Kigeki (2002 Video) User Reviews

Hauntingly beautiful Gothic tale

[himel-faizur · 7/10 · 9 August 2015]

Kigeki or Comedy is a short film of only 11 minutes and that is enough to take the viewer on a journey that is as beautiful as it gets. It is a dark fairy tale that is presented with superb direction. The story is about a young girl's quest to save her village during the Irish war of independence by making a deal with an enigmatic swordsman. The short is very straightforward, the few dialogs it had, was fantastically given voice to and the voice acting fit the atmosphere perfectly. The art gave the anime a terrifying Gothic atmosphere filled with melancholy and made it look surreal, and the animations, especially during the action scenes were jaw dropping. You can almost feel the English horsemen riding through the dark grassy plains and the black swordsmen cutting them down like a birthday cake. And as an Icing to the cake is the music. It features Schubert's Ave Maria and Erlkönig, both tracks were great choices considering the atmosphere and will engulf the viewer's soul with beautiful melancholy.

The only fault of this short is it's length. After watching "Comedy" the viewer will only hope it was longer.Overall, this is a must watch for anyone who likes surreal or Gothic stories with top tier direction.

Pretty good anime short actually!

[Irishchatter · 8/10 · 16 June 2018]

I've looked at the other reviews being said about this short and I honestly have to disagree because this was actually a pretty good anime! I liked the fact it gave a such chilling horror feel to it, like this made it even more mysterious, and interesting to make you watching it even more.

I was pretty surprised and grateful that it was set in Ireland (my country). I only found this out at the mid way of the short like it was a great surprise!

I really liked how the story was going with the young girl and the swordsman reading her special book as it was scary to think her village was attacked and she was asking him to combat the enemies. This way, he'll save the village and become the hero. I presume the enemy are part Vikings clan since it looked like it was set around the medieval times! It didnt really show much of the enemies since of course this is a 11 minute short, it wouldn't be able to cover everything with Irish history!

Anyways I liked this short, I give this 8/10!

Stylish, but not much of a story

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 22 February 2016]

The 2002 Japanese 10-short film "Kigeki" is pretty much exactly what you would expect. The animation is very Japanese and the story is packed with supernatural reference, symbolisms and mythological stuff. Sadly, the story is not on par. It is very much a case of style over substance. The plot is a creative idea, but even for such a short film I have to say it was not really executed in a manner that I would call satisfying. The film entirely relies on its atmosphere to stay memorable with the audiences, but this is not enough anymore, also wasn't back almost 15 years ago. However, if you like anime animation style, you can probably still check it out. It is not a failure by any means, just not a particularly good watch either. Overall, I would give it a thumbs down I guess. Not recommended unless you really are a lover of the genre.