Kiba

I can't believe such a hyped anime doesn't have a review. Well on with the show:

Story:
I absolutely loved this anime storywise. It begins with a young boy named Zed, who lives in a strange, polluted town known as Calm. One day, a spirit, Amil Gaoul, appears to him, and he is dragged into another world. This of course, might seem cliche within the genre of time/world-traveling hereos, but where Kiba sets itself apart is in the concept of shard casting, the main magical ability of the people of the alternate world. Shard-casters can produce from their body small shards which unleash an elemental attack. Other ... anime have similar concepts, but to use items like this is something that to me is rather new, and I liked it. Also, shardcasters may summon spirits using special shards, and there are six Key Spirits, which are far more powerful than other spirits. Without going into too many spoilers, once the six Key Spirits are brought together, a great power is unleashed, and much of the anime is spent in this quest by multiple factions to obtain the power of the Key Spirits. This makes for a truly epic anime, with a rather interesting ending.

Art:
During the first episode, you get the feeling that the art is dark, due to the nature of Calm, but once Amil Gaoul appears, you see the real art style of this anime. Most of the characters are drawn in rather conventional anime form, but the real artistic value of this anime can be seen in the ethereal forms of the various spirits. Amil Gaoul resembles an angel, but there are also spirits which resemble devils, warriors, mythical creatures such as phoenixes and centaurs. Most of the spirits are bipeds, which really adds to their appeal, in seeing ghostly, two-legged forms of many different beings. The places where the shard casters draw their shards from, can resemble anything from an intricate tattoo to jewelry, to some sort of disease-ridden boil, depending where it is, or the very character of the person.

Sound:
The voice actors are great, although personally I found Roia's voice grating on the nerves sometimes. The battle sequences with Amil Gaoul all have a beautiful chorus to them, so you know when the tide of the battle is going to turn. This is really the only highlight in terms of sound in this anime, the rest could easily be attributed to background sounds.

Character:
I didn't like some of the characters, mostly because they often contradicted their own actions in extreme ways. Zed remains for the better part of the anime, a hero, he takes to his role readily, then experiences doubts about himself, and his mentor, who although appears to have a grandfatherly aspect about him, has a dark past that doesn't come out until the last 5 or so episodes. Zed's best friend is another source of frustration, in that he so easily and completely changes himself into the opposite of Zed.

Enjoyment:
As you are watching the anime, you are completely absorbed in it, and maybe once it ends is when you really start questioning things such as characterization and such, but meanwhile, this is one wild ride. The rather novel concept of shard casting sets this anime apart, and I highly recommend it to everyone

Kiba is a Shounen, Fantasy, Action, Adventure about a world full of shard casters, which are people who can summon spells and spirits. The concept is great but the story is rather second-rate.

The story follows the adventures of two separate boys (Zed and Noa), as they go through many different experiences in their different world, before both stories meet. Even though this anime series has a pretty unique concept of spirits, the story itself is told just like you average shounen anime, which ends up taking away quite a bit of the enjoyment of the show. However the simplistic story is still good enough and ... doesn’t feel like it’s entirely dragged out, most of the time. There are also the whole nations at war plot and their relations, which helps give this series some much needed depth, plus there are plenty of plot twists to supplement it.

The characters are probably the worst aspect of the series because they are all fairly one-dimensional and a lot of them go under drastic personality changes for no good reason. The poor dialogue doesn’t help much either, as they tend to spew out clichéd lines. The main character Zed is just as bad because he is a loud-mouth, simple-minded brat that does things senselessly. The only redeeming point has to be the way in which certain characters develop throughout the series.

The animation quality of this series is of a pretty good standard; with plenty of effort put into the environments, the actual spells and appropriately used CG effects. On the other hand the character designs are really plain and the actual fights sequences were somewhat lacking, as if they cut some corners in production. The quality of sound is just as good; with some notably great tunes from the soundtrack and adequate ambient sounds but poor voice acting does take a few things away.

