Karneval (TV)

While in search of his precious friend, a young boy named Nai falls captive to a beautiful woman, whose looks are matched only by her taste for human flesh. Meanwhile Gareki, a clever thief, is in the midst of robbing her luxurious home. After causing a distraction, Gareki agrees to help Nai escape, but they are discovered upon the woman's return. As she transforms into a ghoulish monster, the boys flee.

On the run, Nai and Gareki are found by "Circus," a government defense agency that deals with criminal activity too difficult for the police to handle and protects civilians from "varuga"—terrible monsters that devour humans for sustenance. In the hope that it will lead Nai to his missing friend, he and Gareki decide to join Circus. On their perilous journey, they face dangerous varuga and begin to uncover the secrets behind a shadowy organization known as Kafka.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Gareki Main

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Yogi Main

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Nai Main

Shimono, Hiro Japanese

Tsukumo Main

Endou, Aya Japanese

Hirato Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Dezart, Akari Supporting

Hirakawa, Daisuke Japanese

Arumerita, Karoku Supporting

Hoshi, Souichirou Japanese

Tsukitachi Supporting

Yusa, Kouji Japanese

Jiki Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Kiichi Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Endou, Naoko Producer

Shiraishi, Youko Assistant Producer

Suganuma, Eiji Director, Storyboard, Animation Director, Key Animation

Reviews

Oct 7, 2024

LuxuriousHeart

Recommended

My score for this is a 7/10. The characters were intriguing and it had nice action. It had a few plot twists and the cast of characters had chemistry. There's even an intriguing cliff hanger that is tantalizing. If only we could get a full adaptation.

Though even with a few good points, it's mostly a 7/10 because it was starting to hit its stride later on, but it never reached greatness. It feels like one of those series that needs to bake. You need multiple season to explore the characters in order to be a 9/10 (perhaps even ... a masterpiece?). The adaptation was simply too short. I like what I've seen so far, and I'm definitely interested in the manga.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Aug 19, 2020

defunctmaluser

Mixed Feelings

One of the most annoying trends established over the last decade or two is how some studios will opt to adapt a publishing manga/novel partially. We've seen this happen with shows like Black Butler, Fruits Basket, and Attack on Titan, but they're the lucky ones in this regard. Their source material sells quite well, so there's always going to be a vested interest in making a continuation or indeed, a full-on reboot. Some shows, unfortunately, aren't so lucky. There's a whole host of shows that got one 13-episode season before fading away into obscurity because the BD sales were poor. For every Black Butler or ... Attack on Titan continuation, there's a Deadman Wonderland or No Game No Life condemned to a life of obscurity. It doesn't matter if these shows are accessible outside of Japan either, because the executives who run these studios only care about their bottom line. But what happens if a studio goes bankrupt before establishing a bottom line of any sort? My friends, today we're going to be talking about the tragedy of Karneval and by extension, the inevitable collapse of Manglobe.

Karneval is a show about a thief named Gareki and a mysterious boy named Nai. Both of them got roped into an organisation called Circus that investigates and exorcises creatures called Varuga; superhuman abominations that feed upon complex organisms like humans. These creatures are the result of experimentation by an organisation called Kafuka, whose goal is to spearhead human evolution. That's as best a summary as I can come up with, given how little the show tells us. Karneval as a show has so many ideas, concepts, and plot points that it wants to introduce. Unfortunately, that short season doesn't allow for these things to be fully fleshed out. Considering how the manga is approaching the 140-chapter mark at the time of writing, this only spells out a complete recipe for disaster. Then again, that's probably not an entirely fair assessment to make. The show itself does try to elucidate us on its inner workings; Manglobe did succeed in some regard, but they didn't quite hit a home run, so-to-speak.

Had this show been a proper 24-episode season, I'm sure we would've had more shown to us. Unfortunately, that's not the finished product that aired on TV. Instead, we have a foundation for a story to be built upon rather than a narrative proper. That sad fact's reflected in the ending as it implied more is yet to come. Considering how it's been a little over seven years since Karneval ended and how Manglobe went bankrupt in 2015, it's unlikely we'll ever get more. Enough bellyaching about its flaws though, because there's still merit found in what we have. While the story's atrophied in terms of depth and detail, Manglobe provided us with sufficient context for the premise. If a prospective viewer intends to watch this show purely for entertainment without analysis, they wouldn't have much trouble doing so. We never find out much about the backstories of Circus agents like Yogi and Tsukumo, but there's plenty of context surrounding Gareki and Nai to provide some rudimentary picture of their origins. What's more, the bits of the story elucidated to the audience provided a framework for later events to follow during the show's run.

