Koutetsujou no Kabaneri/Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress

[Shradow]

 

As the world is in the middle of an industrial revolution, a monster appears that cannot be defeated unless its heart, which is protected by a layer of iron, is pierced. By infecting humans with its bite, the monster can create aggressive and undead creatures known as Kabane. On the island Hinomoto, located in the far east, people have built stations to shelter themselves from these creatures. People access the station, as well as transport wares between them, with the help of locomotives running on steam, called Hayajiro.

 

Sort of like a steam punk Attack on Titan, the first episode was really cool. Stunning visuals and awesome music by Sawano Hiroyuki.

[vla1ne]

[spoiler=Episode 1] I love it. the overall story feels like AoT, but the method of execution is 10/10 right now. not to mention it's steampunk, so it gets points for that alone. and dear gods, that entire invasion scene was wonderful, the portion where he choked himself to deprive the virus of oxygen/trick it into thinking he was dead was metal as funk.

 

 

[spoiler=episode 2]Delayed, because tectonic plates hate anime

 

[Progenitor]

Really liking the concepts in this one so far.  At the very least the premise is interesting.  This could wind up being super lame or turn into something super cool.

[vla1ne]

[spoiler=Highlight of episode 6] 

 

Does she lift? Yes. Yes she does.

 

 

 

nothing more needs to be said. loving the series so far, and that just lifted the episode from a 8 to a 9.

[mitchermitcher]

Muscle waifu's really making some splashes online ever since that episode.

 

I'm not exactly sure where this show is going and I look forward to finding out.

 

inb4 the train was kabane all along reveal

[Fusion X. Denver]

The production values on this show are insane, but just what I love from an Araki-directed anime.

I'm glad I caught up with this show, it's a lot of fun. Though I feel like it being capped at 12 episodes will work against it in the end.

[vla1ne]

the thing working hardest against it right now was that kabane conglomeration. not saying it wasn't decent, but it threw me off hard. it was executed well, but it was a relatively large blow to the immersion. I don't know why they chose that route though, so they might explain it in an episode or two.

 

also, this is an original anime, so if they really want, they can wrap it up loosely at 12, and then bring it back in a year or so to expand if the fans want more of the universe.

[Progenitor]

The funking engrish engineer is the best character in the whole damn series.

Like holy crap I haven't laughed so hard at such gratuity since Stardust Crusaders.

[mitchermitcher]

I have a feeling engrishbro was added after seeing how well the overseas reception was or something. Dude literally didn't exist until like, episode 3 onwards I think.

 

the thing working hardest against it right now was that kabane conglomeration. not saying it wasn't decent, but it threw me off hard. it was executed well, but it was a relatively large blow to the immersion. I don't know why they chose that route though, so they might explain it in an episode or two.

 

also, this is an original anime, so if they really want, they can wrap it up loosely at 12, and then bring it back in a year or so to expand if the fans want more of the universe.

The weird conglomeration thing made me think this show would work pretty well as a video game actually, with said thing being like a mid-boss or something. Not sure what genre or mechanics such a game would have but it could be really interesting.

[mitchermitcher]

WOW THAT NEW EPISODE

 

Probably my favorite episode by far. It's slower paced and is packed chock full of small things that just work out really well. Stuff like the comedic timing was great and was just enough to make the characters(read: Kurusu) endearing without being too jarring considering the tone of the show, or little things like Musclegirl gesturing cuttin her wrists to mean blood being lunch. We have a new, proper motivation for Ikoma(wanting to turn Mumei back to being human, and on a smaller scale, discovering what sort of person 'Ani-sama' is). The Tanabata scene was just amazing overall too, and I unironically feel Ikoma might just be MC of the season. I love that I'm starting to feel the direction the show's going and now I really, really hope this thing's at least a split cour, if not two cours long.

[Progenitor]

"Daita Iron-des"

 

I'm dead.

[a bad post]

Not gonna lie Muscle-chan was the only reason I started watching this. I'm pretty sure she turned me into a lesbian.

[Progenitor]

It's like straight up Zarya but less Russian and less particle beam technology.

 

I don't have a problem with this

[Shradow]

I always enjoy blatantly foreign characters who use Engrish.

 

This new episode was cool, we got to see the Survey Corps Hunters Kabane Moto Cops in action. As expected, though, Mumei's brother is a total jackwagon.

[Progenitor]

Dude has stupid fckin hair

I need him dead

Thank god he was actually a deeck so I can continue hating him

[Shradow]

Dude has stupid fckin hair

 

 

Dude's an jabroni but his hair is beautiful. D:<

[a bad post]

Dude has stupid fckin hair

I need him dead

Thank god he was actually a deeck so I can continue hating him

That's not even the worse fashion offense in this show. No the worse thing is that protag wears his glasses with the one eye that is exposes lost its lens, and the eye that's covered is the one with the lens. Like wtf is that??

[Aix]

What's the big deal about being a Kabaneri? Should women just always rely on others to protect them?

 

Why'd the guy have to be so blatantly evil? Why can't we have some grey morality? A conflict of ideologies rather than good and evil?

[Shradow]

What's the big deal about being a Kabaneri? Should women just always rely on others to protect them?

 

Pretty sure it's not that. Personally, I think the ideologies he forced on Mumei when she was so young are incorrect, especially since they pushed her into becoming a Kabaneri in order to fight and get in life threatening situations, despite being so young. I think that's what Ikoma has a problem with.

