Now that the dust has settled and we've all long-forgotten the trickery, and occasionally the asspulls that Shinichi Izumi and Migi conjured during their stint in Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu, I would like to explain why I think this nearly unmatched show deserves a 7/10 in my book. With its unique approach to sound and composition, its ability to successfully revitalize a manga that has not aged well and its relentless dedication to thrilling the audience, it actually pains me to give this show a score anything less than a 9. However its weaknesses were absolute pitfalls to this show's memorability and depth. Let's start with the positives:
Biggest pros:
- Transforming a boring plot into an exciting one
A teenage boy wakes up the morning after earth has been infiltrated by aliens to discover that his right hand has been replaced by an entity that appears to be... an apex predator. And a polymath. And a psychopath. And an organic "machine" with an appetite for human meat. Like this we are immediately introduced to a plot with elements that are unoriginal with respect to anime - a high school setting with an "average" teenage male protagonist with recently gained superpowers, an exploration of the interaction between aliens and humans, and an "enemy" that appears to be an insurmountable obstacle for our protagonist to defeat. However, Kiseijuu manages to take a completely derivative plot and mold it into something much more interesting as the show continues. For one, an early attention-grabber that I noticed about the story was that instead of imitating any other high-school themed anime in which the protagonist builds a harem of girls starting from scratch, Kiseijuu initially attempts to develop a single relationship that has already been established. Seeing Shinichi and Satomi already dating at the beginning of the show was a fresh change to the generally touchy nature that anime has with true romance. Although I have problems with how their relationship eventually panned out, in the opening phase of the show it was an absolutely stellar feature. Secondly, Migi's persistence towards maintaining its character traits - calculating, self-interested, lacking ego - was superb. For most of the show, I was incredibly impressed that the creators never allowed Migi to break out of character. Even in the moments in which it was indeed an incredibly low-hanging, sweet fruit to be able to see Migi show some sense of emotion towards Shinichi, e.g. attachment, care, sympathy, remorse, Migi stayed true to itself. That, my friends, takes impressive writing ability. And in Kiseijuu, it truly was the little details like this that ensured that the plot had integrity despite overused themes and archetypes.
- Exceptional sound and music
I'm no music connoisseur but I really consider myself a fan of all music. I play a few instruments, listen to basically anything and everything (besides country blah blah blah), and I like to keep my mind open about new sounds. That being said, Kiseijuu has received both backlash and praise for its score. I belong to the latter camp. The adjective I would use to best describe it would be: fitting. That does not mean that Kiseijuu pulled punches in the music department. In fact, I find it incredibly rare for the music an anime to be fitting to its plot and overall "feel". With Kiseijuu, its score almost gave me cues to the emotions I should be experiencing, which I find is rarer than it should be. For lack of a better word, Kiseijuu's "dubstep" really worked in a battle- and action-heavy story, and although some of the OST was overplayed (I'm looking at you "Next to You"), it never quite got old. Overall I was more than happy by the fact that the show was completely unencumbered by its score and even complemented pretty nicely by it in its more intense scenes.
- Endless High-Quality Action
If you are a lover of action, adventure, and blisteringly fast plot developments, Kiseijuu will probably be unrivaled compared to most anime. This is indeed one of its best pros. There's not much for me to say other than the fact that Kiseijuu took the hated "monster-of-the-week" formula, and actually managed to flesh-out a continuous, consistent story with it. Considering that oftentimes monster-of-the-week type animes fall flat on their faces when it comes to overall plot development, seeing Kiseijuu pull it off was incredible and always kept me eager for the next episode (which I can't say I feel about most anime).
Only Con:
Having mentioned all the main things I loved about Kiseijuu as a whole, I have to explain why Kiseijuu falls from a 9 in my book to a 7.
- Characters
In a paragraph above I raved about Migi's dedication to its character and Shinichi's and Satomi's early relationship. I still believe that Madhouse did an incredible job with these two points. However, almost every other aspect of character development in Kiseijuu was just a tease - a taste of something that could be so much better.
For example, Kiseijuu really enjoyed focusing on characters that were just plain bland when we had a cast full of infinitely more interesting characters to explore right at our fingertips. In the biggest example of this... why did Satomi remain alive (and boring!), for the entire duration of the show yet other pathologically unusual characters like Kana and Reiko all died mysteriously quickly? Although I don't care for fanservice, getting rid of both characters was like an anti-fanservice (maybe a fan-disservice). It was as if the writer was deliberately attempting to take the life out of the story and, subsequently, alienate viewers and readers. This significantly docked points from enjoyability during the second cour of the show as much of the reason I was watching it was for these two characters specifically.
In addition, despite its appeal Kiseijuu never truly managed to establish an emotional connection with its audience (or at least me). I recognize that the show is supposed to represent a cold re-enactment of how a quasi-apocalyptic alien event would occur, however I don't think I ever felt "sad" for the protagonist or Satomi. I did experience both highs and lows seeing Migi, Reiko, and Kana on screen, but it is certainly a problem when one cannot connect to the protagonist of a show. Could I relate to him? Yes. Did I like him? Nah. Frankly Shinichi's character only evoked in me a sense of "meh", which eventually became a huge letdown as the series continued when I realized my perception of him would never change.
Finally, I'm going to eschew all helpfulness and description here, but fuck the sex scene. It was like a pity fuck where you don't know who is pitying who and everyone just feels really miserable. Why the fuck would you show me that Madhouse? Sex isn't INHERENTLY good. Good sex is good. Sad sex is sad. This was sad sex.
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All that being said, Kiseijuu was still a great show. It was well-rounded with a great story, exceptional sound, good art (although I never talked about it) but a penchant towards inconsistent character development. Despite the fact that I would critically not describe it as a "masterpiece", its enjoyability ranks it with the best on MAL and I really do not regret a single moment I dedicated to the show. It really is a must-watch for all but the most queasy (because it can get bloody).
Now what are you waiting for? Go watch Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu!
