Gibiate

You may like one painter, and hate another, but usually they're both talented individuals and what you like is just personal preference.

This show is just bad.




...

I wanted to end the review on that note, but it's apparently too short.
It's like a rich kids' school project. It's written as if a 12-year old winged it in 30 minutes at school. It's directed as if a 12-year old asked his dad to do it and the deadline was this Friday. There was no time to think about the characters, so they just took them from the kids' drawings from when he was 9. Then they paid ... random freelancers on the Internet for the CGI and animation, and invited small youtubers to do the voice acting for a promise of being mentioned in the credits.

I'd say the show is so comically shit, it's almost worth watching as an example of a bad anime. You cannot possibly enjoy it, but you can enjoy watching how bad it is.

Hayao Miyazaki once said: "Anime was a mistake." And it IS true to some extent to some people who are particularly OVER-ambitious a.k.a. Gibiate, created and produced by "the (unknown) man, the myth, the legend" that is Ryo Aoki that was announced during last year's Anime Expo. And I have to say this because it's just "so bad it's good" hilarity of a nonsense, dumpster fire: "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS A GIBIATE???" OOPSIES, you got GI(JE)BAITED BIG TIME!

I mean, just look at the show's background info that MAL has given us: top-of-the-class creators and makers in various industries, all coming together to create a ... show so top-notch, this is a very rare pipedream that us anime otakus would ever dream of having once in a blue moon. BUT ALAS, that is only one side of the picture of Heaven, the other side of the grass is a lot like HELL in the most (un)expected abominable way possible, and you can blame it all on Ryo Aoki, the mastermind of Gibiate that's a straight-up trainwreck of a show so masterfully crafted to fuck with our minds (like how the horror-fest of Higurashi did back in the day).

But what's the story, you ask? In a nutshell, it's an "Isekai" with the COVID-19 viral pandemic as a backdrop, talk about creativeness in the most literal sense. People from all walks of life (Samurai Sensui Kanzaki and Ninja Kenroku Sanada), seemingly time-travelled into a Japan that has been riddled with an infectious disease called "Gibia", and must now aid in the humans' help (that have not been stung with the disease from disgusting and ugly-as-shit CGI monsters) to find a cure and save mankind. Sounds interesting for an original series, I kid you not. I'd go as far as to extent my gracious thanks of a frustrating facade if the 3-episode rule doesn't apply to you, and you just wanna see how this trainwreck of a show goes from start to finish (of which I did). Along the way, many plot twists will come, and believe me, they're far from being the most generic shit you've ever seen, it's like "Oh, (someone) dies: <shout their name in distress>!" levels of full-on cringefest.

To quote it best: It's a botched project that was written by a kid who wants to make a quick buck, asked his parents to direct it, and bring in influencers (*cough* Crunchyroll *cough*) from his list of "friends of friends" to produce a "I don't know what the fuck I'm doing" project that just slaps at the bone to over-promise and under-deliver.

On the side of characters, it's even better. Wanna know why? If the "death sentence" did not foreshadow the things to come, you're missing out on some hilarity on this "so bad it's insanely-unthinkable bad shitshow". See:
- Sensui and Kenroku have come from the Edo Warring States era, and the condition of a Gibia-infested Japan is not much different from killing their enemies, but you can already tell that they're there to rain down the parades of the CGI Gibia monsters (or Meteora, the evolution of Gibia).
- Kathleen and her mum Yurika Funada, they're far from being bland characters, they're background cheerleaders in the pursuit of "safety" and are plot twisters in and of themselves.
- Dr. Yoshinaga, the professor-in-charge of finding a cure for Gibia, he's quite the crude character and is highly secretive about his actions (so that he doesn't need to show as much interest), but overtime, his "growth" into a "Highway to Hell" character is a twist as well.
- Monk Yukinojou Onikura, he's quite the intimidating character on the outside, but yet has a soft heart on the inside. His "loveline" with Kathleen's mother Yurika is sweet but however, downright full of cringe, but props to his dedication.
- Runaway daughter-and-father duo Ayame and Renjiro, one a former policewoman and the other, a Yazuka head of followers called Gailents (which compromises of right-hand man Guren, former Olympian Isao, Ninja Katsunori and fatso Hidenori). a constant bickering and fallout of a broken family (with more or less their professions against one another), the hatred is ever so real until the callus moments that force them to work together even in disagreement.

Again, in a nutshell, death will be the constant expectation, and there is NO way you can avoid it if you want to pursue "greatness".

I find it absolutely mind-boggling that a show of this magnitude not only has some of the all-time digusted-looking art and animation from 3rd-rate studios (I mean, Studio elle and l-a-unch・BOX aren't exactly good-sounding names either), BUT THE FACT that this show was "hyped beyond belief" through its own dedicated YouTube channel (GIBIATE PROJECT) with an unusually passive-agressive marketing stunt of a PR. The talks between top-notch production staff from the character designs to even the music...yeah I get it, if it's to show off how (really) good the individual aspects of the show are, but if your final product's SHIT, not even this will save you. Obscene and drab art, subpar animation and disgusting CGI doesn't make a show worthwhile to watch, but it's certainly a laughingstock of a "masterpiece".

But what I CAN save for Gibiate, is entirely for the OST alone. If you haven't heard of renowned Japanese musician Yasuhiro "SUGIZO" Sugihara, he is a BIG figure in Japan's music industry, and for good reason, having been the lead guitarist and violinist for LUNA SEA since the early 90s. More importantly, video game console gamers will enthrone about Yuzo Koshiro's presence in this show, having tipped his toe in many games that will influence the music genre (e.g. SEGA's Street of Rage series for the Genesis/Mega Drive), and having already a well-respected reputation ahead of him. The instrumental shamisen OP by the Yoshida Brothers (another cult-following Shamisen-playing musician group) is IMVHO (in my VERY honest opinion) one of the best-sounding instrumental songs to ever grace the likes of Japanese anime, and with SUGIZO's input collaboration, makes this show worth watching alone just for the sheer amount of hard work to create such an impact. Maki Ohguro (another Japanese influential music artist)'s ED is also another good song that screams "90's music", is also worth the listen outside of the show alone. Needless to say, the sound department is truly a masterpiece of work. But GOD FORBID to please pick better VAs next time, because they don't fit their respective characters.