 

Also, a little girl is clutching her dead mother and being threatened by a man with a gun, and instead of helping her himself, he throws her a sword and says she should fight and kill to stay alive. That's just messed up, and something different from wanting to be strong to protect yourself. Far too extreme.

[Fusion X. Denver]

Yeah, the brother could be executed as a better or more interesting character, but it's not really detracting from my enjoyment of the show. I'm not really expecting or looking for anything too deep or meaningful from Kabaneri; it's more of a slick action/style, alternate AOT take for me and so far it's doing its job.

[vla1ne]

[spoiler=after taking the time to watch 2 episodes in a row]

 

alright, in this episode, they decided to draw parallells between ikoma and bieber, they both have similar ideologies, but the few differences led them to opposed outcomes. on one hand, bieber doesn't appear to care about people not willing to fight to the point of killing or abandoning them to die, while ikoma appears to actively care about even the weakest member of the crew, and even if he's more than willing to get a bit physical about it when it comes down to people being ignorant, he has a clear reluctance to kill, even when the person is asking for it.

 

 

bieber doesn't feel irredeemably evil to me as of yet. definitely ruthless, definitely manipulative, and he does get off on death, but he doesn't feel evil just yet. his ideals aren't completely wrong (when there's a zombie apocalypse, the strong will fight to live, and the weak had best git gud before they get killed), and his morals (essentially brainwashing a child) could use work, but he does seem to have his heart in the right place probably in that big blue cage behind him. he appears to have the trust of his team, and the past few episodes, while hinting at his ruthlessness, have also hinted that he's the victim of a larger scheme, most noticable during the interrogation, where it's hinted that his dad pulled a coward move and had him abandoned, so this might be him about to bring his salt back to cash in at the capital. that might also be the reason that mumei lost that one comrade in a flashback. i expect at least two twists in the next 3 episodes from that alone. 

 

but onto the juice. ikoma needs to practice his conversational skills. I knew it from episode 1, but he's really screwing things up with his blunt attitude. he meets the dude and goes right in for direct confrontation, in addition, instead of figuring out why bieber killed the guy who was planning to kill him, he goes off on him for killing somebody who clearly would have given approximately 0 f***s about killing him. the worst one though was definitely the mumei discussion. hard logic isn't the easiest of pills to swallw, and he tries to shove it down her throat, despite knowing she's worked with bieber for far longer, the dude has to work on his approach strategy.

 

mumei is half brainwashed 12 year old semi-zombie warrior who was forced to kill a man shortly after her mother died in front of her. so she gets a pass here, but i suspect ikomas words are going to stick with her for a while. in the future, i predict she'll side with them, but either get horribly wounded or die. she's got enough death flags from episode 7 that i can say with confidence that she's about to suffer like hell, be it mentally or physically.

 

princess madoka and best girl didn't have much of an appearance, but they appear to be developing their own suspicions. i do have to wonder that the hell would have happened had princess madoka actually given mumei the master key before best girl came in with the boiler dupe. also, the flexing scene was just beautiful fanservice. kind of made the discussion less serious, but it was good nonetheless.

 

that scientist looked pretty intrigued at the thought of a natural kabaneri, if he doesn't get more screentime i'm gonna riot. i assume he also had something to do with that room full of kabane/ the blue heart. honestly, scientists and engineers are often the most fun characters in any story.

 

 

speaking of engineers, the engrish gentleman didn't even appear this episode. i kind of miss him already.

 

for a completely unrelated topic, the soldiers with bieber seem to go balls deep no matter what. the got bit and killed himself with no issues whatsoever. i get the feeling everybody on the ship's a blood knight, and the blue haired guy who decided using a knife to kill a bug is kind of making me more sure about that. not to mention it appears many of them might be kabaneri, or at least the ones with no masks on their faces might be. 

 

 

 

speaking of kabaneri, it's pretty much confirmed that these guys are likely to be responsible for the birth of that big bastard two episodes back right? if so, then i wonder what/who the core will be composed of the next time. don't act like it's not going to happen, that kind of enemy always makes an appearance again near the endgame of any anime it's included in.

 

 

also, last thing, why exactly did nobody share their weapon blueprints before this? if thety already had the top tier guns, rides, and explosives, then why exactly didn't they at least loan out the blueprints?

 

 

 

[Shradow]

[spoiler=after taking the time to watch 2 episodes in a row]also, last thing, why exactly did nobody share their weapon blueprints before this? if thety already had the top tier guns, rides, and explosives, then why exactly didn't they at least loan out the blueprints?

 

 

Are you referring to the Kotetsujou crew or the Hunters Kabene Moto Cops, or just other people in general? This is the first station with people in it the Kotetsujou guys have managed to get to, so this was their first opportunity. As for the Kabane Moto Cops, maybe they just want their stuff to be a secret.

[vla1ne]

the hunters. i can understand the kotetsujou crew not being able to do so, but the hunters are just being dicks if they are refusing to give up their fighting tech. they're worshipped like gods, but aside from the kabaneri creation, there's nothing they have that they shouldn't be able to share or trade.

 

sure, they can be selfish if they want, but it just seems like it'd be inefficient given his stance on strong vs weak. you'd think that if he really wanted people to get strong, he'd at least give then the chance to craft better weapons.

[Shradow]

Might be part of the whole political struggle or whatever that seems to be going on, Biba wouldn't want his enemies to gain access to their tech.

[vla1ne]

it;s gotta suck when even near the end of the world humans want each other dead. makes for great entertainment, but if it turns out that way in real life, It'd be like sitting next to idiots in hell.