Speaking of which, the Circus agents we're introduced to might not have much in the way of backstory. Even so, that still doesn't stop them from having fleshed out personalities, motivations, and investments. We know that the stress of the job presumably takes its toll on Yogi; that's why he's so dedicated to making the people around him smile. We never learn anything about Tsukumo's past, but her sensibilities on the battlefield and her compassionate demeanour make her a crucial ally. We know even less about the First Ship agents and their dynamics, but mutual respect and rivalry between both teams are readily apparent. Perhaps I may be looking too deep for merit, but these are details are so insignificant that other studios opt to neglect them entirely. The fact that Manglobe went through the trouble to even flesh them out, even partially, shows that there was someone on the writing staff who cared about it.

On the subject of the premise, it's admittedly cliche on some level. However, I'd argue that it's different enough to make this show unique. Unlike other animes like Bleach, D.Gray-man, and Black Butler, Karneval's not quite a supernatural series. The Varuga are indeed superhuman, and their deaths throughout the show come across as if they're exorcisms. However, they're explicitly monstrous aberrations of humanity and not some paranormal force. Their transformation can happen one of two ways: contact with tainted blood or through the use of drugs that spark these changes. Circus agents can fly, have superhuman powers of their own, and can conjure weapons whenever they please. However, these powers come from a treatment which alters their cellular makeup. Karneval may look like some flashy supernatural action flick, but it's far closer to sci-fi than anything else. Think SOLDIER from Final Fantasy VII instead of the Black Order from D.Gray-man.

Moving away from the story and characters (or lack thereof), let's talk about the superficial aspects of this show. Before going bankrupt, Manglobe was renowned for giving each anime they worked on a distinctive look. These were the guys who created shows like Samurai Champloo and Ergo Proxy, after all. Karneval is no exception, as the general aesthetic of the show blends elements of both shonen and shojo anime. That fact isn't too surprising though when you find out that Karneval is a josei manga. Gareki looks like any edgy shonen protagonist, but some of the other characters have those distinctive shojo manga eyes with the gangly proportions to boot. This fact is most apparent with Nai, as he looks like Kaworu Nagisa if he were the uke this time around.

As for the designs of the Varuga, they're all quite varied in appearance and capability. From what I've seen during the show's run, some Varuga can hide their monstrous form while being able to pass for normal humans. Those monstrous forms aren't necessarily the stuff of nightmares, but their transformations can spook a viewer who isn't ready for it. At least, that's what I try to tell myself because that first Varuga in the pilot episode scared the hell out of me when she started transforming. Subsequent transformations didn't catch me off guard, but first impressions tend to stick with you. I certainly can't fault Karneval for having original monster designs.

The animation quality throughout the show is spectacular, but that's no surprise given Manglobe's reputation. Action scenes are fluid and enthralling to watch, especially by the show's end. Manglobe also spared no expense the stupider antics involving the gag comedy or the festival performances. Sometimes the jokes fell flat on me, but they were still lovely to look at regardless. While my formerly keen eye for animation errors has admittedly diminished, I couldn't personally make out any glaring animation errors throughout the show's run. I wouldn't necessarily call this show Manglobe's best from a stylistic or animation standpoint, but it's still quite a cut above average.

The audio side of things is also quite lovely. The opening track, "Henai no Rondo" by GRANRODEO is a bombastic J-Rock track that quickly sets the tone for events to follow. It's fast-paced, it's upbeat, it's incredibly energetic, and it's such a joy to listen to at the start of every episode. Similarly, "Reason" by Kamiyu is quite a catchy and fun ending track. I generally don't like ED tracks that clash with the heavy tone that some episodes end on but Karneval's storytelling is atrophied in terms of depth and detail anyway, so it's not like anything of value was ever lost.

