Kiba

"Kiba" is a captivating anime that delves into the timeless theme of seeking one's future, set in a world brimming with enchanting spirits and mesmerizing adventures. At the core of the series lies the concept of Key Spirits, mystical entities bound within shards, which served as a profound source of inspiration for my own creative endeavors.

The allure of "Kiba" lies not only in its fantastical elements but also in its exploration of profound themes such as the nature of freedom and the importance of companionship. The presence of the Key Spirits, companions to humans who safeguard them, adds depth and intrigue to the storyline, reminiscent ... of the more mature themes found in classic anime series like Digimon and Pokémon.

One of the highlights of "Kiba" is undoubtedly the character of Amil Gaul, a wondrous spirit resembling an angel whose presence adds a touch of ethereal beauty to the anime's world. The purity of heart exhibited by the main character, whose altruistic nature drives him to help others grow, is both endearing and inspiring, serving as a guiding light amidst the challenges he faces.

As the series progresses, "Kiba" delves into poignant themes of parental love and loyalty, touching on serious topics that resonate deeply with viewers. These heartfelt moments, coupled with a captivating soundtrack that sets the tone from the very beginning, elevate the anime to a truly unforgettable experience.

In conclusion, "Kiba" is a must-watch for anime enthusiasts seeking a richly imagined world, compelling characters, and thought-provoking themes. With its enchanting spirits, profound storytelling, and emotional depth, this anime is sure to leave a lasting impression on anyone who embarks on its journey.

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.

To summarize the anime, it would be like this:

A 11-13 year old trying to create his first anime story and took heavy inspiration from Star Wars, Pokemon and Bleach.

I will explain in detail in segments.

-->> Why is it like Bleach? Because Bleach had one of the most random, non-sensical and incoherent stories in anime I've ever had the misfortune of seeing, especially a 200+ episode Shounen at that. In Bleach Rukia and Orihime would get randomly kidnapped 10-20 different times and the band would go and rescue them only for the same to repeat all over with nobody learning anything from it. The second was ... Ichigo fighting some bad guy and to defeat him, he loses his powers, then becomes an emo and after a while gets his powers back. There was also a lot of pointless going back and forth between the Human world, Soul Society and Hueco Mundo... Everything in Bleach was a mess. Kiba is literally the same - the characters travel between the lands - Tempura(Templar), Jimoto(Zymot) or Neotopia back and forth for no reason. Characters come and go at complete random, no character leaves an impression or a mark, all the characters are one-dimensional and serve almost zero purpose. This whole going back and forth and events happening at crazy speeds and having no impact feels like the kid who is creating the story is excitedly explaining it to some adult he looks up to going "And then they went there... and then they fought those guys... and then... and then... and then..." thus all the events in the overarching story feeling completely rushed, absolutely random, non-sensical, incoherent and most importantly - lacking and impact on the viewer and not being exciting at all.

-->> Why is it like Star Wars? Mostly because everyone's weapons are like lightsabers and to top it off in different colors, although they don't seem to follow any specific pattern where Jedi use Green/Blue whereas Sith use Red. It's just very hard to overlook weapons like this, where even the blade part disappears when it's turned off and only the hilt remains, it's lazily inspired by Star Wars. Also around the end, one character dies and turns into a Force Ghost to give some guidance to the protagonist.

-->> Why is it like Pokemon? Because the spirits kind of function like Pokemon - their owners summoning them and the spirits appearing like balls. I really don't know what else to add - just so unimaginative and lazy.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall, the anime started somewhat OK, in the first 7-8 episodes, I was willing to give it a 7/10, as the story went on around episodes 15+, my score dropped to 6/10, around episodes 25-35, my score dropped to 5/10, during the last 10 episodes, my score dropped to 4/10. During the last 3-4 episodes, I watched them on x1.25 speed, because I wanted to get it over with ASAP, and on the last two episodes, it could not catch my attention at all, I was pausing every 2-3 minutes and doing something else, I literally had to put the speed to x1.5 and almost glue myself on the desk to force myself to finish them, it was so boring and uneventful at the end and the last few moments after the credits, it didn't really bring any closure to anything, it just felt as random as the rest.

Characters don't leave any impact, even the main protagonists feel so one-dimensional... Actually, if I'm to be honest, calling them "one-dimensional" is like a compliment, in reality, they don't even have one-dimensional qualities, because they don't even have goals or any personality at all, as if the creator of the anime was having a very difficult time even creating basic personality and goals for those 3-4 characters. The rest, who juts come and go, they are even worse - just plot devices that appear and disappear when needed, some die when needed and you never feel the slightest bit bad about it.

At the end, the characters start changing so drastically, it starts to feel like a parody of the whole anime genre, except the anime doesn't even realize and is actually keeps taking itself seriously.

I researched on Wikipedia about this anime and I think it was made to promote a TCG game, which is OK and I can understand, but even the original Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon, which existed for the same purpose had almost masterpiece characters and story arcs compared to Kiba. I remember being super invested, especially in YGO! and the Pegasus arc, it was so awesome.

I don't know how I was able to finish it, it's not completely horrible, it just feels so devoid of any emotion or feeling, it's so fake and plastic, I haven't seen one so strange like this before.