Teogonia

In the harsh region known as the borderlands, humans must fight an endless battle against demi-human creatures that come at them relentlessly, intent on taking their land and their gods. A young boy named Kai, fighting to defend his village, sustains a life-threatening injury that causes him to regain memories from a past life. If you're not a guardian bearer, it's like you're playing life on hard mode... Kai's newfound knowledge gives him a new sense of the unfair "rule set" that governs the world around him. One thing is clear: For those without a god to serve as their guardian, life is a constant struggle for survival. Thus begins the epic tale of a young boy's ascent into a vast world filled with magic, bloodshed, and mystery.

(Source: J-Novel Club)

Kai Main

Tamura, Mutsumi Japanese

Moloch, Jose Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Elsa Supporting

Iwami, Manaka Japanese

Moloch, Orha Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Alue Supporting

Tamegai, Hana Japanese

Abridor Supporting

Yasuhara, Yoshito Japanese

Mohikan Supporting

Nakatsukasa, Takayuki Japanese

Torud Supporting

Matsuda, Kenichirou Japanese

Zeija Supporting

Takeuchi, Emiko Japanese

Zeiena Supporting

Kaida, Yuuko Japanese

Mori, Kunihiro Director

Tange, Yuuji Sound Director

STU48 Theme Song Performance

Noda, Emi Theme Song Performance

Reviews

Jun 27, 2025

thewiru

Recommended

The fall of the Bronze Age is marked by a mysterious event of multiple civilizations being attacked by the so-called "sea people". Today, it is believed that it was different civilizations invading one another due to lack of resources, which resulted in their mutual destruction.

While "fights between different, tribal people for lack of resources in a tainted world" is a frequent theme in post-apocalyptic media, Teogonia remembers it's roots and tackles it from a Bronze Age perspective: A tale of local gods with their own hierarchies, different people's going for each other's gods, strong links to the land, tales of foolish kings who doomed their ... kin, tribal alliances, wars for succession, etc

While it succeeds on it's fairly unique and novel concept, it has problems in execution: Most of it's runtime is spent in fairly repetitive fights against Macaques and Orgs. It will be that on episode 1, it will be that on episode 9, which is a shame, considering we've been sold on a world with tons of different races. It does go for a way more interesting direction in it's last arc (Episode 10 onward), but for a 12 anime episode it is a bit late.

Honestly, cool facepaint and ainu designs are my weakness, so I can ignore some of the anime's problems. If you're worried if it is an isekai, it isn't, thought there is a "mechanic" of our protagonist having out-of-context knowledge of concepts from our world, and that's kinda it.
The animation... isn't spectacular? But it isn't terrible either. Asahi Production doesn't have the best historic in the world, but this might be one of their better titles.

One could describe it as "TenSura if it was focused in it's nation-building aspects, slow-burn, and not a Narou-kei" (Well, yes, technically it IS from Narou, but you get what I'm trying to say). I've said in the past that if Re:Zero had ended in episode 11, it would've been an anime which ended in a high-note, but somewhat forgettable, as the plot only begins to really get going and the scope really expanding after that: Teogonia has a similar issue, also having ended in a high-note and making you want to know what happens next (Hey, nice advertisement for the source material, at least?), but not having shown much of itself during it's short runtime, which is what prevents me from giving it a higher score, even though I recommend it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 27, 2025

KANLen09

Mixed Feelings

Teogonia — A traditional fantasy that has some semblances of an Isekai...interesting! Or...is not so the case?

I think we can all agree that Isekai has been unanimously integrated into the cusp of traditional fantasy, so much so that any and all kinds of plots have been experienced in one way or another. Albeit, to the point where, depending on the premise, plot, and execution set out by the authors themselves, that'll depict how the vast audience will take this and interpret it into their own opinions. And as it has been for the past decade, where we're seeing this trend still hanging on to dear ... life for its share of hit-and-miss series, there is that lingering feeling that fewer people are willing to deviate and experiment on the road less travelled to come up with something purely original, and I'm kind of sad to see this happen.

That is, not until this season, where we encounter one such show that is the very definition of "odd, but something special." This is novelist Tsukasa Tanimai and his lone work of Teogonia, a traditional dark fantasy adventure series with a touch of Isekai that hits non-existently different than most.

Of all the Isekai stories we've seen over the last few years or so, I can attest to the fact that Teogonia plays that formula rather radically differently, and its inclusion is only but a mere fraction depicted in a few seconds' worth of thought. This is the hidden premise that gets the audience introduced to the simple villager boy of Kai: a young foot soldier living in an era of relentless and brutal warfare between the regular humans and the demi-human creature counterparts, playing a part to fight and defend alongside the other people who call Lag Village their home.

