Kiznaiver | Anime Review | Pinnedupink.com

Kiznaiver

Are you looking for a great Sci-Fi series that will make your thoughts go wild? Or would you rather watch a heartwarming romance that will set your soul ablaze? If you’re in the mood for both, then a series that meshes the two genres and allows them to flow concurrently in peace would be a godsend. All that’s missing is the glue that will keep them together; for that, we have the Drama! It sounds like a devious combination; making it work is a challenge.

Kiznaiver may just be the Anime to fit the spot perfectly! This 12 episode TV series aired from the 9th of April until the 25th of June as a Spring 2016 title. It was produced through the collective work of Aniplex, Movic, Ultra Super Pictures, Sammy, Asahi Broadcasting, and BS11, licensed by Aniplex of America and Crunchyroll and finally brought to life via Studio Trigger.

The primary staff behind it included Usa Yoshiki as Producer, Kameyama Toshiki as Sound Director, Kobayashi Hiroshi as Director, Episode Director, and Storyboard and Ootsuka Masahiko as Episode Director and Chief Producer. It features the aforementioned genres of Drama, Romance, and Sci-Fi, while receiving a rating of PG-13 for teens 13 years or older.

Kiznaiver is an original Anime series that got adapted into a manga with the same title from the 26th of March 2016 until the 27th of February 2017. This series was simultaneously published digitally via Crunchyroll.

It spanned two volumes under the Seinen demographic, was serialized by Dengeki Maoh, and was the work of Author Okada Mari and Artist Karegishi Roji. Additionally, a music video for the song "Hajimari no Sokudo" by Sangatsu no Phantasia was released under the same song title on the 1st of June 2016 via the Producers Sony Music Entertainment.

The story is built around Protagonist Katsuhira Agata, who is an everyday quiet and reserved teenage boy. He may seem to be a completely average boy, but his sense of pain is on the verge of completely vanishing. One of his close friends, Chidori Takashiro, can only faintly recall the days back when Katsuhira had undergone this particular and extreme change.

Katsuhira now possesses a bland, muffled, and complacent demeanor. This makes him a constant target for bullies in his surroundings, who grasp the chance to exploit him for egregious amounts of money. But due to the loss of his sense of pain, the bullies’ fists only cause him to blink merely because, at this point, even his own emotions were far out of his reach.

As days pass by in this emotionless manner, fate suddenly swoops in one day to flip the teenagers’ lives upside down. Katsuhira, Chidori, and four other teenagers are abruptly abducted and forced to join the “Kizuna System'' as official "Kiznaivers.” All the Kiznaivers taking part are connected through pain. Simply put, if one member gets injured, the others too will feel an equal amount of agony.

These individuals now caught up in this system are forced to become the lab rats and scapegoats of this incomplete and flawed setup, designed with purely “world peace” in mind. Now that their fates were quite literally intertwined and codependent, these Kiznaivers must learn to expose their true vulnerable selves to each other. If unable to, they risk a failure much more significant than just the twisted Kizuna System itself.

It is not rare to see friends, family, and loved ones in a state of despair in everyday life. They have sad, tragic days now and then, which is a theme vastly portrayed in Kiznaiver. This series emphasizes the bonds and relationships built around pain and sentiment. Katsuhira is modest, emotionless, slow, and feels no pain, and when put into the Kizuna system, he is obligated along with the others to bond for the sake of “World peace.”

This story has immense potential from the onset but ultimately gets congested with unnecessary distractions. Be it character development or drama; the series just goes far away from the original premise. Even though the series is built to be character-based, the character department is lackluster and ends up a flop.

The characters of Kiznaiver can be summed up as mild archetypes. Each of them was given archetypal roles as a form of symbolism, but sadly these were all there were to their individualities, never receiving proper backgrounds either. These were their sole purpose, and they amount to nothing more.

The show tries to be comedic while simultaneously serious, making it awkward, cringy, and weird. The only characters who got decent characterization were Honoka, Katsuhira, and Sononaki, albeit being weak. Katsuhira and Sonozaki were the only ones important to the series and had the potential to carry it on their shoulders but failed to do so.

The remaining characters are almost negligible and have little to no impact. Niko and Tenga are only there for comedic purposes, whose attempts become irksome and unnecessary. Hisomu was a totally random guy in the background who dropped occasional life lessons. Overall most of the characters have zero impact even by the finale, and all that a viewer would recall about them are their overdramatic personal issues.

The drama in Kiznaiver is overdone and ends up a terrible mess. These are entirely average teenagers just jumping at the first chance of conflict; not even one bit of maturity existed in their vast sea of juvenility. The romance was all over the place, absurd at times, lacking, and arbitrary. Their love interests made little sense and had little to zero development.

The plot relies on these interactions to move forward, reducing the characters to mere plot devices. They rushed the unsatisfactory development out of the characters so that the story could get going. Kiznaiver could’ve been much better if the characters were left to unravel their way out of the messed-up system, and failing to do so makes it feel incredibly rushed.

Even by the end, there are so many questions left unanswered and missing in-depth explanations. It doesn't put in much effort to give coherence to an already puzzling premise or adequately explain the system itself. In the end, all the transparent effort put into this anime fails due to too many inconsistencies.

The Art and Animation of Kiznaiver are exemplary. The art is satisfying, aspiring, crispy, sharp, and possesses excellent designs. The backdrops and sceneries are perfect, being both distinguishing and lively. The character designs are great, too, unique and defining. Visually, it's a great experience just to watch them do their thing in this anime.

Each character looked their part, and their appearances said a lot about their personalities. The colors are very vivid, intense, memorable, and bright. The Animation is pretty smooth as well. It feels like all the work that went into this aspect of the anime ultimately caused the Story and Characters to falter behind.

The Sounds and Music of Kiznaiver were works of art. The Opening theme is "LAY YOUR HANDS ON ME" by BOOM BOOM SATELLITES, and the Ending theme is “Hajimari no Sokudo" by Sangatsu no Phantasia. Both songs fulfill their purpose perfectly and appropriately, in an entertaining manner, no less.

The Opening grips viewers into the series and makes them want to watch more. The Ending relaxes the viewers and concludes each episode on a good note. Sadly though, in the eyes of some viewers, these songs aren't that memorable. The Voice Acting is either decent or good. Katsuhira, in particular, really stood out in this department with a likable performance, albeit not extraordinary.

Overall Kiznaiver executes its core genres poorly. The central premise was lost amidst too many distractions. The lack of in-depth explanations makes the Sci-Fi aspect redundant. By the end, you will feel that the series is lacking, except for the significant visual elements. If you wish to find an engaging story and characters, look elsewhere.

Perhaps if this series had more episodes to work with, it would have amounted to much more with its story and foremost goal. The execution of the characters and drama is terrible and thus loses its great potential. If you like the sound of what it has to offer, though, it's a great watch! Regardless, if you’re in the mood for an anime that is simply exhilarating and fun, Kiznaiver might be the one for you.