Ranked #2329

Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora

-INTRODUCTION-

When I first came across Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora and looked at a couple of screenshots, I decided for myself that I would be staying away from this anime. However, my love for seiyuu as well as my curiousity got the better of me, and I watched it after all. It was not as bad as I expected, and in fact, it was quite good. Not my cup of tea in general, but it did have some great points.

-STORY- 7/10

At first, I was pretty excited about the story. As cliche as it sounds, fairytale-like plot just doesn't get old for some people. However, as time went by, it became more and more complex, and I wasn't sure whether it was changing for the better. The problem here is not with the story itself. It was a well thought out plot, with romance and family conflicts involved. But the elements used to display that plot were simply too much. Angels, mecha, cat girls, magic, science, all mixed into this seemingly simple story, did not improve it at all. Those elements looked more like fan service than anything else. Some stories are best if kept to the level of 'normal', and Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora is one of those stories. I liked the idea of absolute angels, but there was just no need to include every possible fan service element out there to display it.

Putting fan service aside and pretending that I didn't see little girls, giant mechas, and occasional unnecessary nudity all the time throughout Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora, it was indeed a rather nice story. In fact, the two final episodes touched me so greatly that I almost wanted to disregard all the downfalls. But looking back at it, I can't grade an anime based only on the first episode and a beautiful ending.

-CHARACTERS- 10/10

This is the strongest point of this anime. It has a lot of characters, and most of them are very unique. The main female character did not seem so impressive at first glance, but she developed and matured throughout the anime and became much more admirable. The seemingly invincible "prince" Kyoshiro turned out to have quite a few weaknesses and complexes. By the end of the series, he left me with an impression that he is not the kind that saves the princess, but is instead the kind that needs to be saved. I liked that a lot because perfect heroes are just boring and I can't sympathize with them. Setsuna's eternal loyalty toward Kyoshiro also touched me a lot. She was in my opinion the strongest of the females; after all, not everyone can stay by the side of their beloved person and not give in to selfish desires.

Aside from the three leading ones, the background characters were also quite impressive. They had a purpose and their relationships with each other were well thought out and interesting to observe. I have to admit that to me the most memorable and brightest of them all turned out to be Kyoshiro's older brother, who was also the most shocking one and truly made the series more enjoyable.

-ART/ANIMATION- 8/10

The art is very pretty but nothing too outstanding. Character designs are very well done and interesting. The animation is also great. However, once again, it seemed overdone. Extremely bright colors and sparkling scenes. It is definitely a matter of opinion, but personally I found it too hard on the eyes and simply distracting, considering that the story is nowhere near a comedy. It would have gotten full marks if it was not so colorful.

-SOUND- 9/10

The opening and ending themes are simple, but nice and catchy. They fit perfectly well for this kind of anime. The background music during the battles and during Kuu's talks to her prince is very impressive and greatly increases the dramatic impact. Overall, the soundtrack could have been even better, but in this case it really doesn't need to be. The music choice in this anime is a perfect fit and doesn't need to stand out any more than it does.

The seiyuu work was, of course, outstanding, and I will spare you my unprofessional fangirl comments. I will mention, though, that Kazuya is probably the most impressive role that I heard from Narita Ken so far.

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It's the kind of anime that you can only truly appreciate if you look deeper, past all the fan service. Unless, of course, fan service is what you are looking for -- it has plenty ^_~ read more

Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora or Shattered Angels has often been described as the "Tsubasa Chronicle" of Kaishaku.

The creators who brought the anime and manga world Magical Nyan Nyan Taruto, Steel Angel Kurumi and Kannazuki no Miko, and brought them back in some way or another, be it through characters, themes or storyline, to make KyoSora. The most significant and influential anime with most prevalence in this alternate combined universe is undoubtedly Kannazuki no Miko, and I know that many fans of the previous series will watch Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora to see the characters of that anime once again.

Now, here's where we get into whether this will be disappointing or not.

The story for KyoSora is highly basic. It isn't much more of a magical fairy tale superimposed on a modern setting: a young girl in search of the Prince of her dreams gets thrown into violent conflict with... mecha. KyoSora's plot turns out to be rather formulaic and predictable. Girl pines, girl gets kidnapped, boy shouts a lot, summons steel angel sidekick to fight other steel angel sidekicks, he rescues her, we all wait until she gets kidnapped again, rinse, repeat. While there is never truly a dull moment with all the action taking place, no great amount of action can replace a good, developed storyline, which is what KyoSora lacks.

Art for this anime is very little better than average. While the character design are all very pretty and there's this definite "shiny" look to everything and some pretty use of colours, the art isn't very crisp, the characters' proportions were inconsistent throughout the series and the overall animation of the fight scenes were a little weak.

However, I must commend this anime for its great score. It followed in the path of its predecessor, having totally wonderful background music. The fight scenes had behind them strong music that swept the battle atmosphere across the scenes, the more emotional scenes had a dream-like, whimsical score backing it--to me, it seemed that this was what most of the funds of the anime were channelled into.

It's a little difficult to talk about the characters in Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora. While they are all mostly likeable, I cannot say that they are very developed or original. Actually, well, some of them AREN'T original. Kuu and Kyoshiro make possible the two most overshadowed leads I have ever seen in an anime, and most of my attention was focused on the side characters who were certainly more interesting than either one of them. Kuu is your typical 'can't do anything except cry, look cute, and be emotionally torn' girl. Kyoshiro's main purpose is to look good, fight, and be as emo as humanly possible. I found curiously enough, that the better characterisations fell on the less important characters, like Ayanokōji, a burly, gruff man who is kind-hearted but mysterious or Mika, a tyrannical, evil, horrible woman who is the villain for most of the series. Then there's Kaon and Himiko, who I am rather partial to. To me, their relationship throughout the entire series was much more interesting than what we see between Kuu and Kyoshiro. Kaon and Himiko are actually a little deeper than the other characters, as we actually see growth and development in them, both individually and as a couple.

I know many viewers watched this to see Himeko and Chikane of Kannazuki no Miko once again. Here, they are reincarnated a little differently from their original anime. However, I think their story is a lot less tragic here than in Kannazuki no Miko. It was... rewarding. I would tell any fan of those two to watch this--their life and love in KyoSora does what it could not do in Kannazuki no Miko: it flourishes.

So, why did I enjoy such an anime that has so many flaws in it? There's something about KyoSora, something I can't quite put my finger on, that makes it wonderfully entertaining. Unfortunately, there were even some laugh-out-loud moments, and I'm not referring to the comedy element of the anime; this show is simply so outrageous, so ridiculous especially in the later episodes, that one can't help laughing at it sometimes. KyoSora is certainly one of those instantly 'love/hate' anime, I don't get me wrong, while I certainly think it is not by any means a good anime, I do love it for what it is: pure entertainment.

This won't appeal to a lot of people. Those who don't like mecha, fanservice, yuri, weak storylines, stagnant or over-the-top characterisations, short anime, repetitive anime or pointless anime, then, what can I say? It would be your own fault for not heeding the warning and watching it. However, if you have a broad mind and want a short series chocked-filled with action and melodrama then KyoSora may just be what you're looking for.

As for the fans of other Kaishaku works, if you're looking for something to ease your Kannazuki no Miko withdrawal syndrome, then this is certainly not a cure or even medicine for it, but Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora serves as a nice little band-aid with a picture of your favourite mecha on it. read more