Overall Kiba is a fairly entertaining shounen action adventure, with an erratic storyline. Because there was no clearly defined path, it just felt like the author was making stuff up as he goes along. One interesting thing is that during the action sequences, there are usually 2 fights going on (between the people and between their spirits). However this anime had a problem with leaving things unexplained or just doing a poor job explaining. If you are able to ignore the numerous faults, especially in the characters, you are sure to enjoy this series.

^_^

First of I just finished this and All i can say is WOW!
Unlike a few animes of this type it really doesn't drag on and on. The story is constantly moving forward and keeping you well informed on whats going on with the characters and how they play their parts through out the anime.
I was really suprised, when it started i thought it was going to be your average superpower good vs evil kinda thing, but in the end i was wrong. A good bit of twists, and things that may or may not keep you guessing.
One of the best things i ... have to say is there are hardly any dead spots, even with memories and flashback.


This is my first review and i hope it can be of some help to some people.

In case you don't wanna read the whole thing, here's a summary of this review;

Kiba is an original shounen fantasy anime from studio Madhouse and it's directed by Hiroshi Koujina (Hunter x Hunter 2011, Rainbow, etc). For a shounen, it has a relatively grim tone and adult themes that are more common in war dramas. But at the same time, it's set in a fantasy setting where people fight with swords and Pokemon-style monsters.
It's not a perfect series, but if you want a well-paced, well-animated, dark, and complete shounen series with a reasonable episode count that isn't at the mercy of any source ... material (and isn't called Fullmetal Alchemist 2003), then I recommend giving it a try.

And now for the full review:

__*Story*__

As I said, Kiba takes place in a fantasy universe in which humans live on different nation planets and each planet has a vastly different way of life. Each seems to be a thinly veiled allegory to real world government systems (there's a democracy, a theocracy, a communist, and an imperialistic nation) and they're quite thoroughly explored in the narrative. Some of these planets have "Shard Casters" which is basically a warrior who casts spells or summons monsters through these marble thingies. Also Shard Casters normally use swords as well and fight together with the monster.

This series uses these elements not in having friendly battles that are just for fun, but in real wars between different nation planets, in which people actually end up dead most of the time. And even though this series has little to no blood in it, characters die in very brutal ways and life is very cheap.

The story centers on a troublemaking boy who manages to stumble in to another planet while running from the authorities on his home planet and where he eventually becomes a Shard Caster. Throughout the series, he learns about different ways of life, interacts/fights many different character, and enters many scenarios that continue to shape him as the series advances. I don't want this review to be a synopsis, but what I will say is that the heart and soul of the series is the conflict between the main character, Zed, and his former best friend, Noah as well as their roles in this world.

It might feel a little random and almost aimless at first. However, it does find its stride pretty quickly, has a pretty large scale and some cool (and frankly, shocking) twists and turns along the way. It is reasonably paced and complete with a satisfying ending. It can be a little clunky in places, due to irrational decisions made by some of the characters from time to time.

That aside, the central theme is spread out nicely in the narrative and is visible through the common thread between many of the characters - which is the struggle to free yourself from the circumstances you were born into (with emphasis on the word "free"). That struggle is presented in both positive and negative ways depending on the character's actions and the circumstances they're in. This is also presented through visual symbolism in the form of a paper plane which reappears in the series occasionally.

__*Characters*__

The main characters here are introduced very well. The main character, Zed, like I mentioned before is a troublemaker and a rebel without a cause who has mommy issues and Noah is a straight-laced, by-the-book type of person. Over the course of the series, they develop in ways that feel like natural extensions of who they are, but are shaped differently due to their experiences in these other worlds.

To avoid spoilers I'm not gonna go into any specifics, but I will say that Zed actually finds a cause to rebel against and Noah continues to be a "by the book" type of person but in an extremely different context.

The villains in the series are not exactly your standard shounen villains. Not so much because of their motivations which aren't super interesting if I'm being honest, but they're very threatening because their actions are very cruel and their body count is high.

At times, supporting characters aren;t handled all that well, sadly. They sometimes appear to do irrational things. Things you can understand the basic reasoning behind, but it's still really dumb and is often proven to be so, soon afterward. From time to time, some characters can come across as quite over the top and/or having development that feels overblown and jarring.

