Kiznaiver- 10
If Nico's happy then I'm happy.
Well that was depressing. It's kinda hard to comment on the show as there isn't that much thematic depth to it and instead it's being driven almost purely by the character interactions and drama. It's a good thing then that those elements are fairly interesting and riveting. This episode serves as a sort of cooldown episode after all the pain from last week and, surprisingly enough, jumps past the summer. I thought they would make a big event about losing the Kiznaiver connection and instead they jump past it.
I loved this sequence for a number of reasons. One being the lack of background as it helps make the characters stand out more and emphasizes the space between them due to there not being any physical objects or really anything there. The bright colors serve as a contrast to the dark color palette in the past few episodes. You could say the dark colors were a reflection of the inner turmoil and strong emotions boiled up in the cast but here, there's an apathetic response to each other and the colors are kinda plain in response.
The audience can also see just from the body language, with the slumped shoulders, as to the mental state of the cast. That along with the use of the cell phones again reaffirms the mental separation between the characters. Use of text messages is viewed as being detached from the other party, so I thought it was fitting that the director used it here as a way of showing the character relationships breaking apart. Not to mention the characters aren't facing each other or Kazuhira and so the audience nor Katsuhira can see what they're thinking. I think that is particularly effective in
Kiznaiver's case as so much emotion is depicted in the eyes and it's fairly easy to read what a character is thinking when the audience can see a person's face.
For example look at the above shot, you can see from the smirk and eyes that the teacher is mocking Chidori with the intent to emotionally hurt her. He's a real piece of shit by the way. He knows exactly what he's doing and what the response will be. It's not just him though but also the mayor, with the closeup on the eyes at the end that signify that he's being serious with Urushii and that he's also giving her an implication as well. It adds a lot to a show like this when reading a facial expression or body language tells you something about their mindset.
Urushii looking sideways is both a sign of regret and embarrassment.
The character art in general has been really nice due in combination of the detailed closeups but also a strong emphasis on the lighting. There's been a lot of effort put into the layouts and framing and as a result, this is easily Trigger's best looking show despite the lack of insane sakuga. It's kinda funny watching this will all the emotive eyework after reading that animator's complaint about spending so much time on the eyes.
The ending was another great finish, continuing the show's current streak. Direction-wise, there's a strong use of color that aids the emotional impact of the moment. Seeing how lively these kids were in black and white and then how 'dead' they are in color, is an oxymoronical use of color. I also thought the shift at the end was a good way of connecting the past to the present and emphasizing the tragedy that has occurred. I have no clue how all the people who ran this aren't in jail. Katsuhira crying at the end was pretty brutal not only in how it was visually shown but also Yuki Kaiji putting in some of the best work of his life. It's a really ugly cry/scream on the audio side and in moments like that, the ugliness helps reflect the humanity in the character.
