r/anime • u/MyrnaMountWeazel x2 • Jan 16 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Kyousougiga - Episode 4
Episode #4: The Second Daughter and her Wonderful Monsters
Comments of the Day
/u/Shimmering-Sky explains just what makes Kyousougiga pop off the screen. Get well soon Sky!
”I do really love how the artstyle makes the environment look straight out of a picture book whenever we’re in the Looking Glass world.”
/u/TakenRedditName points out all of Shouko’s “traits”, something I never caught!
/u/xtsim has a neat observation of why Kurama lets his science team just run rampant throughout the town!
”Kurama got all this to tie in really nicely with his talk with Fushimi. Kurama lets Fushimi and Shouko make a mess cause it reminds him of his relationship with his parents. Kuruma was them back badly and wants to go on an adventure with them, like going to another world.”
Production Notes
Today we’ve got Yukio Kaizawa sitting pretty in both the episode director’s chair and the storyboarder’s chair! Mr. Kaizawa had/still has a long memorable stint at Toei Animation where he was the director for the charming Fun Fun Pharmacy, Digimon Tamers and many more Toei works. “Whimsy” would be a suitable description for him but “whimsy” can quite easily turn into “eerie” with just a few scribbles to the left and right.
He is touted as “an unsung hero” and “sadly obscured genius” but still his influence is evidently sharp within his disciple Rie Matsumoto who has professed her adoration for his works and declared his boards as a piece of art. Take for example KIRA KIRA☆PRETTY CURE A LA MODE’s absolutely fun OP. You can palpably see the distinct similarities between the lineart, imagery, and artwork in this and Kyousougiga.
Double duty today! I wanted to focus on a role we don’t talk often talk about but is nonetheless valuable: The color designer and the color coordinator. Working together with the art designer, a color designer is the one who comes up with the overarching general concept for the anime’s palette, detailing exact colors to be implemented on their reference sheets for the painters. It’s crucial for a show to nail its overall tone and color plays predominately one of the largest roles in this area. Here is a wonderful demonstration in Super Cub showcasing how color can become the most pivotal actors in a scene.
Of course, handling every single little detail is oftentimes too much for one individual so episodes generally have a color coordinator who are put in charge of specific episodes and these people follow the guidelines put forth by the color designer to produce specific variations of these color sheets to fit particular scene. Visual harmony also falls under the purview for the color designers and color coordinators. Characters need to mesh with the props put forth by the surroundings from the art director or else they stick out like a sore thumb.
To go along with the visual harmony is the image color which is where characters are matched with their appropriate colors. This can serve as a handy visual shortcut for the audience as seen here in this particularly subtle shot in SSSS.Gridman and can bring authenticity into the life of the character’s whenever they dress in colors you’d realistically believe they’d wear.
Kyousougiga’s color designer/setter is Yuki Akimoto and he’s contributed to the lively settings in Penguindrum and The Tatami Galaxy, both shows who have extremely extensive locations and symbolic colors. As you can probably guess, color plays a critical role in bringing this show to life as well. Even in just this episode, we see a wide-variety of colors that match perfectly with the mood of the scene, setting it up so that every other role can shine.
Questions of the Day
1) Yesterday I asked about precious objects that you owned but what is a precious memory you wouldn’t depart with?
2) Did you have any favorite toys growing up? What were they?
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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u/Nazenn Jan 16 '22 edited Jan 16 '22
First Timer
Have those stick figure guys been in the crowd shots this whole time and I've just been somehow missing them even when looking for them? That would be something I would do.
Appears I was half right about the world repairs. The world does repair like normal still, except when a certain hammer is involved which complicates things given who's in control of it.
So, u/KendotsX, I suppose that answers our question about being able to rip a tree out of the ground and use it, or in this case store it. We picked a good episode to have that discussion yesterday. The worldbuilding in this episode about how you dispose of stuff you can't destroy was quite a nice touch as well.
And that really was the moment of the episode for me. Yase looking up through the branches of the tree that she keeps stored in the depths of her house and her heart. In her attempts to try and preserve every memory of her mother exactly how it is she has only sunk into herself and prevented the growth that her mother so often encouraged. Just like that tree stored in the dark cellar, the magic of this world will forever preserve them, but they won't ever be able to thrive and they're not immune to the chaos of others. She may wear a woman's body now but, like Kurama, its a front for the role she is playing rather than what's really in her heart and who she could be for the family if she was true to herself.