In the end, it's of a no-brainer to address this important, decision-making question: "Should you watch Gibiate?"
Ryo Aoki's reply in an interview: "We don't care about the Japanese market, our target is the global market." Having carved the originality of Spring 2016's Endride and focusing on the Western market, he's got a bold vision, but the execution is a total dumpster of a misfire.

"Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you." Gibiate is truly a one-of-a-kind masterpiece of how "so bad it's an utter joke" of an anime, and think of it either as an insult-to-injury to the anime industry or a worthwhile fest of experiencing "the best of the worst" to fuck with the minds of new Otakus (for a lack of a better explanation of "don't think, just watch!", of which I'll welcome you in), it is and forever will be the hilarity banter of rememebrance (of 3 months) for the "Hall of Shame" (after Mars of Destruction and Skelter+Heaven).

LONG LIVE GIBIATE!!! GET GI(JE)BAITED, sponsored and courtesy of Crunchyroll under their "Crunchyroll Originals" show lineup. Stay a LONG safe distance away from this show, or "Get N or Get Out".

So, i just watched ep 1, 2 and 12 in 4x Speed and it was amazing, i got extremely attached to the characters, the plot was amazing and i cried at the end.

I can't understand why people dislike this anime so much, sure if you are a CGI hater you won't like it that much but the CGI was top notch.

One of the best and most badass main characters I have ever seen, a cast of brilliant characters and the best final villain I have ever seen.

10/10 It's much better than Fullmetal, give this number 1 on MAL.

I WATCHED THIS ANIME SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO. My brother gave up on this anime at episode 1 and told me, "Gibiate? More like jebaited with hot trash!" I pushed through per episode, hoping I’d get something good out of it. It did not even turn out to be the kind of “so bad it’s good” anime. Let me tell you all about this dumpster fire.


Art 1/10:
There's like 5 or more art “styles” in this anime. If that isn't enough to send a cluster of red flags for your brain, then I'd also mention the naturally terrible mix of these art styles. Perhaps it's ... bad directing or just plain incompetent decisions. Aside from the notably sloppy "fight scenes", everything really is horribly static for a show that is supposedly financed significantly. Normally, I tend to be more forgiving for animation in this form (I was fine with Fairy Gone for example). But there are way more options to keep the lesser furnished aspects to a minimum or at least not obvious. Also, perhaps each art style could have worked a lot better if any of those were given singular focus. What happened to the budget allocations for this thing, just thrown around for whatever? I'm absolutely horrified how this was even given a pass.


Characters 1/10:
The characters were SO STIFF. Granted, it's not the first show to have an Gen X meets Modern Generation concept, but Gibiate handles this terribly. Very awkward character dynamics. Some jump in dialogues were excessively slow, like it felt like the camera would painfully teeter to one character to tell the viewer that "Hey, this guy is speaking now!!" Please. And what's to like in a set of either boring, annoying or wonderfully predictable characters! Also, ignoring the fact that there is supposed to be a HUGE language and technological barrier within the cast! Either be respectful with incorporating any era's concept or be flexible with it. And the awful hints of "romance" or affection! My goodness, what is this horrible cast!!

People. Don’t. Talk. The. Way. Gibiate. Shows. It.


Plot 1/10:
Gibiate's story sounds like a fanfic writer's wet dream. I would know because I was one of those. I absolutely know I would have loved to write this idea for a fanfiction with characters from a famous series. The time travel concept was just a chef's kiss after everything. See, the progression and the arc setups were severely irritating. You got all this wonderful potential from Japanese history, but it ended up feeling like a child's story drawn from Mommy's bedtime stories mixed with Grandpa's war stories, all taken by the child to form a ridiculous story that will only ever be grand and have any small amount of coherence for a that child alone. Wow! What an interesting idea, let's take it. Wow! Another premise I can use. Maybe we can use it for a different project? NO, SLAM THEM ALL TOGETHER!

What's also horrible was when the anime explains things happening as if the viewer is but a child. Maybe I missed a memo on that regard, but it was quite insulting in that regard. "He died because he got bit by the monster!" as if it was something meant to be a shocking reveal. "Oh no, things are bad! I must proceed to say it to make sure the viewer knows things are bad, by also narrating the situation as if the group of people with me aren't adults." We get barely an episodic length of character backstories, so yeah, things somehow managed to feel rushed despite the excruciatingly slow pacing of the character interactions. "You see how this character is actually good?! Now, feel bad and empathize!"

Gibiate did all the bad things wonderfully.


Sound Design 4/10:
The only aspect I'm willing to accept as actually okay. It gets annoying, but it's mostly because of all the bad elements already mixed in. The worst of all is some action scenes are supposed to be exciting or suspenseful, but the general atmosphere of all the clustered aspects just made things feel pretentious.


Final Notes 1/10:
Basically, the anime tried so hard to incorporate various moods, eras, and genres. It obviously failed. Just no. Please keep yourself away from this actual monstrosity of an anime. So many other anime deserves the kind of financial or social backing that this anime got. I am so angry that this anime exists.

I know a good number of 90's anime that are way more interesting with actually better animated and more entertaining fight scenes.

Man, I will forgive ANY type of unoriginal fanservice anime full of breasts and such. At least, that kind of anime is true to their audience and intentions. Excuse my language, but I have to do it for the rest of the review. What the fuck is this abomination of an anime?! WHAT THE FUCK happened here?! What a FUCKING bad anime! My eyes! FUCK!! God, I wanted to give this anime a fucking ZERO. FUCK IT! STAY AWAY! FUCKING SAVE YOUR SANITY FROM THIS SHITSHOW!

