DESCRIPTION

CAST

MOVIE ActionKoutetsujou no Kabaneri: Unato Kessen
MOVIE ActionKoutetsujou no Kabaneri Soushuuhen Zenpen: Tsudou Hikari
MOVIE ActionKoutetsujou no Kabaneri Soushuuhen Kouhen: Moeru Inochi
NOVEL ActionKoutetsujou no Kabaneri: Akatsuki
MANGA ActionKoutetsujou no Kabaneri
NOVEL ActionKoutetsujou no Kabaneri

REVIEWS

• 

  Peng

  50/100
  B movie fun with B movie faults

  

  Some things are so campy they’re good. Or rather, entertaining.

  It is this doctrine that has driven the success of dozens of B movies. You know it’s crappy, over the top and an all-round mess. But it’s for these very reasons that the likes of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! or Day of the Dead are so much goddamn fun.

  And yet, B movies have a bad reputation (and the name) for good reason too. Regardless of how zany and self-gratifying they may be, they all too commonly suffer from flaws in direction, story and character development. Not to mention the shitty budgets.

  _Ogon' po gotovnosti!_

  The key to overcoming these faults is consistent self-awareness. A good B movie never tries to take itself too seriously. Of course, this does not mean they must be devoid of meaningful thematic exploration or social commentary; just look at the works of Carpenter or Romero. But the moment when a piece that had previously thrived on its campiness attempts to reassert itself as a poignant, deep or otherwise serious literary work, and at the cost of its corny charm, is the moment when a B movie falls flat.

  Koutetsujou no Kabaneri proves that anime is no exception.

  They're coming to get you, Barbara

  ---

  Continuing with my trend of uncomprehensive and depreciative single-sentence premise rehashings, Kabaneri is about a group of zombie apocalypse survivors in steampunk feudal Japan. Oh, and they’re on a big ass train. If that doesn’t exude copious quantities of awesome, I don’t know what does. It’s such a ridiculous and outlandish concept that, ironically, I’m surprised no one had thought of it sooner.

  

  Thankfully, Kabaneri experienced no evident budget shortages. Studio Wit – who are in familiar territory – have given the show a unique but no less gorgeous visual aesthetic. Haruhiko Mikimoto has gone back to his roots to produce some spectacular character designs reminiscent of the classic 80s OVAs.

  

  In fact, the aesthetic in general, from the art to the soundtrack and from the fluid animation to the ridiculous setting, is really nice. All these elements work in tandem to establish an absurd but incredibly fun atmosphere, whilst the quality remains consistent. In this way, right from the very first episode, we know what to expect. It may not be the most astutely crafted of shows, but it sure as hell looks and feels dope.

  Out of the blocks

  ---

  Indeed, Kabaneri starts off flying. We are instantly rewarded with gory, stylised action sequences, mounting catastrophes, cliché tragic backstories and beautifully over-the-top voice acting (damn these guys love yelling) complete with inspiring monologues that practically scream of badassery. It’s stupid and self-indulgent, but that’s why the show is initially so appealing.

  

  The plot during these early stages is virtually non-existent and mostly centres on the themes of overcoming fear and paranoia and maintaining one’s humanity. The usual zombie subject matter. Although Kabaneri doesn’t really bring anything new to the table in this regard, its exploration of these themes never becomes boring and is handled tactfully enough such that they don’t become overbearing and detract from the show’s zaniness.

  This is largely thanks to the show’s characters. Admittedly, none of them are particularly complex or original. The side cast are especially dull and only fulfil individual archetypes. That said, they are diverse and likable enough such that they never become too much of a hindrance, even if we never really end up caring about any of them. Also, Max Powers is friggen’ hilarious.

  

  Even the primary duo in Ikoma and Mumei are fairly stock standard. Ikoma is loud, proud and obnoxious, spurred on by constant self-flagellation and a misgiving past. Mumei is loli ninja super assassin coming to terms with who she is in a world largely unwilling to accept her, not to mention her own unfortunate backstory. These inner-conflicts and turmoils have been tackled a hundred times before and far more effectively. And yet, it’s nearly impossible not to like them, simply because of how much raw energy and charisma they bring. Sure they’re cliché and pretty shallow, but we still want them to succeed purely because of how badass they are.

  

  In this way, the first few episodes see the plot and the characters, lacking as they might be, work to reinforce the absurdity, stupidity and most importantly, pure entertainment factor of the show.

  Then, an overarching plot was introduced.

  Do you ever feel like a plastic bag?

  ---

  This coincides with the introduction of the main villain. In short, he is poorly-fleshed out, has hazy motivations, confusing goals and a cartoonish depiction. This may not appear to be too much of an issue, granted that most of the cast prior to his entrance were just as, if not more uninspired. I’d argue, however, that none of them are nearly as messy as Mr L’Oréal here.