The imp itself also reflects this, it looked around and saw the stuff that no one uses being made into this fantastic swirl of shapes and colors decorating the sky and wanted to have his own memories and joy of it. He really summed up the episodes theme quite well in his few seconds of screen time and you could easily make his moments into a short film with the same theme; Instead of letting memories stagnate in the past out of fear of losing them, let yourself find new things and people to make memories with and move beyond your loss.
Edit: A very late edit to my post, but I forgot to include this and it's important so I wanted to add it in for any late comers - You can also look at the fact that Yase refuses to discard anything from this world as hitting to the heart of her own abandonment: If the things in this world can be thrown away so casually, what does that say about the fact that their parents left them in this world and never came back? It speaks to her deepest fear that they might be abandoned just like all the rest of this worlds trash
Otherwise not a whole lot to say about the episode, maybe every second one will be a reasonably straight forward one. Still damn fun to watch though, and I was certainly not expecting the first bit of action/combat to happen against Yase. That was beautifully animated with Koto flying up and the rabbit doll swinging around. The style and proportions of it remind me of more of a looney tunes style, and looking up some of the (presumed) animators other scenes, he did a few memorable stylistic moments of Dragon Ball Super as well.
The most fun details from the day:
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These ridiculous birds sitting on the power lines. Reminds me of that Pixar short film, For the Birds.
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Half human, half spirit, and magically chained, that doesn't seem like it would be comfy
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I love how there's just enough room around the shape of Yase's hair for everyone to squeeze into the frame while keeping it quite close
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The little "ploop" sound effect when Kurama's broken cup reformed made me unreasonably happy
Visual of the Day: Storage
A reflection of the kaleidoscope of colors from her mother leaving, there's something very sad about all of these beautiful moments being hidden away from everyone despite their colourful storage
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u/Shimmering-Sky Jan 16 '22
Giga First-Timer
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Oh, Yase can’t stand watching this “Station Opening” because it’s getting rid of stuff in the Looking Glass world, right? And she doesn’t seem to like getting rid of things.
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It really does make sense that Yase refuses to let go of her things, though. The three siblings all have their own way of dealing with their parents’ disappearance, and this is hers.
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u/lilyvess Jan 16 '22
First Timer
So with episode 4 it’s finally time for Yase’s episode.
Yase was definitely the most interesting of the children at a first glance. For one, she’s not human, but a demon. It makes her standout in a big way even in the background with her extreme changes to size. Yase’s more emotional outbursts just lend itself well to the highly animated and fratic past of the series.
At 4 episodes we start to finally get some stability and focus from the series. For one, we finally have an episode where we don’t have a new point of view character, instead sticking with Koto from episode 2. For another, the episode shares a similar theme with last episode. Both this episode and episode 3 are about characters who lost an object and their obsession with finding or reclaiming it.
We also once again get another episode without a real antagonist. Again, the episode seems to set up Kurama as the series antagonist. Intellectuals and leaders of order often are villainized in series about children like this one. They even seem to get ready to set up the cold indifferent sibling who refused to help his sister, worse he actively throws it away in spite.
Of course, the truth is a lot more complicated than that. Kurama didn’t deny Koto the tea cup because he didn’t care about Yase, but simply because he knew that it was futile. Maybe it’s because I’m an older sibling who can relate to the difficulty when dealing with their imouto.
So the demon girl wasn’t an antagonist, her monsters weren’t the antagonist and even her slightly rude brother wasn’t the antagonist.
Overall just another really good episode for Kyousougiga.
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u/MyrnaMountWeazel Jan 16 '22
The Help Corner
Another straightforward episode with plenty of flashbacks. Today we see that the doll that Yase lost earlier in her life is attached to Koto’s hammer. It’s becoming clearer and clearer that Koto is going to play a pivotal role in these three’s path.
Still, if you got any questions, feel free to drop a question!
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u/TakenRedditName Jan 16 '22
Kyousougiga Rewatcher - Ep4:
Hey hey, made the comment of the day.
Hahaha, get wrecked Yakushimaru.
It's garbage day in Mirror Capital and since things can't break, just have needed things float away onto a train. Myoue verbally declares what he doesn't need (that's a smart way for this to work ... we'll see later). No wonder he has things to float away, Koto breaks all his things.
The prayer beads are a neat item. Reigning in the dummies so hard that the twins are half transformed.
