Ooyukiumi no Kaina

Humanity is facing extinction. In a snow-covered world where water has become scarce, the last habitable lands are located at the feet of gigantic Orbital Trees scattered about the desolated Earth. According to a legend, there exists a sage who knows the secret to producing abundant quantities of water to save mankind.

Ririha, the princess of Atland, uses an organic hot-air balloon to climb to the top of an Orbital Tree in hopes of meeting her country's savior. Once she reaches the Canopy—an area that appears to be an infinite window of transparent ice—she meets Kaina, one of the last men alive on the Canopy. However, she can not find the man she was looking for.

Unable to return by herself to her country, the princess finds a helping hand in Kaina, who is eager to explore the surface world that he thought was empty. As Kaina learns about the war against Ririha's country, the antagonistic technologically advanced nation Valghia, and other perils of the surface, he realizes that his escorting mission will prove more difficult than he imagined.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ririha Main

Takahashi, Rie Japanese

Kaina Main

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

Amerote Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Yaona Supporting

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Ngapoge Supporting

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Denigo Supporting

Tsuchida, Reiou Japanese

Murunota Supporting

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Swuro Supporting

Wakui, Yuu Japanese

Yuimu Supporting

Gotou, Ayasa Japanese

Jarge Supporting

Miyake, Kenta Japanese

Mori, Akitoshi Producer

Takahashi, Ryouhei Producer

Hamamoto, Yumi Producer

Kumamoto, Norio Assistant Producer

Reviews

Mar 23, 2023

Marinate1016

Recommended

Ooyukiumi no Kaina is the biggest surprise of the season for me. I notoriously hate CGI and 3D anime, but when I saw Sawano and Yamamoto on the OST it was a must watch instantly. I’m glad I did because the sense of adventure and wonder that this show has is something I have not felt in a long time in anime.


Kaina honestly took me back to being a kid and watching stuff on Toonami after school. Post-apocalyptic worlds and societies are always some of my favourites. This is such a rich, diverse and wonderful world that is full of mystery. Every single week ... I was left wanting more of this. 25 minute episodes went by in what seemed like seconds and questions that were answered turned into more questions. I wasn’t familiar with this author before this anime, but I certainly am now and he will get my view on anything else he puts out. Seriously one of the most talented people at creating a world that absorbs you. I really appreciate that the show doesn’t spoon-feed you everything either. You actually have to use your brain and think about what’s going on in the world and that’s such one of my favourite things with writing. Show, don’t tell.

It became apparent during the midway point of the show that there was no way 11 episodes would be enough for this. There’s just too rich a world, too many questions, etc., to be answered so soon. A movie has been announced that will continue the story and honestly I don’t even think that will be enough so hopefully we will see more of this franchise soon because it has all the makings of a classic for me.

Going back to the animation, like I said before, I am usually against CGI. I didn’t watch Beastars or Trigun remake or anything else that was CGI heavy, but this was not bad at all for me. I honestly forget it’s CGI most of the time and the characters/story are just so good that that’s my main priority. I’d say if you’re like me and don’t normally like 3D animation to just give it a try, Polygon Pictures did some great work here and you will not regret it! The fights are well done and character models are really nice. Music is incredible as you’d expect. Yamamoto and Sawano snapped as always. The OST provides such a boost in atmosphere in every scene and heightens the impact of scenes.

I think we throw the term “underrated” around a lot, but if there’s one series that truly is underrated and slept on this season, it is this.

Ooyukiumi no Kaina gets 8 lights out of 10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 22, 2023

KANLen09

Mixed Feelings

Funny

A great ambition of an original high/epic fantasy world, ultimately marred at the shortcomings of its own plot.

When it comes to original anime made out from celebrating anniversaries, these shows are not as worthy as one would expect, especially if you take a look at the past few years of hits and misses. And in this season, there is just one like it: Ooyukiumi no Kaina a.k.a Kaina of the Great Snow Sea, created by Tsutomu Nihei of Blame! and Knights of Sidonia fame to celebrate the 3DCG studio Polygon Pictures's 40th anniversary. And for better or for worse, it came out rather decent.

Fans of ... Tsutomu Nihei would immediately recognize the trademarks of the famed mangaka in developing caustic settings of impeccable atmospheric craftsmanship as seen in both Blame! and Knights of Sidonia, but to the average viewer, both shows may very well be ahead of its time as it was released in the early 2000s to mid-2010s respectively. And his latest work in the form of Ooyukiumi no Kaina is, to my eyes, no different at all: a "boy-meets-girl high fantasy" set in a world where land is being swallowed by the encroaching Great Snow Sea. This world that the endless Snow Sea covers all of the lengths of a typical ocean, is located at the foot of the Orbital Spire Trees, beneath the organic membrane called the Canopy, where the Spire Trees have been dying out with the villages that rely on them for survival, with the young man Kaina's own village believing that they are the last remaining tribe. Beneath that on the surface, it's a war between the rivaling countries of Atland and Valghia, typical fantasy stuff, and it's where this girl, the Atlandian princess Ririha, wanting to seek help from someone called the Sage to protect her country from the barbaric aristocrat nation of Valghia, meets Kaina and sets off on a journey to travel around the vast world to uncover its secrets.

