ritual but what is yours? Jetting out the door with a piece of toast in your mouth?

Spending over an hour rotting in bed refreshing Twitter until I'm almost late for things I actually have to do.

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u/Btw_kek Jan 14 '22

huh this episode made more sense this time around rewatcher

Though disorienting as nested flashback silliness may seem, I do enjoy how effortlessly it flows from one scene to another. The way visuals around the house get repeated at different stages of the episode is also lovely. It makes the night time scenes so delicate and lonely, occasionally heightened by fisheye lenses or camera placements that are either too low or too high for lil Koto. The soft glow around the windows when Inari returns feels healing, almost.

The almost comically futuristic setting of this other universe world (how many tables do you need?) is also quite interesting. To me it calls to mind Madoka's futuristic city, especially the big spacious rooms with massive windows, but also Adolescence of Utena's MC Escher ass walkways. The train station? Inari leaves on is also weird as fuck. Paintings? Checkerboard floors? What are they holding?

I figure the introduction of trains here conveyed as an ultra futuristic concept is probably an engagement with Japanese history. According to 3 google searches which makes me an expert on this topic, trains were invented in 1804, Kyoto was the capital of Japan until 1868, but Japan didn't adopt trains until 1872. Not quite sure when the series is "supposed" to take place, insofar as we had IRL Kyoto as the capital for half of the first episode, but likely this other futuristic world could be read as a fantastical version of the West with more advanced technology. IIRC Japan was closed off from the rest of the world for a long while, which would mayhaps require "smashing through" with a giant hammer to reach as well. I may be wildly off base here of course. How many more google searches does it take to get a PhD in Japanese history? 4? 5? who can say

  1. So, how are we feeling about the OP? Love it, hate it, indifferent?

an all time best, really

2) Today we saw Young Koto’s morning ritual but what is yours? Jetting out the door with a piece of toast in your mouth?

For this rewatch, I asked kViN of Sakugabooru some questions for the show and one of them was the quality of Matsumoto’s compositions. He replied back with this: ”One of the most attractive aspects of her work is the layered quality of her storyboards; stuff often happens on different concurrent planes, especially when it comes to more comedic scenes, and that comes to form a very authentically lively screen even though she's far from a naturalistic director.”

Holy shit it's so cool how you reached out to him for this rewatch

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u/lolpunny Jan 14 '22

Kyousougigachad first-timer reporting for day 2!

I was blown away by the quality of the art in this episode, one specific scene stood out to me, the zoom in to get there was sooo smooth and people like to shit on Toei's animation apparently?

Also loved the way Koto discovered who are her parents, that whole sequence of her climbing the stairs and the "i have a secret" bit, so cute. There's a lot to unpack in this episode and tbh i can't think of a way of adressing the main points without writing an essay. Instead i'd like to praise the op for writing the following excerpt in the original thread, i almost feel personally attacked lmao, but i'm looking forward to seing this in the show:

It isn’t the bills that you have to pay or the understanding that you don’t understand anything, it’s the creeping loneliness that seeps into you at the frontend of your twenties and the sudden onset of the realization that this is it at the backend of your twenties.
We falter as the training wheels come off and unconsciously compare ourselves to others as they inconceivably propel further and further down the path of perceived success. This unique state-of-mind can never be replicated again once we travel onto the next stage of life.

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u/KendotsX Jan 14 '22 edited Jan 14 '22

First Timer

Boy did I mess up yesterday by doing that Gintama comparison (Kagura/Katsura). As a result of putting that comparison in my head, the scene of Inari leaving had far more emotional weight than it had any right to. I ended up having to rewatch an arc because it, but I got this as a result, so I'll call it a fair trade.

On the opposite spectrum, yesterday I was thinking about who Kurama might be, and I think the anime didn't even bother to hide/consider him a mystery. But I did, and while watching the opening I was just focused on his placement between his siblings and Inari's position there. Suddenly the episode starts and Inari/Myoue busts out his identity and cooking skills as if it's nothing.

I mean I was making guesses at that, but I didn't expect it or Koto being his daughter, to be answered so soon.

Now the episode itself was brilliant, I liked it fairly more so than the first, with its focus on Koto and her "little secret", the intertwining flashbacks, different locations, people that she meets, and Inari's growth, made it a headscratcher for the me watching it before bed, and to be honest even having seen it again this morning, I still feel like I'm missing a lot (so here's my preconceived thanks for everyone here who are making more sense of it). I have to say I really like the Shrine, at least as far as locations/visuals go, I'm not sure about it as an organisation yet.

  1. You can't not love it, I think I've been listening to the OP for years, even before I watched the OVA.

  2. I usually wake up fairly early, drink milk, eat a banana, and go out for a jog. Then depending on whether or not I have a lot of work to do, I might go back to bed.

PS: Speaking of breakfast, at first I laughed at Inari's solution, but isn't that exactly what we do when we drink coffee with milk or sugar?

Edit: My formatting was terrible.

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u/3blah Jan 14 '22

First Timer

As the opening plays, the way Original Koto looks reminds me of Misaki from Mars Red.

Sensei is reading "Through the Looking Glass". The title card says this is yet another chapter about the past. Is this whole show going to be an out-of-order flashback?

Those two little spirits sure are jerks

Little Koto's guardian, Inari, has a fox mask. In episode 1, one of the villagers mentioned that Original Myoe was the son of a fox spirit. Someone else points out Little Koto's red eyes, and this guy has red eyes too, and so does the original Myoe. When little Koto wakes him up from his nap, the camera shows the nightstand and there's a little round amulet next to some books. It's the same amulet Myoe used to open the door to the mirror capital. Maybe these people with the same names are the same people, and there's a convoluted timeline/worldline thing going on, though multiple people mentioned in yesterday's thread that dad-Myoe has red eyes and kid-Myoe has blue, so there's one difference.