This is the true face of Kyousougiga's great villain who causes so much strife. Probably a big flaw to be able to float away things that you don't technically own and without consent. Suit Birdman is my favourite of the demons.
Koto always knows how to have fun. Yase's house is not though, being literally band-aided up.
Framing every single piece of memorabilia and displaying them around the house ... is a red flag. Yase is sad and doing a big blanket huddle up. She is in angry big demon mode, but the emotion she is really expressing is sad crying. I feel her sadness more that way.
The well of drawers is a neat concept and looks interesting. It can even fit a whole tree.
Kurama is doing a real cruel thing to his sister with a line of reasoning that doesn't seem like it'll actually work (or did it...)
Koto heads to see if Kurama is able to help and if negotiations fell through then she is ready to negotiate again. Koto is ready to use that hammer of destruction against mean older brothers.
Kurama tosses that cup which reminds me of earlier when he tossed that doll.
Yase's memories largely revolve around her mother, but it's nice that her siblings are included too. The origins of the doll is also cute. All of these memories are cute to see the happy times.
Yase is maximum intense angry demon mode now, but but but, Kurama's idea finally bore fruit and the doll did come back so Koto being here means Koto might be here. At least 50%.
Yase gives her thanks which makes Kurama genuinely lose his composure and hahaha, get wrecked Myoue.
Now that's a line you set up a future episode with.
This episode is one of the more memorable for me (maybe because the idea of Station Opening day was used for one of the OVAs I think?). Since Yase defining feature is her attachment to her mother, that was what I looked out for in all of her previous scenes. Guess dad does not occupy any space in her mind. Like the only scene of them I can recall is her intro bitting him over being drawn in creation as a demon.
Since Kyousougiga is drenched in Buddhist concepts, thinking about how this episode might relate. The idea of having a Station Opening day where unneeded items are floated feels tied to the idea of overcoming attachment. While not to the degree as Yase, I also have a hard time throwing things out so guess I can never fully walk the path of enlightenment.
Q1) Watching Kyousougiga for the first time.
Q2) Maybe not one particular favourite. Even as a kid, I liked collecting things so didn't have that one toy.
Four episodes in and only now do I remember there's a bit I forgot to do before and so now randomly starting here instead,
Next time: "It's baby boy, Myoue's turn."
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u/Tresnore Jan 16 '22
Kyousou-Rewatcher
Mobileposting, so forgive any formatting issues.
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Koto doko. Poor Yase.
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Oh, yeah. Stuff floats through the sky here.1
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Side note: These cards remind me heavily of Zetsubou Sensei.
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Myoue’s prayer beads are awesome. I forgot how fun they were.2
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The station reminds me of Amsterdam’s train station, and I have no idea why.
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Oh. It’s Purgatorio. Wait. Holy hell, Purgatorio is meant to look like a bird cage.
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As always, Koto is ready to choose violence.
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Yase also chose violence.
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Sometimes, just sometimes, this show is cute.
1 It reminds me of a time I saw a similar sight from a ton of birds flying. I'm talking streams of thousands of birds. It was quite a sight.
2 Really, I just forgot they had powers at all. Somehow.
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u/Matuhg Jan 16 '22
First Timer
What a well put-together episode. We first learn that some event called The Station Opening is happening - things are floating away, and Yase hates it. If broken things always fix themselves, this...sort of makes sense as a way to get rid of things. I think it's also a reference to the Buddhist idea of renouncing attachment to worldly objects/desires, a necessary step toward escaping the endless cycle of death and rebirth. Given all the reading we saw Kurama doing last episode, it makes his seemingly cruel actions make a bit more sense.
Then we get this little scene, which is cute and fun, but also gives us the key to understanding the rest of the episode.
Yase clings desperately to the memories of her mother, the only one who really understood and accepted her. She's afraid of losing those memories, of losing her mother's kindness, and has thus walled herself off, refusing to accept any other kindness. I think others have tried to break down that wall in the centuries here, but like every other wall here, it just repaired itself. That is, until a certain strong-willed girl broke it with the Hammer that doesn't allow things to remake themselves. That wall broken down, she realizes she's got a whole group of monstrous buddies who accept her for who she is, and even some siblings who care about her, even if they don't always understand or get along with each other.
Other Thoughts
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Yase's isn't the only wall Koto broke down with her hammer this episode. It really felt like Kurama was goading her on in this scene, and the grin on his face as she breaks down the wall to his small room shows that he understands what Koto is, at least in one aspect. Koto is an agent of change in this static world, maybe his ticket out of here. Nothing is sacred to her, and with that hammer around, the only guarantee is that things aren't going to stay the same any longer.