  _Because you're worth it_

  Rather, the problem lies in his purpose. The show takes Biba and uses him as a thematic mouthpiece. These themes of fear, paranoia and weakness and strength in a world dominated by the dead had hitherto taken a backseat to all the action and yelling, but were relevant and handled carefully enough such that they were still somewhat meaningful. Immediately upon Biba’s entrance, the show takes these themes and starts forcibly shoving them in the viewer’s face. In other words, the series dramatically shifts its focus from the fun and the absurd to the serious and pseudo-intellectual.

  

  This doesn’t work for a few reasons.

  Firstly, it completely juxtaposes the show’s atmosphere and attitude in its first half. The transition is abrupt, jarring and comes with little to no warning.

  Secondly, successful thematic exploration usually relies on successful character and story development. These were not Kabaneri’s strengths, nor do they suddenly reinvent themselves to be. If anything, the plot only goes downhill from here. Biba’s motivations are poorly connected to his actions and goals, or at least, a satisfying explanation is never really provided.

  It also doesn’t help that the show begins taking serious liberties as far as logic and the suspension of disbelief is concerned. Why do the Hunters follow the clearly bat shit crazy Biba? Why can kitchen knives suddenly cut through 50cm thick steel cables? Why does every authority figure have the decision making capability of a retarded three year old? Why are there superzombies that scream with the force of a small nuclear bomb exploding? All of these small yet simple things somehow manage to break immersion, which is an incredibly difficult feat for a show as blatantly insane as this.

  

  Finally, the show’s themes and messages are simply not as profound as it makes them out to be. They’re mundane and oversaturated, and only serve to distract the show from its actual strengths.

  To the show’s credit, I would argue that the final episode does shine some light on Biba’s character and bestows upon him another layer of complexity and depth. This dude sums it up pretty nicely:
  

  That said, it is too little too late. This fails to redeem the series for its previous misgivings or conclusively explain all of Biba’s prior actions.

  

  And yet, despite all of this Kabaneri continues to be kinda fun. Sure it skews its priorities and is horrible at min/maxing, but at least it remembers its roots as an absurd, zany and entertaining gore fest. And sure, unimpressive and predictable thematic exploration may overshadow this fun, but Kurusu never stops Ayame-samaing, Max Powers never stops being hysterical and Ikoma never stops yelling.

  

  Party's over

  ---

  Kabaneri tries to take itself too seriously without the writing to back it up. This is why it falls flat.

  And yet, I’d argue that it doesn’t completely derail (hey, I’ve held off from the train puns ‘till now). Ultimately, even though it loses focus, Kabaneri continues to be dumb fun – my second favourite type of fun. It’s just a shame the ‘dumb’ part got out of hand.

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• 

  CodeBlazeFate

  54/100
  I still had a good time all things considered, but there's a reason this earned the nickname "trainwreck."

  SPOILERS FOR KOUTETSUJOU NO KABANERI aka KABANERI OF THE IRON FORTRESS

  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".

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• 

  CaninnTurtle

  74/100
  Kabaneri weaves an impressive setting and moving premise, but weak story beats and characterization hold it back.

  Surprise! I'm writing two reviews within a week of each other. If this doesn't signal the world ending, I don't know what else will convince you. On the subject of the world ending, Kabaneri and the Iron Fortress is a steampunk post-apocalyptic anime that has drawn many comparisons with the far more popular (and significantly better) Attack on Titan. I'm going to have to stop on this comparison for a bit because it actually really bugs me that there is a narrative out there that Kabaneri is a rip-off of Attack on Titan, because it's just false. Are they reasonably similar due to the fact that they: share a post-apocalyptic setting, are animated by the same studio, and feature characters becoming hybrids of the enemy? Yes, of course. It would be crazy if they didn't feel somewhat similar after those basic similarities, but that's almost entirely where the comparisons end. The two shows follow completely different lines of thinking in regard to basic and overall plot. While Attack on Titan is more of a mystery thriller, Kabaneri is an action show through and through. In addition to that, Kabaneri is so much more self-contained and smaller scale, down to even the action level. There are no thrilling grappling hook sequences like there are in Attack on Titan, but more small skirmishes and train raid scenes. But I think the biggest difference between the two lies in the characters. In Attack on Titan, every character is grim and pessimistic due to the hopelessness of their position as humankind and this serious tone carries through all the characters throughout the show, whereas in Kabaneri, the characters relax and show some happiness every once and while, which suits what the show was going for, but creates some interesting issues in characterization, which I'll touch on later. Now why am I pressing so much on the differences between these two shows? Because it does both an injustice to be comparing them like they're carbon copies, both as an insult to Attack on Titan's greatness and Kabaneri's identity as a standalone show.

