hjerde - 2017-07-06 02:36:14

Beautiful, expressive, deeply moving, and offbeat, Kaiba is the kind of work that makes me love anime.

From the opening sequence, it’s apparent that Kaiba’s storytelling relies heavily on its distinctive character designs, strange and immersive worlds, and compelling visual narrative. The characters and environments tend to be simple, rounded and cartoonish which helps give Kaiba an otherworldly feel befitting its sci-fi plot elements. I think the unconventional art style and music are lovely, but naturally not everyone will agree.

That said, I feel that Kaiba’s greatest strength is its characters. I found it easy to identify with them and become emotionally invested in the story. Consequently, Kaiba never feels pretentious or convoluted despite its avant garde visual style and complex plot elements and themes. Through their experiences, Kaiba weaves together an epic journey that is at once romantic, melancholic, and adventurous, and which invites deep reflection and introspection at its end.

terrence90 - 2015-03-24 17:15:39

Here it is.
The demonstration that you don't need CGI to make a touching, wonderful and powerful anime.

Simple drawing, simple color, simple story....complex characters , complex drama.

jillian92 - 2014-03-16 14:57:44

A young man awakens in an unknown place with no memories and only a picture of girl in his pendent. Immediately there starts a chase for him and as he runs away, he only finds new questions about the place he got into. From the beginning Kaiba introduces a mysterious fairy tale-like world with toy-looking characters and simplified retro style. But don't yield to first impression - it is a very dark and powerful fairy tale.

As the hero acquires the name, Kaiba, he embarks on the journey to know all the truth of himself and the world around him. In this world it is possible to store memories, delete them or purchase new. But the world is affected: vast electrical storms in the sky erase memories, separating inferior dwellers from the realm or riches and powerful. Many people live in despair and misery, trying not to lose their last memories.

In the beginning of his travel Kaiba will face such people. Some trade their memories to maintain their family, some hide their nightmares or fears in the most distant parts of memory. He will see how people love, betray, distress each other, will change several bodies, will face his worst enemy and himself.

It is difficult to believe the seriousness of the story soon after the start, everything seems to be just for fun. Everything: mechanisms, bodies, sceneries - all is like in some magical world. But in this ridiculous bodies of all shapes and colours the real people are; when one is bleeding with green blood and the small pieces of memory fly in the space, he really dies. The fable stories in the first episodes by far outmatch Kino no Tabi in their visible cruelty being extremely emotionally striking. And in one moment the style ceases to surprise - one can see real people there - these people are in trouble, but it is impossible to help them.

The score in Kaiba is masterpiece, it is light and sorrowful at the same time and very appealing. The ambient compositions vary in mood from playful to oppressive, but not losing the connection to the series. The opening and ending by Seira Kagami are among the best ones I have seen, though their anguish only uncovers after several episodes.

The story in Kaiba doesn't always fully make sense. You will not be explained the principle of work of its many mechanisms and everything, there are some plot holes to the end of the series. But Kaiba is a fairy tale, not a cyberpunk story. A gloomy fairy tale with an antiutopia world, but even here there is a chance. While there exists love, a man will be himself, even without memories. Kaiba doesn't give concrete answers, it is more like a hope: love exists and it is the only thing able to make you feel yourself alive in this world.

fredy41 - 2013-08-10 04:23:56

Anime is quite a peculiar beast. While at first glance the medium appears to be plagued by crummy action shows and bizarre, distasteful humor, further investigation reveals a unique world full of imagination and depth. As an avid anime fan it is really easy to get frustrated with the plethora of shows like Naruto or Attack on Titan that clog up the medium, yet occasionally, one finds a true gem, something that truly manages to capture the imagination and to be more than simply just entertainment. Kaiba is one of those gems.

Story (9/10):

Kaiba is set in a futuristic sci-fi world where science has developed ways of storing and manipulating memories and transferring them from body to body. Bad memories can simply be erased and good ones artificially placed in. Of course, this all comes at a cost. Only the rich can afford to have their memories "uploaded" and the poor are subject to having all their precious and happy memories ripped from their minds and altered to satisfy the fantasies of a rich man. This leads us to the beginning of our story, where our charming young protagonist, Kaiba, wakes up suffering from amnesia. Now normally this would be a red flag, as amnesia typically is used as a lazy way to cover up plot holes and get out writing backstory. However, Kaiba proves to be the exception rather than the rule. In fact, I'd go as far as to say Kaiba's amnesia is a good reason why the story is so good.