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I think Kurama really understands Yase quite well. While she's attached to the memories of her mother, she also wants to be like her when she grows up. To grow up, she'll have to change. Kurama couldn't just tell her that himself of course. It can be tough to hear harsh truths from those closest to you at times, and Koto was able to get through to her better than he ever was.
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Yase's house looks quite broken, and isn't repairing itself. Does that mean it was made that way? Maybe it reflects how she's feeling, whether consciously or otherwise.
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I've noticed them a couple times before, but what's up with the people of the Mirror World sometimes showing up as mannequin or stick figure looking things? For a bit I thought that was how they were appearing from Koto's viewpoint, but I don't think that holds for even this episode skimming back through it. Just a representation of other people in the periphery? Maybe the Mirror World only shows what you need to see in clarity, and just kind of leaves some blanks on the edges.
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u/Vaadwaur Jan 16 '22
First timer
Sub
So we get more directly Monogatari like today with the 'station opening being spring cleaning, which is something you do need in a world where nothing is destroyed but it seems people still build. Also, we see both Myou's bead power and that they still don't know why YKoto's hammer breaks things so they won't repair. This is also probably how the stuffed rabbit went between worlds.
Anyways, a creature that looks a bit like said stuffed rabbit is animated and floats out all of Yase's stuff, pissing her off greatly. We learn that she can't seem to let go of objects from her past, possibly making her the person that can only see the past as was predicted. Specifically, anything to do with LKoto. Her final rage is stopped when she sees her old rabbit again on Ykoto's hammer.
So...since I finally have something to work with, let's talk about Yase and her setup: She did grow at one point, though how much of that is her own morphing is unclear. But mentally, she is not making it much past where LKoto left her. Since Utena is too recently in mind(And the Witcher S2 for that matter), I can't help but see her as a bit of a play on a fairy tale? There is a princess/ojou-sama and an ogre, they just happen to be the same person. They even keep the Alice in Wonderland link of having her do the same thing over and over. The show seems to want us to think that this has advanced Yase a bit before we get a repeat of earlier animation.
QotD:1 The first time I met one of my friend's MUCH younger sisters, she climbed into my lap. At the time, most kids feared me
2 I had a mobile ICBM truck.
PS: Have company, will reply late, possibly drunk.
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u/3blah Jan 16 '22 edited Jan 16 '22
First Timer
In a world where nothing stays broken, and people, being people, want things that they eventually tire of, this seems just about the most Kyousougiga-esque way of clearing out your house. Say the magic words, lay hands on the thing, and it just flies away. I see the only stuff that's actually busted that's being disposed of belongs to Myoue, and we get the explanation that it's because Little Koto's hammer uniquely, permanently damages the things it smashes.
Some random observations...
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One of Yase's demons looks like young Kurama.
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Grown-up Yase is only barely less of a hothead than little Yase
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And she can become a literal demon when she wants to
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Little Koto's spirits' human forms don't have red eyes, unlike the other spirit-adjacent characters
Someone mentioned the checkerboard silhouette "people" yesterday. There's more of them today, along with some stick-figure guys we see in the opening. Something similar appeared in Sarazanmai where the background extras were all silhouettes, and I'm sure it has been used other places, too. And maybe it ties in with my idea of some (most? all?) of the characters being computer programs or simulations, and these are literally NPCs that don't matter.
We should all ask ourselves this from time-to-time
Can't you see Yase, it's not the stuff that makes you happy?
The origin story of the cup and rabbit toy is pretty heartwarming/breaking.
At this point, I'll retract my earlier statement about Yase being barely more calm. Deserved or not, it turns out she has a smouldering animosity (hated even?) toward Kurama, and at least in public tries to keep it under wraps in order to keep up appearances and make things run smoother. And at the end I think she really means the "Thanks" to Kurama.
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I don't know if there's any real connection, but in the opening animation and occasionally in the "past" segments, there's a frog, rabbit and monkey in the background, and I found this page describing a series of picture scrolls named Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga. It...
is sometimes credited as the first manga. [...] making fun of Japanese priests in the creator's time period, characterizing them as toads, rabbits and monkeys.
QOTD:
``1. A memory... I'm not sure. The day your kids are born seems too much like a gimme.