For example, there's a twist villain from the early episodes who seemed extremely sympathetic at first, but once he was revealed for who he is, that sympathy is thrown out the window very quickly because of how heinous his actions are. Hell, even his tone of voice changes dramatically in to having a more cartoonishly evil vibe and it just leaves me puzzled as to why he was handled like that since it doesn't seem to be in line with the way he was before.

With that said, most other characters are passable and are utilized in the series well enough, and are usually given at least some depth.

All in all, I'd say the characters are mostly good. The main characters, Zed and Noah and their respective paths are definitely handled well (even if the latter is a little over the top as well), but the rest range from fine to pretty questionable at worst.

__*Art*__

The character designs are pretty well done. They have a unique eye shape, clothes that complement their personalities and/or where they came from and the Main Character, Zed is consistently color coded red to make him stand out from the crowd. Some of the monster designs are ok while others are kinda lame (Amil Gaoul) and they're generally pretty creepy looking, but not always in a good way.

It also has some good background art. There are some very nice-looking landscapes with bright colors and although not super detailed, they fit well with the foreground and there is a lot of variety in locations as well as a good use of shading.

The animation is pretty good too. It's not particularly great either and it does take shortcuts here and there, but this series also avoids the pitfall of a great deal of tv anime (particularly of adaptations, this isn't one though) of having characters stand around and talk for too long - that never really happens in this show. Plus, it has a lot of action, and though it's not spectacular, it's always brutal, quick, and fun to watch. These fights involve a lot of people getting stabbed, falling of cliffs, getting burned to death, etc' (did I mention that this show had a Saturday morning timeslot?).

__*Sound*__

There are two openings in this series and both of them are pretty good rock/pop kinda songs, especially the second opening which I think was crafted very well. The ending songs weren't bad but were pretty forgettable. The soundtrack is excellent, it's mostly unnerving, but perfectly complements every tone the series attempts to communicate even if it gets a little repetitive.

The sound design is sadly quite basic at best. There's heavy use of YGO sound effects, and other sound effects just sound plain weird or loud. But they at least have a fantasy-esque feel to them and don't sound out of place per se.

I think its voice acting is fine, but they overdo it with the screaming which becomes a tad silly at points. With that said, it does have many famous voice actors that you'd probably recognize and voices fit just fine with each of the characters.

__*Overall* __

Kiba is not perfect, but it is one of a kind in many ways and pretty crazy if I'm being honest.
If it sounds even remotely interesting to you, I highly recommend to at least check it out.

This is a series that is comprised of 51 ep. This series is a Shonen show with some fantasy elements and drama.

Story:

Ok the story i would have to say was Mediocre at best. There was really not any huge plot twists or eye popping scenes. The first Episode was pretty good. You get really involved into it, but then after the first episode, the series just drops in plot and everything becomes your typical average shonen, spirits fighting spirits, good VS evil, etc. The first season really had no shocking moments and it seems like you have learned everything this series has to offer right ... from the start. I almost even thought bout dropping this series due to the pain painstakingly boring fights. How ever towards the second season the plot started picking up again and it became surprisingly bearable to watch. I think in all honesty that this series was to slow, they should of revealed the plot at a faster pace. This series could of been 26 episodes and be a great series, because of all the useless spirit fights that had absolutely nothing to do with the whole plot behind Kiba, i found it rather boring to sit down and watch this anime from start to finish. I will have to say that the ending was really good and it did a great job of wrapping up everything and all the un answered questions bout zed's fateful past were answered. I found it enjoyable to watch the last 10 episodes because they were actually good. The battles were alot more detailed as well towards the end. They also shown alot more of the personalities behind all the Key characters in the series.

ART:

The art was pretty good. Most of the battles had great animation, and you felt like you were not watching a old classic series like (astro boy) lol. You felt like you were watching todays Generation in anime. I have seen anime with better art then this show but it was not all that bad. Its ashame the battles were not that great to go along with the awesome art.

Sound :

This was another thing i really did not like bout kiba was the sound. The BG sound in most fights were just terrible, they could of done MUCH better in this department. The only sounds i found were good and went with the flow of the battle was the music showing the fights with AMil Goal "Zeds key spirit". Other then that, the music was just terrible. Even on the most important scenes were the music was really needed the most was not there. This is really what put the anime in Jeperady was because of the painful music. The OST's were good though, opening and ending theme songs were pretty nice and you find your self humming the tunes in your head but the anime music theme's shouldn't of went with this series at all.

