Kaiba

[Andrew Cunningham]

April, Wowow, Madhouse, director of Mindgame and Kemonozume.
Because this spring could, apparently, get even better.
http://www.madhouse.co.jp/news/news_2008_01.html

[Westlo]

I'm in for this scifi love story and I really need to watch Mind Game.

Also :notworthy: @ this Spring lineup.

[roastedpekingduck]

Well, I'm watching whatever this guy makes after watching the first episode of Kemonozume. Just imported my shiny Mind Game DVD from Japan too.

[Lego]

This is going to be freaking amazing

[Andrew Cunningham]

http://www.wowow.co.jp/anime/kaiba/
Official site, with a background image and the tagline, "I will still love you even if I lose my memories."

[HellKorn]

Anyone who posts in this thread is contractually obligated to watch this series.

For that matter, anyone viewing this thread and has no familiarity with Yuasa should be contractually obligated to watch at least one episode.

[Pastachan]

For that matter, anyone viewing this thread and has no familiarity with Yuasa should be contractually obligated to watch at least one episode.
Guess that's me. ;)

[Lego]

Anyone who posts in this thread is contractually obligated to watch this series.

For that matter, anyone viewing this thread and has no familiarity with Yuasa should be contractually obligated to watch at least one episode.

I'm looking forward to it. The guy has a twisted mind and his works are a mix of that and genius.

[HellKorn]

Trailer (http://youtube.com/watch?v=DnABB0IegrQ)

Reveals jack-shit except I think Yuasa might have read Tezuka recently.

Art direction also looks a lot different than Mind Game and Kemonozume.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Yeah, where Super Milk-chan and Terra e intersect. Not the look I was expecting at all. Yet not at all a more mainstream one, so if this was dictated by people thinking the look of Kemonozume kept it from being more popular...they may have gone too far the other way.

[roastedpekingduck]

Wasn't that intrigued by the imagery, but the music caught my attention. The first bit before the vocals kicked in sounded a bit like Hirasawa Susumu stuff.

[Pastachan]

Wow, that is way retro. I certainly wasn't expecting it to look like that. Surprisingly, it doesn't bother me either.

[Westlo]

So I checked out the VA list and the 3 listed are 3 of my fav VAs of this decade.

Houko Kuwashima as Kaiba
Mamiko Noto as Neiro
Romi Paku as Popo

Promo looked alright to, will watch.

[HellKorn]

New trailer. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YsMKefILVM)

I'm not sure what it is, but I think I like it.

[roastedpekingduck]

I'm trying to figure out what that flower-like/sphere-shaped thing that keeps on appearing might be.

[Andrew Cunningham]

You mean the planet?

[roastedpekingduck]

That's what it is. I suck at looking at the obvious.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Probably the show I was most looking forward to, and wow, it did not disappoint.
All Madhouse's sins are forgiven if they keep letting Yuasa go stark raving nuts ever year or two.
This is indescribably bizarre; like Barbarella without the sex but animated by Warner Bros in the 1930s after dropping acid.
Nothing else like it has ever been done.

[muhootsaver]

To be honest, I wasn't impressed by visual at all. It was like Kemonozume but worse. I personally liked Kemonozume visual quite a lot, but this one, not so much. Other than that it was okay. OP was amazing btw.

[Lego]

It reminded me of the old Looney Toons that I used to see on CN when I was growing up, it has this neat feel to it.

[Westlo]

Kaiba easily has the best opening song of the season.

[barbapapa]

To me this looks a lot better than Kemonozume, which had Yuasa's default style, but with a considerably lower budget than Mindgame.

[Andrew Cunningham]

To me this looks a lot better than Kemonozume, which had Yuasa's default style, but with a considerably lower budget than Mindgame.

I was actually given to understand that this style is more what he usually does? The other style had been specifically developed for Mind Game, and was carried over to Kemonozume, but everything he'd done before looked more like this. Since I haven't seen anything he did before, I can't tell if whoever said that was right...

[barbapapa]

Well the only other thing I've seen by Yuasa before Mindgame were some Crayon Shin-chan episodes, so there. Haha.
The nostalgic time-travel superhero cartoon bits (what a mouthful) in Mindgame were drawn much like Kaiba, though.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Wow, even trippier. The very ending left me more puzzled than anything else, but some real tragedy, and some bizarre future culture stuff.

[roastedpekingduck]

Kaiba easily has the best opening song of the season.
Both the OP and ED themes are beautiful. Damn, whoever Seira is, she has one heck of a voice.


As for the first episode, the art style and imagery is memorable for sure, though I really can't begin to guess what it was about, given my lack of understanding of the language. I guess I'm fine with just watching the pictures for now...



Edit: It took me a while, but I finally found out more about the singer. Apparently, she also sung Noramimi and Neuro's ending theme. I stumbled upon this Japanese place that talked about Kaiba, and they just happened to have the full name of the singer, Seira Kagami listed. I also stumbled upon a MySpace page, which explains the perfect English pronunciation, since she's Japanese/Canadian. Shit, one heck of a voice.

[roastedpekingduck]

Heh...I really shouldn't be surprised that I only marginally understood more what was going on with subs. Anyhow, this whole transferrance of memories thing is real interesting for sure.


I'm rather amused so far that all the Yuasa-directed stuff I've seen features massive, bouncing boobs. I thought at first that it was probably just a trivial thing that popped up that only I noticed, but having read BluWacky's blog, looks like I'm not alone.

[HellKorn]

Anime shouldn't be this good.

Really hyperbolic of me to say, but Kaiba has bowled me over. Best first episode since... hell, I dunno when.

I love everything about it. What really pushes it over the edge for me is the soundtrack -- utterly complimentary and awesome. The score played when Popo gives the exposition detailing their world -- which came seamlessly, I might add -- is captivating.

The opening and ending themes are also beautiful. The animation in the opening fits the music like a velvet glove.

The two chase scenes are fast and involving, and it's also great to see Yuasa's apparent favorite setting: The Bar! I still remember how striking he portrays it from Mind Game and Kemonozume.

I'll also add I like how Yuasa balances his scenes; Kaiba staring at his wondrous surroundings while the dark liquid substance flows behind him is the easiest example to see here.

I will absolutely be buying the R2 DVDs, be they singles or in a box set.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Yeah, this is going to be a really brutal show. Second episode in a row where they introduce a character and kill her off, and this time was even harder to watch.
Really hard to talk about it without using words like visionary, but if this episode didn't deserve to be called visionary, few things do.