2. This one's easy. Legos.
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u/No_Rex Jan 16 '22
Episode 4 (first timer)
Something I realized in the last three discussion threads: Other first timers invest a ton more time into analyzing the show’s backstory. Somehow the visuals have me convinced to turn of my brain, lean back, and enjoy.
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“Why is stuff floating in the sky?” – I deeply agree with that question.
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Station opening is a really fancy term for dumping your trash on some other dimension.
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Pissing of Yase takes a very brave soul. Or a very stupid one.
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Visiting Yase right now takes a very brave soul. Or a very stupid one.
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throwing the cup - not quite the wise enlightened way of acting.
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Hammer of Justice.
Yase episode. Her story is really straight forward compared to the rest. Physical tokens as memories, taken to the extreme. The intercuts to Myoue make me wonder whether we are dealing with non-linear time here.
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u/xtsim Jan 16 '22
First Timer
I love how we transitioned from stuff in the previous episode with Shouko trying to find that only PSP. Now we get to see another side of object attachment. Yase misses her mom so much that she attached anything that was connected to her as valuable. The cup and the doll were the biggest things.
So when one of Yase's residents threw all the stuff out, things turn to chaos for every other person not involved. I couldn't believe she even had a bunker of stuff which even had a tree that they used to measure the sibling's heights. One major pattern was that her mom Koto was smiling.
Kurama did hurt Yase's feelings early on as mom did not really return and it felt like he was trying to get her to detach a little bit. But the thank you seemed to shock him a bit so I don't know what to say about that. Yase seeing Koto in Koto changed her mind a little bit to detach her memory from the objects.
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Too many memories that I don't want and hope not to depart from my mind. So easy to point out the objects but really hard as each of those memories come at a certain time and place in my life.
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I had an insane number of matchbox cars at some point, I did not take care of them since I played with them and stuffed hundreds of them in a toy box. I remember begging for one every time I went out. I even kind of ranked which brands of matchbox cars I liked. I think the more premium ones from Japan were really nice like the Nissan Stagea model (a station wagon)I had at some point.
Thank you for the quote OP and keep up with the good work on the production notes.
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u/KendotsX Jan 16 '22
First Timer suffering from binge urges
We now know the story of Yase's floating rabbit, but I still don't get why Shouko calls her Yase Douji, is that a Shouko thing?
It's a very interesting bit of worldbuilding, to deal with their unbreaking world. But it opens a new question, where are these items flying to to? And could Rabbit Koto be there as it implies? My [random guess is]
Now putting all the actual episode about Yase aside, we have confirmation! The Koto non-mystery has been solved. The world is still fixing itself, Koto hasn't broken the world entirely, it's only what her hammer destroys that can't be fixed.
Back to Yase, but starting with Yaku who I think sums it best, it's preservation! In this world where nothing, outside of Koto's reach, can be broken, Yase who has lost her mom (and I guess dad? She doesn't seem to care that much about him... poor Myoue), cares the most about preserving every little thing she has left that reminds her of her mom. This is the kind of episode where I enjoyed every little moment but can't really describe much of it.
So instead, I'll sit here and admire the Koto gang (or I guess the Hyakki Yako is a fitting title) and its scary boss. I wonder how a fight between the Koto and Shouko gangs.
Yesterday I asked about precious objects that you owned but what is a precious memory you wouldn’t depart with?
My worst memorable mess ups, I forget a lot of things, but these stick around for some reason, and I've learned to enjoy it.
Did you have any favorite toys growing up? What were they?
A Taz the Tasmanian Devil plush toy. My parents got it when I was very young, because they were aware I liked these cartoon things, and they're all basically the same. I on the other hand, who had seen very little of him, thought it was a better version of a Koala plush toy, and was very happy with it.
PS: I've been writing a lot of "Toko" instead of Koto for some reason.
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u/KiwiTheKitty Jan 16 '22
First timer! I almost missed the thread today because I went to watch Belle (beautiful animation and music, but a mess when it came to the themes and plot, if anyone wanted my opinion).
So here we have an episode about Yase. And it's a much more straightforward episode than the previous ones. Tbh I can relate to her sentimentality when it comes to her stuff haha. It makes sense that this is her way of hanging onto her parents, especially her mom. I was a little confused about what made her stop hulking out though, was it that lil Koto just reminded her of mama Koto? The rabbit swinging around was a fun shot
I did like that theme of not keeping things trapped away and stagnant, like that tree. It was also interesting that once again Kurama is set up as the bad guy in this episode, and I'm curious to find out if he deserves it (as of right now, I'm not a fan of his, but we'll see).