So Kaiba wakes up with no memories and is instantly whisked off into the action, under attack not even minutes after waking up our protagonist flees and finds shelter by sneaking onto a space cruiser. This paves a rather convenient way for us, the viewer, to see this unique and colorful universe that Yuasa Masaaki has prepared for us. The first 7 episodes are very much told in a typical "problem of the week" fashion. We stop at a planet, explore it and a couple of its residents, deal with their inner demons, then pack up and move on to the next. It is very reminiscent of works like Mushishi, Kino no Tabi, or even to Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince. They are ponderous, captivating and wonderfully written. Each world is as vibrant as the last and the world building is done marvelously. There are no artificial info dumps, everything is done organically and feels right.

Where Kaiba probably shines the most is in the presentation and execution of its themes. Despite the childish art style this is very much a piece written for adults and as such is fairly dense, containing numerous layers of analytical depth. While Kaiba has an overarching storyline, the work focuses much more on making you think than telling a mind blowing epic. Everything that happens in the story can be traced back to themes such as coping with pain/death, individualism, grey morality, and what it really means to exist. Practically nothing is wasted or frivolous and everything works together to form a marvelous tapestry. The writing never feels like its shoving anything down your throat. Masaaki makes it a point to allow things to speak for them selves in a way. A lot of effort goes into establishing undertones and this leads to some of the most powerful scenes I've ever witnessed. To me, what makes it brilliant is that it does so much with so little. Kaiba can capture in one line what many anime couldn't in 26 episodes.

However, while the story is very good there are a couple of things keeping it from being perfect. During the second half of the series the writing has a small drop in quality. The show decides to cast away the simple and ponderous nature of the first half and actually delve into the meat of its themes. While this was a very necessary transition, I do not feel it was handled as well as it could've been. The plot gets a little messy and the dialogue a bit bloated at times. The climax of my enjoyment actually happened at episode 7. Don't get me wrong, the second half is still extremely well written, it just lost some of the magic the first half had.

Art and Animation (9/10):

If I were to chose one word for Kaiba's animation style it would be retro. It very much takes after 50s classics and the influences of Osamu Tezuka (think Astro Boy) can be seen pretty clearly. There isn't much to say about the animation other than it is very good. While there is a distinct lack of depth and shading to the art, in no way does it mean the art is lazy or bad. One of the largest ways Kaiba creates its magic is by its colorful art style and direction. One can easily see the amount of work that went into making it. There is almost always some kind of motion on the screen and a lot of the common tricks used for skimping on animation quality are absent. There are a couple of scenes were movement appears choppy or the cinematography just doesn't "work" but other than that it is done flawlessly.

Music and Sound (8/10):

The sound is probably the weakest thing Kaiba has going for it. While it is still very good for what it tried to accomplish, nothing about it really popped out or exceeded my expectations. The OST was actually quite forgetful. It did what it needed to and nothing else. Where the sound really excels are in the op/ed (which are absolutely gorgeous), and the voice acting. The voice acting was very akin to that of a children's show, which added a type of irony to the production that I really enjoyed. It contrasted the mature mood and setting very well and overall was very well done.

Characters (10/10):

The characters were my personal favorite part of the show. Each one was incredibly well scripted and felt extremely real and likable. There are no true villains in Kaiba, the character feel and act like actual people, they have hopes and ambitions. They each have their own satisfying character arcs that are resolved well and interact in some very fun and touching ways. None of them feel like forced archetypes, they're just humans living, struggling, and trying to define who they are and what they stand for. Like real people they all take different things from the situations they are placed in, have their own quirks and are all extremely lovable despite their human nature. Masaaki does a brilliant job of letting these characters come alive by themselves. Side characters that get 10 minutes of screen time are more real and fleshed out than most protagonists of 26 episode series, which to me says something.

All in all, Kaiba is a truly marvelous work of art that should be seen by anyone who has the aptitude to enjoy well written science fiction and should not be missed. However, if you're more into action type plots this will probably not be the anime for you.