[HellKorn]

The memory eggs remind me of candy corn.

One bit that has me confused is the... inconsistency (?) for material being vaporized. Vanilla shoots at a person and their body is done away with, and that's been constant so far. Yet, when Kaiba gets shot as he and the squid are running away, only the part of him that's hit is vaporized. Am I missing something, or is this done for dramatic effect?

Whatever, I'm still loving this like few other anime out there. Yuasa's keeps up this quality and the series becomes on of my all-time favorites, easily.

I also still can't get over how perfectly the OST blends with the given environment.

[Andrew Cunningham]

One bit that has me confused is the... inconsistency (?) for material being vaporized. Vanilla shoots at a person and their body is done away with, and that's been constant so far. Yet, when Kaiba gets shot as he and the squid are running away, only the part of him that's hit is vaporized. Am I missing something, or is this done for dramatic effect?

I took this to be because he isn't in a real body, just a giant stuffed animal or other synthetic disguise.

[HitokiriShadow]

The was the most fucked up sex scene I've seen since, well, maybe ever.

Some aspects are still a little vague or confusing (I guess the Kaiba body we saw actually was using a copy of the woman's memories?), but this is good stuff.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Third episode of Kaiba wandering into someone's life and looking at them.
This is a very different show from what the first episode suggested it would be, and there's a part of me that is starting to wonder when we're going to get back to that, while another part is really happy with the show they're actually doing. Perhaps I'm just more interested in young girls than I am in old women. But this was a necessary episode; we needed to spend some time in peoples memories, having introduces that memory portal gun and not done much with it.

[Redcoffin]

The best show of the season so far, hands-down. The only problem I see looming is that this story has to keep a very fine balance between tragedy and bawdy comedy, and that is a hard balance to keep.

[HellKorn]

I took this to be because he isn't in a real body, just a giant stuffed animal or other synthetic disguise.

The body seems too organic to me, but if what you say is true, then machines and the like can apparently have souls of their own (or at least host them).

Some aspects are still a little vague or confusing (I guess the Kaiba body we saw actually was using a copy of the woman's memories?), but this is good stuff.

Glad you're enjoying it.

Paam copied her memories and placed them in Kaiba's "Warp body," leaving him to wander about with his squid companion. She then proceeded to masturbate herself to death.

Hm.

Now to sell this show in the "Currently Watching" thread...

[roastedpekingduck]

This is the first time in ages that I've actually really looked forward to a rewatch after watching the raw. Even for Ghost Hound, I was occasionally slightly unwilling to watch another episode with subs, but jeez, I just can't get tired of Kaiba.

[mrsparklenoodle]

Some aspects are still a little vague or confusing (I guess the Kaiba body we saw actually was using a copy of the woman's memories?), but this is good stuff.

Paam copied her memories and placed them in Kaiba's "Warp body," leaving him to wander about with his squid companion. She then proceeded to masturbate herself to death.

This show just dropped to the bottom of my priority list, the last thing I'm interested in is another one of those "solo sex is awful people, find a depressing artsy relationship for me to make films about" shows. Gaaahhhh.

[BluWacky]

This show just dropped to the bottom of my priority list, the last thing I'm interested in is another one of those "solo sex is awful people, find a depressing artsy relationship for me to make films about" shows. Gaaahhhh.

HellKorn's description is extremely misleading, and I think you're taking it waaaaay out of proportion.

What HellKorn means is that Paam copies her memories into Warp's body, and then has sex with said body. She has sex with her psychological clone, essentially having sex with herself. It's nothing to do with commentary about masturbation; she has such amazing sex with Warp's body (who it is insinuated is very well endowed in the first episode) that she explodes.

Yes, it's a very strange show, but I wouldn't be put off it for the reasons you suggest, it's nothing like that.

[Butter]

Love this show. The animation reminds me of Astro Boy, but I don't find it takes anything away. I think the animation will help steer away the people who aren't looking beyond aesthetics.

A lot of very profound themes have been covered in just the first 3 episodes. The end of episode 3 really hit a chord with me and almost made me cry. It was very tragic. This anime is quite relentless, to say the least.

I saw the sex scene in episode 2 as touching on human obsession. Being so excessive and so obsessed that she would kill herself for the pleasure. I'm not sure what to make of the father thing (with Butter running around), but it could have been that she was using sex to fill the void left by her father.

Then there was Butter, who was smuggling memory chips, and children's bodies? He seemed to have an in with everyone on that ship, except with the most important person (Vanilla).

The best show of the season so far, hands-down. The only problem I see looming is that this story has to keep a very fine balance between tragedy and bawdy comedy, and that is a hard balance to keep.

I don't think it will have much trouble. The show is very relentless, and most of the characters are very ignorant and desensitized to their environment that they shouldn't have a problem with being comedic.

[mrsparklenoodle]

This show just dropped to the bottom of my priority list, the last thing I'm interested in is another one of those "solo sex is awful people, find a depressing artsy relationship for me to make films about" shows. Gaaahhhh.

HellKorn's description is extremely misleading, and I think you're taking it waaaaay out of proportion.

What HellKorn means is that Paam copies her memories into Warp's body, and then has sex with said body. She has sex with her psychological clone, essentially having sex with herself. It's nothing to do with commentary about masturbation; she has such amazing sex with Warp's body (who it is insinuated is very well endowed in the first episode) that she explodes.

Yes, it's a very strange show, but I wouldn't be put off it for the reasons you suggest, it's nothing like that.

OK, thanks Blu-Wacky. Though the thing about clones is they tend to not be you (if you are the person they are cloned from), they have their own experience of existence which leads them to make different choices.

I'm sorry if I overreacted but I'm just sick of shows that go like this

"we're so bad, aren't we bad everyone"

"yes, yes we are"

"won't it be fun if we spend 26 episodes plus talking about that"

"but we aren't allowed to have fun, the only thing we are allowed to enjoy is smiling wistfully with pain behind our eyes as we selflessly help others, but let's talk about how bad we are anyway."

"hentai! ecchi!"

Anyway I do still want to see the show, I'm just a little doubtful sometimes. I've been busy checking out other stuff.

[Andrew Cunningham]

OK, thanks Blu-Wacky. Though the thing about clones is they tend to not be you (if you are the person they are cloned from), they have their own experience of existence which leads them to make different choices.

I believe it is actually explicitly stated that this is the case; duplicating memories is illegal because the copy invariably kills the original.

