amazingsleep's Blog

Anime Relations: Kaiba

1) The development of the characters felt rushed. Granted, we see nearly everything that's important (as everything not important can be explained away by deleted memories and whatnot) but still... I feel like the show was kind of hurt by the shift towards a central narrative instead of the "self contained" stories of the first 6 episodes. Reminds me of Trigun, a series I loved, however also suffers from "oh shit we need to wrap this up in the last few episodes so RUSHED EXPOSITION TIME!" syndrome.

2) Vanilla is <3. As soon as he lied to the other cops (or at least, tried to convince himself that he was telling the truth) and lost his position over it he won me over. I mean, he still comes off as a creepy pedophile horndog (Chroniko's body looks like a middle schooler, however, all characters look that way in this anime ugh), but he is a character that shows so much emotion in everything he does and in this anime that was really refreshing. He went out in what ended up being one of the best sequences in the entire anime, hands down.

3) Wasn't expecting the stakes to be raised so much by the end myself... as soon as giant-goobly-body-memory-form Warp came out of the palace at the end I was like "oh no, don't you Akira/End of Evangelion/Princess Mononoke me now!" but luckily they kept it about the heart of the story with the memories and whatnot.

4) Hyohyo being Neiro and vice versa (but now two separate people) was heartbreaking for me, thinking back to how hyohyo had been staying with Kaiba in the earlier episodes even though it made little sense at the time. That was good writing/pacing/direction. Makes you want to go back and watch them again for all of Hyohyo's reactions.

5) I wish there had been more payoff from the Quilt/Patch storyline... I really thought they were setting something up there but I guess not. Or maybe I just missed some subtle nod or reference? Same with the "Grandpas Treasure" episode... they were good for worldbuilding, but not as important in the grand scheme of things as the other episodes.

6) While I didn't feel any great emotional response to the "romance" between Kaiba and Neiro, the series did a really great job of making you feel the kinship between the characters. It's like there's a big group of lost souls just meandering through this futuristic dystopian society, and feeling any sort of lasting connection to someone else is so rare that it stands out and feels important. In each and every episode, there is a feeling of loss whenever one of these connections is severed. It doesn't matter how hastily the connection was set up (like popo and his mom's memories being dropped into the engine in a fit of glorious hubris) you still feel a great pang of terror and loss. I'm not sure if it's just a testament to the pacing, worldbuilding, writing, art direction, music direction, or just a combination of them all, but this is one thing that is done perfectly in nearly every single episode. Above all, that's my great takeaway.

I am so very happy we watched this anime and that I can say that I've experienced it. It is unique and special in a way that only certain other things in life ever approach. I don't really want to watch it ever again, but not because of a dislike, instead, because I am just not prepared for the emotional rollercoaster that it takes you on. This series affects you in some way that is just remarkable.

I'd give this an 8/10, with the 2 points taken off for the rushed storytelling and my dislike for the art style (even though the direction of said style was phenomenal).