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Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress |OT| The Real AOTS (Attack on Titan Stand-In)

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Jotamide

Unconfirmed Member
Watched the first 2 episodes and it's just 3edgy5me.
 
I'd actually say that it being so close to Attack on Titan actually did a lot more for me liking this show as it really showed where AoT was lacking and where this show was succeeding. I generally don't give a fuck about derivative works as long as the execution is good and to be honest, the execution for this show is pretty damn good. You could point out something you liked about AoT and I could probably point out how Kabaneri does it better (except maybe for the effectiveness of the monsters in how scary/threatening they are). Every time someone compares it it's like "If you sat them right next to each other why would you ever prefer AoT?"
 
Finally, Amazon Prime is good for something.

Just watched all three eps available so far. MC is more appealing than Eren, and Mumei and train conducting girl (best girl) are great as well, but I'm not really feeling the other chars. Still better than AoT's first three episodes and I'm sticking with the series.
 
Episode three continues to impress in pacing, characterization, and design.

Kabaneri is nicely filling the hole left by Iron Blood Orphans for me.
 
?

This isn't even an edgy show, let alone the edgiest show of the season. It's a zombie story so unless you consider those edgy then...

What is the edgiest of the season? I think the other person was referring to the gore and atmosphere, I don't know anything else this season that's comparable.
 

Dennis

Banned
Mumei is a Mary Sue.

There is less of a mystery feeling than AoT. Zombies, that is it. And Mumei already explained Karbaneri.

The art is good.

Not super sold on the characters.
 

T-Rex.

Banned
I swear the front of the train looks like Alphonse Elric at times. Sweet visuals and action once again.

American guy is best character.
 

kirblar

Member
Having one American character is the most random thing to rip off from AoT. :p (Inverting Mikasa being the only Asian character in AoT)
 

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
Really couldn't get behind the idiot balls this episode but it was nice to have that reach the logical end point.
 

RangerBAD

Member
That one guy was scheming all last episode. Nice to see him get comeuppance. Last week, Ayame was really strong and fearless, but she gave up control so meekly this week. I think that'll probably stop after this episode.
 

Jarmel

Banned
Kabaneri-4
RabQWqa.jpg
So episode 4 serves as the closing of the introductory arc. It's weird because I've never seen a show have such a sense of finality and closure to it despite only being four episodes into a full cour. The way I would describe it is the ending to a miniseries. I'm actually curious as to whether Kabaneri was initially developed as a short series or OVA run and was fleshed out to 12 episodes for TV. I know that would be highly unusual so I doubt that's the actual case, however elements such as the pacing and character development in this episode seem like a better fit for the end of a cour. The reason I'm describing this episode in these terms is two-folds.
The first reason is the initial 10 minutes of the episode in which the show has the dumb
adult villagers taking control and fucking up as expected. Now this naturally builds upon the previous episode's setup however it comes across as perfunctory in nature due to the pacing. The villager's challenging Ayame is fine as a plot point however the half-assed way Ayame gives up control didn't set right with me. This is a woman who was essentially trained from birth to be a leader and she just goes 'welp whatever' with little serious internal questioning on her part. There needed to have been more groundwork with her voicing that self-doubt and also having the villagers be presented as a viable alternative. The villagers then do a series of obvious dumb ass decisions resulting in half the train being dead in a period of three minutes.
It's comes off as Okouchi knowing he had to do this plot point and wanted to wrap it up quickly instead of actually being interested in the short subplot. It just begs the question of why? This is in addition to some bizarre aspects like Sukari and Kajika being thrown into the back with Mumei and Ikoma. There's no reason characters in the show would lump them together. It's just lazy and contrived writing. We also had to have the Kabaneri locked up so the super Samurai Kabane can come and massacre everybody. Not to mention the sequences have extremely ridiculously convenient timing such as just before the Kabaneri cart is about to be cut off, a group of Kabane attack stopping the villagers. Piss poor writing on multiple fronts.
The second reason is due to the ending which has Ikoma getting blood and becoming a badass. It made me wonder if I had accidentally watched episode 6 by mistake. He even reverses Mumei's line and uses an one-liner from episode 3. Wut? Didn't anybody think it was a little early for that? Dude should still be scrub tier in his fighting. In the scene afterwards, Ikoma is talking about his sister and it had an irregular sense of closure along with the group shot that screams a 'And our battles continue on...' sort of ending. This is reinforced with the bright green color usage, in contrast to the earlier sickly green, and sunlight.
wehqTJE.jpg
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This part of the sequence has good framing.
kXVGszF.jpg

