Anime Spotlight #62: Teogonia
a.k.a. The Animeister.
Let's see if we can get another traffic boom this week, Ticketholders!
I mentioned in my Spotlight on The Beginning After the End that this week's anime would also feature the main character using modern world knowledge to boost his power, and that holds true. Unfortunately, there are some apparent inaccuracies associated with Teogonia both from a Wikipedia standpoint (which is where I get most of my author and print media pipeline information for the lead-ins to these Anime Spotlight posts, so maybe a new source is in order going forward?) and in the naming of various races within the series (this is just pedantic on my part, but I'll briefly touch on it anyway).
With a title inspired by Hesiod's TheogonÃa (the birth and genealogy of the gods, so basically, the Greek precursor to the Book Of Genesis,
It follows the adventures of Kai (a name that Dragon Ball scholars will tell you means "world"—in a loosely translated, highly interpretive sense—but depending on the kanji used, it can refer to a shell or shellfish, the ocean or sea, a gathering, meeting, association, or club, or a change or improvement, all of which are befitting or foreshadowing of his character), a villager in a war-torn world where humans are constantly in conflict with demi-human races like Ogres (the anime's use of "Org" fits them better as they more closely resemble the pig-like orcs from D&D and other Tolkein-inspired fantasy fiction), Macaques (who bear only a slight, "if you squint and feed it steroids and mutant growth supplements" resemblance to some of their namesake species, and more closely remind me of warm weather yetis), and Uzelles (meant to be a play on gazelle, I think, but they look more like deer-people). Societies function on a "serve your purpose and leave power to the strong and wealthy" philosophy, and said power and strength are derived from a two-fold system: Barons and their kin of a given territory are bound to their region's Land God, inheriting Its strength by having the common class tend to and defend the land (so, kind of a spiritual environmentalism thing in the vein of Captain Planet; the more beautiful and bountiful the land, the stronger the Baron), as well as a literally fluid RPG system that almost functions like vampirism (drinking from a slain opponent's God Stone has a healing and strengthening effect, but drinking from another of one's own race can poison or corrupt instead, and the Barons get the lion's share of Stone juice after a battle). But because Kai is the embodiment of change (whether he was always the standout nail in the hammer factory or his inherited memories made him that way is unclear), he gets in over his head during a Macaque attack (great name for a low-budget animal rampage movie) while trying to make fire magic happen in a world where magic is only a legend. It works...somehow (willpower and luck, most likely, so at least he didn't have to breed bioluminescent fish by banging his own sister, or something), but Kai is so injured in the fight that his only options are drinking an entire God Stone for himself (the non-incestuous taboo of all taboos in the Teogonia world) or death.
And because he's nominally destined to also be the embodiment of togetherness (which, in anime, also means an unrequited harem), and this bears a few plot similarities to TBATE, Kai gets separated in the fight and discovers a fertile valley where he becomes bound to the Valley God/Arbitration God Kanae, learns from his isekai memories how to magically heal damaged cells with his spirit energy and sever molecular bonds with a Zamasu blade, and gains followers in the dwarf-like Koror people (including the chief's granddaughter Aruwe, whom he saves after the chief has her sacrificed to Kai, as if religious fanaticism in the series being classist, racist, and sexist weren't bad enough). Speaking of sexism, back in Kai's village of Lag (unsubtle name when the main character is a force of change and progress), he also catches the attention of a servant girl named Elsa (the forgotten childhood friend trope, as she came to Lag from the same village as Kai after it was raided and destroyed by Macaques) and the Lag Baron's daughter, Lady Jose (that's pronounced like "Josei," with a hard J, emphasis on the O, and a long, A-sounding E, rather than the Hispanic "José" most Westerners might expect, and she's a decent combination of the himedere, tomboy, and white/silver-haired love interest tropes, as she is basically village royalty with a Spirit Bearer mark like Kai and her father, but is forbidden from combat because of her gender and convinces Kai to help her train in secret in exchange for keeping his anime protagonist abilities a secret, though this only lasts a few episodes because Teogonia's pacing and tone have the attention span of a smoked bee on crack). Yeah, in the span of a twelve-episode season, Kai goes from daydreaming combat-farmer to mage to hermit to god to going back and forth between Lag and his Valley while training Lady Jose, ignorantly flirting with Elsa so she'll cook him food from his memories, caring for the Koror girl, and protecting her people even though they tried to kill her, then there's a few episodes where Kai and the people of Lag have to placate and gaslight a pair of rich assholes during another Macaque attack (great title for the sequel) before one of them kidnaps Elsa, sending Kai into a crisis of faith for ten minutes where he gets all sad and murdery (so, no more rich asshole pervy kidnapper, and this is sure to make waves if another season happens), and then the Macaques come to Kai for help even though he just slaughtered enough of them to get five free sandwiches at feudal fantasy world Subway. Apparently, they were only attacking human villages to get new land because a monster named Diabo (basically a Nokker from To Your Eternity if it were a fatally poisonous giant lizard monster, but it's also a former Macaque royal who got obsessed with power and consumed too many Macaque God Stones, I think?). The end of the fight is pretty badass, and Kai gets a new power-up and a new "follower" in the bargain (the Macaque princess—who, thankfully, doesn't follow Brilliant Healer's gender variance mold because Teogonia may look like it's going in that direction by the final episode's post-credits scene, but it isn't overt harem trash).
Though I don't have anything to corroborate this, it's possible that Tanimai (and later, the artists) drew some inspiration from To Your Eternity in terms of wardrobe design (strapped-together furs and rope-bound textiles, though the higher classes dress with more sophisticated tailoring here), themes (spirituality, togetherness, change and diversity, protecting what is precious, knowledge beyond mortal bounds, etc.), and character (the Diabo comes to mind first and foremost, but Kai's relationships to the Valley God, Elsa, the Koror girl Aruwe, and the Macaque princess all have loose analogues in To Your Eternity). But Teogonia is nowhere near achieving the level of fight animation quality or thematic, emotional depth of its apparent inspiration. I think it's doing enough of its own thing that it would be wrong to dismiss it as a lesser Eternity (plus, I'm a lapsed science nerd, so the molecular and cellular manipulation magic is an incredibly cool idea to me, and Teogonia's world is richly built despite being so small and bleak). I'd definitely watch another season to see where it goes because despite what became of its pacing and the problematic suggestion of a pseudo-religious harem by season's end, Teogonia mostly surprised me in a good way.
I would also like to be surprised in a good way this week even though asking for it defeats the definition of a surprise, so please remember to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, leave a comment at the bottom of this post and any others you have opinions about, help out my ad revenue as you read so I can continue to hope for new beginnings, and follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.
And look right here because tomorrow, I eviscerate an Amazon-produced adaptation of a classic novel (no, not that one). Wednesday, Lovecraft and Wonderland collide to answer the Call. And on Throwback Thursday, so do an Oldboy and an old man. Enjoy, and
Animeister,
Out.
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