[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Final thoughts on Kaiba
Right from the get-go Kaiba proved to be certainly one of the most unusual but also one of the most thought-provoking shows of recent months. In light of Masaaki Yuasa’s penchant for the extremely odd (when I mean extremely odd I mean it in a Holden Caulfield-italicised extremely) I wasn’t sure if it would try to carry itself on its unique visual style alone or whether Yuasa would back it up with a richer thematic approach too; for all its artistic innovation, Kemonozume was engaging, unpredictable and even shocking at points but as a story nothing revolutionary. Kaiba in contrast looks like NOTHING before seen on God’s green Earth and also kept me guessing from the first episode to the last.
For some viewers, especially those who followed it from afar or dropped it entirely, the ‘look’ may be the one thing they remember it for. It certainly flies in the face of everything that even the most eclectic animation fans are familiar with: the outlines are bold, the character designs childlike and the animation flowing like something Tezuka may have had come up with if he’d taken LSD. In some ways it distances the viewer from the gravity of the situations the characters find themselves in: vehicles look and move like bubbles, weapons appear to be innocuous lumps of rubber and when a character dies they disappear into a puddle of colourful gunk instead of a spray of crimson and dismembered limbs. Had the emotional heart of the story not been so strong I’d actually count its Astro-Boy-Gone-Wrong aesthetic as a hindrance - I certainly wouldn’t think less of anyone who was put off by this.
The opening episodes took a bit of getting used to for this reason: I was still worried that the artwork was a gimmick and that the story was a limitation as it was with Kemonozume. As we met the likes of lecherous Vanilla, the idealistic Popo and the delightful Chroniko however, I began to realise the true nature of the trump card that Yuasa and Madhouse had up their sleeve: the cutesy, hallucinogenic alien world with an amnesiac at its centre took on some very grown-up themes concerning identity and sense of self despite its juvenile and dreamlike appearance.
I’ve covered how the mid portion of Kaiba made me scratch my head over how memory and identity are inseparable because despite its virtually-unrecognisable alien universe, it throws up issues that philosophers and theologians have been thinking about for centuries…and that ring true in any time or place. The exact mechanics of how all this is done in Kaiba’s universe are glossed over (the memories are in a white conical wedge, a green blob connects to a yellow blob which plugs it into your new head, and so on) but the focus is on how it affects the individuals and the society as a whole.
The universe of Kaiba is chaotic, unstable and falling into moral decay. Halfway through the series the story took a sharp turn away from musings on individual dramas and instead concentrated on the godlike ruler named Warp and the growing revolt to overthrow his regime. The occasionally disjointed narrative, plus the fact that people’s memories can be lost or deliberately altered sometimes without their knowledge (Re: Popo), painted a fuzzy but compelling picture of the revolutionaries and their aims that shifted according to the ambition of their own authority figures; as time wore on the true identity and influence of Warp was repeatedly called into question and a messy power struggle between the revolutionaries’ leaders ensued. In a domino-effect killing spree of Shakespearean proportions the mayhem was stripped away and the woefully familiar tale of betrayal, selfishness and lust for power became clear. Except that Kaiba is, despite being an imaginative science fiction piece, principally a love story.
The boy named Kaiba must find his true power to be reunited with his sweetheart and save his dying world; as demonstrated by the surreal synthesised soundtrack with its gorgeous op and end theme tunes, and that symbolic, ever-widening hole where his heart should be. Given that ‘Warp the figure’ is something of an autocratic tyrant, Kaiba (a.k.a. ‘Warp the man’) finds redemption in his romance with Neiro. With all the madness that surrounds him, simple things like the love he shares with her - and the innocent sacrifice Chroniko made earlier on in the series - are ironically the things I considered to be the most important and memorable. Even Popo, portrayed as the power-hungry villain of the piece by the end, was motivated by devotion and an initially pure desire to make a better place to live in.
As in his previous effort, I feel Yuasa rushed the ending a little though. Given the complexity of the narrative, he and his team must have planned the outline in advance. Even so, something like this series shouldn’t be judged the whole on the last few minutes - it was an emotive and happy one and at least didn’t go all Instrumentality on us. I wasn’t always 100% sure I had a grasp of what was going on either but Kaiba was a bizarre and enthralling show that made me rethink my “just when you think you’ve seen it all…” cynicism. I won’t use the cliché of how Kaiba breaks the mould, either: making a show like this runs such a risk of rejection by the fan community that I doubt we’ll see many more like this one. All the more reason to watch (and re-watch) it really.
Summary
Yuasa and Madhouse have created something extraordinary here - an imaginative piece of sci-fi, an animation that, whether or not it’s to your personal tastes, looks utterly unique and crucially tells a story about vibrant and well-developed characters you can care about and eventually become attached to. Kemonozume was a romance and it was violent and bloody weird into the bargain, but was still fairly straightforward; Kaiba in contrast threw virtually all the conventions out of the window and retained only the most universal and vital: heartfelt emotion and an examination of how we relate to and form those precious bonds with those we are close to.
Posted on August 13th, 2008 @ 4:51 am
To enjoy a series when most of time I had no idea what was going on, that says something.
My confusion over the plot was so great that I watched the finale not even knowing I had accidentally skipped eps 10 and 11. I realized it halfway through. Yet I still enjoyed it. It’s just so damn good to look at.