Character:

Not much to say bout this, the characters were great. I really like the personality of zed and Roia. The characters, cried, had emotions and everything, its really ashame that there roles in the plot were not all that important until the very end of the series. Everything from ep 1-35 is just spirit VS spirits, good VS evil. They did not reveal really much of anything behind the characters pasts or personalities until the last 10 episodes or so. If only this series had a better story then this show would of got a rate of 8 or 9 at least.

Bottom line is this series is boring to watch, especially the first season were nothing really happens, just battles between spirits. Like i said before if it wasn't for the filler based episodes in the first 26 episodes of the series and the plot moved along at a faster pace then this series would of be acceptable because of this if you can bear watching all the boring episodes, then it really does get good towards the end. I hope my review does not keep people from watching the series. I found it enjoyable to finally finish the plot and under stand everything.
But there is alot of anime out there that has a much better plot, better music themes then kiba does, i guess its just all about personal opinion!

Kiba is a fantasy fighting anime that focuses heavily on battles involving summoned spirits and its own brand of magic and hand-to-hand combat. The story revolves mainly around the main protagonist as he moves through each of the series featured 'worlds' - although a fair amount of the series also devotes some time to the other main characters.

If your still with me now then here comes the fun part - this series is totally genocidal. It is amazing how often they introduce characters and then kill them off (and that doesn't even begin to cover all the fodder characters). Despite this the series ... manages to introduce enough characters to maintain a cast and was actually pretty enjoyable despite my intense dislike of the rival character and some pretty hilarious plot holes and dialogue.

Story

The story had some ups and downs which kind of smoothed each other out - its also very fast paced which is welcome in the age of anime which likes to drag on forever with flashfiller. There were a number of times where the story was pushing incredulity even by this series interpretation of physics. My two favorite examples being the number of times the main character gets thrown in jail only to easily break out (often within minutes - and about 5 of those occasions were from the same jail) and the number of times he manages to get right into the heart of heavily armed locations without any trouble between the front gate and wherever he was going. Despite it's faults its was always entertaining to see what was going to happen next and it was almost never boring.

Art

Overall I liked the art for this series - Its not the most fabulous art I've ever seen but it was consistent and pleasant enough to look at. There was a lot of frame recycling used for the spirit animations and lots of corner cutting for fodder fights but they managed to keep it interesting and some of the more high level fights had a surprising level of intricacy (owing a lot to the integration of sword/magic/spirits often being used in combination) which was often maintained in animation.

Sound

Didn't notice the sound very much - which is an indication it did its job without being too invasive but didn't really impress me. I did notice the theme they used for the main characters spirit which was kind of cool the first few times but got old pretty quick. On the other hand I often loitered at the start of a few episodes to watch the second OP cause that was pretty good.

Character

Hilariously bad - particularly the rival character of the series but there is enough to go around here. Most of the core characters were acceptably fleshed out although it often took a long time to get there. Scores of the minor cast were sources of unexpected hilarity as they were so stereotypical and absurd and often foul up and die within a few episodes ( I even nicknamed one of them Hamlet while he lost his mind). My main gripe though is the rival character - I cannot make the leap of faith required to think anybody can as much of a tool as that guy. I don't find him even remotely believable and I want to slap him every time he appears.

Enjoyment

As long as your not expecting (or indeed wanting) a cerebral workout I think this anime is pretty enjoyable. I laughed out loud at some of the ridiculous things that happened but in the end the plot pulled me in and the action kept me there.

Overall

If your looking for a light series that is isn't too deep but has enough ace and action to keep things interesting you could do a lot worse then Kiba. Its probably not going to change your life but it will make it shorter :)

Kiba was something i have never seen before. and i mean in a good way. its was ok in the first few episodes but later, it became more intersiting. i give story 8, art 6, sound 7, character 9, enjoyment 9, and overall an 8

Wow this is a pretty underrated Shounen here on MAL. Upon hunting for some Shounen to watch to satisfy my action anime thirst at the time, I stumbled upon an Anime named Kiba. Now looking at the reviews, it seemed like an either hate it or really love it Anime. I'm open to most type of Anime so I gave it a go anyway. Two words

SIMPLY AMAZING.

