Koutetsujou no Kabaneri Movie 3: Unato Kessen

Half a year has passed. Arriving in the Iron Fortress, Ikoma and Mumei set foot in Unato: another ravaged zone that fell into the grip of the deadly Kabane.

In this war-torn zone, the group fends off more dangerous Kabane that are attacking with patterns they had never seen before. The Iron Fortress crew eventually meet up with a survival group which requests their aid in reclaiming the zone. The newly forged alliance ventures deeper into the area of the castle and investigates the peculiar case of these new Kabane. But their search for answers unearths truths that are far more horrifying than they imagined. Forced to confront the reality behind the Kabane, Ikoma, Mumei, and their allies come to realize the despair buried within Unato.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Mumei Main

Senbongi, Sayaka Japanese

Ikoma Main

Hatanaka, Tasuku Japanese

Yukina Supporting

Ise, Mariya Japanese

Kurusu Supporting

Masuda, Toshiki Japanese

Suzuki Supporting

Powers, Maxwell Japanese

Yomogawa, Ayame Supporting

Uchida, Maaya Japanese

Sukari Supporting

Oosaka, Ryouta Japanese

Kajika Supporting

Oki, Kanae Japanese

Takumi Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Kibito Supporting

Satou, Kensuke Japanese

Bezerra, Wendel Producer

Okada, Maiko Producer

Hayashi, Kazue Producer

Araki, Tetsurou Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard

Reviews

May 11, 2019

Loli_cop

Recommended

As one of the first anime/movies I've ever rated 9/10, i'm speechless of how i felt after watching this, it left me with this airy feeling, lightheaded but in a good way. And as my first review, i hope this will suffice you.

If you're just seeing if you should watch this, you can look at my Overall summery at the bottom.

And if you're looking for the manga of this, there's an adaptation but this anime is an original anime.

- STORY -
Yes, i know there will be people who will complain about how this anime's plot is similar to the whole stereotypical plot of post-apocalyptic world ... where a few characters happens to be overpowered and they save everyone else from disaster. But honestly, it's pretty hard to come by new yet exciting plots these days since every story gets oversaturated by others trying to copy and paste it for a quick profit.
Considering how it came after multiple post-apocalyptic animes like AoT, it's effort to make the plot unique and still entertaining was a success for my standards, not many animes of this genre I've watched had a good mix of despair and enlightenment.

- ART -
The art was amazing, especially the scenery art and some of the shots in the movie. It was colorful, yet not to the point of making it feel fake, it was surreal to look at. Even if I'm exaggerating a bit, I have to give them credit for how smoothly it was implemented.
The animation and art in the ending fits with the music perfectly likewise in the anime prequel.

- MUSIC -
Speaking of music in the movie's ending, it was really nicely done. But that isn't all, the subtle soundtracks playing in the background of a few selected parts of the movie really gave the whole shot(s) a new feeling to them, either excitement or dread, it was executed wonderfully to further increase the mood of parts of the movie.

- CHARACTER -
Well... Ahhh... I can't get over how well the relationship of Mumei and Ikoma developed over the course of this movie and even the anime season before this. It wasn't rushed, even if at first it felt like one of those "star crossed lovers" thing, it was slowly developed with time and it just brings happiness into my heart watching how they react to each other throughout the course of this movie.
The other characters weren't all that bad but, some of them seemed a bit of the "stereotypical characters that interfere with main character's plan, and is there to only make conflict".

- ENJOYMENT/OVERALL -
I really enjoyed this movie, it was satisfying to watch with all the well animated scenes with exceptional soundtrack to back it up.
And it's one of the few animes/movies I didn't want to skip forward or backwards while watching it, because the plot was rushed or too slow.
Even sitting through the whole ending credits felt worth it, to savor every second of this movie.

I really wish for WIT Studio to keep on developing this anime and it's plot, it seems like there is still much to explore in terms of character's relationships and the story itself. Even though the whole premise might be kind of dry since so many animes are using this kind of plot, they did a good job of making this unique.

I don't know if they can exceed the expectations coming from this movie, but if they can then, i really want to see this be continued since... We all know AoT can't last forever.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Aug 15, 2019

seannyb

Mixed Feelings

The go-to descriptors of "shounen" and "seinen" lack the granularity to describe Kabaneri, which has a degree of painfully self-unaware bombast that only teenagers will love. As a throwaway popcorn spectacle, it has some silver linings. This all-new sequel flick, which plays as a self-contained story arc, first and foremost delivers on action, with plenty of rifle-bayonet acrobatics courtesy of covergirl Mumei. Though both steampunk and zombie hordes are now embarrassingly passé, Taishō-roman will never go out of style in my book, and Mikimoto's retro character designs backed with Wit Studio's "make-up animation" process remain a visual treat. Also, the all-dancing end credits.