[Butter]

"we're so bad, aren't we bad everyone"

"yes, yes we are"

"won't it be fun if we spend 26 episodes plus talking about that"

"but we aren't allowed to have fun, the only thing we are allowed to enjoy is smiling wistfully with pain behind our eyes as we selflessly help others, but let's talk about how bad we are anyway."

"hentai! ecchi!"



Kaiba isn't like that at all. There is no hentai, or ecchi. If it wasn't for the way she was saying it you could probably assume she was rolling dough. They aren't trying to show us they are bad either. It is best you watch it. Even though people are saying there is a sex scene, there isn't actually any sex.

Edit: If anyone could be aroused by that scene, or even coin it as fan service - I would pat them on the back, salute them, and give them a check for $1,000,000.00.

[mrsparklenoodle]

OK, thanks Blu-Wacky. Though the thing about clones is they tend to not be you (if you are the person they are cloned from), they have their own experience of existence which leads them to make different choices.

I believe it is actually explicitly stated that this is the case; duplicating memories is illegal because the copy invariably kills the original.

That's very interesting, I was more thinking about how you couldn't presume a clone of you would want to have sex with you, as they are a separate individual, but that does make me want to watch the show more as it's an intriguing take. Does the original ever kill the clone? What reasons do they give for clones killing originals, or vice versa?

[roastedpekingduck]

Jesus Christ, nothing has hit me this hard in ages. I teared up at the end. This episode was absolutely amazing, one of the best things I've ever seen. The episode was pure emotion. The music further helped make the episode into what it was. I'm definitely buying the single and the soundtrack when it comes out. Christ, that was just fucking beautiful. This episode could have been made taken the stereotypical stepmother turn so easily, but it completely deftly avoided it at the end to turn into something that's made a huge impact on me.

[Butter]

Jesus Christ, nothing has hit me this hard in ages. I teared up at the end. This episode was absolutely amazing, one of the best things I've ever seen. The episode was pure emotion. The music further helped make the episode into what it was. I'm definitely buying the single and the soundtrack when it comes out. Christ, that was just fucking beautiful. This episode could have been made taken the stereotypical stepmother turn so easily, but it completely deftly avoided it at the end to turn into something that's made a huge impact on me.

Likewise. The music really pushed me over the edge. They have some great music. Especially during her final moments and the reminiscing.

[mrsparklenoodle]

"we're so bad, aren't we bad everyone"

"yes, yes we are"

"won't it be fun if we spend 26 episodes plus talking about that"

"but we aren't allowed to have fun, the only thing we are allowed to enjoy is smiling wistfully with pain behind our eyes as we selflessly help others, but let's talk about how bad we are anyway."

"hentai! ecchi!"



Kaiba isn't like that at all. There is no hentai, or ecchi. If it wasn't for the way she was saying it you could probably assume she was rolling dough. They aren't trying to show us they are bad either. It is best you watch it. Even though people are saying there is a sex scene, there isn't actually any sex.

Edit: If anyone could be aroused by that scene, or even coin it as fan service - I would pat them on the back, salute them, and give them a check for $1,000,000.00.

I was saying someone would say "hentai, ecchi" at some point, and I said that now I don't think Kaiba will be like that at all, I was really just saying what I'm sick of... I love Weeds.

I am going to watch the show.

[roastedpekingduck]

LAME. I was planning on getting the soundtrack, but with the solicitation of the first volume, the soundtrack is bundled with the first DVD release, which I cannot afford at all at this point. Damn, I really like the music too and would buy the DVD if I did not have to spend frugally to save for college.

[Busaiku]

Wow, this was pretty amazing.

It was very hard to like the mother, but by the end of it, I managed to for both her and Chroniko.
The music was insane, the way they played the tones throughout really made things hit hard.

[Andrew Cunningham]

LAME. I was planning on getting the soundtrack, but with the solicitation of the first volume, the soundtrack is bundled with the first DVD release, which I cannot afford at all at this point. Damn, I really like the music too and would buy the DVD if I did not have to spend frugally to save for college.

I think it'll be absolutely terrible on CD, though. It's all atmospheric bits that enhance the mood of the thing, but will be nothing on their own. Then again, I appear to be the only one skipping the OP and EN.

[roastedpekingduck]

Yeah, I really like the music in the context of the show but I am in accordance that it will likely not work at all without the images. Mainly, I just wanted a cheaper way of being able to support the show.

At this point, I'm skipping on importing the OP and EN, as melodically beautiful as they are too. Just listening to it is great, but upon seeing the lyrics, some of the Engrishy stuff is absolutely laughable. In the ED, there is a really random line that reads "So long in length..." according to the subs. It might not be correct, but that is what it really sounds like. Guess what my dumpster mind thought when I saw those words on the screen? The sound is beautiful, but damn, I really wish that Chris Modell was used.

[roastedpekingduck]

Sumptuously amazing. The last two episodes have been absolutely wonderful at illustrating this universe. Tackling the role of memories in peoples' lives is amazingly difficult in fiction. Kaiba has done this to a tee. In a short span of less than 25 minutes, the last two episodes have done a heck of a job at getting me invested in episodic characters. In episode 4, I did not even need to understand the language to feel touch. The images, including that of the old man getting the flower before falling to his death, was enough to strike a chord within me. This episode didn't really tear at my heart like the last one and wont leave as much of an impact on me, but it was excellent in an entirely different, more poignant and less dramatic sort of way.

I'm also pretty impressed by the fact that Kaiba has managed to make it hard to really hate anyone at the end of each episode. At first, I thought the little sons were douches, but things are turned around at the end by the group hug. Pot-bellied Vanilla turned into quite the entertaining, buffoonish character.

[HellKorn]

Surprisingly moving episode. Wasn't sure how Yuasa would handle more traditional drama without making it melodramatic, but it's effective here.

Also, from what happens during Vanilla's "heroic" act, it's likely that the substance that comes from the gun will completely destroy any organic substance that it comes in contact with, while only destroying inorganic matter in proportion to the amount of substance shot out.

Vanilla's character is growing on me.

@mrsparklenoodle: I'll also add that Yuasa is a lot of things, but pretentiousness is not one of them.

[HellKorn]

Damn, thanks for the alert. Didn't know it was up yet.

Price be damned, I'm pre-ordering it. Even if Kaiba is eventually licensed -- by all likelihood it won't be -- I'll still feel damn good about buying the R2 DVDs.

Just listening to it is great, but upon seeing the lyrics, some of the Engrishy stuff is absolutely laughable.

