Bessatsu Olympia Kyklos

Warning! The whole review might be a lie. It also contains spoilers, not that it's worth mentioning anyway.

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First of all, I have to thank mr. Yamazaki Mari (the original creator) for deciding to use a great cover of Lord Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald's theme as an opening song (a.k.a. Rossini's William Tell Overture opera). Original song music video link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8FN0xhz4Tk

Due to my Greek blood, combined with my impatience to watch the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony, this show seemed irresistible for me. It was the real deal - it screamed "time for a sarcastic review vol 2".

The story is amazing - it's about 420 BC born statueman ... Demetrios (Jimmy in ancient greek, for those who didn't know) trying to write history. Trying to beat the damn dolphin in sculpture. Chasing dreams, dreaming of a perfect love story with Apollonia, running the marathon with Tortonia's mayor, side by side. Jimmy used Okabe's and Kurisu's academic material and managed to travel in time. He met some Spartans and Eleian guys, when he showed off the WWE skills he learnt in Smack Down vs. Raw 2007. Christopher Nolan is irritated because Interstellar's fans are now Jimmy's.

The artstyle was perfect to give the "don't take this anime seriously" vibes to the watchers, which was a fun addition to the show - appreciated. The appearance of Zeus was beautiful as well. It's also true that here in Greece, our bodies are sculptures created by the ingenious Dolphin God, because we're one of the most ancient men of culture on the planet. I daresay that the melancholic design of Tortonia's musician Honeuros was special, because it's widely known that many greek singers of this era had their balls cut, in order to keep their voices at a higher pitch.

Talking about Honeuros, the anime endings sung by him were amazing too (of course, not Kayneth tier but good). My favourite ED was the 10th one, called "Spartans are Scary". It made me and my friends realize that my country is the mother of metal music, too. Last but not least, I loved it when Honeuros wore sunglasses on his marble body (ED 20).

Character development: 10/10. Demetrios, who won approval points from all of us watchers too as the Tolympics preparations progressed, was approved my the mayor and married his daughter, Apollonia. The Spartans were scary-looking, but in the end they were cuties. Eleians proved to be true warriors, as they decided to run the marathon instead of fighting. Peace. I hope some political leaders took their lessons watching this show.

Enjoyment: I've waited to write this review since episode 1, so it was an enjoyable journey indeed.

To conclude, I'll quote Aristotle's words to express my excitement towards the continuous greatness of this two-cour hidden gem:

"Η ποιότητα δεν είναι μία πράξη. Είναι συνήθεια."
(Quality is not an act, it's a habit)

Of course I'm joking about everything you've just read.

"Δεν παίζεις με ποιότητα."
~Stefanos Tsitsipas

Olympia Kyklos is probably the best contender for dark horse of the Spring 2020 season, and maybe even all of 2020. It was a show that was heavily overshadowed by several household and hyped up titles, and as well as its short length and unique nature. This show is quite unique as it experiments with several types of animation and techniques that you don’t often see in TV, such as Claymation and use of fabric materials, so for one to enjoy a show such as this one, it requires a certain taste and a little bit of open-mindedness.

The show follows the timid and cowardly, yet ... incredibly athletic main character, Demetrios, as he aims to become a pottery painter, rather than an athlete; a position that he is bullied into by the village mayor. Over the span of the show, and with the power to travel through time to post-war Japan, he learns the joys of sport (and modern western culture in general), and eventually becomes more willing to participate in them. This show is one of the few rare instances where a clay figure of a Greek man gets more development that most shounen protagonists, sorry not sorry My Hero Academia fans.

One of my favourite aspects of this show has to be the endings. Have you ever seen a show that uses random stock videos as background visuals for their endings? They even paid for Jesus from Fiverr to record himself smiling. How amazing is that? Even when they are short, they can often be extremely funny, and are worth sticking around after every 5 minutes.

This show probably isn’t for everyone, but if you’re someone who likes the quick nature and comedic dialogue of series such as Inferno Cop and Saiki Kusuo, then you’ll get a laugh out of this. You can easily blast this one out in around 2 hours as each episode is 5 minutes long.

7/10.

Due to the pandemic, the biggest sporting event in the world was postponed: the Olympics. The planet rightly needs time to restructure itself, in addition to prioritizing everyone's health. Olympia Kyklos was the anime that came with a unique cultural objective, showing us historical and comic references of the formation of this very memorable date every four years. We will analyze then, one of the most important anime of this year.

This review contains some small spoilers.

Olympia Kyklos is a set of short stories, by Demetrios, an illustrator and at the same time creator of events, whose "mandatory work" is to promote sports and the Olympics ... in his region. Of course, he wouldn't do that just as he wanted. The local leader always asks for this, with money as the main objective. But not only that. Demetrios manages to go to the future constantly, in Tokyo, meeting a group of three relatives. Whatever the moment, there is always at least one of the three close to Demetrios. The story alternates between 1964, the year of Japan's first Olympics, and the Greek period, one of the milestones in intellectual and social civilization. I thought it was a great idea, as it manages to convey "isekai" in a more relaxed and innovative way, instead of being generic and tedious, as most current anime has done.

The plot is simple and goes on until the end of the anime. But, what makes this anime special? I would say a number of factors. Comedy that works very well, charismatic characters that always please us, quick and functional story, in addition to inserting the concept of isekai in a fun way. Olympia transforms the elements we know in the anime world and makes fun, lampoons and plays with puns and historical moments that are presented. The anime is much more than just another project to be watched and passed on. It's a funny story, incredibly well done and always entertaining us. The way the environment is made, with a more handmade use and different from current anime creates a more experimental idea and a new way of looking at the universe that studios and future manga can create and enjoy with joy and affection on the content presented, as in Olympia, besides having a variation between molded characters and people doing anything in the endings, the anime practically says it was meant to be literally like that. The Gosay studio debuted very well. A beautiful debut from a promising studio with the potential to be much more.

Spartans, unknown sports, gastronomy, ways of documenting the traditions with vessels, mythology, criticism of prejudices still present (such as homosexuality and machismo) and many other contexts govern its history, making it rich and unmissable. The production itself is also innovative. The characters, houses and environments are all simple, but very pleasant to see. Many criticized it for being "poorly used" or "visually bad", but I admire this type of work very much. It is these works that deserve recognition with each new season. Anyone who remembers Yami Shibai, knows what I'm talking about ... Even the opening and the 24 closings are well done. Imagine wanting to sing the ending of the triathlon episode and other similar modalities. That's art! That's how exaggerated and different things work. It is not an anime that repeatedly copies another to the point of being bad. It is a way of pleasantly exposing a culture that few know. The anime explains history, teaches the Olympics and transmits information, using both ancient figures, and the most current characters show the funny actions of Demetrios reported in books, such as sports drawn on vases (seriously, I laughed a lot seeing this).

Another factor that differentiates Olympia from the others is the fact that it encourages the public to research concepts and the cultures themselves of one of the oldest and most important civilizations that exist today, in addition to offering us a broad knowledge of the very origins of sports, such as the marathon. The anime teaches well the Greek words themselves, where some refer to the many used today. Offering explanations during the episodes, Olympia places us well in the historical context, with high-level humor and fun.

Finally, Olympia is a work that made me happy to exist. We really need this type of art more. We have been through a sad time in world health, where even the largest sporting event has suffered losses. But at least we can be happy with this work, since it gives us a longing for Olympic sports, which we will be able to watch next year.