The whole premise of the show can be boiled down to as such: a war of killing, just for water. You see, the Canopy where Kaina and his tribe that was somehow managing to stay sane for survival, legend has it that the Sage is rumoured to be able to create water to end this conflict, but it's a disappointment that it turns out that the legend is nothing more than a demystifying myth. And this to Ririha, catching a Floater on the way up to see the Sage, this one-way journey is nothing but a waste, and she has no choice but to make her way down from the Canopy onto the Snow Sea where her country of Atland resides, where the aggressive pinning from the Valghian military that's led by the Admiral and General Amelothee is ruthless to say the least, conquering other smaller nations for water and coming up short, with Atland being the next best possible nation to finally end their drought. Of course, on the way down, there's a treasure trove of secrets yet to be discovered of the vast world that is the Great Snow Sea, and together with Kaina and the companion that is Ririha's brother Yaona, the survival of the trio to save their land and avoid conflict at all costs, hones in the massive stakes of whatever the Valghians have in mind to force Atland into surrender.

Kaina is an easy-going young man, but he's a bit in a recluse from being in the Canopy too far long, simply because the outside world is too dangerous to be roaming around, let alone to harvest any kind of resources so that his small tribe will have enough to go by. Compare that to Ririha, her vast nation of Atland is thriving right at the base of the Great Orbital Spire Tree that's full of life (until the Valghians surmised the invasion attacks), and she's the central scapegoat of the entire debacle of the race to provide water, despite being the strong and courageous princess to do what she needs to do. And apart from some of the notables like her brother Yaona and the rest of the people whom the trio meet on the way to have a small bond (such as the Valghia Brotherhood), there isn't really much to note that in the war of good vs. evil, it's tropes as heck, and for the par of the course, it's decent enough but nothing special.

To be honest, I didn't even know that Polygon Pictures were around for this long, 40 years it's been a heap of nothingness, because there is just nothing noteworthy to come out from the 3DCG studio, apart from producing the aforementioned Knights of Sidonia and the Ajin series to much fanfare. In reality, 3DCG in anime wasn't even something that was noteworthy at the time, that with the release of the much acclaimed Houseki no Kuni from studio Orange, begun the era of 3DCG criticality on any show that is produced by studios like Polygon Pictures. For one, this show is exactly what I've come to expect from the studio trying its best to flourish the 3DCG style that its very own thing, and the visuals look nice indeed, plus the CGI isn't all that bad...or rather, I've pretty much gotten used to this distinct style.

The music is fairly good in spots...that overall, even if made by the venerable HiroyukiSawano, it just came out decent. I especially liked Yorushika's OP "Telepath", despite the repeated punctuality beats of the piano instrumental that once the song gets going, it grows and magnifies into the catchy and upbeat song of its own. GReeeeN's ED "Juvenile" however, just sounds like a typical J-pop B-boy band's kind of song that just didn't quite fit the mood of the series, and this was easily skippable and forgettable.

Well, what can I say? For a 40th anniversary show, it definitely shows how much Polygon Pictures have come this far in the AniManga space, but yet again, it only starts showing around the mid-2010s and even now, still gains a polarizing reception on the effective use of 3DCG in the anime realm. Sadly, Ooyukiumi no Kaina a.k.a Kaina of the Great Snow Sea was a show that had both start and end points, but just couldn't decide on how to deliver the show in a better contrast that's based off of Tsutomu Nihei's idea, and ended everything on an amicable note.

If you ask me, this show is forgettable at best, and legends like Tsutomu Nihei have long past outlived their prime when it comes to the writing prowess of a story that could hook the audience from start to finish. Try this only if you feel like experiencing something that's out of the ordinary, but I won't place my bets on it that you could last all the way through. And if you do, catch the sequel movie that's coming out later this year.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Mar 22, 2023

Gsarthotegga

Not Recommended

Funny

The way Kaina of the Great Snow Sea begins and the fantastical realization of its world oozes Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind vibes. I don't bring that up to say this is a "ripoff" or that such a thing would even be a problem. The main character wears a breathing apparatus outdoors and sports a spear gun for shish-kebabing gourmet insects the size of a poodle (before returning to his pod). The world's oceans—Snow Sea—consist of bubbly and slushy snow and curious critters—like if you were to run a bubble bath, but instead of a rubber ducky, you let a bunch of dolphin ... horseys bob around. Additionally, massive trees stretch to the sky like orbital spires, and from their peaks, expands a bubble of ice that encloses the earth, and that is called the canopy.

These two fantasy works are similar in terms of the viewer adapting to a new and unusual ecology. The basics of snow sea girl meeting ice bubble boy and their blushing star-crossed lovers gag fest and the two going toe to toe with the evil black-clad meanie empire provide little deviation. I'd like this as much, if not more, as Nausicaä, but the problem? The visuals are ugly as sin. Nausicaä benefitted from fluid film-length animation, beautiful art direction, and a Joe Hisaishi score—not to mention Miyazaki's direction. As for the former complaint, this is CGI-inflected (rather, infected) 2D... that is, 2.5D. As is almost always the case, the characters and backdrops present an unfortunate mismatch. The bubbles flop around like a dated computer game, the flying creatures are stiff and poorly integrated, and anything large, such as the ships, the baddie fort, or any structure, are blandly textured eyesores. Only nice guy kingdom is at all pleasing to the eye.