Not sure how you describe it as "Engrishy" and out of context. Pronunciation is fine, and the lyrics are hardly laughably bad like practically all of the J-pop and J-rock stuff that anime fans eat up. Sure, they may not be Chris Mosdell quality (http://www.animelyrics.com/Anime/texhnolyze/walkingthrough.htm), but they're far from being awful.

[roastedpekingduck]

It's in context, and fits the show to a tee. Some of the stuff is just awkward, and I do admit I am a person who laughs incredibly easily. Stuff like "so long in length" just tickles my funny bone.


Man HellKorn, I'm jealous. :( With my sucky financial aid packages, I can barely afford anything now. My purchases have been reduced to key manga, some random books, and music. I will cry my ass off if this home loan place that wants to hire me decides to change their mind.

[Redcoffin]

Hmm, I found this one rather melodramatic and not very moving, and didn't like the last scene. I guess poor Kaiba's going to be going from body to body for a while, finding out about suffering. But how many of such lessons do the viewers need to have? Maybe I'm just being a grouch tonight...

Interesting that Vanilla looks so much like "Pedobear" from Yotsuba-channel. Wonder whether there's any connection.

[Redcoffin]

I have to admit that "so long in length" kind of gets me in a special place as well. But the OP and ED are good.

[HellKorn]

Hmm, I found this one rather melodramatic

How so? I mean, by an extreme definition of the world, you can file any story that isn't detached ala Oshii or Kubrick to be "melodramatic," but I do not see the term being appropriately used here.

@duck: I did not have the same exact same luxury when the Mononoke DVDs were released, and will not have it again come this time next year.

[Butter]

Lovely episode. I really like how they are fleshing out the world, and the stories thus far have been really great to watch unfold. I know I like a show when I lose track of time while watching it.

More themes have been brought to light and explored. They are really touching on a lot of different human conditions in such a short amount of time, and all of them have been exceptionally portrayed.

[Busaiku]

Not as emotional, but I still feel it worked rather well.
Though, that insert song towards the end (memory sucks, but I think it's the same one as last episode minus the piano?) felt kinda forced though.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Wow, the animation really deteriorated; consistently, so I assume a deliberate choice, but it didn't work for me, and the story was by far the least interesting. Vague hand wave at the actual plot again near the end, but I'm definitely ready for it to get off the episodic visits and back to something with momentum now.

[muhootsaver]

Animation was definitely not as good as the last few episodes but I actually liked this story more than episode 4. They better get going with the overall story arc since it is only a 12 episodes series.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Animation was definitely not as good as the last few episodes but I actually liked this story more than episode 4. They better get going with the overall story arc since it is only a 12 episodes series.

I think the basic problem I'm having is that I want the show we were promised in the first episode. The later episodes have been a very different show. Two and three were so good it wasn't an issue, but four and five weren't, and this is starting to get frustrating.
If they don't turn things around next week, it may permanently damage my opinion of the series. At the moment they can still salvage it; more of a nagging doubt than an actual problem, but if next week is as weak as episode five, nagging doubt may turn to active disappointment.

[BluWacky]

I think the basic problem I'm having is that I want the show we were promised in the first episode. The later episodes have been a very different show. Two and three were so good it wasn't an issue, but four and five weren't, and this is starting to get frustrating.
If they don't turn things around next week, it may permanently damage my opinion of the series. At the moment they can still salvage it; more of a nagging doubt than an actual problem, but if next week is as weak as episode five, nagging doubt may turn to active disappointment.

I think this is partly Yuasa's problem; Kemonozume suffered from a similar problem in my opinion of bumbling around with almost incidental stuff and then lurching back to the plot rather akwardly. I think Kaiba's about three times the series Kemonozume was, but I can see why you might be frustrated with it.

The end of episode 5 (with the statue of Warp and all that) suggests we might start to get moving again, and the synopsis of episode 6 on the website seems to bear that out (Kaiba crashlands on a planet and meets someone from his past, and the criminal investigation into the memory bank terrorists apparently gets closer to him) so I wouldn't lose hope yet.

I still think the show's the best thing airing this season, though.

[HellKorn]

I haven't seen any screens of episode five yet, though I don't see how the animation could "deteriorate." Aesthetically it may not be appealing to some, as Andrew noted, but having an auteur with handling unconventional key frames doesn't mean a drop in objective quality.

Right now I can also see people complaining about the general "lack of development" in episode four (and probably five), but frankly Yuasa has never been one for plot. He's more interested in story and characterization, and -- while this did lead to some inconsistency in Kemonzoume -- he seems more confident about the direction in Kaiba. Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here.

[Andrew Cunningham]

I haven't seen any screens of episode five yet, though I don't see how the animation could "deteriorate." Aesthetically it may not be appealing to some, as Andrew noted, but having an auteur with handling unconventional key frames doesn't mean a drop in objective quality.

It looked like the key frames were done by a five year old with a box of crayons.

[JINROH]

Animation was definitely not as good as the last few episodes but I actually liked this story more than episode 4. They better get going with the overall story arc since it is only a 12 episodes series.



Love the series and agree,curious though,is it just me or are we seeing more and more 12 and 13 ep 'series' then years ago ? Less money to go around ?

And is this based off a manga ?

[BluWacky]

Love the series and agree,curious though,is it just me or are we seeing more and more 12 and 13 ep 'series' then years ago ? Less money to go around ?

Pretty much - there's more and more otaku but less money going into anime. Hence the rise in shorter series - your buck goes a lot further in 13 episodes than it would in twice that amount of time.

And is this based off a manga ?

Nope, it's an anime original entirely from Masaaki Yuasa's brain.

[JINROH]

And is this based off a manga ?

Nope, it's an anime original entirely from Masaaki Yuasa's brain.


Thank for the heads up,I wanted to know because if it was,I thought I 'd check that out as well if possible.

[Andrew Cunningham]

According to http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/ , this episode was a one man job - written, storyboarded, directed, and animated by Michio Mihara over nine months.

[HellKorn]

According to http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/ , this episode was a one man job - written, storyboarded, directed, and animated by Michio Mihara over nine months.

Even all the inbetweens... holy shit.

I love how Kaiba has been the only thing Ben has been posting about on AniPages for a while.

[muhootsaver]

So, I just finished watching episode 6. I'm actually really confused about the conversation between that yellow cat and Vanilla. On top of that, the story itself feels like it has no conclusion;;; One thing I liked though, is that Neiro is finally awake. She appears for about few seconds in the end.

