Y’know, I’m quite fond of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. I resisted watching it at first, because I was damned if I saw yet another post-apocalyptic/dystopian zombie setting, especially one styled after Attack On Titan, one of the most relentless shows I’d ever seen at the time. But that animation…it’s always the animation, isn’t it? Kabaneri looked amazing. The blend of the stereotypical traditional Japanese aesthetic with steampunk was ingeniously on point and I loved it. I caved and found myself shockingly engaged. It probably helped that Kabaneri took its grimdark setting for granted, and thoroughly padded its characters with blatant plot armour. A 12 episode show of this scale was never going to aspire to much, so I took it as it came and had a good ride. The animation delivered (spectacularly) and the characters, though simplistic, had good chemistry amongst themselves and enough charm to carry the story. It’s so ironic how things turned out. People dropped the show for its lack of tension, inability to copy AOT’s actual good points and hackneyed ending. I liked the show’s lack of tension, and never saw it as AOT’s clone (prettier than AOT = better than AOT). And the show ended with hype so who cares, right?
Not the attitude, but…um…fan first, critic second??
I’d honestly forgotten about the show, until the video game opening stumbled across my dashboard one day. I watched it, wept because it was beautiful and I would never play it, then watched it again. It’s always nice to see more Kabaneri, even if it’s not a new season, and honestly, I think the campy, rule-of-cool nature of the show lends itself better to a video-game format. At this point, it’s clear that Kabaneri’s world, though gripping, exists as an elaborate excuse to animate really cool things, like that whole moving artbook aesthetic the show had. Here, the Kabane are of virtually no importance, existing to be mowed down with beautiful aplomb by beautiful characters. After watching some AOT recently, where the titans are definitely formidable, this flimsy excuse of a threat becomes more apparent. I really should care…but did Studio Wit just animate an extended fight scene from a first person POV, mimicking the perspective of first person shooter games, giving the viewers a taste of the promised gaming experience, whilst reuniting us with characters from the old show??? And is that three trains I see?? Gasp! The stakes are rising!
The opening cuts where Ikoma and game character face off Kabaneri in ink, and that final extended cut showcase the most impressive animation in the op. I love it when anime breaks away from clean pencil linework to something less traditional, like charcoal or, in this case, ink. The effect is definitely rough, but the emotional intensity shines through. It was an interesting choice to use the colour yellow to indicate the Kabane’s glowing heart and eyes. I personally felt like red would have been better, but Ikoma’s cloak is red and, imagining it now, the effect would have been overpowering. Too much red. The new lead’s design is painfully generic next to Ikoma’s electrocuted, mad scientist look, but at least he looks competent. He looks dangerous. In fact, throughout this op, there’s a consistent effort made to make the new MC look as powerful and as mysterious as possible.
Ahh, I do love group shots.
Again, Kabaneri relies heavily on one-note characterisations, but for an opening (to a video game no less), this is fine. Besides the main lead, we have the cute genki girl, the smart bro, and the team mascot, who is ridiculously cute.
I love the way he lifts her to put the key in, it’s so warm and familial.
These characters work well in tandem with each other and in a few shots, there’s already a palpable sense of team spirit going on. Though not connected to these shots necessarily, there’s a quick little thing of all the team members, sans the cute baby, fist-bumping each other, just before our main character floats away into the atmosphere. It’s really sweet, but more importantly it transitions perfectly into the show’s trademark ‘ARE YOU HUMAN OR KABANE? NEITHER!”, before we burst onto that train for some action!
The contrast between their shadowed hands against a lit sky creates a powerful gesture, in addition to the strong unity of their gestures as they arch to meet a central point (that being the new lead’s fist). It’s also the first instance of light in the flashback sequences, which use monochrome or really de-saturated colours. In a way, the main lead’s friends bring him light. That’s really sweet.
Almost immediately, a Kabane comes flying at us! The music soars as we plunge a knife into its heart and start progressing at some kind of inhuman speed. Speed is the key word here, it’s insane just how acutely this sequence conveys it to us as Kabane rush at us and we slice our way through, leaping over obstacles whilst performing kills in mid-air. The cheoreography – and storytelling- of this scene is tight. Instead of just mindless kabane killing, it remains coherent and engaging by using the characters as anchors. Each one is rooted clearly to a specific action, like the pair of guards we jump over just before killing the kabane surrounding them. After that action, we turn to face Smart bro who looks horrified at something in the distance- leading right into the next kabane. There’s a wonderful bit of detail where, in a split second of horror, we see ourselves reflected in the metal of the kabane’s sword, before it winds up for an attack…and is skillet-ed by a character from the original with his iconic Kabane sword. He gives a nod ahead and we leap to the next train. And so on.
Close shave!
The fanservice aspect fully kicks in when Mumei reappears and we get to see her as agile as ever. I’m so grateful for the invention of 3D making feats like this possible for animators. At the third train, we make a particularly large jump, and I love how a second before we’re rescued by Ikoma, we suddenly accelerate towards the earth. Adds a lot of tension – I almost felt like we wouldn’t make it.
One pattern that crops up a lot in this video is the use of arms to serve as a composition tool that draws the viewers eyes right up to the focal point. A lot of exaggerated one-point perspective also helps emphasise that.
The action continues up to the end of the train where me meet the last new character, whose head tilt and ambiguous expression scream PLOT DEVICE. In this, we return to the emotional intensity of the MC seen in those opening shots. The background is burned out of the shot by the intensity of the blue light behind them, making the pair stand out starkly with their deep blue shadows and grey highlights. The camera pulls in to his intense red eyes, and then pulls out again to reveal the scope of the train and the hordes of Kabaneri they have yet to fight. Of course the answer to that ever persistent question is always a resounding, “NEITHER! I’M KABANERI!”
Sigh. Why why why does this have to be a game? Why can’t it be a new season or a movie trailer? I’m already so invested, but I know I won’t play it because I don’t play games and even if I did, the beauty and immersion represented in this OP wouldn’t be matched in-game. A sad, but true reality. I can only hope that the movie has the new characters as well, ‘cos I’m sooo hyped for them. Cool new designs that, hopefully, come with a cool new story!
Catch a Falling Star 