However, what sets the soldiers apart comes in the form of the entities called Guardian Bearers, who are akin to being leaders of their own tribe to enforce law and order within their control. These Guardian Bearers feed upon the souls of their fallen brethren, collectively known as godstones that help to increase one's strength, more from the power that was birthed from the land they're in. Because you see, the brutality that's similar to people of high authority claiming the fruits of the labour from the people whom they serve and not giving back to the people, the land gods are of a similar stance, where, depending on their geographical location, they can provide their respective areas with spiritual blessings that amount to power and strength, and each and every one of them serves a different purpose.

It's then without a shadow of a doubt that even Lag Village has its own Guardian Bearers that are strong enough to fight off the demi-humans, which consist of the Ash Monkeys, a.k.a. macaques, and the pig-like Ogres (which the aforementioned applies to them the same), and it's truly a dog-eat-dog world of unsympathy, senseless logic, and lack of understanding that peace is an option, but that the long-term goal is too miniscule to even be of consideration. And while I wouldn't say that Kai, as the representative MC in all of this, is a bad character that unfortunately has to go with the flow with what he's been dealt, it definitely takes some time getting used to how he's like and the process of maturity that he has to get used to in quick succession, while grappling with a power that's clearly proving to prove its weight over him. The other characters of note that help Kai along the way, like his Childhood friend of Elsa who has a one-sided crush on the village boy; the feudal Lord Vezin of Lag Village that keeps him and his village informed of the proceeding conflict; the outsiders of Jose and Orla whom are Guardian Bearers in their own right; or be it of Porek and his small village tribe of Koror, they sustain Kai in their own ways possible, while letting the red-haired boy try to understand his newfound power from the valleys, as well as the lingering memories and visions of the modern day that despite the understanding, allows Kai to effectively use his Guardian Bearer magic that's imbued from the knowledge of life and its advanced technolgy that's beyond his years (which technically, this should be considered an Isekai, but it's not integral to the plot, even if by the slightest hint of it).

With the abject failure of last season's Hazure Skill "Kinomi Master" a.k.a. Bogus Skill <<Fruitmaster>>, Asahi Production and director Kunihiro Mori are looking to stage Teogonia as a high-quality show, which I definitely got for the most part. While compared to the former series, Teogonia's production looks solid, and at times, bearable (due to the low-budget feel), much of it is very watchable. It's not the greatest, but it'll do against quite the development story for the series, which evokes the sense and fashion of old-school anime, a time when story takes precedence over everything.

The music, however, feels so-so because there's just nothing going for the wavelength of what the anime is trying to portray, and even then, it's minute at best with the sound design. I'll give props to Emi Noda for her OP song, which Teogonia here serves as her 3rd Anisong outing that has the old-school charm to it. However, the choice to feature AKB48's sister group from the Setouchi Region, STU48, for the ED song is rather weird, because idol songs like these always never seem to fit the narrative well, apart from being a decent standalone song by themselves.

Overall, Teogonia is not a bad show. In fact, I would say that its plot premise is one reason why it stands out from the oversaturated pack of fantasy shows, and with a world-building setting that is otherwise lesser seen than expected, it does take time for the show to cook and get moving, which is also its Achilles' heel.

Still, give this the 3-episode rule if you can. It's different, but in a decent way.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 29, 2025

Dark_Yagami

Not Recommended

Informative

Preliminary (4/12 eps)

This anime has unique character designs that are nice to look at, and a narrative structure that spends most of its time bluntly spelling out the rules of the isekai world it’s trying to establish. If you like listening to world-building exposition that doesn’t flow as natural dialogue and clearly exists solely for the benefit of informing the viewer, then this show might be for you.

At its core is this is a basic overpowered protagonist power-fantasy with a fantasy world that has some novel concepts. I prefer my fantasy worlds to exist as backgrounds for interesting characters, and to learn about these worlds organically ... through observing how the characters interact with it.

In this show however, much of the world is taught to the audience through stilted dialogue with comparisons to the modern world we know. The dialogue is unnatural because characters that live in this world should know the world they live in, not talk about it as if they are learning and establishing the rules of the world.

For instance, you wouldn’t expect someone in our world to come out of a grocery store and encounter their friend to say: “Hey, I was just using the grocery store where we exchange currency for food.” This anime consists of characters often playing the role of the writer or narrator of the show. This doesn’t work to create a setting that feels real or characters that don’t seem like information delivery vehicles.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Teogonia Episode 12 Discussion Stark700 - Jun 27	35 replies	by EinTheVariance »» Nov 29, 10:34 PM
	Poll: Teogonia Episode 11 Discussion Stark700 - Jun 20	21 replies	by EinTheVariance »» Nov 29, 10:18 PM
	Poll: Teogonia Episode 10 Discussion Stark700 - Jun 13	15 replies	by EinTheVariance »» Nov 29, 9:56 PM
	Poll: Teogonia Episode 9 Discussion Stark700 - Jun 6	23 replies	by EinTheVariance »» Nov 29, 9:35 PM
	Poll: Teogonia Episode 8 Discussion Stark700 - May 30	27 replies	by EinTheVariance »» Nov 29, 8:56 PM