Story: 1
Art: 1 (more explanation below, because the first impressions can mislead you)
Character: 1
Overall: 1

The first episode was all right, although the lack of reaction before a certain important thing that happens is unbelievable.
That said, in the second episode this series reveals its true colors, and it´s very bad. The animation is abysmal, even with very good design, that´s all it is, while the characters are standing still and talking the animation is good, but when something happens, the camera cuts are extremely poorly made and there is no fluidity.

The story is garbage, it doesn´t make any sense and lacks originality ... from all sides.

In general, it looks like the show it´s being made using just 3 animators, and the voice acting isn´t good also.

It´s like watching a B or Z series Movie from the '90s in terms of art direction and script but in HD.

Edit: So far with only 7 episodes of this anime being released, it okay. I am re-editing my review as I watch more episodes.

Story: The story is an interesting one since it revolves around a present day apocalypse that is overrun by Gibia, or reptile monster like creatures. Somehow these samurai from Sengoku era Japan are popping up in present day Japan. It's not a unique concept, time travel, but it doesn't present it in an interesting way by relating it to the monsters. Do I think this story is a great one? No, I think that it's a pretty generic story using two ... of the most popular topics out there, time travel and zombie/virus/apocalypse. But I think they do have a pretty good set up to have a decent story line, as long as they don't deviate too much off the path. This anime, unlike many, likes to give backstory, but I feel that there is a potential where side stories could be starting to form where if they aren't careful the story will be thrown off by too many plots happening at once.

Art: The character designs are "realistic", though some of them do have accentuated features that are just unique to this anime, such as sharp chins. I still feel like the character designs as well as the creature designs are very eye catching and unique to this anime. They aren't amazing or really unique in the sense that no one has done it before. Before I said that they try to accentuate main characters by making them stand out either by adding color to make their outfit more extravagant than average wear. Though later in the anime you don't really see that as you don't see them around as many non-main story characters.

Characters: Overall, unlike most characters in anime, they actually do try to give backstory on all the main characters, even if they cover two characters in one (mother in daughter or father and daughter). Now with that being said the characters themselves are not very original and seem almost cookie cutter or kinda bland. Kenroku and Sensui remind me much of Jin and Mugen from Samurai Champloo. Where Sensui is kind of this by the book samurai. He is more down to earth, realistic, and traditional. Wheras Kenroku tends to be the more out going character. Talks a lot more, easily able to adapt to the new environment and technology. Even in his time period he was well adapted to the new "technology" that came out. The one thing I do like is Kathleen, the main female lead, doesn't really act like most main females when surrounded by male leads. She doesn't fawn over them because they're handsome. She likes them because they can fight and has a working relationship with them. Though, from this point, it does look like with most females in anime, she has become an accident fodder. When the author needs something bad to happen she just happens to be the person that gets caught or suddenly falls. So besides that, I do have to give props to them that they did create a generally strong lead female that doesn't seem to really have any real sexual interest in our male leads and truly cares for them outside of a physical relationship.

Sound and Music: Kind of forgettable. What sound effects you get are on par with the average "monster" sounds. There's nothing unique about the sound effects. As for the music, honestly if there was music, especially during fight scenes, it was forgettable. For the most part, for fight scenes I truly don't remember much music. Mostly it didn't rely on music for many of the major fight scenes from what I remember. As for other parts of the anime, as typical in most anime, you had the ambiance music that set the mood. So if a sad scene was coming up you had generally a melodic piano or violin. You had a happier moment you had upbeat music. Nothing was really eye catching (or I guess ear catching in regards to music). I think of any parts, the sound probably lacked the most. I can't say it was poor because it wasn't poor. It was good, just very forgettable.


Enjoyment and Overall from what I see in the few episodes that have been released, it is a mish mash of old ideas like time travel, samurai, and zombie/infectious diseases and combine all the concepts together. I can't say it's amazing, as after 7 episodes and this is a (probably) 13+ episode season, it's too far gone to be amazing, but it is still pretty good. I think that for actual enjoyment purposes, it's definitely a niche market. You will have to have a lot of patience to watch this. It's not that it will make you angry or that it's even slow. it's just, I can see this being a cookie cutter kind of anime where typical tropes of samurai, time travel, and apocalypse are present. You got the strong male leads, who are quiet and to themselves. Seem almost untouchable while those around them are dropping like flies. Now I don't mean to discredit this anime, as I believe it still is a good anime, I just want everyone to know what they are walking into as this anime is not for everyone. I REPEAT, THIS ANIME IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. I would definitely recommend giving it a gander as a quick watch, while all the episodes aren't out yet. Formulate your own opinion of this anime.

Whenever I see that horror tag on a show when looking at the beginning of each season, I look forward to seeing how it would turn out. They're maybe only a couple each year but I look forward to them none the less. So I was looking forward to this show which looked to be in the veins of an action horror series with swords slashing at monsters in a world gone bad. But as I watched this show, I felt the anticipation I had slip away within just one episode. It also only took one episode to make a clear assumption that this show ... is absolutely SH*T!

Sit back relax, grab your samurai sword and slash your device after watching this show a I present to you the anime review for Gibiate. Let’s begin.


Story: 1/10

Set in the year 2030, Japan and the rest of the world has fallen into ruin. A virus strain known as Gibia has infected the world and has turned humanity into monsters. While the last few survivors try to stay alive, a weird phenomenon occurs that cause a samurai and a ninja from the edo period to travel forward in time into 2030. With their help and from others, they search for answers to cure the Gibia strain and save mankind.

