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Kaiba
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Animation - 7.0 |
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Sound - 8.0 |
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Story - 8.3 |
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Character - 7.0 |
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Value - 8.7 |
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Enjoyment - 7.3 |
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Average - 7.7 |
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| Average |
8.0 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Note: This review is based on Ureshii-F-B fansubs. Great quality and nearly perfect translation. Definitely recommended.
Quote:
What are memories? Souls? Spirits? This is a world where memories can be turned into data and stored. Even if the body dies, its memories live on and can be transferred to another body. Bad memories can be erased and good ones downloaded. However, this is something only the privileged can do.
Both originally created and directed by Yuasa Masaaki (Mind Game, Kemonozume) Kaiba is one of, if not the, best anime of years 2008. Set in the distant future where people don't value their bodies anymore, it tells a tale about an amnesiac Kaiba who is traveling through alien world trying to learn his origins. His travels will take him through many demented environments, ultimately leading to learn all the truth behind himself and the degenerated world. Unique presentation and epic storyline will make this show unforgotten for many years to come, its sheer originality and deep layers will put it on the same shelf where other controversial shows which are still being debated up to this day are.
The main philosophical theme of this show is the value of human beings and to what level is the body a necessity. There are also heavy themes touching evolution, future of humanity, power of emotions, absurdity of existence and the all consuming greed of humans. And I must say, all of those themes are carried out brilliantly, be it through dialogue or through sheer presentation. Kaiba is a heavy philosophical bundle to be enjoyed by anyone who is interested in searching for new answers and knowledge in anime. Shows like it come only once in a few years.
Conclusion: Kaiba is not a show you would give your friend who is clueless about art. It's a show which becomes better with more experience you get. It has little action and it's confusing most of the time, deliberately so. Anyway, I recommend this for you if you have at least a hundred or so shows under your belt and are striving to see something new, something you've never seen before. If you are new at anime world, well, then come back at this show after a few years has passed to truly appreciate it. Though it seems it's rated as family friendly, I'd recommend this show to mature audience, as all the psychological horror can do weird things to a child's mind. If you've liked Kaiba other shows of interest would be Kino no Tabi, Boogiepop Phantom, Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, Haibane Renmei and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
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| Average |
7.8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| "I didn't know there were animes that aren't chippy and happy" - My friend, after I described my overflow of emotions after watching Kaiba.
I get chills thinking about Kaiba. With its disturbing backstory, bordering on scary old-school animation style, and tragic events, Kaiba will remain in my memory forever as "The Most Trippy Anime". To put it simply, there is no other anime close to what happens here. Although if I were forced to name some, I would say Kaiba is:
1. Lonely atmosphere of S.E. Lain
2. The art style of Astroboy + Dead Leaves
3. The story progression similar to Kino no Tabi/Mushishi.
4. The different planet traveling of Abenobashi Mahou Shotengai
In addition to this sort of depressing atmosphere that persists through. I mean, imagine this: with one shot of this laser, your body turns into goo. However, as long as you have money, you will never die - you can always exchange your 'memory chip' into a new body. But if you are too poor to afford 'chipping' your memories, if your body gets destroyed, your memories will forever be lost, collected and stored. Left and right, people are stealing bodies, taking advantage of poor people trying to better their situations, and trying to get over depressing lives by injecting or removing memories at will.
The anime begins with a boy named Kaiba/Warp who has lost all his memories. All he has left is a memento of this girl, who he soon learns to be a terrorist trying to battle against the oppressive heavens. From one tragic event to another, he barely manages to escape destruction while being trapped in various bodies such as hippos and girls. As a male trapped in a girl's body, he is stalked by a 'Sheriff' who has a fetish for skinny flat-chested girls, and we see the daily lives of different citizens in this tragic world.
Around episode 10, we start to learn more about who Warp/Kaiba is, and the revolution of the poor versus the heavens. We see the past of various characters, and see the future unravel. To put it simply, animes like these provide backstory with the first half, and then tie it up with how the main character is tied to the grand scheme of things.
Anyway, here's my personal opinion of whether or not you should watch this. I'll put it into list format:
1. Each episode requires immense brain power to digest, because the animation style isn't very helpful. It presents things very bluntly, and there's a lot of meaning easily overlooked in each event.
2. A lot of depressing things happen. Old women get their memories sucked out. People's bodies get turned into goo at the whim of others. Little girls have their bodies literally sold, to pay for the stepmother's real children. Rich people steal other's memory chips. Rich people collect bodies in a museum. Rich people buy bodies.
3. There really isn't that much substance. We don't have a 'save the world' type story here, nor an adventure. Its very similar to Kino no Tabi or Mushishi in the sense that each anime unravels more about the world. For Mushishi, we had the beautiful world revealed to us as lead by Ginko. However, for Kaiba, the world is a little more disturbing - which I enjoyed - but if you don't like it, there's no real plot that happens. No press this button to stop the nukes. Its more an exploration of this Warp character, and who he is, and about relationships.
4. Despite how cerebral this anime is in terms of trying to fathom how such a world could potentially exist, there aren't that many 'twists'. Certainly, there are lots and lots of mysteries that need to be revealed about this esoteric scenario, but don't expect mind-boggling twists like Darth Vadar is actually Skywalker's dad.
So, if all of this appeals to you, and you don't mind some really trippy stuff, then I recommend this anime for a very different experience.
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2 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
7.3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| After watching the first episode, I was left dissapointed and in regret of downloading the whole show before watching it. Despite my personal thoughts about the plot and animation in Kaiba, I'm not going to give it a low rating, cause It's obvious that this is a hate it or love it anime, and rating it low would've been biased. However, I do not think it deserves a 9.7 rating, although YodaMouse's comments on the show were very informing.
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1 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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