I'm quite late to the party as far as the dubbing "controversy" is concerned, but I can't say I had any problem with it. I'd even argue that the dub is pretty fucking good. Greg Ayres typically plays the 'loveable goofball' character, so I can understand why some people would take umbrage with him voicing Gareki in the first place. Even so, Ayres does quite an excellent job at conveying Gareki's sarcastic and taciturn demeanour. The rest of the cast does a fantastic job too, my favourite performances being Sean Michael Tongue as Nai and Ian Sinclair as Hirato. Sean Michael Tongue does a beautiful job conveying Nai's boundless optimism and confusion at the circumstances surrounding him. Similarly, Ian Sinclair perfectly captures Hirato's nature as a stern yet compassionate commander with a bit of a jovial streak. It honestly is a great dub, and I still find myself confused at all the people who think it's shit.

Would I say that I enjoyed watching Karneval? The answer to that question is a resounding "yes," and I'm not ashamed to admit that in the slightest. I'd even go so far as to recommend that you watch it, were it not for the fact that this is sadly a glorified trailer for the manga. Unfortunately, the entertainment value I got from watching Karneval isn't enough to override my critical faculties. Karneval is an unfinished product when push comes to shove; I honestly found myself craving a greater sense of resolution than what we ultimately received. With that said, the anime certainly left a positive impression on me that does give me an impetus to check out what the manga has to offer. Of course, other people might not be as forgiving, so your mileage will undoubtedly vary.

Lastly, I want to take a moment to reflect upon Manglobe as a studio and what they brought to the table. My introduction to Manglobe's works was obviously through Samurai Champloo, as it was for hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of other people. I certainly had my gripes with it, but it was a fun, stylistic show with a fantastic soundtrack and dub that I still adore to this day. With this in mind, I feel like Manglobe might have shot themselves in the foot with such a strong debut. Their subsequent shows never quite managed to achieve the same level of success that Champloo did, so I'd wager that they relied heavily on short seasons to offset any potential losses that their shows might bring to the table.

Unfortunately, those short seasons never managed to produce anything of substance that would keep the company afloat. Everything in their repertoire after releasing Champloo consists of either failed experiments like Ergo Proxy (a show that I do like but consider far too obtuse for its own good) or unfinished adaptations like Deadman Wonderland and Karneval. The only adaptation they committed to was "The World God Only Knows," and that's not necessarily a series that would appeal to a mainstream audience. Their final show was Gangsta, and while I've never watched it, a cursory glance at reviews posted on websites like MAL or Hummingbird reveals that it suffers from many of the same problems that plagued Deadman Wonderland and Karneval. It's quite a shame too given how Manglobe always had an eye for creating stylistic shows that manage to leave some impact on the minds of their viewers.

Karneval might not be Manglobe's best work, nor would I consider it to be a definitive "must watch," but it's still a fun show that brings some unique ideas to the table with lacking, yet serviceable execution. If you're perfectly comfortable with watching this show knowing that it's a glorified manga trailer, you'll enjoy the hell out of it. If you're curious about what the manga is like, you'll get a good idea of what the manga's like and then find out whether or not you want to read it. If you're looking for a show that's a paragon of quality, look elsewhere. Either way, let's hope that Twin Engine and Geno Studio have better luck than Manglobe did.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 14, 2021

Riru1

Not Recommended

Decent idea, miserably executed


I was aware of this anime for several years and never bothered to watch it or learn what the story was, until just recently when I decided it would be pleasant to binge through some shorter shows on my list. Choosing this anime as my starter for the binge, I curled up in bed with a bowl of chips, and turned on the first episode, unaware of the utter disappointment and annoyance I was soon to experience.

As a side note, this may just be, with no exaggeration, one of the WORST anime I have ever seen in my experience with the ... genre. Though there are certainly things worth praising, my biggest problems - the story and characters.


Story 4/10

Normally I enjoy this kind of monster-hunting genre, and the sci-fi themes and funky, colorful atmosphere definitely seemed promising as I'm a sucker for these things. However, as I progressed through the episodes, I soon realized that funky colors and good art were pretty much the only decent things the show had to offer. Plotlines come out of nowhere for no reason, then disappear without ever being mentioned again, specifically Garaku's friend's and their "arc". We're told that Kafka is this horrible organization that practices human experiments, which result in the monsters that Circus, the good guys, hunt down and kill. What are Kafka's motivations? Never explained. Nai's backstory (and half the characters' backstories), Circus' origins, and half of the lore (or lack thereof) are all never explained. Also, the main characters, Nai and Garaku, felt like they never did anything at all to help - they were just dragged around by Circus because the monsters are attracted to Nai and he makes it easier to find them. Plus, whenever something remotely bad happened to any of the good guys, it was immediately remedied without any struggle or effort. If the show had been longer, maybe it would have benefitted and had time to flesh out everything mentioned above, but obviously, it didn't. And I'm glad, because 13 episodes felt like an eternity.


