Kiznaiver was a really frustrating, deeply polarizing anime for me to watch - and one of the most memorable. It's a mixed bag, tbh, with the good parts being absolutely exceptional and the bad parts being really, really atrocious, and the rest being mediocre fluff. A lot of the writing is distasteful and really gross, and you almost have to pick and choose through the script and silently pray for a scene that won't make you want to throttle the writers. It wasn't until the midway point that the anime finally settled into itself after the horrible beginning episodes, and the 7th episode is probably the pinnacle of the series.
I majorly associate Kiznaiver with Bakemonogatari and Angel Beats, and after having watched to the finish, I'm even more firmly convinced that this is the extremely stylish, immature lovechild with an unexpectedly wise outlook on the nature of empathy.
The only reason why I even rated the Character section above a 2 was because of The One Character (c'mon, everyone knows who I'm talking about) whose arc was given a deeply lavish attention to. The others, as enjoyable as they were (though mostly irritating) were really superficial caricatures. They were a vague collection of archetypes that mainly existed to be the mouthpiece to the writer's fauxslophical musings about friendship and emotions - which isn't bad, and it seems intentional. The problem is, just, for a series so dependent on human relationships, it was a huge strike.
The art direction is absolutely amazing, and I would even say iconic at times. And it's a real shame about the characterization, because it's clear that the writers have a talent with writing character arcs. The problem is, they just didn't deem it to be a priority in a series where it kind of should've been emphasized to the point of overkill. The premise was really flimsy and contrived, and so was the plot.
And the forced romance- really unnecessary. Really, really could've been avoided.