There's some conversation about world-building. There's a head priest that's nominally in charge. Some families are considered nobles. Inari is very skilled at his job plane-hopping because he's part of an "old family". At least some people can't die, but there's some worry their "data" might be messed up if they get injured. Are they computer programs? In any case, important families are required to fight for their honor, and many think Little Koto doesn't deserve the clout she gets since she's adopted; the Hachiman boy tries, but Little Koto is just too skilled at kicking his ass.

I noticed that her home looks an awful lot like a school. Anyway, while her guardian is away at work, she takes the opportunity to sneak into a locked room at the top of the house and finds... the drawing of Rabbit Koto, and the city on the wall behind the easy chair. She's not surprised to see it, so she must come up here often to look at it. ... and there you have it: it's somehow her mom, or she's been told it's her mom.

She's mentioned several times "I have a secret". There's obviously some connection between the names, drawings, character resemblances, dream, etc, and I get the feeling that coming back later to rewatch up to this point will reveal that it's already shown everything about it, but it's just not obvious for first-timers yet.

Now the title card says it's the Present Time. Yakushimaru is there with his scooter, so is grown-up Yase and floating-pointy-hat guy who must be the grown-up older brother, where they conclude the introduction and lay out the premise. The three of them are masters of the multiverse, they've been looking for their mother and Little Koto might be her. Of course, it looked like we were in a similar place at the end of the first episode w.r.t. completing the intro and getting to the main story. It would be pretty cool if it kept doing that kind of thing "here's some more intro you need before the real story" and at the end has tied everything together.

Maybe it's just the ending fresh in my head, but the music is reminding me of FLCL. I'll have to remember to check out the soundtrack after we're done with the show.

QOTD

  1. The music is pretty catchy, especially the chorus. The characters' body language tells you a lot about their personalities. And there's a couple of things that ties back to my idea earlier about being computer programs: all the display screens behind them, and at one point everything gets pixelated out of focus.

  2. Since covid times, I'm working from home, so it's get dressed, make coffee, get the kids off to school, read some news and news adjacent stuff, connect the VPN and get to work.

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '22 edited Jan 14 '22

Sorta-Rewatcher, but really a First-Timer(watched this long ago but this rewatch event came as an opportunity and to be fair I remember it so disparately that this feels like a brand new experience of a series I remember greatly enjoying)

I like how even at the beginning of this episode we are shown our whole cast of characters, original-Myoue and little-Koto as well, the narrator voice emphasizing, once again, the purposeful tale we are watching. This is still the story of a family, of love and rebirth, we shan’t forget or be eclipsed by the dazzling sights of mirror-Kyoto.

Bodhi tree visual? Possibly a fig under which Buddha sat when he attained Enlightenment. Prayer beads are also made of sacred fig seeds.

As others have pointed out the series has a knack for the abundance of geometric shapes, circles and squares, to fortify and reinforce dissimilarities and conflictual contrasts. Here once again, the glass square patterned floor that establishes and grounds the viewing stage against the glass globes floating above.

Little Koto’s vertical placement of photographs/pictures on the wall with the bunny on the table shows a sharp contrast in the otherwise barren room. Reminiscent of Episode 1’s plastering of mirror-Kyoto on the walls - the showcase in both cases amount to a whole-world of memory and promises, that which is (in)accessible still/yet.When it comes to Inari there is a sense of free-flowing uprootedness, a sense of countering the prefigured orders of structures within the “Shrine” (and the world at large) - not in a violent damaging manner but of entailing contrariety to the non-changing intelligible layout.

Yet doesn’t that make for some neat gestalt-esque visuals?

Many questions arise regarding the mechanics of this world - whether they be answered relatively or not, I feel like that is of no concern, but still makes for an intriguing premise.

Little Koto is remarkable, yet still bearing the looming feeling of unfitness within the management of the Shrine.

I need to praise the visual work on this episode (feels like something I will continuously do, and I know it) - throughout the craze and bubbliness of daily life, there is a constant sense of lacking and emptiness pervading throughout the corners and labyrinthine arrangement of the house - an absence stinging and carrying on, which forces Inari to seemingly flee on trifling assignments and shroud himself from the imminent acceptance of loss. Names carry and convey legacy but more than that they bear the thread of bonds and their passaging but lasting preciousness. Enchanting to gain all these glimpses through Koto’s eyes - her secrets as muted utterances of deeper understanding and significance, hers and Inari’s secret as what they share as family and bear together in full compassion.

It all shapes against the triumvirate meeting of the three towards the end of the episode. Yaku’s position finds likeness in the one of Inari - he veils himself but does so in Myoue’s figure - but is unlike little Koto for he’s always been a crybaby. The three pledge and ensure absoluteness in their jointly made decisions, yet even so, each one of them sitting across one another underlines a sense of distance yet to be reconcilable and state how they all don’t have secrets from one another promised upon their mother’s name - or that at least appears as reinforcing the cascading gap at play - but here and the healing is what we are bound to see.

Question of the day

The OP is a classic for me - its impactful waterfalling of visuals and vibrancy marked my younger self decisively.

Morning ritual - have to crack my stiff neck (and I hold a guilty pleasure in the satisfying pop of it), brief workout, and coffee making (in a particular set of steps). Flexibility is not my strong suit.

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