Art 9/10

The best thing about the show that pretty much everyone agrees with is the art style - it is absolutely gorgeous. The colors, the way the characters are drawn, the intro animation, the creativity of the sheep robot-things on the airships, and especially the backgrounds - all of it was stunning to look at, and I feel horrible for the poor artists who wasted their hard work on this piece of garbage anime.


Sound 5/10

Decent soundtrack, except for the voice acting (in the English version - I prefer the dubs and have no shame.) I don't know who cast the actors for this show in the dub, but they FAILED big time. Nai, Garaku, Yogi, and half of the characters have voices that don't match them in the slightest, and it was incredibly distracting. I don't think it was a directing issue since I've heard these actors in other anime and they were actually very good in them, the casting was just wrong.


Character 3/10

Ok this was probably my biggest issue with the show. I could've tolerated a half-baked story if the characters were actually worth caring about, or even smart for that matter. Firstly, I HATED Nai. I know he's supposed to be all innocent and naive and kind, but he came off as a useless crybaby that never matured at any point in the show. He never fights, he's almost too naive to the point where he's stupid, and whenever he acts nice to other characters with the intention of being nice, it annoyed me just as much as it did the other characters, and I wanted him to just shut up. I like innocent characters, but Nai was too useless and annoying to be likable. I also hated Garaku - he's supposed to be the bad boy who's secretly a softie, but he just comes off as a jerk. He never does anything to actually care about his friends and just hurts them constantly. (Plus his voice was OBNOXIOUSLY out of place). Both he and Nai are fairly useless throughout the show as they rarely fight (Nai never fighting at all). Tsukumo was probably the most tolerable of all of them, mainly because I felt nothing about her at all. She's the kuudere of the group, so she's very emotionless and quiet but secretly is sweet and caring. 'Cept one thing... they missed the sweet and caring part ._. not to mention that she barely hangs out with the other characters even though she's supposed to be one of the main 4, and yet somehow by the end of the show she's close enough with them all to join in a group hug. Yogi was funny for the first couple of episodes but soon became annoying - specifically his constant crying and overdramatic attitude.
As for the overall opinions of the characters... they were all annoying and stupid. At one point Tsukumo gets kidnapped (after getting punched once in the stomach and just passing out), and she wakes up in a room alone tied to a chair - a room with WINDOWS, mind you, with her kidnappers nowhere in sight. She breaks free and moves around the room for a while, and decides to leave out the DOOR to the room, even though there is a PARTY currently going on in the mansion XDD if she's so good at fighting, why couldn't she just leave through the window? Surely she would have been fine and wouldn't have alerted anyone. And as if that wasn't enough, literally NONE of her friends even care that she's missing! They don't even try to go after her or panic! XD if her own "friends" in the show don't even care about her, why should the viewer? Anyway, that was just one funny thing that I noticed while watching lol


Enjoyment 2/10

I was physically in pain while trying to get through the last few episodes because of how boring and lackluster the watch experience was. I only finished it so that I could mark it as completed on MAL. Plus, I was watching Overlord at the same time as this, and I binged all 3 seasons of that BEFORE finishing this one because I dreaded coming back to it that much.


Overall 3/10

With the exception of the art and music, this anime SUCKED. The lackluster story and characters, the unfocused plot with no stakes, the horrific English voice acting, the lack of care for the characters from each other, and the painfully slow yet rushed pacing - this may take the cake as one of the worst anime I've ever seen. Unlike Shiki though (one of my least favorite anime), which I hated because I had built up high hopes (which ended up crushed) and because of the awful message, Karneval was bad because of writing and characters. If it was longer and focused more on the rivalry between organizations and gave more time for the characters to connect with each other, plus came up with more interesting monster interactions and more original character backstories, it could have been a masterpiece. Overall it was a waste of time, potential, money, and effort from the poor artists that had to work on this show. Wouldn't recommend nor rewatch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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