Story:
The concept and setting of the show is fairly interesting. It’s sure to grab anyone’s attention as the nature of the show holds a lot of potential for deep storytelling and emotional scenarios. Unfortunately, the show does not manage to fully utilize whatever it had at hand, and how is that? Well, to make things simple, let’s consider both halves of the show separately.
The first half, right of the bat was off to a pretty poor start as most of the earlier episodes revolve around scenarios that could be considered as pointless time wasting. While it can be seen that these scenarios were meant to serve as development for both the characters and story, it still feels as if they were put out just to fill in for something that was necessary for the buildup of the series and would provide as a foundation for the events to come later. Because of which, they come out as generic slice-of-life events that you’d see in any other show but without having any unique appeal for itself. While some viewers might be able to find value within the enjoyment of these scenarios, others could very well end up considering them as something meaningless altogether. But even then there’s no heart put into them and just feel as if they were added to get the job done quickly so that the writers could start focusing on the other half of the story. Which was seemingly the main part of it.
The second half offers more backstory to some of the characters and some nice development while also offering a deeper take on the entire series… Or at least it tries to. The thing is, while the idea might seem very nice, the same can’t be said about the way it’s carried out. It feels rather vague and just doesn’t provide the proper kind of development that you’d need in order to truly feel for the more emotional situations that come later on. The progression feels very off and the pace by which the show goes barely even gives you the chance to care about any of the events. You can tell that it tries to be dramatic, but just doesn't manage to get anywhere with it.
Art and Animation:
Studio Trigger managed to do well in this regard as it mostly has in the past. The art direction is really well done and the sharp, bright visuals are very eye catching. The brightly colored backgrounds also added more depth to the overall surroundings and was altogether something nice to look at. The animation is also smooth for the most part but it can get rather inconsistent at times.
Sound:
The soundtrack within the show is fairly nice but it’s still not something I would particularly praise. There were moments when the soundtrack fit with the show’s mood really well though and do stand as some nice pieces on their own but they don’t really effect the atmosphere all that much. At the very least, the right tracks were played at the right time and nothing in particular ever felt out of place in this regard.
I did however, enjoy the Opening sequence quite a bit. It’s nicely presented and has some very eye catching visuals and screenplay along with good music. Just a good opening overall. Really did impress me the first time I saw it.
Characters:
Quite sadly, the character department was one of Kiznaiver’s weakest areas as not only did the cast feel bland to begin with, but also felt neglected for the most part. While the show does provide a reasonable amount of character development for a few characters, at the same time it disregards the others. Being a show with a main group of eight characters, it felt as if only a few in the group actually mattered and the others were there just to fill in space, a couple of ‘extras’. What also stems from this is that the chemistry between said characters felt extremely unnatural and forced. The characters do present themselves in a fun way and were entertaining at times with their quirky personas but felt limited to those personas and didn’t manage to go much further with their character (except for a very few). They felt extremely flat and whatever supposed 'depth' that was provided to us could barely be considerable, because of which these characters just end up becoming another generic cast that's easily forgettable.
Presentation:
This is where the show lacks the most. One of the biggest issues that Kiznaiver had was with its dramatics. Most of the time, the more emotional scenes aren’t carried out as well as they could’ve been and also due to the progression of the show and the nature of the characters, very rarely would the viewer feel any sentiments with the drama. The scenario execution is poor, which is sad, considering that there were a few moments for which I truly felt that they could’ve came out as something beautiful if portrayed properly but rather what we were presented with was an abundance of melodrama and forced romance. Also, because of this, nothing ever feels as important as it should. It lacks the qualities which makes a viewer care, whether that be for the characters or for the entire show.
Conclusion and Verdict:
Even though Kiznaiver offered a good concept, the lackluster presentation and writing held it back from achieving anything noteworthy. If you can look past the flaws and enjoy the show for its nice visuals or just manage to appreciate it for the concept itself then you just might be able to find something in it. Otherwise if you’re expecting a dramatic experience with solid writing then there are far better options within the medium.
