I think it’s fair to say that the green space ostrich of
Kaiba’s first episode is the coolest animal sidekick in anime since
Dennou Coil’s Densuke. Or, dare I say, since
Nausicaa’s Teto and/or Kai. Its first appearance, swooping into save the titular character, heralds the most energetic moment of the first two episodes which, in all honesty, isn’t saying much.
Yet it goes some way in debunking the expectations of those piqued by Maasaki Yuasa’s previous effort, Kemonozume. Kaiba is not an action show. It has its moments, but the contrasting art styles speak volumes in how each show differs in purpose. Kemonozume’s jaggy aesthetics never felt like they stopped moving, that its frenetic action sequences were only ever moments away. Conversely, Kaiba’s visuals don’t lend themselves well to dramatic movement. Rather, they fumble along like the characters themselves and rarely does an action show worthy spectacle occur.
What is spectacular about Kaiba is how completely magical it looks and feels. Its synthesised design, the bastard lovechild of superflat and Osamu Tezuka, creates strangely saccharine but completely absorbing world. It’s no hyperbole to say that Kaiba lingered in my mind for days afterwards. I watched the first episode in the midst of my finals as a guilty pleasure and could not forget what I’d seen, nor the innate desire to see it again. Kaiba perhaps lacks the ostentatious flash of many new anime yet it processes something much more vital – the power to adsorb and captivate. My one soundbyte in this sense is that Kaiba is the most colourful dystopia you will ever see.
Of course the story is a key constituent in manufacturing this immersion and Kaiba offers a massive amount of depth to compliment its magical, though constantly disturbing, visuals. itsubun mentions the strong classism vibe that run throughout these episodes (with interesting analysis of the dividing electrical cloud and the colour motifs) and these Marxist overtones particularly stood out in episode two. In Kaiba society is split into two distinct classes: the rich upper and the plebeian lower, and true to Marxist form the lower class is exploited wholly by the upper class for their own benefit. The analogy of the upper classes literally stealing the lower classes’ bodies might be a little heavy-handed in exploring the Socialist criticisms of capitalist society, yet it sets the scene brilliantly and makes the show feel unique.
Kaiba almost drowns in its own implication during this pair of episodes. How does the mind and body relate to one another – and is the former directly influenced by the latter? How does the disposability of the body affect morality and ethics? In the broader sense, how redundant is the notion of ‘status quo’ when the physical appearances of the show’s characters are so interchangeable? Every one of these dilemmas is completely thrilling and I can’t wait to ponder more. Kaiba, if you hadn’t noticed, is rather special.
