Kubikiri Cycle: Aoiro Savant to Zaregotozukai

Due to a mysterious disease, the genius Iria Akagami has been forced by her family to stay in a mansion on the isolated Wet Crow's Feather Island with only a handful of maids. To keep herself entertained, Iria invites a variety of fellow geniuses to stay as guests in her home, including computer savant Tomo Kunagisa and her unnamed assistant, skilled fortune-teller Maki Himena, famous artist Kanami Ibuki, academic scholar Akane Sonoyama, and renowned cook Yayoi Sashirono.

These visits progress as normal until one of the guests is found gruesomely murdered in the night without a single clue as to the identity of the killer or a possible motive. Tensions rise between those on the island as the killer remains at large, and Tomo's assistant takes it upon himself to uncover the culprit's identity before the murderous events progress any further.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Boku Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Kunagisa, Tomo Main

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Aikawa, Jun Supporting

Kaida, Yuuko Japanese

Sonoyama, Akane Supporting

Shimamura, Yuu Japanese

Himena, Maki Supporting

Endou, Aya Japanese

Ibuki, Kanami Supporting

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Chiga, Teruko Supporting

Gotou, Yuuko Japanese

Chiga, Hikari Supporting

Shintani, Ryouko Japanese

Handa, Rei Supporting

Kuwashima, Houko Japanese

Akagami, Iria Supporting

Ise, Mariya Japanese

Yodo, Akiko Producer

Matsushita, Takuya Producer

Shinbou, Akiyuki Director, Series Composition

Yase, Yuki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Mar 16, 2023

Marco_Yooo

Recommended

THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

Okay, this is a hard one to review. „The Kubikiri Cycle „ or „Zaregoto Series“ is the first work of the famous or infamous NisiOisiN. Having already watched and reviewed the „Monogatari Series“ as well as „Katanagatari“ i decided to go back to the start of his career as a writer. I had incredibly high expectations for this one, but were they reached? I proceeded to watch the entire show in one sitting.

Story – 8/10

First, we have to talk about the mystery aspect of the show.
I absolutely LOVE classic murder mysteries. I also think they are incredibly hard to pull off, ... because they are either to short and simple, or extremely predictable. The setup is very classic: A set group of people on an island completely disconnected from the outside world. What i liked is that this show really took it´s time. The first murder doesn´t happen up until the very end of the second episode. It sets up everything it needs to do. The murders themselves are classic „locked-room“ cases, which are always a treat to watch. I personally was constantly questioning every little detail and up until the final episode, i did not figure out the identity of the killer so that´s a plus. The show always gave you little hints, little things that bug you in your head start to pile up, questions that the viewer wants to get answered. Little comments become hints and small details are explained episodes later, which means that the author really thought out his story from beginning to end. What i have to critisize however, is the way the deductions are portrayed. Series like „Hyouka“ or „Detective Kindaichi“ constantly question their own solutions while games like „Danganronpa“ try to throw out red herrings here and there to switch things up. Comparing „Zaregoto“ to other works of it´s kind, i almost got the feel that is was a bit to apathetic and robotic in it´s deductions. Characters never question themselves enough and everyone seems to always tell the truth when it came to the alibis. The cases themselves were interesting, but they never blew my mind in the way the „Hyouka“ Novels did.
So, the mystery was pretty good, but this is a NisiOisin show, so of course dialogue and psychology are a key factor in his storytelling. The dialogue is always king here, like in all of his works. The psychological aspects of this show were actually really interesting. It questions the act of murder in a very interesting way and really takes it´s time with the progression of it´s themes. There will be a lot to talk about in the character departement later.

Art – 9/10

This show looks absolutely beautiful. This came out right when the „Monogatari Series“ reached
it´s peak in the animation departement and Studio Shaft put all of their creative talent in this. The camera is used in a very slow and steady way, with long weaving shots almost like in a documentary. It highlights the scenery in a very aesthetic way. The lighting is also very apparent.
The biggest treat are the character designs. They are immaculate from the design to the clothes, the hairstyles everything. The movements are smooth and the colours are vibrant. The artistic and surreal backgrounds gives this show it´s identity. I heard some people say that the style of Studio Shaft is getting redundant and boring but i would rather have more of this than any artstyle from one of the hundred generic light novels coming out in this day and age.

Sound – 8/10

Really interesting sounddesign here. Some themes sound like your typical BGM but every track has something that is a little...off. I can´t really put my finger on it, but for some reason the soundtrack becomes more recognisable and you start to hum the different melodies while watching. The voice actors are great like always. The OP, while not an insane banger or something was still good and the ED reminded me a bit of the soundtrack from „Fate stay/night“.

Characters – 8/10

The main character was incredibly interesting. I have rarely seen someone talk and interact the way that he does.He does not even have a name and is just called "me" or "i". There are hints about his past but the show never really goes into it and only uses it to subdue the viewers expectation. You really feel like you want to know more about this guy, and what brought him to the island itself. He seems quite and uninteresting from the outside and the way he acts does not portray his thoughts accurately but he has some real problems and issues behind his mask and i personally found them very relatable and authentic.
Our female lead, Kunagisa, is the complete opposite of him, maybe this explains their dynamic. She can be a liiiiitle bit annoying sometimes but i was expecting a character like her to be in a NisiOisin show, so nothing to bad.
The murderer on the other site had a motive that i cannot even put in words. Like, this was some truly insane stuff. When i see some peole on MAL saying „Oh, i figured out the murderers motive really fast hehehehe“ i am 100% sure they are joking. The final episode tries to explain it but there are some big logic leaps here and sometimes the anime really pulls on your suspension of disbelief a little bit. On paper it makes sense, but not so in real-life.
All the other characters were pretty good. My favorite is definitely Himena. I like it when anime doesn´t give everyone a sad backstory or something like that to explain their behavior. Some people are just assholes, and that is it.