By all accounts, this sounds like a cool premise. A post apocalyptic world with scary monsters and a touch of sci-fi with time travel elements. This should have been something that the show can build on successfully. HA, fat chance. What turns from an interesting plot of past warriors trying to understand this new world that has gone to sh*t while also trying to survive turns into a rather bog standard post apocalyptic story about trying to find the cure in an unforgiving world. But the fact is that some plot elements feel completely dropped and never brought up again. The time travel aspect, learning the outcome of those they served in the edo period, having to understand this upside down world is completely dropped just so we can have these edo period warriors fight monsters. This also causes things to be wrapped up quickly for the sake of progressing the main plot and having twists for the sake of having a twist.

It leads to the overall factor that is story is boring and clicd when executed and the unique aspects that this show presented is swept under the rug to play it safe and predictable except when those twists happen. This is especially true with the twist in the second to last episode WHICH COME OUT OF NOWHERE WITH NO LOGIC BEHIND THE TWIST. Like I said, twist for the sake of having a twist or for the sake of having an M.Night Shyamalan plot twist. It’s like the story writers tried to think of these cool ways to make the story more exciting and unique. But without establishing why, all that did is make a mess of a story with no cohesion or teasing as to why these things happened so when it gets explained, it comes pretty much out of nowhere.


Characters: 1.5/10

Before I go into specifics with these characters, I just want to say that all of these characters make bone head decision after bone headed decision. Their logic and thought patterns don’t make sense at times and it infuriates me as it feels like they have a deathwish. But that’s just the surface as all characters share this trait. Individually, they do not get any better. Sensui and Kenroku, our two main leads, fill their roles of samurai and ninja stereotypically well. Sensui is the broody but honourable warrior that does not waiver and show weakness. Whereas Kenroku is a wise cracking smart-ass that uses unconventional methods to beat his opponents. That’s all well and good but the problem is that they don’t shape that stereotype to form their own identity and so, they act like their stereotypes and are absolutely boring characters.

Then there’s Kathleen, the token female lead and I say that because she really does act like it. She’s near useless in combat and always seems to get into trouble because out of all of the characters it feels like she makes the most bone headed decisions the most. There is also some kind of romance element between her and Sensui but feels like it goes nowhere. She really feels like the damsel in distress character because she causes more trouble than it needs to be. The rest of the cast are similar to that of Sensui and Kenroku in that they all have stereotypically defining roles, it’s just that they do it in the most blandest way possible. So when we get emotional character drama, it just comes across dry because there is no intrigue into the characters’ personality to get attached to them at an emotional level. I will say this though, it is nice that they gave the characters backstories, ranging from small to pretty sizeable just so we can know more about them. This is especially true when the episode starts where we get a camcord of them just so we can get to know them better first and foremost to try and get some emotional attachment. So I will give them credit there because with some shows of this quality, it would normally be neglected or be barely mentioned and then they just move on.


Animation: 1/10

Another case of the CG curse, Gibiate’s animation is simply put, terrible. It’s not just the fact that the CG monsters just looks like crap and completely out of place with the rest of the animation, but when they are not using CG, the monsters still look unimpressive and poorly designed. But even then, the rest of the animation looks unimpressive with still shots and shaky cameras. The usual tactics to make it look like they’re fighting without putting in much effort to do so. I am also not really a fan with the character designs or art direction as well, mainly due to the purpleish tint to it that looks out of place with the post apocalyptic setting. Granted, they do look distinct from one another but that should honestly be a given. The designs themselves, while thematic for their character, look unimpressive and forgettable honestly. But Kathleen just screams main female protagonist with her design yet she is such an eyesore with her design with all her bright colours. Makes me glad they changed her clothes in the last 3 episodes.


Sound: 1/10

The words “generic” and “forgettable” come to mind when describing the soundtrack, it sounds very standard and doesn’t do anything to enhance a scene to get you pumped up for the action or see the scary nature of the Gibia. It kind of just blends into the background and not in a good way. But what really grinds my gears is the sound design for the monsters. This is because it becomes very annoying when you have 2-3 sound effects on loop and doesn’t stop and it got on my freaking nerves. Those humanoid, pterodactyl looking Gibia really get on my nerves in this regard making the same screeching, stock monster sound effects over and over again.

Then there is the OP and ED. The opening, "GIBIATE" by Yoshida Brothers feat SUGIZO, is boring simply put. This is mainly due to the fact the opening just mainly uses footage of the episode to make the opening exciting, even though the animation regardless looks ass. They try to change it up by changing what is in the opening but still looks ass. You can try dressing a turd all you want and give it different outfits but it will still make it a turd. The ED is not any better as I just skipped it as it, just like the opening, uses footage in the episodes and puts it in an ED. This essentially means that both the OP and ED are lazily done and I will not miss listening or watching both.


Conclusion:

Yeah, if it wasn’t clear by now, this show is sh*t, simply put. I only continued watching it because I wanted to review this abomination and I love the anime horror genre. Considering this was studio l-a-unch・BOX’s first anime and studio Studio elle first anime since 2012 with some other notable individuals working on this anime, they really shat the bed with this one. It looks sh*t, it sounds sh*t, the story is sh*t and the characters are sh*t. Everything about this anime is completely and utterly sh*t. And it’s not even so bad it’s good, it’s just straight up bad. My only wishes now is that this show get put on the top of a lot of people’s worst anime of 2020 lists (because it’s certainly on the top of my list) and that Jujutsu Kaisen and Higurashi 2020 can wash away this icky feeling of watching an absolutely sh*t horror anime. Oh, did I mention that this show is sh*t? I don’t think I was clear enough.


My Personal enjoyment: 1/10


Overall score: 1.1/10 Recommendation: ABSOLUTELY DON’T F**KING BOTHER!

To fully understand or rather to fully immerse oneself into the beauty and sublimity that is Gibiate one must have considerable patience and determination to follow through. To depict this in plainer terms: infamous Anime Discord Moderator and desktop wallpaper aficionado Drizzo, once said “You’ll have a harder time watching Gibiate than a 10 hour compilation of Nyan cat.” I was especially intrigued by that statement, so I just had to give this anime a try.

