Kiba

Kiba is a Shounen, Fantasy, Action, Adventure about a world full of shard casters, which are people who can summon spells and spirits. The concept is great but the story is rather second-rate. The story follows the adventures of two separate boys (Zed and Noa), as they go through many different experiences in their different world, before both stories meet. Even though this anime series has a pretty unique concept of spirits, the story itself is told just like you average shounen anime, which ends up taking away quite a bit of the enjoyment of the show. However the simplistic story is still good enough anddoesn’t feel like it’s entirely dragged out, most of the time. There are also the whole nations at war plot and their relations, which helps give this series some much needed depth, plus there are plenty of plot twists to supplement it. The characters are probably the worst aspect of the series because they are all fairly one-dimensional and a lot of them go under drastic personality changes for no good reason. The poor dialogue doesn’t help much either, as they tend to spew out clichéd lines. The main character Zed is just as bad because he is a loud-mouth, simple-minded brat that does things senselessly. The only redeeming point has to be the way in which certain characters develop throughout the series. The animation quality of this series is of a pretty good standard; with plenty of effort put into the environments, the actual spells and appropriately used CG effects. On the other hand the character designs are really plain and the actual fights sequences were somewhat lacking, as if they cut some corners in production. The quality of sound is just as good; with some notably great tunes from the soundtrack and adequate ambient sounds but poor voice acting does take a few things away. Overall Kiba is a fairly entertaining shounen action adventure, with an erratic storyline. Because there was no clearly defined path, it just felt like the author was making stuff up as he goes along. One interesting thing is that during the action sequences, there are usually 2 fights going on (between the people and between their spirits). However this anime had a problem with leaving things unexplained or just doing a poor job explaining. If you are able to ignore the numerous faults, especially in the characters, you are sure to enjoy this series. ^_^

First of I just finished this and All i can say is WOW! Unlike a few animes of this type it really doesn't drag on and on. The story is constantly moving forward and keeping you well informed on whats going on with the characters and how they play their parts through out the anime. I was really suprised, when it started i thought it was going to be your average superpower good vs evil kinda thing, but in the end i was wrong. A good bit of twists, and things that may or may not keep you guessing. One of the best things ihave to say is there are hardly any dead spots, even with memories and flashback. This is my first review and i hope it can be of some help to some people.

In case you don't wanna read the whole thing, here's a summary of this review; Kiba is an original shounen fantasy anime from studio Madhouse and it's directed by Hiroshi Koujina (Hunter x Hunter 2011, Rainbow, etc). For a shounen, it has a relatively grim tone and adult themes that are more common in war dramas. But at the same time, it's set in a fantasy setting where people fight with swords and Pokemon-style monsters. It's not a perfect series, but if you want a well-paced, well-animated, dark, and complete shounen series with a reasonable episode count that isn't at the mercy of any sourcematerial (and isn't called Fullmetal Alchemist 2003), then I recommend giving it a try. And now for the full review: __*Story*__ As I said, Kiba takes place in a fantasy universe in which humans live on different nation planets and each planet has a vastly different way of life. Each seems to be a thinly veiled allegory to real world government systems (there's a democracy, a theocracy, a communist, and an imperialistic nation) and they're quite thoroughly explored in the narrative. Some of these planets have "Shard Casters" which is basically a warrior who casts spells or summons monsters through these marble thingies. Also Shard Casters normally use swords as well and fight together with the monster. This series uses these elements not in having friendly battles that are just for fun, but in real wars between different nation planets, in which people actually end up dead most of the time. And even though this series has little to no blood in it, characters die in very brutal ways and life is very cheap. The story centers on a troublemaking boy who manages to stumble in to another planet while running from the authorities on his home planet and where he eventually becomes a Shard Caster. Throughout the series, he learns about different ways of life, interacts/fights many different character, and enters many scenarios that continue to shape him as the series advances. I don't want this review to be a synopsis, but what I will say is that the heart and soul of the series is the conflict between the main character, Zed, and his former best friend, Noah as well as their roles in this world. It might feel a little random and almost aimless at first. However, it does find its stride pretty quickly, has a pretty large scale and some cool (and frankly, shocking) twists and turns along the way. It is reasonably paced and complete with a satisfying ending. It can be a little clunky in places, due to irrational decisions made by some of the characters from time to time. That aside, the central theme is spread out nicely in the narrative and is visible through the common thread between many of the characters - which is the struggle to free yourself from the circumstances you were born into (with emphasis on the word "free"). That struggle is presented in both positive and negative ways depending on the character's actions and the circumstances they're in. This is also presented through visual symbolism in the form of a paper plane which reappears in the series occasionally. __*Characters*__ The main characters here are introduced very well. The main character, Zed, like I mentioned before is a troublemaker and a rebel without a cause who has mommy issues and Noah is a straight-laced, by-the-book type of person. Over the course of the series, they develop in ways that feel like natural extensions of who they are, but are shaped differently due to their experiences in these other worlds. To avoid spoilers I'm not gonna go into any specifics, but I will say that Zed actually finds a cause to rebel against and Noah continues to be a "by the book" type of person but in an extremely different context. The villains in the series are not exactly your standard shounen villains. Not so much because of their motivations which aren't super interesting if I'm being honest, but they're very threatening because their actions are very cruel and their body count is high. At times, supporting characters aren;t handled all that well, sadly. They sometimes appear to do irrational things. Things you can understand the basic reasoning behind, but it's still really dumb and is often proven to be so, soon afterward. From time to time, some characters can come across as quite over the top and/or having development that feels overblown and jarring. For example, there's a twist villain from the early episodes who seemed extremely sympathetic at first, but once he was revealed for who he is, that sympathy is thrown out the window very quickly because of how heinous his actions are. Hell, even his tone of voice changes dramatically in to having a more cartoonishly evil vibe and it just leaves me puzzled as to why he was handled like that since it doesn't seem to be in line with the way he was before. With that said, most other characters are passable and are utilized in the series well enough, and are usually given at least some depth. All in all, I'd say the characters are mostly good. The main characters, Zed and Noah and their respective paths are definitely handled well (even if the latter is a little over the top as well), but the rest range from fine to pretty questionable at worst. __*Art*__ The character designs are pretty well done. They have a unique eye shape, clothes that complement their personalities and/or where they came from and the Main Character, Zed is consistently color coded red to make him stand out from the crowd. Some of the monster designs are ok while others are kinda lame (Amil Gaoul) and they're generally pretty creepy looking, but not always in a good way. It also has some good background art. There are some very nice-looking landscapes with bright colors and although not super detailed, they fit well with the foreground and there is a lot of variety in locations as well as a good use of shading. The animation is pretty good too. It's not particularly great either and it does take shortcuts here and there, but this series also avoids the pitfall of a great deal of tv anime (particularly of adaptations, this isn't one though) of having characters stand around and talk for too long - that never really happens in this show. Plus, it has a lot of action, and though it's not spectacular, it's always brutal, quick, and fun to watch. These fights involve a lot of people getting stabbed, falling of cliffs, getting burned to death, etc' (did I mention that this show had a Saturday morning timeslot?). __*Sound*__ There are two openings in this series and both of them are pretty good rock/pop kinda songs, especially the second opening which I think was crafted very well. The ending songs weren't bad but were pretty forgettable. The soundtrack is excellent, it's mostly unnerving, but perfectly complements every tone the series attempts to communicate even if it gets a little repetitive. The sound design is sadly quite basic at best. There's heavy use of YGO sound effects, and other sound effects just sound plain weird or loud. But they at least have a fantasy-esque feel to them and don't sound out of place per se. I think its voice acting is fine, but they overdo it with the screaming which becomes a tad silly at points. With that said, it does have many famous voice actors that you'd probably recognize and voices fit just fine with each of the characters. __*Overall* __ Kiba is not perfect, but it is one of a kind in many ways and pretty crazy if I'm being honest. If it sounds even remotely interesting to you, I highly recommend to at least check it out.