Hear me out though. It's pretty much like a post apocalyptic setting in which the atmosphere is polluted and people are slowly but surely dying from it but people have no choice but to live in urban rough ... cities where crime is high. The MC is name Zed who is a sort of delinquent but still trying to survive the rough city he is in. He gets in trouble all the time and has a buddy name Noa who helps him when things get rough. One day, a portal appears and that's pretty much how the story gets going. His friend also jumps inside.

When I first started watching, it honestly didn't seem all that different from "TRAVEL TO ANOTHER WORLD" Anime I've watched at least 20 times. What caught me off guard is how it was executed because the twists in the story will have you going crazy with a blown mind trust me. I can't really spoil anything but just be prepared for the full circle the story does to Zed. He goes through the portal,meets strange people, trains to use this creature summoner to fighter the bad guys,etc.

As the Anime goes on, it starts to become darker. People do indeed die and they die a lot but for strong reasons. I litterally didn't want to stop watching until I finish the entire show. That's how good it is. Zed is faced with a lot of internal and external conflicts.

The Openings and Endings are simple AMAZING trust me. You will NOT skip any of them. Madhouse does it again I'm not sure how they keep making hit after hit. This studio is just simply untouched when it comes to making you love characters and their struggles.

So please MAL, give it a chance. Give Kiba just one chance to be in your heart as a great shounen.

The story takes place in a world called "calm" where our Protagonist Zed spends lonely life with being labelled as a rebellious delinquent in his school and frequently got in trouble with the police. Literally he lives in a caged room. The calm world itself is with buildings which prevent free circulation of air and people wear masks over their mouth. His only friend is Nova, who is all perfect except in health. In reality our Protagonist breaks the doors in search of his escape route. He is haunted by a dream of a winged blue creature for long time that he longs for free ... world. He gets transported into another dimension where there is free and fresh air. Here on the story revolves around the key spirit he acquires. The key spirit resides in the hole patterns imbibed in the hand of the protagonist.
But even after watching all the episodes i do not understand why did the title is "kiba."

Sound: Background Music when the key spirit appears is very good. Opening song for the first couple of episodes is good too. But later on it gets changed, which was not as good as the previous one.

Character: Only the Protagonist's character seems to develop. I wonder why there is decrease in the onscreen-time of characters like robes, roya and especially mikki. It seemed to me that Nova is scapegoat. Protagonist's sadness seemed to remain the same till the end of the series. Many characters were introduced very fast in the ending episodes and explanation lacked,. There were two sad princess in the story.

Enjoyment: I gave 8 because of some themes of purity, conflict which were shown beautifully without any ecchi or fan service.

Before I begin, I must tell you that I am not just another anime noob writing this review but nor am I an extremist anime lover who watches anime all day long. This is probably my first (or second) review on MAL and I am not really sure how I will do but I will try because this is definitely one of my all time favorite anime and I am astonished to see how underrated it is.

I first saw this anime back when I was like, 8 or 9 years old, when I used to watch Pokemon everyday at 5pm when it used to air ... on the most famous TV Channel in my country. At the time when Pokemon aired at 5pm, this anime had the most ridiculous time slot - 11pm every weekend. It was due to that the anime did not get really popular and was soon pulled back from the TV Channel. But I and my brother used to watch it every weekend and used to look forward to it. It was many years later that I rewatched it, and I still hold firm to my beliefs - this anime is nowhere like Pokemon. I would have said that back when I was 8 or 9, or today even. Pokemon is incomparable to this anime, for this has a far more beautiful plot than Pokemon ever had.

Story
------
Personally I have never seen a story organised so beautifully as of yet. The way events take place, the way they show flashbacks, the way consequences lead to another story - everything about this anime is put in a very well made form. I do not think highly of action anime. If you see my anime list, you will find out that I have a greater preference for romance anime, and this anime, despite not having the slightest of romance, has been able to maintain its position in my top 5 for nearly 4 years now.