BTW, the origin of the name "Kaiba": The legendary plant that sucks up memories.

[Andrew Cunningham]

One thing I liked though, is that Neiro is finally awake. She appears for about few seconds in the end.

Probably would have helped if you'd noticed that Neiro was the big cyborg guy.
This episode was a major return to form; every bit as good as the first three. Blending hints at the story - which may be more complex than I expected - with the plot of the week.

Definitely makes you want to speculate - assuming I didn't hear anything wrong, Neiro was surprised to hear Kaiba call himself Warp, because that is the name of their enemy, the king who killed her people and who killed her once. She and Popo appear to be blowing up the body production facilities. It looked to me like Warp knew Neiro in a former life, but is Warp the first body's name, or his mind's name? I'm assuming it was that body's name, and that it was also his mind's name, and that he lost his memories or his enemies deliberately deleted them. The question is, how much does Popo know? He seems sort of sinister, and I wouldn't put it past him to have deliberately erased Warp's memories...except Warp seems to have known Neiro before he lost them, which would suggest he was on their side.
In summation, I am totally lost.

[muhootsaver]

Probably would have helped if you'd noticed that Neiro was the big cyborg guy.


Yes, since Noto Mamiko doing Gel's voice, should have been a big hint. I can't believe I missed that. And that does help a lot. However, I'm still lost when it comes to Yellow Cat. He is so confusing...

Like you said, it does make one speculate. I'm quite lost what to make of Kaiba's true identity. Last episode, they were inferring Warp = Kaiba, but does that mean Kaiba, who used to be Neiro's lover killed Neiro and her parents? ;;; And Popo seems to know everything...

[JINROH]

I have to admit that "so long in length" kind of gets me in a special place as well. But the OP and ED are good.


Agreed,I just love the music.Kinda reminds me of the Cranberries for some reason.Likely the lead singers voice.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Yes, since Noto Mamiko doing Gel's voice, should have been a big hint. I can't believe I missed that. And that does help a lot. However, I'm still lost when it comes to Yellow Cat. He is so confusing...

He was there to arrest the cyborg, but Vanilla swore the cyborg was innocent. The cat then accused Vanilla of sneaking a girl onto the ship without permission, and letting love blind him to the truth, but Vanilla stuck to his guns, and the cat darkly muttered that he'd pay if he was caught in a lie.

[muhootsaver]

I get the overall conversation, but I'm confused about some specific parts. Including where he says something like:

"It has been 3 days since the memory was stopped, it is the beginning of the wrong path."
and I'm not sure what he meant by that... he says "記憶のxxもストープされて..." right? I don't know "xx" part.

The thing he mutters is: "後で分かったらやばいよ” right?

so I guess the literal translation will be something along the line of "If I know about it later, that will be bad" and I think it is a weird way to say "If I find out about it(and find out about what though...), you'd pay"

I am using a korean sub but this guy isn't that good at Japanese, so I'm having a hard time figuring out the details...~_~

[Andrew Cunningham]

"It has been 3 days since the memory was stopped, it is the beginning of the wrong path."
and I'm not sure what he meant by that... he says "記憶のxxもストープされて..." right? I don't know "xx" part.


That was hard to catch, but I think Vanilla job comes with regular memory checks, which he has deliberately been avoiding the last three days.

The thing he mutters is: "後で分かったらやばいよ” right?

Right, "If I find out otherwise, you're in trouble."

[Shiroi Hane]

Interesting that Vanilla looks so much like "Pedobear" from Yotsuba-channel. Wonder whether there's any connection.
Not a connection I made. Reminds me more of Gantu from Lilo and Stitch.

[Aiia]

Like you said, it does make one speculate. I'm quite lost what to make of Kaiba's true identity. Last episode, they were inferring Warp = Kaiba, but does that mean Kaiba, who used to be Neiro's lover killed Neiro and her parents? ;;; And Popo seems to know everything...

After watching the first 6 episodes, and rewatching bits of them again just to check on things, I have two theories:

Spoilers up to ep 6:
Kaiba is the mind, who now posesses Warp's body. Kaiba lost his memories, and Popo told him to call himself Warp for some reason known only to himself, before getting rid of him by putting him on the ship.

Kaiba is Warp both in mind and body, and has joined Popo and Neiro after either losing his memories or possibly regretting his former actions and losing his memory later on.

Any thoughts?

[Aiia]

I'm definitely going to have to rewatch this episode, because some of the stuff that went on just went over my head. Especially the last scenes of the episodes. So by now, it feels like Kaiba is definitely Warp, but I wonder if there's a reason that he's named Kaiba, like the memory-stealing flower. I guess next episode might possibly explore that.

On the whole, I liked episode 6 better than this one, because it was emotional and sentimental but at the same time really ruthless. This new episode didn't really move me as much, though I actually liked Vanilla better in this episode than I did before.

[Andrew Cunningham]

I'll have to disagree; this was, by far, the best episode the show has done.
Vanilla really transformed completely into a tragic hero, and it finally brought back the visionary action angle that had sold me so hard on the first episode.

[Andrew Cunningham]

And fuck, no Kaiba for two weeks because they're showing fucking tennis!?
We can only take so much of your tyranny, tennis! This is the final straw! DEATH TO TENNIS!

[Busaiku]

I don't think you can stand up against force strong enough to wipe the dinosarus from this planet.

[Aiia]

and it finally brought back the visionary action angle that had sold me so hard on the first episode.

I agree that visionary, this episode was actually a lot better than the last few episodes, but emotionally, the story of the old couple and Neiro's and Kaiba's "souls" being drawn to eachother because of their old feelings touched me more than Vanilla's fate.

Vanilla has been just far too gross so far. Working to help his bodiless grandmother and sacrificing himself for the sake of a person he never even knew, whose juvenile body he was hot for and tried to seduce more than once, just wasn't enough to change my opinion of him.

[Andrew Cunningham]

I agree that visionary, this episode was actually a lot better than the last few episodes, but emotionally, the story of the old couple and Neiro's and Kaiba's "souls" being drawn to eachother because of their old feelings touched me more than Vanilla's fate.

Vanilla has been just far too gross so far. Working to help his bodiless grandmother and sacrificing himself for the sake of a person he never even knew, whose juvenile body he was hot for and tried to seduce more than once, just wasn't enough to change my opinion of him.

I think this is part of why I responded more - it's a lot easier to make a saintly old woman or a hapless little girl sympathetic than it is a slobbering jackass.