One day (when the backlog is taken care of–HA!) I will give it the viewing it deserves.
Posted on August 13th, 2008 @ 8:39 am
Agreed on pretty much everything. Although I have to admit I would probably think less of those who were put off solely by the art since I get sick of people rejecting series just because they aren’t in the generic anime style or some equally ignorant reason.
“…at least didn’t go all Instrumentality on us.”
Just dangerously close. That was one of the few things that I didn’t like about Kaiba. The entire forced evolution via being devoured by the Kaiba plant thing did not sit well with me. Not because it was bad so much as it seemed like a silly thing for the series to jump to suddenly. Looking back I can see where the general idea might be able to develop from, but much like you said the ending seemed rushed and due to that I don’t think it worked nearly as well as it could have if it had a bit more time to introduce a few more reasons why that path was being contemplated.
Other than the rushing of the last couple episodes however Kaiba was certainly an excellent, thought-provoking anime. It’s going to be tough to top it when it comes to being the best anime of ‘08, but the fall season looks to be packing a punch and a half so we’ll see.
Posted on August 13th, 2008 @ 11:47 am
I didn’t mind the rush ending, and found it quite compelling - although not quite so perfectly formed as a few of the preceding episodes. The multi-betrayal was definitely a high point.
@ABSteve Re. the pseudo-instrumentality:
When it first cropped up with Popo I also thought it was fairly weak and did indeed come out of nowhere. But when it was the crazy raving uber-powered Kaiba threatening it I thought it worked. I mean, he’s an invincible demi-god. He can survive anything, and he can destroy everyone if he doesn’t want to be redeemed. I thought that his sudden wilfully destructive attitude was in some ways prepared by the depressing scenes with the fake-Warp who showed that bad path mentality.
It was a bit fast for a final episode, which had me thinking that the desired affect was to move from ‘beat the baddie’ into ‘destruction = bad reaction’ as quickly and unnervingly as possible. to really hammer home that this guy used to kill 13 people before breakfast every day. My problem with the ending was really with the dead guys all getting up. I was OK with the wildly dramatised threat of annihilation - but sudden resurrections was a bit much.
coburns last blog post..Concluding Kaiba
Posted on August 13th, 2008 @ 9:16 pm
@coburn
I had forgotten all about the resurrection of the other characters. I’m also inclined to agree that it was a bit ridiculous, especially considering it mattered very little in the overall scheme of things. Had it been more important to the plot I wouldn’t mind it, but at that point those characters had clearly run their course and it didn’t really matter if they were dead or alive. Although I do think it would’ve been more impactful had they stayed dead given that betrayal and power struggles would have added another point to the psuedo-Instrumentality angle.
And back on that point I can see where you’re coming from with the destruction prone Kaiba going toward it being more acceptable than the crazy rambling of Popo. Even so I still think they could have executed it much better than they did so it still leaves me a bit sour on the whole thing. Maybe had they cut down on the pointless action I would have liked it more since, while it gave us some great visuals, one of the things I liked about Kaiba was that it didn’t have to follow the usual course of “action = good” to be entertaining.
Posted on August 14th, 2008 @ 1:34 pm
Well I think the last scene of Kaiba, with everyone’s memories lost and Neiro smiling over Kaiba, sums up the entire series.
That aside, I loved it to bits! =D
Ezs last blog post..Tetsuwan Birdy Decode - 4
Posted on August 14th, 2008 @ 6:15 pm
@Peter S: to be honest, I got a bit lost shortly after the final scene with Vanilla - the story took a sharp turn in theme, which threw me off a bit. I’m certain a second viewing would be, well, essential really.
@Absolutely_Steve: the trouble with making a show so visually unusual is that it diverts attention away from everything else - in some ways it makes the production less accessible, which isn’t really a good thing. I personally found it to be a refreshing change but it really is like Marmite - you either like it or you don’t.
@coburn: I think Warp’s redemption was so poweful as a plot device I agree that resurrecting everyone else didn’t feel quite right. I mean, he beat the plant and saved his planet, saved himself and got the girl…already a happy ending!
@Ez: after the death, destruction and everything else, it really was quite something to see the final scene as a blissful moment of togetherness for Kaiba and Neiro. Like Kemo I guess, you can strip away all the inventiveness and find a good old sweet romance at the heart of it all.
Posted on August 14th, 2008 @ 7:49 pm
To be honest, I saw the “plant as evolution” thing as an excuse from Popo; he couldn’t stop it, so instead he hurredly thought up a way to justify letting it eat everyone- “well, that’s what’s meant to happen”. Plus he’d just lost his mother’s memories and realised that Cheki didn’t know him- hardly the most stable state of mind to be making decisions.
Karuras last blog post..Final Thoughts: Shion no Ou
Posted on August 15th, 2008 @ 8:18 am
I was really turned off by the art and animation style of this show, and thus never really took the time to sit down and check it out, but I so often find myself in agreement with you when it comes to off-the-beaten track shows like that…maybe I really ought to give it another shot.
If Guff was still around he would’ve no doubt force fed the series to me long ago, since he loves this kind of stuff, but ah well. *sadface*
0rions last blog post..Code Geass - Trainwrecking with Style