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A Visual Clue to Oddness

I love the shape of 奇. It’s a perky little kanji. But I might like it even more if the bottom component, 可, were enclosed on the left (like 同, ona(ji), “same”). Then 奇 would be symmetrical, which is always pleasing in kanji. For instance, when it teams up with the symmetrical character 異, look what a dashing couple they make:

奇異 (kii: unusual, strange)     unusual + strange

This twosome is all the more striking because the top of 奇 looks a bit like the bottom of 異, and the bottom of 奇 has a boxiness that matches the top of 異.

But perfection is just out of reach, because 奇 seems incomplete! The more I look at it, the more I see a missing leg!

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