Art
----
The Art of this anime, according to when it was aired, is pretty darn good. Especially the scenes where they have animated the spirits, you really tend to notice the details. Even the city of Ulbacas, which appears much later in anime, has been animated in a very spectacular way. Now of course, you cannot compare that to the art of today (Owari no Seraph, for instance). That'd be disappointing, truly.

Sound
-------
The most attractive thing about the entire anime apart from its plot, is the soundtrack that plays each time something major is happening. Almost all of the soundtracks of this anime are extremely beautiful. Now some of the people love soundtracks like the ones in Tokyo Ghoul or Guilty Crown, but the soundtracks of this anime are not comparable to those, since those have "cool" soundtracks, not "beautiful". Beautiful means ones with instruments like ocarina, pipe organs, etc. which sound entirely classical but have a long lasting effect. For instance, the BGM024 of Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, which is an acoustic guitar version of "Recollections" OST of Silver Star Story.

Character
-----------
The characters in this anime were everything one might want the characters to be. Except I was quite disappointed by some of the antagonists. I generally look forward to the antagonists in the anime, because they are more often cooler than the protagonist. Think about it - in Naruto, Uchiha Madara was always cooler than all other characters, was he not? But in this anime, that wasn't so. At first, all of the antagonists seem to be real cool, but by the end, they all lose their minds and start doing random stuff. It is that which is somewhat disappointing.

Keeping that aside, the Character Development of this anime has to be appreciated. You don't see such good character development very often. I will not say anything, because saying anything about the character development will sort of be a spoiler, but I will mention that the characters are really spectacular. The main characters of the anime, except for Roia and the little crybaby, you can very well say that all the main characters of the anime are good enough.

Enjoyment
------------
In terms of enjoyment, I have given it a 9, probably because at some points, the anime becomes a stretch. It kind of makes you say, "Okay that's enough anime for today", which is not good. There exist anime which make you jump episode to episode and make you say, "Just one more!". That also takes out a point from the enjoyment sector.

Overall
--------
I couldn't not give it 10. I have been following this anime for a long time now. A really long time, and I doubt I can actually say that it deserves any less than what I have given it. I watched the English dubbed and English subbed versions, but it was strange that I liked the dubbed version better. It barely ever happens.

The anime cannot be compared to Pokemon. It is insulting, probably because Pokemon was always far too kiddish. This is far, far better. It doesn't have a protagonist who dreams of becoming "THE SPIRIT MASTER!" or anything of the sort. He just got dragged into the whole thing, that's all.

long story short, its basically a more violent pokemon in a medieval type fantasy world

that line should be enough to either make u watch or not watch

if u disagree with me, all i'll say is: dude they summon monsters out of their arms contained in small orbs, i forget if they shout a name of the monster or something, its been a while since i saw it

its still enjoyable to watch since i am a fan of that whole medieval fantasy setting stories

this is one of those obscure gems that have stuck with me over the years and had a strong impact on me. close to a masterpiece in my opinion.

seems like it flew below most peoples radar when it aired and a lot of people probably disregarded it as "pretentious" or "preachy". maybe so. but the way i see it it is very thought provoking. most people have an average IQ, most people also think this is pretentious, this makes me think that the reason i think of this as thought provoking rather than pretentious is quite solid deductive proof that i'm the one lacking in ... that department.

anyway the main theme of this anime is basically individualism vs society. we are presented with kingdoms with very different ideologies, where the power and freedom of the individual is more or less pronounced.

as far as i can tell this anime is siding quite a lot with determinism as it displays a lot of people and their futile struggle against their predestined lots in life.

the storyline may be a bit cheesy. on the exterior it may not seem to be much, but it has the sort of minimalism that provokes thoughts of your own and keeps you guessing.

in this series the action is just a means to an end, the storyline is also just a means to an end, what matters is the philosophical questions it brings about in a very broad way, which leaves more opportunity to think. it also includes a lot of political satire, whether this was intended as satire or not is unclear however, which is also one of the beautiful things about this show.