  The opening and ending songs of Kabaneri are beautiful and I'd expect nothing less from EGOIST and Aimer. I can't really say the same for the soundtrack, it was pretty decent, but nothing that would stand out as "I'm putting this on my playlist" music. The sound effects and overall design was interesting at first, but then they didn't really go anywhere with it. Kabane sound the same from episode 1 to the movie and they don't really do much to evolve them and keep them interesting, which is rather disappointing, but I'll go more ham on that in a later section. Suffice it to say that sound design is not intrusive, which is a positive.

  Visually, Kabaneri is gorgeous. The artstyle has so much going for it and the animation is really fluid, all of which are things that I think most people would expect from WIT at this point. There are some awkward CGI moments, like in episode 6, I believe, where they first encounter a fused colony, which is basically just a big, black CGI monster. The character designs are relatively interesting, mostly because of the steampunk setting more than anything else, something that helps make anything seem more interesting. Speaking of which, the environmental design was absolutely stunning the entire show. They'd go from a rundown station to a massive city and both would look absolutely amazing, so if nothing else, Kabaneri has visuals going for it.

  Favorite Character: Yukina

  

  I think, more honestly, I would put no one here. Yukina was the character that I was most interested in for the longest, however, and that's why she ends up being my favorite, even though Sukari and Kurusu could have probably made a case for this spot too. Herein lies my greatest issue with Kabaneri. The characters are so woefully uninteresting and so chock full of cliches that they seem more like caricatures than actual people. Take Ikoma, the main character, as the best (or worst) example of this. He's a literal contradiction. Sometimes, he's the angry vengeful protagonist, who vows to exterminate the threat to humanity, next he's the kindest man alive and treats all with kindness, and next he's an emotional wreck despite already having been through awful trauma and shown that he's got the mental fortitude to not break over one person close to him dying. He just bounces personalities so often that I'm not really sure who he's supposed to be and what his actual motivations are. His sister? Humanity? Mumei? His promise to her? Who knows, because he lacks consistency throughout the entire show, something that is present in almost every character, but most prominently in him. I think the best example of this being present in the entire cast is to point the finger at the reactions of the people on the train to the two Kabaneri. They save the people's lives time and time again, but it takes them forever to understand that they don't want to hurt humans and they constantly flip flop between "ARGH THEY'RE EVIL" to "hahaha they're so nice". And this can happen multiple times an episode. I totally get that they're so similar to the enemy that humanity has grown to hate over so many years, but like, does anyone think rationally or strategically in those times? They're kinda useful. To sum it up, Kabaneri has some extremely shoddy writing, especially character writing.

  This is extenuated in the last arc when the main villain, Biba, appears. This causes the first major stumble for Kabaneri for two reasons: his character and the sudden change in the story. Firstly, his character. It's extremely hazy what this guy even wants, why he's doing it, and what he even gains out of his actions. I think the final episode cleared up his motivations slightly, but even still it doesn't answer the biggest question left hanging afterwards: why even do what you did? Not to mention, this guy is extremely bland and shows little to no personality, which further extenuates the flaws in his character. I don't think this needs much more explanation since I already wrote a wall of text on Ikoma, but suffice to say, he's a massive characterization problem too. Secondly, the sudden shift in the story from Man vs. Kabane to Man vs. Man in an instant and without any reason why. It's an extremely jarring shift that comes with the repercussion of slowing the show down to a crawl, which has a negative effect on the flow of the action in combination with the story. Not only is the sudden theme shift a problem, but the tone shifts from simply an entertaining ride to one of serious philosophical thought as well. This means that the entire show after Biba is introduced is a bog of "intellectual" and "existential" thought from Biba about fear and whatever else he was going on about, because it all blended together and made me lose interest in what was going on.

  Now, with most of my negative thoughts out there, I can say that I enjoyed watching Kabaneri in its entirety. I didn't ever really lose interest or slow down watching it, a massive positive for me since I'm distracted so easily nowadays. Also, the atmosphere of the first half of the show was fantastic, in large part due to the premise and the masterful setup to the first half of the show, which, in my eyes would have easily gotten a 90 before Biba showed up. However, I can't deny that the movie and second half of the main series really dragged my opinion of the show down a little, due mostly to the fact that the character writing issues and the obvious lack of good ideas for antagonists were more apparent.

  Honestly, I had quite the entertaining ride with Kabaneri, but I have to point out how glaring the flaws are in it too. They're just way too obvious to ignore simply due to my enjoyment. I'd give a recommendation if you're simply looking for something that's enjoyable and not too bogged down with lore and story because Kabaneri is fairly light on those things and can simply be enjoyed as a zombies on a train show. I really wish I could have been more positive in this review, because after toasting this show so hard, it seems really insincere to say that I actually did like it, but its exactly that. I liked the show, but I can't hail it as anything better than enjoyable, unfortunately.

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