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 Stretch
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[series:1828#628] | ||||||
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(All episodes watched): Review not finished yet On the one hand Kaiba has gotten a lot of praise, and I felt I ought to watch it. On the other, I was afraid that it might be so far-out in an artistic manner that it wouldn't make a lick of sense to me. There was definitely a good deal of weirdness in episode one, but I was able to make some sense of it after awhile, which was a relief. I couldn't help worrying that I wasn't making as much sense of it as I might need to, however. When minds and bodies are interchangeable, and the bodies are drawn in a strange style which makes it hard to be sure who's human and who isn't, there's no telling exactly what's going on. For instance, why does Kaiba have a gaping hole in him? Is it a metaphor, or will it be explained eventually? Right from the start I was having a hard time telling who's who and who's what. I hoped I wouldn't have to catch every single point that is made to understand the story as a whole, because that clearly wasn't going to happen. Fortunately episode three made a good deal of sense and was fairly moving. I think I have caught up after being initially left behind. Sometimes I just don't get this show; like what was the relationship between the artificial body designer 'Patch' and his dog, 'Quilt'? Why did he transfer his eyes to his dog? Was that symbolic somehow? I'm sure it would be moving--if I wasn't scratching my head so much. On the other hand, when I try to envisage what Kaiba would be like if it had chosen to go with realistic character designs and backgrounds instead of the 'cartoony' ones, I can't see it working nearly as well. In a way, this show is a sort of morality play, with relatively simple yet thought-provoking messages presented to the viewer via bizarre circumstances (like mixing and matching minds and bodies). It seems to me that trying to make it more 'realistic' would be highly difficult and might only distract attention from the basic messages. When the story moved to the Issoudan group in episode eight, I quickly lost track of exactly what was going on. I worry that I have missed what body Kaiba's mind is in now. This is an inherently confusing show, especially if you have a poor memory for names and character designs, like me. While definitely interesting, at the moment I can't see it as the brilliant work which it has sometimes been claimed to be. During the first half of episode nine I seemed to be falling farther and farther behind in terms of my comprehension of what was going on, and as a result I was tempted to abandon the series as a whole. During the second half I got a grip again as I realized where Kaiba's mind has wound up (even though I have no idea why). For me, watching Kaiba seems like watching a show in which you know that you will miss an episode every now and then, and you have no choice but to piece together the storyline based on what you manage to see. That's because things which I don't understand largely refuse to register in my memory, instead they get dumped, and I have to make the best of the perhaps 50% of the show which made sense to me. Is there something wrong with me, or do others feel as bewildered at times as I do? The artsy-ness may do more harm than good when it comes to following the storyline. I wish I had paid closer attention to the rules about what is and isn't possible in this world, because the show doesn't give you much of a chance to come up to speed afterwards. In episode ten I was asking myself things like 'wasn't that guy trying to kill Kaiba in the last episode, yet now he presents himself as a friend'? 'Was the guy in the last episode an imposter'? or, 'has Kaiba's memory gone blank again since then'? This episode was actually kind of cool for awhile, as understandable, intriguing events moved at a decent pace. Apparently even getting splattered can be undone here! Well, I still have one episode to go, but I fear that my conclusions on Kaiba won't change much: a show which confused me right from episode one, and didn't seem interesting enough to be worth the re-watching and note taking that would have been necessary to make complete sense of it. So, I only understood the basics of the fairly complex story, which left me frustrated and feeling that watching additional episodes was more of a chore than a joy. There are so damn many lookalike Kaibas that I can't tell who is who or what is going on. Late in the show it dawned on me that the 'good' Kaiba had gone bad for awhile--I had thought two different people were involved, but in fact they were both the same one in different moods... I guess. The problem is, if there's no telling what's true and what's false throughout the show, how can the way everything ends make any sense? The ending was all news to me, anyhow; even if I had understood everything, what would have been the message? Lines like "She was turned into an animal that cannot speak, yet she watched over you!" made me want to beat my head against a wall. No doubt people with strong memories and a willingness to figure out cryptic mysteries will get more enjoyment out of this show than I did. Well, at least now I can say that I have watched Kaiba--just don't ask me to explain it to you, because that gives me a headache. Come to think of it, if someone asks me if I have seen this show, maybe I should just say 'no'. Last updated Monday, March 07 2011. Created Wednesday, January 26 2011. | ||||||||
| Buy | 6 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:1828#1552] |
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(Buy-/ Rent+) Kaiba was quite the unusual title for me when I first started watching it. A young man with amnesia is being chased around by crazy looking characters with some bizarre settings and folks having the ability to switch bodies. The visuals took some getting use to as they looked quite simple and had minimum detail. But the story as a whole is what made Kaiba a worthwhile title for me. The series mixes around exploring details on Warp's past and the world of the series. The first half of the series is mostly spent on traveling world to world as Warp tries reaching the planet which houses all of humanity's memories and the second half explores Warp's past. The first half introduces you to a number of characters that assist Warp in his journey and allow you to become connected with their lives in relation to the transfer of bodies and memories. The interchanging of bodies and memories is the most original premise I've seen from an anime in recent years. For the world of this series, such technological means bring about questions of morality and identity as the technology allows one's memories to be altered, at the mercy of others when without a body, sold on the black market and cause one to be conflicted with one's sense of self as they become attached to memories and a body that may not be their own. Despite the light-hearted appearance of the series, its subject material is quite dark as it also dabbles into a corrupt world where the wealthy are free to commit any corrupt action they desire and the poor are struggling to get by with getting better bodies for themselves and their loved ones. Many of the characters introduced in the series are not as they appear as some seemingly corrupt characters do have their redeemable moments and others do not appear as friendly and sympathetic on the surface as they seem. The show's soundtrack is also worth mentioning as it has mellow and light tunes that do well at complementing the mood of this series. Much of the second half does enough at exploring Warp's past as he comes to realize his connections to certain characters and that he is one who has a lot of power and authority in the world of Kaiba, as well as having a tragic upbringing. The second half is built up solidly as what is unveiled on Warp's past mostly makes sense considering the bits of foreshadowing that earlier episodes of the series brought up with Warp and those that he encounters. The only major ripples with the build up in Kaiba's second half is the abrupt appearance of another character whose involvement with events leading up to the finale wasn't too widely hinted about and the uncertain nature of what ultimately happens after everything is wrapped up. Beyond my gripes with the ending and the visuals, Kaiba was a worthwhile watch thinks to its plot build-up and original premise which did well at hooking me to the show for its short run. Last updated Saturday, January 22 2011. Created Saturday, January 22 2011. | ||||||||
| Watch | 9 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 7 |
 chibi
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[series:1828#2380] |
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Kaiba awakens without memories of who he is or how he got there, and begins a quest to find the girl whose image he wears in a locket, the only link he has to his past. But what does it mean to search for somebody in a world where a 'person' can be transferred from one body to another, or duplicated and stored in a database? A world where memories and bodies can be commodities that are bought and sold? The first thing that strikes you about Kaiba is the animation, which is definitely not like your run-of-the-mill anime. The closest I can think of is the animation in Yellow Submarine, with bulgy organic-like structures that morph. But if you can see past the surreal artwork, there is a real story behind it, with strong sci-fi and drama themes, along with a gentle humor and some very good music. Update: Oh, too bad! The dreaded inscrutable ending got this one. Darn, and I was enjoying it so much. Japanese sci-fi anime really needs to learn how to limit its scope and avoid the temptation to reconstruct reality in the last episode. Last updated Saturday, November 08 2008. Created Tuesday, May 13 2008. | ||||||||