now for the criticism: first off the conflict between noah and zed is a bit rushed. if i had been the director i would have gone a bit deeper into their relationship before being transported. sure you don't want to stretch those sorts of things out too far because people will be bored but i feel the director definitely should have gone into more detail. how the world of "calm" worked. what their everyday lives were like etc. it is a fine line to balance this though, milk it a little too much and the audience gets bored so i understand. but again, this sort of minimalism gives room for thought.

overall it is quite brilliantly structured, we are introduced to new places and characters as a natural part of the main plot instead of taking unnessecary routes around it for the sake of exposition, and at a speed that is not too boring and not too helter-skelter.

and also who wouldn't want to be the protagonist of some epic high fantasy? that's the kind of part of the edgy manchild's heart that never dies.

i'm still extremely addicted to benzodiazepines and going through withdrawals for the fiftyeleventh time, i figured i might as well write a nonsensical review of my favorite anime before i die.

but before that i want to leave you with a message: ku klux klan 4life. that is all.

When I started watching this I loved the show, usually after a couple of episodes you can figure out if you're going to like something or not and I truly thought I was going to love this anime.

The whole story is exactly as the synopsis says and it looked very interesting, except after like 9 episodes I kept seeing moments in the anime where I went "I know what's going to happen", not to mention honestly how stupid some of the situations can get; for instance, Princess Rebecca was captured three times, really!?! three times they captured this same person....

I wouldn't say things are cliche ... but a lot of the situations get very dull and predictable and I could easily point out probably a dozen of situations without even thinking.

If you don't mind this and really think you can watch it through to the end do it, it was very enjoyable in the anime aspect part but as for story line and a lot of the situations that happen, it became completely dull and I quickly lost interest.

I CHOOSE YOU! EHEM!
I mean....

It's been a while since i've seen Kiba (like 3 years), but the simple fact that i can remember the story and characters are a testament to this anime's awesomeness. so let's begin....

Story-
It's not INCRDIBLY original, but it is told in such a way that it really captures you. It does drag sometimes, and sometimes you'll feel that its a little rushed, but its still great.

Art-
Decent effects, pretty good characters, and CONSISTANCY. Most animes i see don't focus on every detail of the show, but Kiba seems to.
...
Sound-
I still find myself humming the OP and ED. I can actually remember how most of it goes. In show sound is awesome.

Character-
YES. Maybe a little cliche, but well fleshed out. All characters seem unique and not just carbon copies of a char that appeared in a previous episode.

Enjoyment-
I enjoyed it immensly.

Overall-
Bears striking similariteis to pokemon, but is more for older teens. Roia had an annoying "NOOO!", but i loved Noa and Zed's voices.

I might have been able to finish this had I never seen Kemono no Souja Erin. I was getting a similar vibe. For example, both shows have increasing amounts of reused animation as time goes on (usually in flashbacks). That isn't the only problem though. Everything about Kiba is wildly inconsistent. Also, parts of Kiba have some of the worst animation I have ever seen. Not that that kind of thing stops me from watching a show.

At first, I thought the show was silly but fun (if a tad juvenile). It started getting tedious as I ... kept watching. Then things got so bad they were funny.

At one point I couldn't stop laughing because it looked like the big Godzilla spirit that suddenly showed up was attacking everything by barfing it to death. I was distinctly reminded of the Simpsons Halloween episode in which Bart turns a frog into a “prince” that can’t help but vomit green goo all over everyone. (“Please kill me… every moment I live is agony.")

I suppose I could have kept watching for a few good laughs, but I’ve had my fill of overly long anime like Kemono no Souja Erin. I wasn’t willing to suffer through any more in hopes of seeing something laughable.

Kiba's a good anime. It's quite enjoyable, I found myself seeing all the episodes in a row. However, even though the story tends to improve, the basic storyline is quite simple. It steals a couple of ideas from other series (pokemon along with others), you will kinda feel it's really not a fresh idea. But in spite of that fact you will thoroughly enjoy the experience. You'll get easily connected to the characters and you will be very pissed off at Roya because she is always (and I really say always) dragging other people down. As for the art, I got to say it's pretty ... good. I must add that I find Roya to be the most beautiful anime girl ever and the reason is because you don't have to have big boobs to be atractive (and she is probably the first female anime protagonist that doesn't have big boobs I've seen all my life xD).
Final veredict: it's fun, but you would be better served with some other series

Kiba is an anime about the quest for freedom and power, involving the struggles of both individual characters and warring nations. It brings up the eternal question that most shounen bring up at one point or another, how far will you go for the sake of power, and what will you use it for?