This is a series that is comprised of 51 ep. This series is a Shonen show with some fantasy elements and drama. Story: Ok the story i would have to say was Mediocre at best. There was really not any huge plot twists or eye popping scenes. The first Episode was pretty good. You get really involved into it, but then after the first episode, the series just drops in plot and everything becomes your typical average shonen, spirits fighting spirits, good VS evil, etc. The first season really had no shocking moments and it seems like you have learned everything this series has to offer rightfrom the start. I almost even thought bout dropping this series due to the pain painstakingly boring fights. How ever towards the second season the plot started picking up again and it became surprisingly bearable to watch. I think in all honesty that this series was to slow, they should of revealed the plot at a faster pace. This series could of been 26 episodes and be a great series, because of all the useless spirit fights that had absolutely nothing to do with the whole plot behind Kiba, i found it rather boring to sit down and watch this anime from start to finish. I will have to say that the ending was really good and it did a great job of wrapping up everything and all the un answered questions bout zed's fateful past were answered. I found it enjoyable to watch the last 10 episodes because they were actually good. The battles were alot more detailed as well towards the end. They also shown alot more of the personalities behind all the Key characters in the series. ART: The art was pretty good. Most of the battles had great animation, and you felt like you were not watching a old classic series like (astro boy) lol. You felt like you were watching todays Generation in anime. I have seen anime with better art then this show but it was not all that bad. Its ashame the battles were not that great to go along with the awesome art. Sound : This was another thing i really did not like bout kiba was the sound. The BG sound in most fights were just terrible, they could of done MUCH better in this department. The only sounds i found were good and went with the flow of the battle was the music showing the fights with AMil Goal "Zeds key spirit". Other then that, the music was just terrible. Even on the most important scenes were the music was really needed the most was not there. This is really what put the anime in Jeperady was because of the painful music. The OST's were good though, opening and ending theme songs were pretty nice and you find your self humming the tunes in your head but the anime music theme's shouldn't of went with this series at all. Character: Not much to say bout this, the characters were great. I really like the personality of zed and Roia. The characters, cried, had emotions and everything, its really ashame that there roles in the plot were not all that important until the very end of the series. Everything from ep 1-35 is just spirit VS spirits, good VS evil. They did not reveal really much of anything behind the characters pasts or personalities until the last 10 episodes or so. If only this series had a better story then this show would of got a rate of 8 or 9 at least. Bottom line is this series is boring to watch, especially the first season were nothing really happens, just battles between spirits. Like i said before if it wasn't for the filler based episodes in the first 26 episodes of the series and the plot moved along at a faster pace then this series would of be acceptable because of this if you can bear watching all the boring episodes, then it really does get good towards the end. I hope my review does not keep people from watching the series. I found it enjoyable to finally finish the plot and under stand everything. But there is alot of anime out there that has a much better plot, better music themes then kiba does, i guess its just all about personal opinion!

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