I've... disembarked... the ... Kabaneri train around episode #7, which is just as well because people tell me the rest got "Wit Studioed". I simply lost interest in the one-note affair from the Michael Bay of anime: Tetsurou Araki. But sometimes a splashy movie is excuse enough to hop back on for a short ride. And yup, "Unato Kessen" is still the Kabaneri I remember.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 29, 2019

UnluckyCat13

Not Recommended

I seem to be one of the only people who liked the original series but hate this movie. This movie is a distillation of everything bad in the series, with some added garbage for flavor.

The only reasons I can see that people like this more is that it's almost nonstop action and Mumei is now a useless waifu.

In the previous series Mumei was the power house, who basically carried everyone for most of the show. Sadly, she's now Ikoma's main love interest and as such she can no longer be good at anything. A proud tradition carried on from Orihime, Asuna, and many ... others. While she still manages to get some shots in, Ikoma must rescue her literally every battle, twice in one of them. She spends most of her time fawning over her attempt to confess her feelings to him and being rescued by him. A previous complaint people had about her was that she kept 'stealing the spotlight', so I guess that's an improvement for some people. I miss when she would punch people in the crotch.

The actual plot is almost a moment by moment repeat of the previous series. Ikoma is part kabane, and part human, so no one trusts him even though he's right! He gets thrown in solitary for 3 days to prove he's human even though he's not. If you guessed that he will also have to break out and prove he's right as the place descends into chaos under an attack, requiring him to save everyone, well then you've seen the original series! This is trash.

It's also full of characters who are basically rehashes of characters from the original whom couldn't be brought back to be minor antagonists because they're dead. The solution then, was to make nearly identical characters. However since the characters behavior is identical to the ones they're based off of, most of what they do doesn't make sense in the situation. You'd almost have to believe that they're literally trying to get killed. At least one of them disappears with no conclusion on what happened to him or his men. This is despite the fact you're repeatedly intended to care about these characters who have all of 10 minutes of screen time.

The series also finally goes the full way into making Kabaneri coordinators/newtypes. Before they certainly occupied the role of Coordinators from SEED in some respects. Ikoma was the ace fighter new to the situation, in a conflict where he was of the same breed as the enemy. A super human above everyone, who didn't trust him for it or wanted to use him. The train went from colony to colony seeking refuge and supplies on its way to the main base. Eventually the show even went as far as to turn Kabaneri into cyber newtypes who more or less piloted giant Pschcho Kabaneri. That not being enough, they can now also see into each other's hearts and minds.

The movie also works to finish pairing off every character it possibly can, once again prioritizing this over a meaningful epilogue. I mean, it's 6 months later and they're still planning to do the exact same thing that they were planning to do at the end of the series. What happened? Why haven't they? How did they get involved in this at all? Nothing is explained, no one cares, nothing matters.

There is no resolution to this series, the characters are all worse, the plot is worse, the events are worse. The art and animation are great, however it takes the superfluousness to the next level. Everyone spins all of the time. There's so much unnecessary spinning. Even bodies spin in air. It gets comically over the top, even in this franchise. Mumei spends fights twirling her weapon because she can more or less.

A lot straight up doesn't make sense too, or you're asked to really suspend your disbelief. Ikoma is shot like 5 times and it doesn't affect him, but 1 bullet from the same type of gun takes out his leg. It's nonsense.

If you liked the music, it's literally all the same music except for I think one new song. It's nice, but I don't care about that nearly as much as everyone else does. All around this just exemplifies why I hate OVA/Film sequels. This was an unnecessary, even harmful additional to the story, and I didn't enjoy watching it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Koutetsujou no Kabaneri Movie 3: Unato Kessen Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) bastek66 - May 10, 2019	119 replies	by Ricky16 »» Nov 16, 9:16 AM
	Season 2? RedS7 - May 14, 2019	22 replies	by archeotech »» Sep 6, 8:23 PM
	is it just me or is Mumei being so sexualised filler_032 - Feb 28, 2021	40 replies	by Astraeus_ »» Nov 15, 2023 7:07 PM
	is this completely original anime?? NaughtySempai - Mar 9, 2022	3 replies	by AnlmeHeaded »» Jul 21, 2022 1:38 PM
	Why this is called movie 3? Where is the movie 1 and movie 2? salsalsalsal - Jul 6, 2020	1 replies	by Theo1899 »» Jul 6, 2020 7:03 AM