The setting mainly draws from fantasy but includes some very clear inspirations from other sources, such as their lightsaber-like swords, and the pokemon-esque spirits that fight for their owners. This mish-mashed style, comes with a good soundtrack, but unfortunately also some choppy animation, making it decent although far from flawless in ... the technical aspect.

The plot of Kiba looks pretty good on paper, with the main character evolving from a rebellious teen into a more level-headed man as he experiences the horrors of war around him, while fighting to keep his friends safe, and more importantly on his side. The way the story is presented however squanders plenty of potential, mostly due to plot-holes and lazy writing. Special reoccurring quirks include castles with absolutely no security that anyone can walk into, unexplained lore, and my favorite, epic battles between spirits and shard-casters that are instantly won with a simple hit to the stomach. I will say that the first one or two arcs are by far the best and pull you into the series, with a sense of adventure and interesting developments, and even after it loses its momentum it does keep a good enough standard to make you stay for the ending.

The characters are a collection of double-edged swords, which is a term I use to describe how 2-dimensional they are at times. What I mean by 2-dimensional is that the characters usually only have two modes of acting. We have the calm and intelligent best friend Noa, who can also be a stubborn and obsessive crusader. We have our first main villain Hugh, a smart and manipulative politician, who can also be a cackling psychopath. We have our main character’s mentor Dumas, who is a silent and respectable warrior, until the plot decides he needs to be a loudmouthed idiot. You might see the pattern. There is very little middle-ground, the show has a tendency to write characters that do complete 180s in terms of personality, just because the plot said so. Our heroes are luckily enough spared from this character-regression, which thankfully gives us a good main character to witness the crazy developments through.

Overall Kiba is a bumpy ride with the good and the bad weighing about the same. For its longer running-time that lets it flesh out and finish most of its plot-threads though, I can give it one last positive for being a full experience. Recommended to those that want something a bit longer, yet aren't expecting the best show ever.

at first I hated this anime because of all the unnecessary drama but I kept watching because you still want to know what comes next.
it's also a very good story and i really like the characters (with exeptions ofcourse) but the reason i wanted to leave a review was this; I love the ending.
I will not spoil anything but i will say this.

Eventhough the characters will make you mad or frustrated this anime gets you right in the feels at the end of it. I loved it, I'll probably watch it again (after a while) but i recommend this anime for the journey ... you make to the end. why? because it's worth it and if you're reading this you got nothing else to do right?

(apologies for bad english)

I'll write a really concise review. For a kids anime, this isn't that bad. I was 17 when I watched this and enjoyed it a lot. Probably because it reminded me of Pokemon. The story is nothing special honestly, but it does have nice twists here and there. The Soundtrack is amazing, not every anime gets me to listen to it's Soundtrack when I'm not watching the anime. For an anime back in 2007 the artwork is awesome. I can't guarantee that you will enjoy it, but it wont hurt to try out a few episodes now would it? Everything from character development to the ... way the whole story falls into plays is done marvelously.

Alright so Kiba is an original anime with a concept that is fresh and original. Story is pretty much a loner on the fencepost fights against those on either side. Main character fights against just about everyone in the show and grows because of it. The character developement is very good by the end of the show everyone left alive has gained closure and those who didn't change at all died.

Two things that irritate me about this anime: First is the animation; the main means of fighting in the show are 3 things element shards, lightsaberesque swords, and spirits. ... The animation leaves very much to be desired. The weapons are original and cool conceptually but when brought to the screen you long for more detail of the carnage, swords that can cut through 5 foot wide concreet blocks but seem to show doing the damage to that of a wooden sword. This leaves for plot holes later on in the show. The stereotypical squelch sound when a sword cuts through someone also begins to nag at you as the show goes on. Second, bad bad music is always popping up at the wrong time, and it is always the same music.