Koutetsujou no Kabaneri

Title:Koutetsujou no Kabaneri
Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
甲鉄城のカバネリ
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Wit Studio
HATANAKA Tasuku
SENBONGI Sayaka
On the island country Hinomoto, humans hide themselves in fortresses called "stations" against the threat of zombie-like beings with steel hearts known as "Kabane." Only armored locomotives known as "Hayajiro" go between the stations.
(Summary Courtesy of Anime News Network)


Series premiered on April 7, 2016.

12 episodes
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 9 9 9 6 5 5 Ggultra2764 [series:3173#1552]
Kabaneri had me drawing parallels to Attack on Titan in a number of ways with its premise from the abnormal enemy threat threatening humanity to a male lead who finds himself becoming abnormal himself in a personal crusade against said enemy. Perhaps if Kabaneri had time to explore its world and properly developed its characters, it could become something unique to stand on its own two feet as it did some potential of this with the mix of steampunk elements and a feudal Japanese setting. Unfortunately, the series advances by at a rather quick pace with its plot thus limiting any time that the series could devote to the mentioned elements. A shame too, as this is a beautifully drawn and well-animated anime that does a great job of showing off the train technology employed by humans to travel between cities while protected against the kagane threat and some nice combat scenes against them. As it is, Kabaneri feels like a shallow clone of Attack on Titan that may have been more had the show's creators given it more episodes to further develop its world and characters.

Last updated Friday, November 02 2018. Created Friday, November 02 2018.
Rent Stretch [series:3173#628]
(Rent- or Watch+)

(All episodes watched):

This show reminds me somewhat of Attack on Titan, with isolated, fortified human communities surrounded by hordes of terrifying semi-human enemies--zombies, or 'corpses' in this case. Likewise, the protagonist is a half-human, half-monster. One difference is that more than one human fortress exists and the only way to travel between the 'stations' is by armored locomotives. Kabaneri is literally steampunk, with the trains and since about the only effective weapon against the corpses are steam-driven pile-drivers which can penetrate some sort of armored shell which surrounds their hearts. It seemed kind of cool right from the start. I got a so-so idea of what's going on, but was left confused by a number of things at the end. Where did Corpses come from? Why do they have 'Heartcages'? How does the government work? Some sort of feudal class structure seems to be in place, with grubby looking commoners and finely dressed Samurai-like 'knights' who tell them what to do. And what the hell did protagonist Ikoma do to himself after he was bitten by a Corpse? Will he be some sort of half human, half Corpse superman? (he will). The story could have been told better. But this show seemed neat enough that I decided that I would watch some more, to see if it developed into a really intriguing tale.

I was annoyed by the impossible, superhuman gymnastics of a girl ('Ms. No-Name')--until a plausible explanation for them was put forward. Somebody should have said 'How the f--- does that girl do these things'? I want to know whether the anime I'm watching takes the laws of physics seriously or is trying to thrill me by making thoroughly impossible stuff somehow become possible for anyone who is cool enough. It reinforces my feeling that a number of important details have been left out of this series, as if the plot of the manga had been hacked into pieces, and the biggest ones were stitched together for the anime but smaller ones were discarded. It's as if the writers of the anime were operating on the assumption that viewers would already be familiar with the manga and therefore there was no need to restate every detail.

Ikoma's declaration that his goal was to kill every corpse caused another moment of Attack on Titan deja-vu for me. I can't believe that the similarities are just a coincidence. It seems like somebody said to themself 'what if the same basic plot of AoT was given different monsters...?'. I recall that AoT got off to a fantastic start but was ultimately a massive disappointment, while Kabaneri, in contrast, seems to have gotten off to a modestly good start. I would much prefer an anime which maintains modest quality from start to finish than another which raises false hopes then crashes and burns. So far, I think I understand what's going on and am curious how things will work out. I was hoping that Ikoma would ask the gymnastic girl how she became a 'demi-corpse', if she knew of any others, etc, etc, but that didn't happen.