This not so much.
As for the direction, it was definitely reminiscent of the first episode, which is to say 'loud'. Sawano vocals blaring at the usual junction points and moments. There's also the above scene which just screamed Araki and made me think he at least storyboarded the episode. Obviously I was wrong but it has that theatrical Snyder-like flair that I attribute to Araki. I like the visual framing of the shots in the sequence but it's also a bit too much. Ayame's blood flying past is great but the shot with
him licking her finger is kinda cheesy
.
In regards to the animation, WIT be struggling. Surprise, everybody. I bet nobody saw that coming. There were heavy usages of still-frames with speedlines on the side, not just for the crowds as used in the past, but also during some the action sequences. It's still not as bad as the low points in shows like Seraph of the End but the seams are definitely becoming undone. There were some examples of good animation such as one of the dramatic explosions but then you would have janky running scenes right after. The fight sequences in general didn't have the visual oomph that other episodes had. The last fight with Ikoma vs Samurai Kabane was pretty anti-climatic and flat for whatever reason. There were also less high quality close-ups.
FODlG9t.jpg

So when does season 2 come out?
Staff be slippin'.
 
Kabaneri episode 4

Episode was hype and all, passed the 4 episode rule with flying colors except for some downgrades to quality which is expected.

But lmao was the smiling baby necessary at the end? It's like we get it, people are happy, but that smiling baby was like a punch to the gut in framing/symbolism.
 

trembli0s

Member
Pretty enjoyable, some animation slippage but overall the execution is still pretty spot on.

The thing with Ayame has been referenced since the first episode with the douche villagers looking to take control since her father died. It also wasn't a big stretch with the "Mumei killed pregnant lady and Ikoma tried to drink me" scene from the last episode.

She was at a low point with the villagers from a trust perspective after those events.

I did think the finger licking was a little on the nose though. Would have been better off with a more visceral/physical interaction like taking the wrist or her cupping the hand. Maybe they're trying to assert that she's the boss and he isn't.
 
This show is so fucking good. 99% of anime anymore is total trash (especially this season with flops like MHA) but kabaneri is part of the privileged 1%
 

Cornbread78

Member
Not too bad overall. It was good to see Ikuma had to step up this episode to save the day instead of Mumei like usual. I also hope that Katana jerk will stay on the Kabaneri train now and stop being an ass. Blood, blood for both of them!
 

Kinyou

Member
I found it hilarious that the lady almost guts her own arm and then he apparently needed just a few drops of blood.
 
So in discussion of his heart, why did he even make it into a Ranged weapon? Seems like he uses it like a melee jackhammer type weapon with explosives since he seems to get right to their chest so it works.
 

Ruruja

Member
I watched episodes 2, 3 and 4 last night. I was mightily impressed with the first episode and I have to say it's just fantastic. The characters look amazing, and there's been a lot of nice animations and fighting. I vastly prefer it to AoT.
 
I watched episodes 2, 3 and 4 last night. I was mightily impressed with the first episode and I have to say it's just fantastic. The characters look amazing, and there's been a lot of nice animations and fighting. I vastly prefer it to AoT.
So far the gimmick hasn't changed the show. Attack on Titan had the cool Spiderman shit and that should've been enough, but then it had to change to Titan wonder twin powers.
 
So I'm trying to figure out the rules of the kabane. How quickly do people turn? Also those suicide bags have had wildly different effects within these first 4 episodes.
 

TUSR

Banned
Also those suicide bags have had wildly different effects within these first 4 episodes.
I'm sure there isn't a valid explanation for this.

When I watched it last night, I knew something felt off when a whole armored train car exploded from one bag.
 

Ruruja

Member
I'm sure there isn't a valid explanation for this.

When I watched it last night, I knew something felt off when a whole armored train car exploded from one bag.

Wasn't the guy in the latest episode laid against some explosive barrels? Don't ask me why they had explosive barrels on the train but that's what it looked like.
 
It was a good episode. I just wish Ikoma's fight was a bit longer, not too big of an issue though. However the freaking smiling baby. My cheese detectors went off the scale for that part. Lmao
 
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