Teogonia – Episode 1

Content Warning: Blood

What’s it about? Humans ban together to fend off a singular foe: invading demi-humans who seek to destroy their way of life. Kai, a village boy, finds his world engulfed by this seemingly never-ending fight and joins the fray, defending his home with all he’s got. But in the midst of battle, memories start to fill his mind: thoughts and dreams of another life…

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Teogonia rounds out the last parts of the Spring 2025’s new series by injecting fantasy. Specifically, it’s an adventure fantasy series with a twist. But are twists enough to satisfy this genre savvy reviewer, or will I wish I was in another world without my computer?

We’re keeping the intro bits short today: let’s dive in!

Episode 1, “Kai of Lag Village”, begins with a world at war, and in the midst of it, a battle between the inhuman demi-human tribes, all of whom seem to loom over their all-too human counterparts. Down on the field, amidst a thicket of trees, is Kai, fending off the enemy with what little battle knowledge he has. But the Macques who stand before him have no chance when the Olha, lord of the land and the village, summons his battle sigil and weaves his sword in glorious battle. With his magnificent power, Lag Village stands another day.

This isn’t just a war story, though, and that becomes apparent when Kai asks to eat a rice ball, something not known in his world. Soon, it becomes apparent that Kai’s story didn’t start in Lag Village, but somewhere else…

From the start, there’s a lot of interesting aspects to Teogonia that I genuinely didn’t expect. I like that we’re seeing humans on the back foot: I always find it fascinating to see humanity as the underdog, having to rely on wit over strength against a fearsome foe. Demi-humans are a bit rote at this point, but they suit the show well enough, and really, aren’t the meat of what makes this premiere interesting at all.

To me, the fact that Kai is in another world without really understanding how is much more fascinating. So often, we get genre savvy protagonists who know the rules of being taken to another world and use that to their benefit. Very rarely do we seem to meet a protagonist whose life in Japan comes second to their life in a fantasy world. I feel like this goes double for boys and men, who often are part of an underdog tale where their second life is recompense This little bit of a twist–I hesitate to call it nuance, at least not yet–definitely added a certain flavor to an otherwise just okay premiere. The most offensive thing is how animalistic the demi-humans are, which might sound ironic since they are largely fantasy beastmen. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the beastly demi-humans felt…kind of offensive? Like, I get that they’re supposed to be non-human, but the fact that they speak in a guttural way just sat wrong with me when like, these bumpkin humans ain’t nothing to look at. Something something I don’t like how the demi-humans make me feel as a marginalized individual but I don’t have the right words at this point in time.

And this is, at least right now, just okay. It’s got juuuuust enough meat on the bone that I’m interested without necessarily full capturing my attention. I’m hoping this is just first episode woes and that by the time we reach the three episode check, I’ll have much more to say about the progression of this series. For now, the animation is perfectly okay, the soundtrack is generic fantasy sounds, and the writing just gets the job done.

I found Teogonia to be a solid middling anime premiere. At its core, it’s still an isekai, though I’ll say it leans much more into being straight-up adventure fantasy. I actually like that because I think it’s much more enticing than slogging through yet another “Guy from Japan becomes special in another world” premiere. Here, Kai is weak: he’s a teenager in training to fight in battle. He gets small portions because he’s still learning and hasn’t made a name for himself. His life is hardly a dream. But his visions of a vastly more technological world are, and I get the sense that that will fuel a lot of his ambitions and the way he evolves his ability to fight.

For now, I’m surprisingly going to stick with this, even though I didn’t think I would during my initial watch. I want to see how Kai’s former life and his current life blend together to power his spiritual power. I want to see how the battles ahead go in terms of Kai’s growth as a character. Maybe it’s the Fire Emblem fan in me, but he reminds me of a lot of the starter mages: a glass cannon with vast potential if given time to grow and learn how to use the skills they have at hand. I want to see that potential come to fruition and if that means being patient well…I’m used to playing the long game. I think I’ll hedge my bets again by playing it here.