Gibiate follows a group of modern day Japanese militants, two Edo period samurai, a thicc horny monk, a useless teenager, her schizophrenic mom and a smokin’ hot doctor (who ... is also a licensed pilot and a pro sniper apparently) as they embark on their heroic adventure to the Japanese countryside. Their ultimate goal? That is supposedly, to develop a vaccine and use that to save the world from a deadly virus: a disease that turns infected into terrifying monsters called Gibia. However, their journey will not be proven easy for neither themselves nor for us, the viewers. Throughout the story we all get subjected to a variety of “complications” that might deter some from continuing to watch. Those came in a series of: random monologues, painfully dragged out and mostly irrelevant historical flashbacks, and the occasional fight scene with bad CGI monsters. Nothing ever really sticks to the plot for more than five seconds before getting overshadowed by one of these “complications.”

Without diving into too much spoiler territory, I would like to briefly touch on our characters, which have to be the most vital part of every story, unless we’re talking about Gibiate. To give you the rundown, we have our generic overpowered samurai protagonist Sensui Kanzaki, who can one-shot bullet proof monsters with his super sWoRD and his “friend” Sanada Kenroku, who can do the same, but this time with iron wires. These two must protect our useless female protagonist, Kathleen, for reasons unknown to pretty much everyone (probably the writers included). Unfortunately for our samurai friends, Kathleen is only ever good at mentioning the obvious, acting completely oblivious half the time and basically adding zero value to the plot besides “oh look, it’s a waifu and she has uh boobs!” The rest of the cast are too ridiculous to make fun of or too irrelevant to mention. Like seriously, what kind of doctor can pilot a helicopter and shoot guns on target in the middle of a freefall all to save a person that was going to die anyway?

Sometimes I wonder to myself why in god's name I watched 12 episodes of this. I clearly had many problems with Gibiate from the story to the production quality. Nevertheless, I really wanted to make this review short and sweet, so I will be ending it on a moment of self reflection. To sum it up, I consider the show to be a comedic masterclass, but even as a one it falls a bit short because there are instances where it actually tries to be one. The scenes where Gibiate tries to be funny and the ones I found to be the most boring. What it’s really missing aren’t better voice actors, a story that makes sense, deep and impactful themes, multidimensional characters; none of that mumbo jumbo that good Anime usually have. All it needs is the Comedy tag.

After taking everything into consideration, Gibiate is in the purest sense so unbelievably bad it’s actually good. With that in mind, I highly recommend it, easily 9/10, just wash your hands after watching and maybe grab a pillow to shove your head in every time the fight theme plays.

Thank you very much for reading.

There is a lot to say about this show, and at first, it seemed alright. While I'm not too bothered by CGI, but sadly, the way this show looks and feels so far. It's not the best at all.

There are characters here, but in some cases, they just feel bland and uninteresting. While I wouldn't say they are complete trash, as some of the plot points of the show are actually quite touching. But at times, it just feels lifeless in parts. The only character I really like so far, is the main mc girl herself, and that's it really.

The art...Well it does look old, ... which isn't really a bad thing, but it's not the good kind of old school. I understand that with how the plot is, it might meant to look that way. But it does give off the uninteresting vibe at times. Not to mention certain CGI does look out of place at times.

The music is OK I guess. Sound fits the themes of the show, so cannot relaly fault it there for that. As for the show itself, and should you watch it? I'd say not really, while it's not the worst show in the world so far, it just doesn't feel good at all.

For years, I've never felt compelled to write a review — until Gibiate. It was either going to take something that moved my soul or something just plain awful. Unfortunately, it was the latter.

Story: The time travel aspect was a potentially intriguing plot point, but it is handled poorly. Characters' reactions are unbelievably casual, the show spends maybe 2 minutes of world-building which leads to much confusion. For example, "oh you're from the Edo Period? Cool, well this is 2030 and there are monsters HELP PLS." and with no questions asked off we go to save the day.

Art: The CGI, which I'm generally not a ... fan of, feels particularly awkward here. It's not the worst I've seen, but it lacks any redeeming qualities that might elevate the overall aesthetic. I'm not a fan of the CGI creep into anime. While that's just a critique of a particular animation style that has been becoming more popular lately, the CGI in this one feels even more cringy than usual.

Sound: Frankly, the sound design didn't leave any impression, neither adding nor detracting from the experience.

Character: They're just bland, cookie-cutter versions of typical anime archetypes. The rushed semblance of character development leaves you feeling apathetic rather than engaged. You couldn't care less about what happens to anyone. For example, when one of the characters dies you feel absolutely nothing because they are so underdeveloped it doesn't even matter to you.

Enjoyment: To put it bluntly, I regret the time spent on these two episodes.

Overall: A good anime makes you anticipate the next episode. This one did the opposite. After two episodes, I felt no urge to continue — a clear sign for me to drop it. You might take a chance on it, but from my perspective, it's not worth the time.

Rating: 0/10

THE WORST ANIME OF 2020 BY FAR. THANKS CRUNCHYROLL.

I am going start asking this.
Why do you even have a Crunchyroll Subscription?

On February 25th 2020, Crunchyroll announced their new lineup of anime for 2020 with the introduction of CR Originals and everyone flipped out with never before seen adaptations of korean source material because for some reason this is revolutionary because it is from a site called Webtoons where you can publish your own stories, which to this date I don't see why it is revolutionary when sites like Shōsetsuka ni Narō exist and do the same with known shows as ReZero and Konosuba the only ... difference one been for worldwide audiences and one for japanese, but the concept is the same. So again I don't see the revolution in adaptations. If it is because they are based on something non Japanese then Heidi girl of the alps anime adaptation was revolutionary back in 70s.

After watching what it called the amazing and outstanding boring show of Tower Of God I knew something for sure with these so called CR Originals. They are going to be rushed, they will be cheap or they are created just for the sake of making anime and having anime,in their anime catalog. So like that one their shows that wasn't shown in that trailer and because it is not of korean source was not present but CR proudly presented later as one, and that horrendous show is Gibiate.