I also think Kaiba works best when it is blending the visionary sci-fi aspects with the emotional storylines; a couple of the episodes tipped too far one way or the other, but this one managed to be rather touching while also having submarines leaping from one water stream to another in space.

[Aiia]

I also think Kaiba works best when it is blending the visionary sci-fi aspects with the emotional storylines; a couple of the episodes tipped too far one way or the other, but this one managed to be rather touching while also having submarines leaping from one water stream to another in space.

Agreed. That was a really great scene to watch, and very beautiful as well in the end. But I personally appriciated the 4th and 6th episode a lot despite the slow tempo and lack of action stuff, because they actually felt like interesting stories, and would have been even if they had showed up in another anime.

Lots of spoilers for episode 7:
I just rewatched the scene where Kaiba visits Gerus (Neirus) memories and noticed something that I had missed the first time around: Neiru's memories has been modified. Warp has been painted over with Popo's face, and the other way around. That means that Neiru's memories of Warp killing her and other people she cared about might actually be false, and Popo could have been the one who killed her. That would explain why he's using her so ruthlessly now, and her obeying because she thinks he's the one she loves. I also remember from episode 1 that Popo was very strict in ordering Kichi to stay out of Neiru's memories. Probably because a memory pro like him would have discovered the hoax immediately. And it explains why Popo sent Kaiba away so quickly as well.

Another, less likely interpretation could be that Warp really was a cruel king, but that his mind now posesses Popo's body while Kaiba's memories is a clone of Warp, placed in Warp's old body in the beginning of the series. But then there would be no reason for Popo to gasp at Warps "well-endoved neither regions" of course, because it would have been his old body... It's quite a faulty theory compared to the above.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Warp has been painted over with Popo's face, and the other way around.

Oh, well done! I knew there was another layer to that bit my mind didn't quite grab; I thought the masks looked familiar, but yeah, that did look like Popo.

[HellKorn]

And fuck, no Kaiba for two weeks because they're showing fucking tennis!?
We can only take so much of your tyranny, tennis! This is the final straw! DEATH TO TENNIS!

I play tennis. >: (

Maybe this two week break can allow the subbers to catch up. The deprivation I've experienced since episode four HURTS.

[CorrosiveMeso]

I don't play tennis anymore, but I usually enjoy watching it if the players are good. That said, couldn't they interrupt Code Geass or something instead?

I haven't seen episode five yet, raw or subbed. And I really want to. Especially with all the praise you've given later episodes.

[HellKorn]

That said, couldn't they interrupt Code Geass or something instead?

Otaku would riot and Sunrise's HQ would go up in flames.

[CorrosiveMeso]

Good point. But not only would it be utterly hilarious, but a few of us here would also be really happy because we get to see more Kaiba sooner.

And I'd better stop this before Something kills me.

I'm still awed at how episode four was done by one person. I mean, he put giant teams with high budgets to shame, by himself.

And as if I'm not spending enough already, this series is so good that I'm planning on importing the DVDs. Great.

[mrsparklenoodle]

And fuck, no Kaiba for two weeks because they're showing fucking tennis!?
We can only take so much of your tyranny, tennis! This is the final straw! DEATH TO TENNIS!

Let us throw the balls at windows and blame the tennis players! Let us kick the rackets in with our feet! Let us spray paint confusing squiggle lines over the court boundaries and use the nets to build Spiderman homage models!

I really wouldn't do any of those things, but I do empathize, I went through the same thing every year when Buffy was replaced by cricket for a month or two.

Still haven't watched a single episode of the show (I have other things to watch and I've been busy listening endlessly to Black & Gold by Sam Sparro, She Bop by Cindi Lauper, Michael by Franz Ferdinand and the .hack//roots ending theme in full).

[barbapapa]

I haven't seen any screens of episode five yet, though I don't see how the animation could "deteriorate." Aesthetically it may not be appealing to some, as Andrew noted, but having an auteur with handling unconventional key frames doesn't mean a drop in objective quality.

It looked like the key frames were done by a five year old with a box of crayons.


I know, awesome right?

[Redcoffin]

I liked this ep better than the last two, but I can see Andrew's point.

These last 3 eps have been softpedaling the cruelty and the humor. The first 2 eps were very brutal and also quite funny. 3-5 have all emphasized heartbreak, characters who can't accept some unpleasant truth, can't get over something or miss their chance. There has been nothing in 3-5 as funny as that scene in ep 1 where the guy tries to get his older brother back, and then begins to wonder whether he really wants him. For me that's the root of the trouble right there.

The animation change made me think of The Hakkenden, where they gave each ep to a different team, or that one scene in episode 2 of Fooly Cooly where they deliberately did not do the clean-up, in order to let the animator's idiosyncratic style show through. I can put up with it as "Art" but the story really has to be strong to survive that level of technical scrappyness.

And what's up with Vanilla? Are the creators attempting to prove that one touch of child lovin' will turn the most hardened, murdering, corrupt cop into a melting, moony ball of fluff? Don't seem likely to me.

[HellKorn]

Alright, this is the first episode where the storytelling is notably weaker than the rest of the series, but whatever misgivings I have about that vanish when considering the art.

Fuck design consistency; this episode is one of the most visually brilliant things in anime. The art direction is all over the map and the animation is insanely good for an anime.

I don't get the complaints about the visual style here.

And what's up with Vanilla? Are the creators attempting to prove that one touch of child lovin' will turn the most hardened, murdering, corrupt cop into a melting, moony ball of fluff? Don't seem likely to me.

Being a detestable misanthropes doesn't mean that they are devoid of any likable human quality.

[HellKorn]

Hm. (Forgive me if I'm missing something obvious.) One thing that hasn't been mentioned so far that occurred in episode six is Warp's companion (the "yooo~" creature) reacting to Neiro's cyborg body. Could be completely incidental -- it's an odd site to see, which is certainly saying something -- or could be of more importance. The creature also attempted to peal away at one of the covered portraits when Warp went into Neiro's copied memories.

Warp's actual position is still confusing, though. Popo is clearly not a pure freedom fighter -- that much is clear -- but considering the general comments about the former's tyranny from other characters, could there be a larger conspiracy/facade than just the latter messing with Neiro's memories?

Oh, and damn good episodes, by the way. After a somewhat disappointing fifth episode, the series has completely recovered and driven forward harder than before.

[Butter]

Hm. (Forgive me if I'm missing something obvious.) One thing that hasn't been mentioned so far that occurred in episode six is Warp's companion (the "yooo~" creature) reacting to Neiro's cyborg body. Could be completely incidental -- it's an odd site to see, which is certainly saying something -- or could be of more importance. The creature also attempted to peal away at one of the covered portraits when Warp went into Neiro's copied memories.

