Review - Kabaneri Of The Iron Fortress
Off the back of our last post, I thought I'd discuss our latest obsession - "Kabaneri Of The Iron Fortress" (2016). Sam mentioned we're in an entertaining period of watching and reading mountains of fantasy and anime content, which means we're defining what we like, while also sifting through the trash we want to avoid. Our monthly subscriptions have skyrocketed, but our cause is true. Kabaneri is a great example of a show with all the right ingredients, however still falls into a few traps that these kinds of animations often do.
The simplest way to describe Kabeneri Of The Iron Fortress is Train To Busan meets Attack on Titan. If you don't know what either of those are - it's zombies on a train.
The first takeaway, and something we've already agreed to commit to - is the short season. Kabaneri season one contains 12 x twenty-minute episodes; that's it. There's no slow filler to fatten out the seasons, it has a clearly defined story arc and commits to it. The tracks of the story beats are laid out, and the train stays its path. We're committing to a similar duration for season one; eight 20 x minute episodes. It comes to roughly two and half hours total; the length of a typical action-adventure film. Condensing the length of the show means more time for quality animation; instead of a dragged out series that stretches the animation budget. It also means our writing for the series is more clinical, something we've been carefully crafting for years.
The series isn't really doing anything original; a fast-moving train that acts a plot device to set up obstacles and keep the story progressing forward, mindless kabanes (zombies) that have a single weak point, a main character who gets bitten but instead becomes a human-zombie half breed (kabaneri), earning all the strength and speed of a kabane at the risk that he might eventually turn. Despite these clear nods to other series and films, Kabeneri maintains its own identity through its characters and conflicts; particularly its protagonist, Ikoma.
The first episode is like a train ride through hell in the best way, it doesn't relent. It throws you into the deep end, without any expositive narration of why we're here. The writing keeps the show moving, introducing characters at a pace that feels fast but not confusing. It lays out the rules and teases at the possible surprises in store for the rest of the season.
The main character, Ikoma, quickly reveals his skillset as an engineer and problem solver. He's passionate, headstrong and harbours some traumatic scars; but the story doesn't dwell too much on his internal monologue. He's a character of action, and that comes through in the writing. This is a great reference for the kind of character we're channelling into Unegen. Both are quick thinkers that like to tinker, experiment, and strategize before charging headfirst into a challenge. Ikoma is more on the serious side though, with Unegen preferring a more impulsive approach to challenges.
Onto the criticisms. The exhilarating roller coaster that is the first half loses a little momentum towards the end; that might be inevitable though as the first episode sets the benchmark high. Some of the female character designs have a bizarre amount of glisten on their rosy cheeks which I found pretty weird, none of the male characters had this. Despite this, they've clearly made an effort to write strong, complex and diverse female characters. I'm not saying it passes the Bechdel test, but I think it's a step in the right direction.
Verdict - this is a highly underrated series. I don't think there's an English dub yet, but the Japanese version with subtitles was still great.