The question about Gibiate is where do you even start describing this anime. Everything in it is atrocious, the story, the characters, the production, the animation, ESPECIALLY THE ANIMATION which is I think it is the big elephant in the room. I hope you don't care about spoilers for basicly the worst anime of 2020 and even the century to this point in which I am writting the review.

The story of Gibiate takes place in the future year of 2030 in which humanity is getting extinguished by a deadly virus called Gibia (Any relations to real life is pure coincidence) but instead of dying by the virus, people transform into "weird" creatures which even saying "weird" is too soft of a word, more like unpleasant CGI models which persecute any other people and for some reason this world is transporting people from the past to the year 2030 through portals because........ I simply don't know it just happens, and like that with the people from the past and present survive to have a better future in this horrendous and twisted world.

Starting with the story, it doesn't work, although it really does what the setting is about, but one thing that sucks is how boring it is. The show has a structure that is the following, blonde girl records people for their testimonies, later the survivors fight the unpleasant CGI models, then we have flashbacks of characters or history lessons which are not engaging and finally episode ends with a cliffhanger trying desperately to tick your mind in saying this is important and simply is not. Repeat this for 12 episodes and you have a Gibiate.

So as I said one of the big issues of this turd is the animation. If I can explain you how dissapointed and how opened my mouth was with this example: The first movie that I ever watched at the cinema was Disney's Dinosaur (2000) never in that moment in my life I thought there was animation like that if you compare it to the TV Shows that I watched as a kid. I had the thought that animation would be even at the same level or even better than that in the future, 20 years later I watched Gibiate and I am grabbing a bag and throwing up at those monsters designs. Each episode animation is worse than the previous one. The animation is horrendous, the designs are awful, they have an amalgamation of creatures united into one like a scorpion snake lizards, ant tarantula grasshopers, reptillian gorillas with shells and scales. As I said the next episode is worse than the previous one and they even acknowledge it because in episode 11, the story besides having awful looking creatures, people travelling through time, we also have ALIENS! BECAUSE WHY FUCKING NOT? and it is no other than the Doctor that was trying to make cure against the creatures but instead he was working on an antidote only for his fiance because she transformed into a horrible CG creature as well and the survivors thought that she was trying to kill them so the survivors kill her, but then the doctor transform one of the survivors into YuGiOh's lame version of Harpy Lady with teeth on the stomach and the worst cgi elevated to 100. I am not kidding with this statement but when I saw that thing I wanted to throw up. That thing will hunt you in your nightmares I have a PTSD for watching that object being animated and thinking it was approved and no I am not exaggerating. This show says that has no other and the only responsible of Final Fantasy illustrations (Yoshitaka Amano) but I don't see it anywhere in this show. But I guess Crunchyroll is proud of it.

The animation also has weird storyboard directions. Sometimes they do weird jump cuts with what position the characters must be looking at other times they forget to draw between frames and sometimes they recycle scenes that were already shown on the same episode.

One thing I was having hope is the music, some of the people working on the music are the Yoshida Brothers who you composed the song for the early Nintendo Wii Commercials that said "We would like to play" and Yuzo Koshiro who composed the awesome music of the classic and one of the most beloved RPGs that is Ys I and II and music and other Nihon Falcom games. (If you haven't played at least check the music) but the music is standard. The opening and ending are short and don't have an impact in at least trying to watch the show. The soundtrack also lacks impact and the tunes are not memorable at all. Talking about voice acting is just another symptom of how unpolished and lacking Gibiate is. I don't feel anything for these characters all I know is that they scream whenever they attack land cry when someone dies. As I said with boring and insipid characters why would I care?

Talking about characters I can resume you with one sentence.
Blond Girl - Eye Candy for the viewer and useless fighter.
Samurai Guy - Awesome, never loses a fight
Blond Girl's mom - Typical caring mother
Blue hair guy - Badass Ninja
Doctor - Your cliche doctor of the crew
Short Hair Girl - Your action packed woman that can use guns.
Monk - Typical Big guy that has protective feelings.
Old guy - Your reformed Yakuza.

and like that I described these humans walking on their world. Should I care about their names no, neither you if Crunchyroll tries to tell you that this is one of their magnus opus and that you can watch it legally only on their website don’t trust them, this product is lame and it is ass.

Did I enjoy it? HELL NO. I would give it a -Infinity in the enjoyment category.
Do you want to know how this ends. With a dumb cliffhanger saying that there will be more. Yeah no resolution or anything, the world in 2030 is doomed even if they killed the alien. I hope Crunchyroll doesn’t make a continuation of this horrible acid trip.

I have watched 2 of the worst animes released this year which are The Island of Giant Insects and Gibiate but I can tell you that Gibiate is the worst between those 2. Although both are insulting to the consumer with CGI that doesn't even close to the early stages of CGI back in the late 20th century and both you can watch them legally on Crunchyroll but the difference is that Gibiate has 12 episodes of bad animation, dumb story and crappy characters that you won't care about but in the end Crunchyroll is proud because it is Original and I guess you know for what your $8 are going to, to amazing and incredible CG that you won't find anywhere else. #PoweredByCrunchyroll

Thank you for reading this review. I hope you are doing fine, take care and see you later people.

My opinions will change once I watch the whole thing, but so far the more I watch the episodes the more I cringe especially those janky 3D monsters I prefer if they kept it in 2D. The 3D models reminds of those 2000s (try hard) 3D animated shows I really don’t know what they were thinking of putting it on air but it is what it is. So far for story there is nothing that really stood out to me I do like the concept of having historic figures going into the future, it’s not a concept I have seen done in anime (I have ... seen it done in Hong Kong dramas). As for characters I do like the fact we get to see most of the characters backgrounds and their past, so I can get a sense what they’re like. Overall I do enjoy it despite it’s faults at least it doesn’t make it hard to watch.

