Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

What do you get when you take a Jellyfish, an oni, a lion, a cyborg, a cross dressing mafia member and a cat with a serious God complex? You get one of the strangest comedy anime of all time. For such a long time whilst watching this show I couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was trying to achieve nor what it wanted to be. It constantly jumped between comedy and random shenanigans to tragic backstories and drama at the drop of a hat, all of which made the show incredibly jarring and confusing to watch, resulting in some of the worst tonal shifts I have ... seen for any anime. Now, before I actually get into that, let me talk more about the plot for this show.

Enka, the God of destruction died one thousand years ago but upon dying, proclaimed that one of his children will carry on his will to destroy the world. Now, in modern Japan, all of the possible children of Enka have been gathered together and are joined as a family in an attempt to prevent the destruction of the Earth by showing them how wonderful and beautiful human life is. The possible children of the God Enka, include Teika the lion, Gekka the Jellyfish and even a biological weapon, Hyouka. Each of the main characters are both unique in terms of design and personalities, and have decent chemistry with each other, as well as lengthy backstories and tragic past. And that's it for narrative really. Nothing really happens of much significance and all the events that do happen in the show feel random and intrusive rather than a natural progression from arc to arc. While the show does attempt to create comedy, and for the most part, the comedy could make me smile and even laugh a couple of times, it's ultimately ruined by the abrupt and strange tonal shifts that change so frequently, which ruins the dramatic tensions of the show. One moment they're throwing out some random gag and the immediate next one we are watching the backstories of a young girl who is being whipped by her evil family. It feels jarring; clunky.

Some of the most entertaining episodes of the show are just when they are sticking to comedy and random hijinks and if the show was more like this in its entirety I would've had a lot more fun as a result. It's just that they chuck so much in with so many random characters that it begins to feel tiresome and the show begins to drag mid-way through. While, as I said, the characters can have decent chemistry with each other, their backstories are forced in and are so boring that I lose interest right away. Even when the show does introduce a more central and focused narrative for the final four or so episodes, it still feels rather awkward and confusing as well since the characters keep jumping from one place to the next without reason and characters are introduced which go nowhere. The show as a whole is just rather inconsistent with no rhyme or reason to any of the events that are happening.

And it's not like the show is completely devoid of any interesting ideas or themes, it's just that the ideas are executed so poorly or never expanded enough on to feel worthwhile in the end. Most notably, when one of the arcs focuses on the mistreatment of animals and how they should be the ones to control society and not humans, but not enough time is spent on fleshing it out enough.

The characters themselves could provide a joke here and there that made me smile but that was the most I ever got out of them. Kyouka, the cat with a serious God complex is both selfish and annoying and easily my least favorite thing about the show. While they do try and present her as being full of insecurities, justifying her behaviour, not nearly enough time was spent on fleshing it out nor developing it. Ouka, the father of this jumbled family, was rather plain and flat and hardly memorable in the slightest. The other characters of the family are a little more interesting in terms of personality but their backstories felt trite and forced, used as a cheap way to make us sympathise and connect with the character rather than building them up as people. There are a plethora of other characters but they're so forgettable, that's it hardly worth the time speaking about them.

The animation was fairly consistent but there are not really all too many moments of great art or movement. The art style works in the shows favour and conveys the goofy and silly nature of the show rather well, in the same vein as Konasuba does with its animation and art. I liked most of the soundtrack for the show, albeit it, if it is pretty forgettable but the opening is catchy as hell.

In conclusion, I really did want to enjoy myself with this show, I really did. It had a good set-up, a nice main cast, all of which with different gimmicks and personalities that could have bounced off each other very well but the constant shifts in tone and the forced tragic backstories as well as melodrama are what kept me back from having a good time. It's a shame too, since this show did have some things going for it at the very least...