Kiznaiver
2016
Original language: Japanese
- sci-fi & fantasy
- animation
- drama
The story
The anime's setting is a fictional Japanese city named Sugomori City. One day, Noriko Sonosaki tells her classmate Katsuhira Agata, "You have been selected to be a Kiznaiver." The Kizuna System, which allows Katsuhira to share his wounds, connects him to the classmates whose lives and personalities completely differ from his. The Kizuna System is an incomplete system for the implementation of world peace that connects people through wounds. All those who are connected to this system are called Kiznaivers. When one Kiznaiver is wounded, the system divides and transmits the wound among the other Kiznaivers. Sugomori City is built on reclaimed land, but as the years go by, the city's population is decreasing. The story is set in this town where Katsuhira and the others live.
What it’s like
Bright, glossy digital animation with saturated pastels and hard neon accents, set in a sterile, half-finished seaside town of new towers, empty reclaimed flats and wide blue skies, where the ordinary school corridors feel slightly staged. Surreal pop-art flourishes spike whenever pain passes between bodies, and the synth-pop and rock score swings from bubbly to melancholy with little warning. The mood is restless and sun-bleached, a mix of goofy high-school warmth and raw, sometimes uncomfortable angst. Pacing is episodic and uneven, with comedy giving way abruptly to heavy emotional scenes. Injuries are shown on screen, with blood and visible pain, and there is some fan service, bullying and cruelty; it is not gentle. Its people's arcs trace seven classmates forced into closeness and slowly confronting what they feel for one another. Best for viewers who like emotionally messy, stylish high-school drama and don't mind a loud, uneven tone.
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