It feels fitting that Crunchyroll released the first episode for the bizarrely unique show Extra Olympia Kyklos on 4/20. Adapted from Mari Yamazaki's comedy manga series Olympia Kyklos, the show stands out from the anime crowd with its use of stop motion and claymation. Though the tone of the episode leans more toward absurdity, it still manages to slip in several tidbits about ancient Greek culture.
Episode 1, "You Are Hellenese," introduces viewers to Demetrius daydreaming while swimming alongside a dolphin, which references how the animal is regarded as sacred within Greek mythology. Demetrius's innate athleticism catches the eye of the local mayor who schemes to exploit this in order to gain money. He calls Demetrius over while mentioning how exhausted he is after ordering four slaves around. This is followed by a hilarious and extremely brief pseudo-educational segment showing the mayor giving a simple order to his servant.
More importantly, the mayor pushes Demetrius to participate in the Olympics to gain honor and glory befitting of Greek men. However, Demetrius claims the Olympics are scary, prompting the mayor to tease him. Demetrius runs home crying where he chooses to spend his days contentedly painting intricate designs on ancient Greek pots. The mayor abruptly shows up again, with a dolphin (of course), and again tries to convince the sensitive Demetrius to compete in the Olympics.
Demetrius refuses, saying rocks will be thrown at him for losing and how only beasts fight one another until they're bloody. This alludes to how the early Olympic games were quite violent due to the lack of rules and enforcement of rules. Meanwhile, the mayor raves on about how important honor is, which historically was what people in ancient Greece turned to when measuring one's worthiness in society.
Demetrius runs away again and ends up hiding in a large urn. He contemplates about what he enjoys doing, but is interrupted presumably by divine intervention as lightning strikes the urn. In a trippy and colorful sequence accompanied by catchy background music and vocals, Demetrius ends up in present day Tokyo.
But the silliness doesn't end there. The ending segment titled "Ending Song #1," sung by Honeuros the Bard, is an educational tune teaching about ancient Greece. This particular song mentions how citizens of Greece were called Hellenese, and how women weren't allowed to participate in an "ecclesia" (public assembly) held at an "agora" (public space). It also shows how a "polis" is smaller than an "acropolis."
The five-minute first episode of Extra Olympia Kyklos is definitely odd but funny, and provides wonderful stop motion animation.