Hyo-Hyo was sent by the memory merchant in episode one; probobly to watch out for Kaiba. It might have some knowledge of what Popo is up to, and of Neiro, and of memories in general. I have a feeling that Hyo-Hyo may have a copy of Neiro's memories before they were altered.

As someone pointed out, all the painted faces do resemble Popo. It was probobly done so Neiro would do his dirty work without question. Popo was shown bringing all those paint cans to Neiro's body in episode 1, and he was shown altering her memories as well.

It still needs to be revealed how everything got to this point, but there seems to be a lot of memory altering, and Popo is probobly at the center of it all.

These last 2 episodes are revealing a lot about Popo's intentions, and clears up episode 1. I thought it odd that Popo shot at Kaiba, but I think it was in order to destroy the body, so it wouldn't be captured. The ostridge may have been intervention by the memory merchant, as the ostridge also brought Hyo-Hyo to the ship. Popo's intention for sending the Warp body with the sex trader also seemed to be another ploy to get rid of it.

[Andrew Cunningham]

The ostridge may have been intervention by the memory merchant, as the ostridge also brought Hyo-Hyo to the ship.

I always thought the bird WAS Hyo-Hyo, and it had transferred its mind to Hyo-Hyo so it could sneak on board the ship.

[Butter]

I always thought the bird WAS Hyo-Hyo, and it had transferred its mind to Hyo-Hyo so it could sneak on board the ship.

You can see a reflection of Hyo-Hyo flying over the birds head, but I don't think it was ever the bird. Maybe I'm thinking too much into the link between the two, but it is odd for it to show up again like that. Maybe it was acting as a diversion.

[Andrew Cunningham]

I always thought the bird WAS Hyo-Hyo, and it had transferred its mind to Hyo-Hyo so it could sneak on board the ship.

You can see a reflection of Hyo-Hyo flying over the birds head, but I don't think it was ever the bird. Maybe I'm thinking too much into the link between the two, but it is odd for it to show up again like that. Maybe it was acting as a diversion.

By that point the bird has stopped moving; I assumed that meant it had abandoned the bird's body and turned into Hyo-Hyo.
In retrospect, this doesn't quite gell with how memory transfers work in the rest of the series, and I'm not sure how it would have done that on its own.

[Butter]

If you guys haven't rewatched episode 1, I suggest you do. These last 2 episodes tie up alot of loose ends. It really brings episode 1 to light.

[Butter]

By that point the bird has stopped moving; I assumed that meant it had abandoned the bird's body and turned into Hyo-Hyo.
In retrospect, this doesn't quite gell with how memory transfers work in the rest of the series, and I'm not sure how it would have done that on its own.

It looked like it was still active to me. I think the bird accomplished the mission and just let go, rather than leaving itself in Hyo-Hyo.

[Aiia]

If you guys haven't rewatched episode 1, I suggest you do. These last 2 episodes tie up alot of loose ends. It really brings episode 1 to light.

I rewatched it after watching episode 6, and yes, it brought a whole lot of new things to light. After episode 6, I started suspecting the Hyo Hyo - Neiru connection, and after episode 7 it was strengthened once I noticed the repainted memories inside Neiru's memory (with Warp and Popo switching place in important scenes).

My current theory is that Neiru's original memories is inside Hyo-Hyo due to the memory master's intervention. I think he might possibly have cloned Neiru's memories and put them into her old body before Popo returned. Then he made sure her original memories (inside Hyo-Hyo) got on the ship. Neiru's body, with the cloned memories, then had her memory modified by Popo. What speaks against this is that Kaiba feels an attraction to Neiru inside her bomb-body, and not to Hyo-Hyo. That might indicate that Hyo-Hyo is a clone, but I'm not sure exactly yet how the clones work.

But independent on whether Hyo-Hyo is the clone or the original, I still really like the thought of a love story where two people can still feel the attraction between themselves, despite having lost their memories or having modified memories, as well as having different bodies. It'd fit well with Kaiba being a Sci-Fi love story, and one of the reasons I liked episode 6 so much, where Neiru and Kaiba meet in their different bodies.

[HellKorn]

Hyo-Hyo was sent by the memory merchant in episode one; probobly to watch out for Kaiba.

Ah, duh. Forgot about that... Actually forgot a lot of the stuff from episode one. I'll take your advice and re-watch it.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Fucking hell; that's the way to come back from a two week break, with an episode covering three or four weeks worth of plot at breakneck speed.

[roastedpekingduck]

Wicked episode. Tons of stuff about Popo, which was appreciated.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Wow, definitely the mid-season climax here.
Popo is a DICK.

[BluWacky]

Wow, definitely the mid-season climax here.
Popo is a DICK.

Popo IS a dick, but he's also a bit of a dumbass - why the hell didn't he just shoot Kichi when he discovered he was helping Neiro/Hyo-Hyo? Wiping his own sister's mind was particularly bastardly, though. I'm still not sure quite whether he's thought through everything he's done - he paints over Kaiba's face so that Neiro will think he's him and then love him, but I don't think he's ever actually LOVED Neiro; at the beginning of episode 8 he tells Neiro that she will be his servant when he grows up to become "the prince", not his wife...

Shame it's more of a "two-thirds of season climax" - episode 10 looks to be entirely flashbacks to Kaiba and Neiro's romance, then there's only 2 more episodes left to tie everything up. I think the pacing's probably about right, though, rather than running out of plot like Kemonozume seemed to.

I have lots of thoughts about where the show might end up but I don't think any of them are right so I won't be posting them here to make myself look like an idiot when none of them come true!

[Kirarakim]

Popo IS a dick, but he's also a bit of a dumbass - why the hell didn't he just shoot Kichi when he discovered he was helping Neiro/Hyo-Hyo? Wiping his own sister's mind was particularly bastardly, though. I'm still not sure quite whether he's thought through everything he's done - he paints over Kaiba's face so that Neiro will think he's him and then love him, but I don't think he's ever actually LOVED Neiro; at the beginning of episode 8 he tells Neiro that she will be his servant when he grows up to become "the prince", not his wife...