Episode four, with a desperate battle against Corpses which have gotten aboard the armored train, was exciting and engaging, and had the classic mark of a good episode: it moved so fast that it was almost over when it seemed that it had barely begun. For the moment, the plot is about avoiding a fate worse than death, and that is exciting all by itself. Why the train is trying to reach a certain destination is something I don't know, but I don't mind not knowing either. For the most part the fight scenes are well animated, with the characters using the incredible agility which being a demi-corpse has bestowed upon them to fight in novel and highly gymnastic manners; a substitute for the system of cables from which the characters in Titan swung, perhaps.

I don't understand why Ms. No-Name, who was (and probably still is) the most ass-kicking character in this show, experienced a total meltdown of self-confidence and proclaimed herself to be 'weak' in episode six. Something about her past experiences? But why would that surface now? Whatever the case may be, she seems to shake it off pretty quickly, which is hardly realistic or believable. It doesn't make sense, and confuses me. Fortunately, the story gets back on balance quickly. Episode seven is indicative of how much fun the story has become because it is quite entertaining even though not a single Corpse (or anyone else) is dispatched during it. Instead, already interesting characters get some additional development.

In episode eight, the revelation of the secret weapon that Lord Biba's knights used against corpses made me burst out laughing, and laugh harder than I usually do while watching a week's worth of anime comedies. Let's just say that coolness was clearly being given priority over plausibility. Still a laugh is a laugh, and like I said, this was a pretty good one; perhaps the best joke of the Spring 2016 season, even though it (probably) wasn't meant to be a joke at all. Otherwise, Biba represents a new complication for the efforts of the Iron Fortress to reach it's destination (again, I forget why getting to this place is so critical; I wish it had been made more clear that this was important).

Eh, I don't like the direction this show is going since Lord Biba turned up. This guy is super handsome, super deadly, but also super evil, which means he has a cardboard personality. He cares more about his personal vendetta with the Shogun than the fate of what's left of the human race. As such, he and the story since he appeared seem extremely melodramatic to me. His crazy notion that only the strong survive, and therefore the ends justify the means, seems exaggerated to say the least. Biba's vengeance is so extreme and his behavior (and the behavior of the countless minions who unquestioningly obey him) is so irrational that I can't take them seriously. If this story had been told with a little more care, the various atrocities which Biba commits in episode nine would make me hate him, but, while I don't like him, he doesn't seem to count as a genuine personality so I can't care all that much. I think the story went off on a bad tangent when this guy arrived.

What Biba does at Koukaku City (or whatever) was so corny and ridiculous that I could only roll my eyes. And the way everyone reacts like chickens with their heads cut off made me want to beat my own head against a wall. And his secret weapon, 'The Smog' makes no sense to me either. Threats have got to be fairly understandable and plausible to excite us; but nobody has offered any explanation of what the f--- this is and how it works. This show has gone from a gripping tale about whether the fairly interesting people aboard the Iron Fortress would escape from the corpses and reach safety to a ludicrous one about this idiotic guy who can only be insane.

I almost didn't watch the final episode, because I feared that it would only leave me with an even worse taste in my mouth than I already had. But ultimately I did, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared. The bad guys get what they deserve and there's a happy ending for the people aboard the Iron Fortress. I was seriously uncertain whether some major characters would survive the episode, which is a sign that it wasn't completely predictable and formulaic. On the other hand, a feat Ikoma performed during the episode seemed so unlikely that it almost made me laugh. Other than that, the climax was fairly plausible and I guess it ended OK. If the situation that was created in episode 11 was ridiculous, at least the way the cast got out of trouble largely made sense. The story is still obviously far from over, with the Iron Fortress still looking for a safe place to deposit it's passengers. But with Lord Biba dead the story might get back on track (Ha!) and I would watch another season.

Last updated Thursday, August 04 2016. Created Wednesday, April 20 2016.

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Official Japanese Series Web Site http://kabaneri.com/

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