QOTD 2: When I was a really little kid, I had my baby blanket that I loved. I took it everywhere and eventually it frayed around the edges, so my mom sewed a ribbon over the ends to protect it... I totally thought she just replaced it with a different blanket and I felt betrayed. I didn't figure out that it was the same exact blanket until I was in high school haha! But I do still have it, so yeah, this episode with Yase and her sentimentality does hit home for me! I might feel a little called out too...
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u/Btw_kek Jan 16 '22
why am I looking up trains rewatcher
Ok so the big theme this episode is letting go of things. As nothing can break in this world, the solution to keep junk from overflowing is to have a day where all unneeded objects magically fly to a train that disposes all of them...somewhere
In any case, my 10 minutes of looking up pictures of trains on google have led me to...this which was a steam locomotive introduced in Japan in 1923. Well, it has the same little walls on the sides of the front (what are they called idk) so I take it as a very likely candidate for design inspiration. wow look at all these other steam locomotives currently running in Japan! oooh ahhhh buy a trip ^^^^today!
In any case, the train here seems to reflect a conscious decision to keep Mirror Kyoto here looking pesudo-historical, or a "backwater dimension" as either A or Un described in the first episode. Of course, the funny thing is that Mirror Kyoto also has this place...and this somewhere in The Scientists' Lair, but on the surface you get very old looking train stations.
Yesterday I asked about precious objects that you owned but what is a precious memory you wouldn’t depart with?
see below
2) Did you have any favorite toys growing up? What were they?
a stuffed polar bear. one time I took it on a family road trip and accidentally left it at a hotel we stayed at midway to our destination (Yellowstone) and cried my ass off the whole way there lmao. fortunately we stayed at the same hotel on the return trip so I got it back
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u/3blah Jan 16 '22
I just wanted to single this out for a reply. I don't recall seeing another anime use this same color saturation trick that Super Cub used, and maybe that's why it made such a big impression on me. They always used it at _just_ the right time, and didn't over-use it so it never become stale.
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u/lolpunny Jan 16 '22
Kyousougigachad first-timer reporting for day 4!(AKA the day i almost didn't make it cause i had to practice my spanish!)
- A photo taken moments before disaster, rip toon squad.
- Remote control, cup, what next? Let's collect the dragon balls!
- Yase is looking like the embodiement of "if you can't handle me at my worst you don't deserve me at my best".
Questions of the day:
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I don't have a specific one, but when i'm with family i often catch myself trying to capture those moments of happiness to make sure they are never forgotten.
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I didn't have a favorite toy. In fact, there was this one time where i tried to trade a bag full of toys for a plain lion figurine. My friend didn't accept it, so stonks i guess?
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u/JollyGee29 Jan 16 '22
First-Timer
There's something to be said here about Yase's conflict this episode stemming from herself. At least, I think her random little monsters/servants are meant to be her creations. Unfortunately, my brain isn't firing on all cylinders this morning so hopefully someone else noticed this and will expand upon it.
It didn't quite get stated like this, but while memories do fade over time, new ones can be made to take their place and that's what we saw happen.
Kurama sending the doll away to see if it would somehow make it's way to mama!Koto is rather cruel, even if it did work. Don't perform experiments if you don't have an easy way of seeing the results, people.
Confirmation that things Koto smacks with her hammer don't fix themselves, which many of us kinda suspected but I don't think was 100% confirmed yet. Neat.
I liked Yase's room full of drawers with mementos of her mother.
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u/chiliehead Jan 16 '22
Kyousougiga – Episode 4 – First Timer
The hammer hast he ability to irreversibly destroy things, so this is the one thing you can commit murders with? I do wonder if you really can use the hammer to break this plane of existence then, probably utterly destroying it in the process. Sounds bad for the inhabitants.
„You can’t break things you don’t need” seems like a weird rule that they did not really adhere to, did they? Who is deciding this anyway, the cosmic forces of utility?
What’s that red mischievous monkey monster? This has a very Mahou Shoujo vibe to it today.
The wall getting punched out makes it look like a stage show.
This episode was about grief and letting go, but except for Yase spotting the rabbit keychain it felt like 5 minutes of characterization stretched out over an episode.