Btw my favourite character is Kenroku he such a funny lad.

Character and plot concepts are done, but differ in their nuance, in a way that I found charming. The relationships are warmhearted. For patient viewers there is a rewarding mood in which to be immersed. The minimalist style may not be for all, but I found peace with it, as though it was tied into a deeper cultural narrative. The music is alright, the sound design is nice. It seems like a love letter to certain obscure 90s shows. The pacing is strange but I like the oddness. All in all, a goofy, sad, hopeful, thought provoking, sci-fi spin on a dystopian future, and a ... great bit of art.

History will one day tell the story of the heroes who braved stormy waters to finish the train-wreck known as Gibiate. I was one of those brave souls who awoke every morning to do battle with this series.

Very few shows are irredeemable. Even bad anime will feature fanservice or something to keep watchers interested. Gibiate could not even do that. Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be brief because I want to forget this anime as soon as possible. This was by far the worst anime ever made and I don’t mean that in a hyperbolic sense. There is genuinely not a single positive that I can ... think of in this show.

I suppose on paper, the story is somewhat interesting as it involves two samurai being transported to modern Japan which has been battling a virus that turns people into monsters. Reading that line is where you should end your involvement here. Please save your time. Gibiate is a glorified powerpoint slide with Japanese voices added to it. The animation, CGI and dialogue seem like something a 12 year old threw together for art class. The story wants you to take it seriously, but the absolutely abysmal production quality makes it hard to not laugh at every episode and the corny dialogue makes you question how the hell this thing even got green-lit. There’s been rumours that this show is an affront for the Yakuza to clean off their money and I really would not doubt it. It’s quite obvious that no actual effort went into the production of Gibiate, other than Kathleen’s design.

Frankly, this show is bad. It doesn’t improve as the episodes go on, it gets worse. The score that you see reflected for it here on MAL is accurate. It is absolute garbage and should never be viewed, unless you’re drunk and want to laugh. Gibiate is one show i pray I’ll be able to scrub from my memory soon. It gets 1 out of 10.

This is my first review, so, be patient with me.
First of all, I have seen 11 episodes, and each one was worse than previous.
Really, I don't know why I'm watching it.
The premise of first episode was good, a time travel to fight against monster that were mutated human , but here ends all.
The plot is confusing, characters are basicly plain, CGI is so simple and repetitive,
animation is from 1930 (the proportions of enemys vary in every scene), there are no character with charisma.
The writer tries to give a plot twist in every episode and the one in episode eleven is so unnatural that makes you ... say WTF.
The only thing I like about this anime, it's my personal assesment, is the opening theme.

I genuinely enjoyed this anime. It might get some very negative criticism for good reason, and it was definitely not the best CGI animation out there (and that's an understatement.) But I actually looked forward to the show every week. It reminded me of being back in the 90s and early 2000s and discovering a few VHS or DVD episodes of some random anime tucked away in the back corner of your local Blockbuster. You'd take it home and watch it, and it wasn't necessarily GOOD, and it might have been strange and cheesy, but it was anime and so you ate it up anyway. ... This anime has the same sort of vibes going on.

As far as the story goes, it was pretty basic. The show didn't take itself too seriously or try to be more than it was, in my opinion. It was still a fun journey and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you have an open mind and can look past some truly hideous CGI and you liked campy old anime series, I suggest you give this a try. I could see this being a cult favorite in a decade or two.

To be fair, i really don't know how it was possible to conceive such an aberration like this.

The story is pathetic, and it doesn't make any sense at all! "Ok, in 2030 we have a virus that turns people into poorly made CGI monsters, and out of nowhere, a ninja and a samurai are transported from the XVI century to this future." What the hell? What genius had this idea?

The characters are terrible, too. Sensui is so irritantly boring, that I could say that a stone has more personality than him. Oh, and Kathleen is annoying.

The development of the story (which is horrible, remember?) ... is even worse. I've never seen such a boring anime in my life. At various times, I really felt like I was going to get sleepy and close my eyes right there.

As for the soundtrack, it's weak. Most BGMs are pretty flat, and the ending song is completely forgettable. However, I'll give a point for the Yoshida Brothers shamisen opening, which is the only thing I really liked in this dumpster fire.

The animation was one of the most terrible things I've seen in recent times! This CGI is so bad that makes my eyes bleed! And if it weren't for this, the animation is so basic it hurts.

My entertainment was zero watching this garbage! Seeing this anime was a pain. I feel like I lost precious hours of my life. I don't know how a work with so many influential people in the production could go so wrong. This was obviously thanks to a great lack of dedication. Definitely one of the worst animations I saw in 2020. Something like this is inexcusable, even for Crunchyroll. I really hope they gets better in their next original releases.

Lmao

The animation was a garbage fire that I died in. I am writing this as a very dissatisfied ghost
I actively prayed for character death
The protag is pure edge with some grade A eyeshadow
The fights looked like they were chopped with a knife
The monsters looked straight out of a shitty horror game from the early 2000's
The voice actors didn't fit the characters at all (especially doc, he sounded like the helpful manager at my neighborhood supermarket)
There were so many holes that the plot died from blood loss
The female lead's personality was as compelling as an empty Capri Sun ...

All in all, 10/10 would die again

Gibiate. When I saw your 4-point mean score, I got scared. I had hopes for the beginning of the season with this work, as it looked promising. However, after watching this work, I am increasingly convinced that this is the worst anime of the year.

My Review may have some spoilers.

Gibiate is a 12-episode anime and features a very relevant genre these days: end of humanity. Seven years ago we witnessed the biggest explosion of a work with this theme: Shingeki no Kyojin. With a more serious footprint, Shingeki promoted an increasingly intense transition from the genre, as he ... broke paradigms of expectation for the reader and the viewer. Although he is a Shounen on account of the magazine, I consider him a Seinen, for working with mature and human subjects very well.
Anyway, Gibiate followed a little of that line, but he performed poorly.

