THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
Kyokou Suiri was described as a Monogatari derivative by many online, however, I always felt like that title was a bit of a mischaracterization. While the show features a dialogue heavy direction and several cute girls alongside a black-haired boy, the resemblance stops there. Kuro is not a pervert and the girls in the show except for Iwanaga do not eternally thirst after him like he’s an oasis in the desert. The show also isn’t particularly artistic or groundbreaking in its visuals, it’s a regular anime with average production. Finally, the protagonist of Kyokou Suiri is Iwanaga and not Kuro, this may not feel like the case immediately but over time becomes fairly obvious.
This show does have some fairly interesting scenarios where the main characters pursue the culprit in a mystery or try to satisfy both, other characters, and the audience with explanations for mysteries. The show’s lead character is sort of an advisor for the supernatural community, she is considered the goddess and wisdom, and despite her weirdness and shameless behavior throughout the show, she generally lives up to her title. She helps the supernatural community solve some of their issues because most supernatural creatures are sort of stupid, she does this by solving disputes they have or questions they have on why humans act a certain way. Some of the scenarios she comes up with are so convincing the audience believes in her lies before she reveals the fact, she made it up on the spot, her tongue is quite the weapon and she never hesitates on using it. The way Japanese lore is displayed throughout the show, and the explanations on how legends are created, assists with world building, it also provides a strong backstory on how Kuro became an immortal which definitely improve the show’s atmosphere. Overall the scenarios presented made for an interesting story, the characters had solid motivations and explanations for their backgrounds, the dialogue wasn’t particularly contrived and made for an amusing watch, although if you were expecting an action heavy show like Noragami this show may not necessarily appeal to you.
Moving on, let’s talk a bit about the technical aspects of this series. As noted earlier the production values aren’t anything particularly impressive, the few fight scenes have decent motion and choreography and alright impact the first few times Kuro gets killed, but they are very repetitive and lack any strategic aspect to them. The character designs are pretty interesting, they capture and convey the character’s personalities quite well, the more mature and dark looking character designs contrast well with some of the cuter monsters and Iwanagas light and easy-going nature. The show also did a great job at giving Iwanaga fairly strong sex appeal despite her not having a leg or missing an eye in some scenes, this required careful attention to detail to prevent grossing out the audience. Animation wise, the show was fairly ordinary, there wasn’t anything excellent or groundbreaking, but it wasn’t a boring show with faceless characters and power point stills either, also the facial expressions were pretty great, which is what really matters for a dialogue heavy show.
The characters outside of the main characters leave a lot to be desired, however the chemistry between the main characters were a treat and the jokes between Iwanaga and Kuro were well appreciated. Saki adds a nice ex-girlfriend who knows way too much for her own good aspect to the cast and provides a mixture of bullying Iwanaga hilariously in some scenes alongside Iwanaga getting back at her in others. Overall the main cast was fairly solid, and their interactions felt organic which means the show did its job as this is a character driven mystery show.
Overall this show is a fairly easy watch, although the pacing definitely drags on at some points, and the second arc of the show went on far to long on top of which they failed to make a strong ending. If someone enjoys mystery shows with logical talking points, social manipulation, a strong dialogue then this is the show for you. The show itself is around a 7, it appeals to a niche audience and has average technical values so it won’t be getting an 8, but its definitely not a bad show and worth a watch, hopefully a second season will explore the setting more in a faster paced manner.
