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Jun 17, 2021
Spoiler-free.
I’m going to discuss Kaiba in terms of the three modes of persuasion: ethos (persuasion through presentation), logos (logical persuasion), and pathos (emotional persuasion). I do this, because the fact that Kaiba is very uninteresting to me is ironically very interesting to me.
Regarding ethos:
I felt secondhand embarrassment watching Kaiba, because I’ve made art like Kaiba before: Art that is so serious and earnest yet so unimportant. Kaiba is an entirely serious show, but I could not take it seriously. The biggest problem, in my opinion, drives the anime so much further down than any of its “minor” shortcomings and cliches (information being withheld, inexhaustible flashbacks,
...
spoon-feeding the plot to the audience, guns that fail to work only against important characters, songs that try hard to evoke melodrama, characters with simple motivations in service of the plot [this is not a character-driven story, which makes it a little less interesting imo]). The biggest problem is so much worse than any of those mediocre story-telling devices. It is the unshakable nature of the anime being completely serious, unironic, and unapologetic in its attempt to wow and move the audience using very insubstantial drama and minimally explored themes (of memory chips, replaceable bodies, human nature, capitalism, and globalization). Most of the characters being one-dimensional (had a few traits each) and acting like children (suitable and reminiscent of kids shows) did not help matters.
Regarding logos:
The “sci-fi” (science-fiction) tag is truly the most enigmatic scrawl I’ve had the prerogative to investigate. I used to think that only the highest of stories deemed scientifically plausible would be conferred this emblem of intellectual creativity; I was quickly proven wrong as I noticed that some sci-fi are almost completely implausible, or at least, grossly speculative and without a single line of justification. I decided then that there must be a spectrum, a scale, as with most things, on which some sci-fi are more science and some more fiction. Today, I disagree with both of those past stances. I now think that all sci-fi contain some speculative elements and some realistic elements, and, in effect, concede that every sci-fi is indeed unrealistic, which is why they are called “sci-fi” and not “hyper-realistic stories containing only currently available technologies.” To put it simply, all sci-fi contain unexplainable phenomena that may or may not come to exist in the future.
However, some sci-fi really stretch the boundaries of its genre. I’ve noticed that anime in particular often does this, where borderline fantasy is often either tagged as or mistaken for potential future technology/circumstances. Kaiba is one of those anime. How? As Charlie would say: You do the math.
I’m kidding. I’ll do the math. In Kaiba, rich people buy poor people’s bodies. That will not happen in our world. And I don’t mean human trafficking or smuggling organs. I mean rich people transplanting their memories into poor people; this will not happen. For countless logical, medical, ethical and legal reasons, rich people will instead artificially design or request the most efficient bodies from tightly controlled labs with scientists and AI smarter than we can imagine. Kaiba, in that sense, is completely irrelevant to reality if it seriously means to be sci-fi. Besides some symbolic value or being a mental exercise in futility, Kaiba is valueless in terms of being a sci-fi, void of any logical merits.
I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ve gathered absolutely nothing new or complex from this anime that I haven’t thought or known about already, despite my dire efforts to derive from the anime any food for thought.
Regarding pathos:
I’m the kind of person who becomes teary-eyed watching anything the slightest bit sad, and yet, I only teared up during this anime from the stress induced by the fact that the anime said near nothing despite being so stressfully fast-paced. It rather reminded me of The Tatami Galaxy.
About Chroniko’s story: I was sad and really almost cried. But I was also mighty bored. I am sorry (to the animators who tried hard), but each of the sob stories were so standard and cliched that my mind gnawed at itself in boredom. I understand that Chroniko’s story is a real world problem, however. I think that it is an IMPORTANT theme, but it wasn't any radical or deep one, just like every other theme in the show.
Ultimately, I award Kaiba with its extra score (2 instead of 1) for having allowed this self-analysis. I’ve wondered before why some stories don’t engage me. It was especially puzzling this time because I love sci-fi. I understand a bit better now.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Sep 3, 2020
Spoilers.
With an awkwardly inconsistent quality in animation; a mostly tacky OST drowning out scenes; a central theme that gets old quick; an archetypal goody-goody, naive protagonist who is predictable; a plotline that is predictable because of the protagonist; cliched, over-the-top scenes that take me out of the experience, such as when this one cat literally throws a punch at Louis because he lost an acting part just so Legosi can block and appear noble to the audience, when Legosi tackles a tiger conveniently trying to assassinate Louis at that moment, when it just has to be the main heroine who gets captured when she wasn’t
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even being specifically targeted, when the villains take their time and fuck around because they collectively took the class called villain 101, when a comrade initially opposed to a high-risk mission later joins anyway because the hero’s determination moved them, or when there’s a love triangle between the most important characters (which I was fine with, but damn I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t getting old); this show was highly problematic for me.
You could argue that cliches aren’t necessarily detrimental to the stories when used effectively, but you can’t argue that I enjoyed them. Because I didn’t.
However, putting aside all the flaws, I liked pretty much everything else about the show. I loved the impromptu play, and I loved how all the characters were internally conflicted, like real people.
In conclusion, though, I can only say that the show was great, and could have been so much greater had it not resorted to easy, sure-fire cliches.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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May 29, 2020
This is a terse, spoiler-free review.
Referring to my personal list: Originally ranked below Kyoukai no Kanata with an 8.5 upon finishing, it jumped all the way down to 4.5 due to me seeing a review call the show "style over substance" and realizing that indeed the show has barely any substance of any kind, save for the last two episodes, which also weren't actually that great when I really think about what happened (more illogical mayhem). Thinking back to my time with the show, I also realized I didn't really enjoy it, to the point that I can remember Boogiepop (2019) being more interesting.
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It also lacks both comedy or drama, which is a rare feat of its own. The fast-paced nature of the show, along with the lavish usage of rare words such as "matrimonial" or "constitution" (instead of physique or body), I also realized, were all for style and carried nearly no weight nor demanded any response from the viewer except stupefied awe, which sadly seemed to have been successful against all the elitists and I, as I tried vainly to add meaning to all the meretricious monologues of the protagonist, not thinking once that it might all be a distraction for how little the show really has to offer to the viewers. All the subplots as well. And without good comedy (imagine) I sat through them, no thoughts in my mind except trying to keep up with all the meaningless subplots and characters, as they fucked around doing this prank or that for 9 episodes (the last 2 finally addressing the point of the show). I just think to myself: How tragic. If only I hadn't given a second thought regarding what the hell I just spent four hours watching, I would've left it at 8.5 and been content. Even a bit smug, perhaps, thinking I enjoyed something "deep."
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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