I don't think you can take what Popo said about Neiro being a servant at face value. He was a little kid and boys don't usually fall in love with girls at that age. Didn't you ever imagine about being rich or somebody special when you were a little kid? The importance of the flashback to me was to show that Popo was not always a dick. That something changed him into the Popo we know today. And I think it could very well be unrequited love. Although I also think it could just be Popo seeing the rich get everything, exploiting the poor and Popo getting nothing.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Episode 10 isn't till July 10th, damn it.
Same time slot as Ghost Hound, which also took a lot of vacations. Better than being rushed through production, I guess...

[Andrew Cunningham]

Wow, that was everything I'd hoped and more.
I completely loved that the big romantic scene was them both rolling around drunk. It somehow felt far more intimate than any other love scene in the history of anime.

[Aiia]

It somehow felt far more intimate than any other love scene in the history of anime.

I think this whole anime has been romantic (especially episode 4 and 6), but this was really a great episode in every aspect. I sort of miss the way Kaiba explored the universe in the first episodes, but it was still very satisfying to finally get to see what happened before he lost his memories.

With only two episodes left to go, I can already feel how much I will miss Kaiba once it ends. Hopefully the creator will come up with something new that is just as good. :)

[Andrew Cunningham]

Oh SHIT!
This ending is clearly not fucking around.
Been a long time since a villain was that thoroughly screwed over. To the point where I was actually feeling sorry for Popo, even though he had clearly lost his fucking mind by the end.

[gsilver0]

Is there likely to be a Blu-ray release of the show?


I love the show, but it's getting harder for me to justify R2 dvds, especially with the emerging HD market.

[BluWacky]

Is there likely to be a Blu-ray release of the show?

I love the show, but it's getting harder for me to justify R2 dvds, especially with the emerging HD market.

The show's broadcast in HD but I don't know whether it's upscaling or whatever. I wouldn't bet on a high-def release - there's probably more people watching it on fansub than there are in Japan after all. The DVDs are coming out in a weird format anyway (episode-wise it's 2-5-5, very odd for a R2 release) and I just don't think they'd make any money on another release.

[BluWacky]

Anyone else watched this yet?

Anyone else think "WTF?"

It's not bad or anything, but it's a little bit like the first episode in that all sorts of weird stuff happens and there's not really any context for it. It's great to watch, and the overall ending is sensible and fitting, but it's just the way it plays out feels like Yuasa sat in his office and went "wouldn't it be cool if..." rather than necessarily making it come naturally from earlier episodes.

I still think Kaiba's a fantastic show - it's amazing to watch, and in retrospect I've come to really appreciate the travels-with-Vanilla episodes and what they bring to the show a lot more than I did when they first aired. The writing's also much better than Yuasa's normal stuff. I'm just a bit confused by the way the end of the show panned out so I can't really sum up my feelings properly.

[Andrew Cunningham]

Anyone else watched this yet?

Anyone else think "WTF?"

It definitely took a trip into surreal mind scape metaphor land. Not exactly unexpected, and better than most things that try to end that way. Would have preferred it to feel a little more grounded; ultimately, not nearly as exciting as the penultimate episode.
Solid ending, doesn't knock the series down in my estimation. Still one of the best ever.

[Aiia]

Solid ending, doesn't knock the series down in my estimation. Still one of the best ever.

Same here. I wasn't disappointed at all personally. Some stuff was weird, but somehow it seems all plot threads were tied together and it all made sense in the end. Loved Hyu-Hyu in the ending credit segment. I'm definitely buying the DVD:s.

[HellKorn]

Am I the only one who is somewhat disappointed, then?

One could argue that I had my mind set for a show and was/am against the direction it took in the second half, and I could understand that, but I wouldn't agree. The series undergoes so many spastic tonal and narrative changes that I'd swear Yuasa and company were doing LCD during production of this. (Yeah, that's a cliché, but what can ya do?)

I like certain aspects of these last episodes. The visuals, particularly the last episode, knock the fuck out of most anime ever made. It's an overload on the senses, so it that respect the art is a perfect compliment to the haphazard nature of the narrative.

While somewhat predictable, Popo's backstory does lead me to sympathize with the guy. And Sate's betrayal is also rather convincing, considering Popo's megalomania up until that point.

But then we get into territory that just makes me believe that Yuasa needs to write another anime without a plot, like Mind Game. He's soooooo damn good at the more intimate and personal moments that provide an audience to the characters (Andrew's mentioning of the drunken scene in episode ten is a prime example), yet when writing convoluted plots he can falter.

I'm just not a fan of providing explanations, backgrounds and plot "revelations" when it's only convenient for the story. The drive seems to shift to this type of storytelling starting in episode eight. (The second half of Denno Coil suffers from this, as well.) Sure, certain elements make sense, but there's no natural build-up to them. Kichi's clumsy exposition in episode nine (his whole character, actually, is very problematic to me) still stands out in my mind. Or the plot of how there are all these various political machinations that are referred to, but we are never actually shown. Hell, those are very interesting concepts, but the delivery of them feel so slapdash that I never actually feel involved. It's not giving proper context to the subject.

And there are other misgivings, such as the fact that the obsession with evolution is completely out of left field (oh yeah, and Eva and Lain already deal with it far better), but I feel that I'll began to ramble.

I do wonder how Kaiba would have turned out with, say, 24-26 episodes. Not really feeling involved in the world (or universe, in this case) could have been corrected if given more episodes to develop the setting. And I might have actually bought into the tyranny and resistance angle that Yuasa is going for.

[roastedpekingduck]

You most definitely aren't. I just decided to voice my misgivings in the currently watching thread. I don't like adding to my embarrassingly large post count by posting in each individual show thread.

Boy are loss-of-individuality themes common in anime. I cringed when the loss-of-individuality, human singularity evolution started hitting. It ain't a stupid theme, but it's done so damn often, and from the same viewpoint, that I've grown really tired of seeing it appear over and over again.

[HellKorn]

Boy are loss-of-individuality themes common in anime. I cringed when the loss-of-individuality, human singularity evolution started hitting. It ain't a stupid theme, but it's done so damn often, and from the same viewpoint, that I've grown really tired of seeing it appear over and over again.

I'm not disappointed in its frequency, but its place in Kaiba is so abrupt and isn't given scrutiny AT ALL. Eva spends a great deal leading up to it and drawing appropriate parallels to its themes, and lain's entire framework is built around it. Here, Yuasa's inclusion of the concept feels so arbitrary and is underdeveloped as you can get.

[gsilver0]

I bit the bullet and bought the DVDs, even with how expensive they are.


I just liked the show too much to just hope it gets picked up in R1 land.


It was nice getting volume 2 on release day :)