A more thorough comparison would be to say it's a combination of Nausicaä and the infamous Waterworld! The ocean-based fantasy or dystopic sci-fi is rare, and Kaina is notable for carrying the torch, albeit in a more dignified fashion: we're not treated to edgy opening scenes like our hero tinkling into a water purification machine, but the story centers around water wars between the two sides. While there's a sense of urgency amongst the characters, the observed effects of a dwindling water supply are scant, other than water rationing once we get to the hideous raft fort that could have been pilfered straight out of Waterworld. Throwing in a kidnapping subplot, the suggestion of a sage and his panacea, and the reacquisition of written language, reading, and lost knowledge will sum up everything else.

The animation can range from stiff to having a solid amount of movement, but it always looks a bit lifeless and dull. Everything from character acting to swashbuckling sword fights to tree scaling to dolphin horsey races to 3D & nasty supersized insects leaves a worse taste in the mouth than the bug egg soup they slurp up at dinnertime. Let's just say no one will ever hold this up as an example of great animation. It's functional but does not hold any sway and, above all, has no soul whatsoever. Nothing about the composition or art direction is inspired. When they are climbing down the tree, the descent reminded me of a much more rapidly paced Made in Abyss, except that series benefits from Osamu Masuyama, who is well-known for his work as an art director on various Ghibli projects. By comparison, there's plenty of skin-crawling (often in the literal sense with how many bugs there are!) negative space and emptiness in Kaina.

Hisaishi manages to be accessible but still much more atmospheric and compelling than the stock sounds of most film scores. Kaina, by contrast, needs to improve in sound design as much as any other average anime, and its score tends toward simulacrum rather than sublimity. The music is meek for a series where people glide around on snow sludge on freaking dolphins! It's perfectly listenable and fits the scenes, but it tends to fall under "competent stock" music more often than sculpting a living, breathing atmosphere. The OP is pleasant enough, and the ethereal ambient tracks used during underwater sequences are more befitting of the mood than anything else.

Characters? The best swordsman and antagonist is a bipolar Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde configuration that has her shifting from the role of discount cat girl to an imposing black knight villain from medieval tales, brandishing a weebish katana because why not? The top dog is a cruel and possibly senile Captain Hook-type who kills people as part of a standup comedy routine—instead of "pull my finger," he says, "hold my sheath." Sporting blonde hair and turquoise swirls, the king has become known as King Tumblr and has a provocative and spicy verified Twitter account. The refugees who help our trio of protagonists look like a gaggle of goomba jesters from Mario's Mushroom Kingdom.

Usually, you would start by mentioning what the main characters are like, but there aren't any details to dissect. They have nothing to define them besides their character designs. These are some of the most innocent, sweet as honey, naive nincompoop character designs I've ever seen for mains. They look like perfect marks, and thieves would be tailing them instantly, so it's no surprise they get robbed for everything they're worth without effort. They're tall enough to be adults, but all grandmothers would instantly tousle their hair—no blood relation required.

The character interaction and story delivery style also don't bode well for an atmosphere-based work. It's silly and childish, and the sluggishness of the second episode is quite the potent sleeping pill, but later episodes aren't much of an improvement in writing or pacing. Episode 8, in particular, is filled with the most torturous, cliche, and tiresome "innocent couple mating ritual" starter pack (it's impossible to imagine they know humans can even give birth) and R&R vignettes I've ever seen in an anime. Only a few scenes stood out for me: when we first see what is beneath the surface of the snow sea when the two mains plunge into its depths, as well as when the main and the prince trudge through the sea on the roots. The world has potential, but it's a shame that all it offers is a novel world begging to be explored, yet we're distracted from it by the humdrum plotting and 3D & nasty visuals.

The ultra-basic good guy-bad guy setup, storytelling, and character dynamics are so predictable and unengaging that I pondered a toddler must have constructed the script from a storytelling 101 block set with the help of his parents. He'd put a block in place with text indicating "The hero begins his journey," "The hero meets his sweetheart," and "The feisty cat girl confronts and roars at the hero." His parents are like, "You can do it! Yay!" every time he gets a block in place, and he finishes putting Ooyukiumi no Kaina together. He's so proud when his parents congratulate him and reward him with milk and cookies for a job well done! The parents publish the result, and we get Kaina! This fabricated origin story is entirely believable to explain the cute-animal-wearing-a-propeller-cap ineptitude.

Tsutomu Nihei's involvement with the story is what piqued my interest. Thus far, any anime attempting to adapt his work has been a 3D & nasty monstrosity with no sense of atmosphere. Conversely, Kaina is an improvement over what I've seen from the Knights of Sidonia or Blame! adaptations, but it screams for the atmospheric craftsmanship of Nihei's best manga works. On the surface, this series looks fantastical, but the storytelling is too mundane to maintain any sense of wonder and the visuals too caustic to invite awe.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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