The anime opens with two of the main character, Nai and Gareki. Nai - a simple minded boy who clearly cannot survive in such a harsh world – is looking for a guy named Karoku. His search brings him in contact with Gareki, a young pickpocket guy who has nowhere to go. After seeing Nais priceless bracelet that would bring Gareki certainly the so much needed money, they end up on the run and encounter a battle between the supernatural Government defense force known as Circus and a evil supernatural organization named Kafka that develops these demonic creatures called Varugas. Both, Gareki and Nai would soon be caught in the hunt as the mysterious organizations seems to have a deep interest in each of them – and especially since Nai is not as human as he appears.
Karneval has rather modest ambitions, and accordingly, it packs only a modest emotional punch in terms of story and character development; it is mainly about pretty guys – in roles big and small - in pretty, yet fancy outfits and the characters leave a lot to be desired.
Talking of which, this leads us the first issue: the characters. The main characters (Garki, Nai, Yogi and Tsukumo) are attractive and each of them is individual; however, there is still room for development. Gareki is a guy who does not like getting close to people but actually cares for them deeply whereas Yogi is a rather childish guy who wants to get along well with everyone. Nai is the innocent and cute guy, but as the story progresses – which it hardly does - he becomes more and more a background character. And last but not least, there is Tsukumo, a fighting, yet calm girl who – after the anime introduces her – is not as interesting as we might have expected her to be. In conclusion: out of the main cast, Gareki is the only one who receives a proper background which is why he seems to be the most interesting of the cast.
There are some other pretty faces stumbling through this show but due to the lack of depth and further explanations, we cannot help but to realize that we do not care for the characters at all; yet, they serve the anime as the ordinary, stereotypical supporting characters.
On the other hand, there are several issues with the story. The anime has two plot points: one is about the rather lukewarm relationship of Gareki and Nai whereas the other is all about the mysterious organization called Circus.
The story of Gareki and Nai is more a personal journey; Nai seems to love Karoku -. a mysterious young man who does have screen appearances but the viewer has little to no clue to his true origin or identity; which is why Nais own identity is mostly unclear throughout the series - but apparently grows very fond of Gareki as well. And Gareki slowly changes whenever he hangs out with Nai. And even though this plot takes up a lot of the series running time, there can barely be seen any progression at the end of the show.
The second plot about Circus is mostly a puzzle throughout the series; at first glance, this plot appears to be generally just about certain missions the members of Circus tackle that Nai and Garkei tags along to. In fact, however, it is about their pursuit of the organization called Kafka. Circus is actually trying to find suitable evidence of crime since Kafka is responsible for creating monsters called Varuga. These monsters were once humans that got their cells altered. As a result, they became rather deformed super humans that hurt innocent people. The issue in this plot is the lack of explanations. They are an organization - involving some pretty faces - and that is nearly it. Therefore, the manga gives you unquestionably better explanations.
As a matter of fact, it is saddening to see that the anime lets you down even though it has such a stunning animation. The character designs are all gloriously done; the world looks as if it wants to be explored and the studio added so many little, yet seemingly unimportant background details which really highlights the series strength.
Additionally, editing and cutting are well-directed too which is sort of the pounding heart of the show.
The opening song is definitely a good start into the show, whereas the rest of the soundtrack appears rather decent: in other words, it is only noticeable during tense moments. It has its moments when it shines out brighter than expected but all in all there are numerous of far better soundtracks out there.
As mentioned in the opening, the series struggles to achieve any notable reward. The concept might have been promising but failed to keep you breathless in the seat - while the show is running - until the curtain falls for the last time. And after it fell it was and is clear: most would leave the show without having a look back.