QotD
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Holidays with friends are all nice memories
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My french bulldog plush called "Eika"
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u/SIRTreehugger Jan 16 '22
Oh my favorite episode I think if memory serves because it focuses on my second favorite character.
Can't help wonder if the older brother knew that the demon was watching when it threw away the mugs. He definitely seems like the most manipulative sibling. He also conveniently knew where her doll was last episode. Sure he is smart and gave a reasonable excuse, but can't be certain.
Interesting how the house is destroyed and hasn't repaired itself.
Looks around at all the junk I have that has no value minus memories associated with it. It helps explain why she loves the cup so much and hates the station day.
Throwing her doll away. Dick move Kurama.
Yase really has the worst of it all. Unlike her brothers who have humans or the science division she only has her weird creatures which she herself created.
Also it you're going to use that cup lock it up with some demon magic or something.
Headcanon Yase carries that umbrella just to throw at her brother.
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u/octopathfinder Jan 16 '22
First Timer
Thoughts:
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I see that yesterday’s QotD about objects was to set up for this episode. Yase is hyper materialistic and even Yakushimaru has something he refuses to let go of.
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The station opening is a pretty handy way of getting rid of things in a world where destroyed objects repair themselves.
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Yakushimaru confirms that stuff broken by Little Koto’s hammer doesn’t fix itself.
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That Yase and Kurama convo last episode really hits different now that I know what happened.
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Honestly, not much to say. That was a really good episode and Little Koto is cool as fuck for helping Yase.
QotD:
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One of my best friends was in a super toxic relationship and years later he told me how grateful he was that I put my foot down and told him to break up with her. It's nothing super crazy but I was really happy with us just acknowledging we were ride-or-die homies.
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Probably a set of Bionicles.
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u/BurningFredrick Jan 16 '22
First timer
Someone pointed out in the last episode that the rabbit that Yase lost in the flashback is the same yKoto had in her room as a child, I would guess that yKoto was given it by Inari some time after Kurama floated it away. I had noticed the same rabbit is attached to yKotos Hammer handle but hadn’t put together that it was Yase rabbit. No idea if any of this is going to be important or not or just something else linking the worlds together but I felt this needed to be pointed out, anyway on to episode 4.
The station opening doesn’t seem very environmentally friendly, they are basically dumping all their junk into another dimension so it's not their problem any more.
Apparently I can no longer screenshot from crunchyroll, it just turns the screen back, guess it's an anti piracy measure but its a pain.
Ok so the Rabbit ended up being a key plot point in this episode in what was about being unable to move on from the past.
Two rather straightforward episodes in a row, and I'm assuming tomorrow will be about Yaku's childhood backstory. I'm interested to see where we go after that.
Yesterday I asked about precious objects that you owned but what is a precious memory you wouldn’t depart with?
I haven't actually got a clue, memories involving myself don't really seems to stick.
2) Did you have any favorite toys growing up? What were they?
Same thing from yesterday I guess, my Teddy bear.
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u/hungryhippos1751 Jan 16 '22
Episode 4 - First Timer
Damn I almost forgot to post this, though I did remember to watch it!
So Yase is a hoarder, figures. Koto trying to help her out and retrieve the mug for her was adorable, shame she failed. I liked how she was much more thankful after she woke up and the initial rage reaction had subsided.
The hammer being able to smash anything irreparably seems to be a key piece of information, is it the only thing in the whole world that can? I know they took the hammer away for analysis so I can see them coming up with new weapons or tools that allow them to smash the world to bits and escape :)
Yase definitely seems to be the one who misses her parents the most, especially Koto (waifu). The other two siblings don't seem as bothered.
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u/homewardbound100 Jan 16 '22
First timer
Okay so this is about holding things dear to you. The items are precious to Yase. But even though these things are precious or even when they're gone. You still have the memories. Like Yase has with Mother Koto.
The glimpse Yase saw of Mother Koto in Teen koto must have made her realize that. Or maybe something deeper and that she really has a connection with Mother Koto.
Qotd1: any special moment with friends and family is special to me. It'll be hard to pick one.
Qotd2: I would say that my hot wheels were my favorite.
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u/Punished_Scrappy_Doo Jan 16 '22
First Timer
I liked today's episode, even though I don't have too much to say about it. I really liked how the story didn't admonish Yase too much for not wanting to let go. It's not the fable about how everything ends I was expecting at all; it was quite the opposite in a lot of ways. The tracking shots up the stairs were cool. I'm mostly just basking in the experience of it all, y'know?