The story takes place in Japan, with a group of adventurers fleeing the danger of being infected by Gibias, humans infected with the Gibiate virus. With just one wound from the Gibia, the virus can now spread and completely infect another being within 5 hours. The premise is interesting, I admit, I was really enjoying the anime. However, at the beginning we have a problem: the appearance of two beings from the past, a samurai and a ninja.

Within most of the anime we pretend to forget this convenient situation because of the other scenes that were broadcast. It was not necessary to know from the beginning the cause of the appearance of Sensui and Kenroku, even though it was necessary for a better understanding of the story.

The group, in addition to the pair, has Kathleen, her mother, a doctor (who plans to make a vaccine for the virus) and another man from the past who appears at the beginning of the work (again, without much explanation). In addition to these, other external characters appeared, but all had minimal participation in the work.

Over time, what was acceptable became disgusting, horrible and even incomparable: the production. Gibiate comes from extremely new studios (Elle and Launch BOX), so I was expecting something medium. But anime excels, CGI is the worst thing that exists here. Computing is horrible and the sound has often been wrong, either with an exaggerated amount of Gibia sounds or with the action scenes. Episodes 2 and 3 were the hardest to see. The monsters and their movements are amateurish and poorly executed, in addition to the deformations due to the animation as a whole. I got so angry at the anime, that I was pausing every 5 minutes and laughing because I couldn't stand marathon it without alleviating the disappointment I had with the work.

Anyway, one more time passes and the group meets another girl, daughter of the leader of a Yakuza group, who also got together.

And now I wanted to comment on the end of the work. Until a certain period, Gibiate had episodes basically constructed with a problematic and an action scene, just shaping in different ways, to appear innovative. I even managed to like it, it wasn't too bad in my opinion. However, the ending broke everything that was done.

In episode 11, the group fights a monster called Meteora, for the third time, killing it at the end of the battle. The Doctor, who was working on the vaccine in a nearby building, saw the situation and revealed that they should not kill her, as she was his wife, who came from a planet in a civil war and that they both fled there to live peacefully in another location. The problem with the trip was the disruption of part of the rocket that took Meteora, falling on planet Earth later. This resumes the beginning of the anime, when Kathleen sees a "comet" (which was Meteora), and asks her for a wish: asking for help to face the Gibia. The help was the three sent from the past. The Doctor decides to take revenge on the group, becoming a Gibia stronger than the others.
The work is resolved with the Doctor facing the rest of the group and losing in the final moments. Everyone died, except Kengoku, Sensui and Kathleen. Finally, Sensui stays in the region taking care of the Gibias, as he was injured during the battle, and may also be infected.

The work gave evidence of a second season. This ending did not seem convincing to me, because it solves practically nothing in the story. Since a defeat of the virus was expected from the beginning and this did not happen, Gibiate is likely to resume in the future.

In conclusion, the work had very good potential. The characters have a little charisma and I really liked some of them, but the resolution that most had was flawed, especially with Kathleen's mother, who was injured in the foot in the second half of the story (couldn't she amputate her leg? ). Art and sound are horrible, there's nothing to talk about. More and more it makes me disgust to remember the CGI and the sounds placed during the fights and in the Gibias.
The technical execution of the plot was minimally decent, as it was poorly used in most of the work and was completely lost in the final two episodes.

Finally, I say that I do not sacrifice my experience with Gibiate. She was interesting, more than the anime itself. But you can't save everything else. You can't save one of the worst productions of recent times.

Here I review Gibiate and Yes I decided to watch the anime myself, so most Otaku wouldn't have to. Well seeing that their was lots of talent and time wasted on this project, you would think " WOW! It's gonna be amazing!! " Well not really, let's get to the review, shall we?

Story: You have a Samurai and A ninja who somehow travel into the future that has been overran by a plague, that turns humans into these horrific creatures. My two problems with the story though is that it's BORING and CRINGEY!!!! People calling this the second coming of Mars of Destruction and Honestly ... I'm disappointed.

Art: The style of the art is just everywhere, what do I mean by everywhere? The god awful CGI with the monsters, The looping of the gunshots, and Overall the battles with the humans against the monsters is just ugly, so so UGLY! Did anybody watch Anji and Realize that CGI in anime is a mistake? It's like IRL anime films, so so garbage.

Sound: The intro Gibiate by the Yoshida Brothers is amazing! It's a nice vibe of heavy Rock n Roll and I love how they play the Kokyu's within the instrumental, even the live performance is amazing. The outro Endless by Sugizo feat. Ohguro Maki is relaxing and Feels nice to vibe out to. I honestly want to like the anime cause the Intro/Outro are amazing, but We're grading the whole anime, not Musical Tracks.


Character Development: There isn't much character development here, as The Ninja and Samurai travelled to the future to stop these vile creatures and I assume they had learned most of their techniques within the past. The sad part about it all, is that even that is irrelevant, as most of the characters are left for dead within the anime.

Personal Enjoyment: I could not enjoy this at all, aside from the music? Everything else was below average or Garbage. I legit had hope that Gibiate would at least be something great, but I was wrong. I dropped the anime at episode four and That's cause I couldn't watch this trash any longer. I have a minimum when it comes to trash and Just like Boruto I also dropped Gibiate.

Overall: Gibiate showed great promise, but The studio working on Gibiate wasn't grounded or focused on anything. Legit, this anime has the potential to be the worst of the decade! Cringe, Boring, Forced character deaths, and The terrible CGI. There is nothing worse than having a anime with great promise just to have the studio slaughter the whole thing.

Final Rating: 2/10

As I said before the Intro/Outro are great, but Everything else within the anime is garbage. Wouldn't waste my time watching the whole series, even if you paid me to do it.

Hope you guys enjoy the review and Please send me a friend request and A request of me to review and anime of your liking, Thanks!