Enjoyment – 8/10

I think the ending held this show back a little bit. If it had maybe 6 episodes instead of 8 and told a more dense and focused story it could have been truly amazing, but instead it does a few things to much. This was still a fantastic watch, i saw all the episodes back to back in one sitting so that tells you a lot. If you like your murder-mysteries this is a must watch. Especially fans of the „Monogatari Series“ , „Hyouka“ or the „Danganronpa“ games will be intrigued by this show.

- Marco_Yooo

FINAL SCORE - 8/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 18, 2023

Teramol

Mixed Feelings

SPOILER FREE REVIEW

I'll be the first to admit I'm not that into murder mysteries. However, I mostly enjoy the Nisioisin and Shaft combo mostly known for the Monogatari series so when I found out it's the same thing here I got a little interested regardless. This 8 episode OVA is based on the Zaregoto series of novels and this one adapts just one part of it which imo is one of its biggest downfalls.

The setting is fairly basic and screams Danganronpa (supposedly it also inspired the latter funnily enough), you have a dozen give or take geniuses of various fields summoned to a mansion in ... an isolated island and after a while, someone gets offed and the mystery continues. Yes I said continues because the story is a mystery from the first minute. We know next to nothing as to why this is happening or who the characters even are. Hell, the main character himself doesn't even have a proper name, he's referred to as the Narrator.

Now much like the Monogatari series, Kubikiri Cycle is mostly just dialogue between characters with Shaft style direction mixed in between shots to keep the viewer's attention and I still think it works for the most part just fine. However, I personally found things presented in an overly complicated way a lot of the times, making the dialogue seem a bit pretentious or like r/im14andthisisdeep material. And while I don't really mind dialogue heavy shows, the pacing sometimes felt like it was dragging on too much. Honestly, I don't think this story needed 8x 30 minute episodes to present the narrative.

The characters for the most part are interesting enough for you to get more immersed into the mystery although like I mentioned earlier, it's a real shame nothing else of the series was adapted because AFAIK some of the characters appear in the other stories too and I personally wasn't really happy with the little we got to know of them here. The main character in particular is a really weird case and I'm not sure if I mean that in a positive or negative way. He really is like a narrator as his missing name suggests. He always feels very indifferent and cold about everything that is happening, hardly ever showing any hints of emotion.

In the audio department we are solid. The series is fully composed by none other than the legendary Kajiura Yuki whose work I've always enjoyed. While this series isn't in her top scores to me, it still fit the story and mood of all the scenes very well. Also quite enjoyed the Opening and Ending songs.

Visually, a lot of people seem to praise this show. I'm not sure if it's because I was reading comments from when the series came out or what but to me it was nothing special and actually looked pretty bad at times too. At least we get the fluid motion that comes from the Shaft style direction which I enjoy.

The plot twist at the end was pretty good, definitely didn't see it coming but at the same time I feel like the author tried to give the plot points a few too many layers. Right as something is seemingly solved a new theory rises to mostly undermine the previous ones. Overall the plot just felt like a complicated version of an Among Us game, for better or worse.

At least the short runtime can't really make anyone upset even if the series isn't for everyone. I would still say it's worth checking out for any murder mystery genre fans and especially for Danganronpa fans.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 15, 2024

AnimeEnjoyer420

Not Recommended

I love a good mystery, and Kubikiri Cycle does at least somewhat deliver on that, so it's hard to entirely dislike it. While it does get a little too convoluted at the end, the actual murder mystery portion of the series is the most sound and enjoyable part of it. It's the other parts of the series that are a letdown.

In particular, there are two elements that stand out above the others as critical issues: the characters and the dialogue writing. These problems are distinct, but related of course. The characters are insufferable virtually without exception, and a big part of that is the pretentious ... dialogue. Conversations feel about as authentic here as they do in an Ayn Rand novel. Characters talk in grand philosophical statements and go on endless, preachy monologues about their personal outlooks on life, most of which tend to be miserable and nihilistic. Even characters that are meant to be viewed positively tend to be gratingly wacky and quirky instead (I'm thinking of Tomo, the "blue savant" from the series' subtitle here). When the murders begin to happen, you feel nothing because the victims feel more like bundles of college undergrad philosophy essays that have been clumsily arranged into the outline of a human than real characters that you can identify and empathize with.

Visually, Shaft brings its B game to this series. On the positive side, get plenty of Shaft-isms here - the head tilts, the dramatic use of blacks and reds, and so forth - the animation looks good and occasionally great, and there are some strong storyboards late in the series. On the negative side, the 3D backgrounds look comparatively chintzy and there is too much use of camera rotation, almost as though the director decided he may as well take advantage of those 3D environments and spin the camera all over inside of them, whether or not it was appropriate for the scene. It still looks better than the average anime TV series, but probably will not rank among Shaft's best in that regard.

If you're really into mysteries (or a huge fan of the source author's better-known Monogatari series), you may give this one a try and find that you like it. I find it hard to recommend because of the unlikeable characters and a style of dialogue that I find deeply annoying, but if you can get past those issues, you may get more out of it than I did.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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