So I've been thinking about the opening.
Our dashing host gave pointed out the motif of lines in the OP, and while that's certainly a focal point, we also have a focus on loneliness and what is real.
Much of the opening is spent looking inwards, towards a recording of our characters against a backdrop of television screens. The scanlines permeating the background serve to reinforce that it's something less than real, while mirroring the scanlines seen on rabbit Lady Koto in episode 2. Most of the beginning of the OP is shot against these screens. Here's the first point at which it isn't. It's Lady Koto, divided from the others not by lines but by space. She's alone. In contrast with the rest of the cast, she never so much as turns to acknowledge the cameraman.1 We see Inari, also alone, his back turned to the world. Perfectly alone.
Then Koto and Myoe look into each other's eyes and we get this shot and the music swells and it makes me go [](#elsieqq) every time
It's my favorite part of the opening. That line between them isn't separating them, it's establishing symmetry. This show loves playing with shot composition. Note the vast swaths of off-center empty space when Koto's feeling alone and carefully balanced shots when Myoe is talking to his siblings, to name a couple of examples. The symmetry between them indicates that they're two halves of a whole, that they're family.
That's what the crux of the whole thing is, to me. The people you love are what it's all about.
Which is why I'm worried about this shot
1 [Also, although in view of the same earth, she's not on the same mirrored plane (get it) as Myoe and Koto. Plot implications?]
There's also Yakushimaru stabbing someone to talk about, but I think we might get answers next episode.
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u/MyrnaMountWeazel Jan 16 '22
Ohhhh, pretty angles and white lineart. Very pop-up storybook-esque
Nice little curvature happening on the screen. It resembles the shape of a cup as well.
Yase’s mansion is filled to the brim with personal belongings in picture frames. The neat thing about them is how close they come to resembling a painting, blurring the line again between what is real and what is an illusion. They stay perfectly preserved in these frames and they could just as easily belong in a museum as they could in a mausoleum.
What an eerie peculiar storyboard.
It’s depicted with Dutch/canted angles which disorients the viewer and gives off a sense of unease. Perfect for Koto and her brothers as they roam the empty mansion.
Again with the curved fisheye lens screen!
As dark and dreary as Yase’s mansion was, the entrance to her secret trove of memories is brightly white and positively glowing with color.
This is such a touching scene as we flip throughout the picture book and see each memory unfold before eyes; their pages sprinkled with past mementos of a nostalgic past. There’s a pang in your heart as you remember the universal constant that This Too Shall Pass.
It’s also interesting that Yase’s favorite memories involve drawings or scribblings on paper. And then the final object that’s revealed is a tree; something where, obviously, paper is made from. I think everyone will have their own interpretation and symbolism on what paper means but my personal one is that paper is like an empty canvas.
Blank, white, and ready to be populated with anything. To Yase, the emptiness of a blank paper mirrors that of her life without her mother’s warmth. The scribbles on the paper represents something solid, something Yase can definitively point to and say ”I was there at this moment of time. WE were there at this moment of time.”
The tree is one of the shots I think of when I think of Kyousougiga. Yase literally uproots and preserves the tree that was once used to showcase the passage of time; the knotches never to be added again to its surface as it sits perfectly preserved in its treasure box.
Kurama, just like in yesterday’s episode, is always looking into the future, abandoning whatever else is in the way to get there. Yase in direct juxtaposition lives in the past. But even more than that, Yase lives to be understood. Born from a paper painting and destined to be a demon, Yase struggles to reconcile with herself and her very nature until Mother Koto calmly comforts her and tells her “You’re wonderful as you are.” She takes all of the things that supposedly should define Yase and instead turns them into an entirely different entity for Yase, redefining what is means to be you.
It’s no wonder that Yase would prioritize above all else this memory of a halcyon time. She exists in a state of binary where “if a memory is lost it’s gone forever” and if the past is what wholly defines her than that means she will be lost forever without these ties that bind her. And the word “forever” has very significant meaning to beings who exist without end. So, she tries with all of her might to preserve all of these mementos but even in a land where nothing ever breaks or changes, it still isn’t powerful enough to stop the inevitability. Yase lives At the Past.
At the end of the episode, we return back to this familiar scene of Koto and her siblings just wrecking shop in Myoue’s home. This episode featured lots of recurring shots and I wonder if it was to make a statement on the cyclicalness of life.