I'm sure you've heard this question before: What do you prefer? Starting off strong but ending badly, or starting off weak, but ending strongly? Whatever your answer may be, this show falls into the former, like a rooftop jump gone horribly wrong. The first 7 episodes were this fun run with a few stumbles here and there, episode 8 was that big leap, and episodes 9-12 had this random train spawning from the sky to smash our fucked, airborne friend into the concrete below before exploding. I still had a good time all things considered, but there's a reason this earned the nickname "trainwreck."
In the middle of an industrial revolution, an outbreak of armor-clad zombies known as Kabane has spread into a zombie apocalypse, and now it is up to the likes of Ikoma and all members of the Koutetsujou to hopefully out and end to it. Now, this show has some questionable things from the beginning, but with enough decent pseudoscience and explanations, we could've seen a really unorthodox and interesting zombie show. Instead, a lot of the radical moments weren't explained with decent and interesting reasonings, but were handwaved for the sake of plot and maybe time. It seemed like a standard story at first but with clever science, could've made for a really good and interesting steampunk zombie apocalypse, but then, with the lackluster villain, and the ludicrously safe and plot mangling finale, it unfortunately falls short of what it could've been. It definitely has more than its fair share of plot holes as well. I mean, it's a mess! Things like Kabane muscle memory and later, OP Kabaneri steroids don't get explained at all because "action" and interesting things like Kabaneri being resistant to heat, Kabane clinging on to each other to make a colony beast with one Kabane used as the heart, or the knowledge on how to halt and slow down the Kabane virus in order to be a badass Kabaneri get the same treatment. That is the sad thing. Plus, the motivations of our true villain Biba, don't add up with his actions, and well, and honestly, the second half was so stupidly and boringly written.
Ikoma is a slightly more calculated shounen character whose traits I just mentioned flip-flop and clash with each other. Sometimes, it's understandable, like when he loses his best friend in EP 10 for the soft and shounen side, and like when he has to kill actual people in the finale as well as Kabane because not every human is an ally, and not every human has shown a reason to be allowed to live when it comes to the harsher and calculating side. He's probably the best character here for being a remotely solid character. Plus, he actually feels real at some points, as well as his best friend, due to some of their reactions and conversations in times like this being what most actual people would do rather than just simple characters, like freaking out when they find out that their project for making a weapon to combat Kabane in episode 1 actually works as Ikoma kills a Kabane. Mumei, is a badass and jerkass in the first half, and a total child for most of the 2nd. She has an interesting bit in episode 4 where her mouth and grim ideals get her admonished by her already stupidly jumpy and dickish co-passengers, but that's the closest thing to anything she has going for her as a character. Kurusu is just a samurai with a jerkass side, and Ayame, is barely any better, being that type of female authority figure that likes cooperation between enemies rather than needless violence, which only really gets to shine in the last few episodes. The villain Biba, is easily the worst, however. He's shallow, cold and calm, with grim ideals, and a vendetta against his asshole father that should've been fleshed out more so that we can buy into his motivations. His actions are pretty deplorable as is, so, meh. His death scene was the only time we saw any sparks of life in this husk of a character. At least one of his lackeys has some decency despite being kind of a rouge guy. Also, poor Horobi. She never got fleshed out, and she still managed to call her death.
I do like how the first half of the show focuses on these unlikely allies on the Koutetsujou cooperating to defeat a common enemy despite being at each other's throats all the time, and how betrayal of that begrudging trust by one of the members in episode 10 leaves a detriment in one's reputation, even if it turns out he was a spy to get our heroes some benefits later on, courtesy of Ikoma. If only we actually saw this with interesting personalities.
Some awkward 3D CGI in episode 6 aside, this show looks amazing. The fully detailed and high def look to the realistic art style really gels with everything beautifully, and the action scenes are well done with some incredible bits here and there. The explosions, spark effects for whenever a Kabane or Kabaneri gets stabbed in the heart, and the well done and detailed explosion effects are downright astonishing, even if there are some odd bits here and there with some action scenes. Hell, the art style is an epic update on that 80's OVA shading art style, and has numerous references to 80's art style themes, like Ikoma's cool new haircut in the end of episode 11 reflecting they badass punk-looking character type in the 80's. Given that the character designer was Haruhiko Mikimoto, legendary designer behind the characters of Macross, Gundam 0080 War in the Pocket, and Gunbuster. His work is legendary and I'm glad to see his stuff again, even if it is for a train wreck. The character designs look amazing, and more anime need this upgraded shading style. This was by far, Studio Wit's best work yet in terms of art. Just, look at how detailed and well done the character models, environmental and explosion effects, and backgrounds are! That's probably the main reason why many people like this show so much. It looks impressive and the action is bombastic and glorious.
The music in this series has several tracks that are as catchy as they are fitting. This soundtrack was done by Hiroyuki Sawano after all; it's pretty much expected for him to knock it out of the park every time. The songs are definitely good, and the cola tracks are all great, and while they aren't all that memorable on their own, most of them feel like they were tailor-made for this series. Not one song feels out of place at all, and another large part of what makes the action in this show so breathtaking is how each fight has a piece of music that fits perfectly with what is going on, whether that be an action scene or that transformation sequence from Kabaneri Ikoma to Steroids Kabaneri Ikoma. Also, the OP, Kotetsujou no Kabaneri, is done by EGOIST, so of course it sounds catchy and awesome. The ED, done by AIMER sounds really cool too, and I wish there was some cool animation stretched to it. Plus, some of their songs were used in this OST, so good for them. Plus, "Through My Blood" (the song that plays during Ikoma's roofed out transformation) by AIMER is an awesome track as well. Also, WarCry (which is sung entirely in English) is pretty damn catchy.
For the first 7 episodes, I absolutely loved this show. It was insanely fun, with several exciting action scenes and even a few good bits of banter. Too bad the show tanked after episode 8 aired. The group consensus for this show is that while it was entertaining and impressive to look at and listen to, it fell short of what it could've been via failure to explain its radical pseudoscience, and inability to give us a worthwhile final act and antagonist. I wholeheartedly agree. It's not nearly as good or satisfying as what it could've been, but it was a pretty entertaining show to watch, even if it turned out to be a total "Trainwreck".
