“Kai of Lag Village”
What They Say:
Humans fight to protect their land from invading demi-human tribes in relentless battles. As his world is engulfed by intense warfare, Kai, a village boy from Lag, joins the fight to defend all he knows. After Kai’s comrades fall one by one and he’s injured, he suddenly recalls memories from another life. A fantasy tale unfolds as a village boy explores a world of magic, mystery, and heroism.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With half a dozen updates in the year since it was announced back in April 2024, the Teogonia anime has arrived and few people seem to know about it. The series is based on the light novel series by Tsuaka Tanimai which began in 2017 and has three volumes out and eleven volumes of manga by Shunsuke Aoyama, with J-Novel Club handling the light novels in English. The anime set the details early with Kunihiro Mori directing it from the composition by Tomoyasu Okubo, while Asahi Production handled the animation. Mori has a number of directorial credits and a few main director works such as Mars Daybreak and Shonen Onmyouji. Okubo has a smaller slate of works to their name but worked on a good chunk of Azumanga Daoih and more recently Cardfight! Vanguard.
The series takes place in a standard kind of feudal fantasy world where there are numerous demi-human tribes that try to destroy human villages and the like. We’re introduced to an ape-like group at the start here as they attack the village of Lag, and while it’s about to be overwhelmed, Lord Olha shows up to save the day with his special gifts beyond the sword. The village is home to Kai, a young man who fought to defend it with his friends and the other villagers, but so many died in the fight that it’s a tough experience for him even as they do turn away the enemy. It’s not an easy experience beyond that either as those that have survived live meager lives, and we see that through the hunger Kai has since it makes it harder to fight. But we also see early on that Kai has something more to him as things pop into his mind that nobody else has heard of before, himself included, such as riceballs. That’s something that will come to the surface later, but it’s seeded nicely in how he’s just a little bit off in general.
There’s definitely a class level problem going on here as we see how those in charge think that everyone else lives to fight and serve and that things like the godstones are just meant for them and not the common person. Kai wants more out of life and the things nibbling away in his head keep prodding him toward that. The disparity is something we see well along the way, but the change comes when Kai is able to use his godstone to good effect with a powerful use of fire. It’s amusing to watch him try and figure out how to control it after the fact, and the toll it takes on him overall since it was his first time utilizing it. Mastering his spiritual energy is key here, and it becomes a life-or-death moment in several ways for him, which helps to motivate him but also put him on the right path for the future. It’s just a bloody and hard path, first and foremost.
In Summary:
Teogonia doesn’t do much to really engage the viewer here as it covers some of the basics of world design and the like. Kai isn’t much of a character since it’s a bleak existence and they’re placing a quasi-isekai kind of things here if he has memories of a life in another world that he can draw on. It’s fairly standard stuff overall, but the reality is that the execution is just plain boring. There’s nothing to get excited about here, from world design to character designs, the use of the godstones and its magic, or the characters themselves. It feels weirdly small as well in a way that has it part of something larger, but still feels almost quaint. It’s not bad, per se, but it’s not good either.
Grade: C
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
