Koutetsujou no Kabaneri Movie 3: Unato Kessen

As one of the first anime/movies I've ever rated 9/10, i'm speechless of how i felt after watching this, it left me with this airy feeling, lightheaded but in a good way. And as my first review, i hope this will suffice you. If you're just seeing if you should watch this, you can look at my Overall summery at the bottom. And if you're looking for the manga of this, there's an adaptation but this anime is an original anime. - STORY - Yes, i know there will be people who will complain about how this anime's plot is similar to the whole stereotypical plot of post-apocalyptic worldwhere a few characters happens to be overpowered and they save everyone else from disaster. But honestly, it's pretty hard to come by new yet exciting plots these days since every story gets oversaturated by others trying to copy and paste it for a quick profit. Considering how it came after multiple post-apocalyptic animes like AoT, it's effort to make the plot unique and still entertaining was a success for my standards, not many animes of this genre I've watched had a good mix of despair and enlightenment. - ART - The art was amazing, especially the scenery art and some of the shots in the movie. It was colorful, yet not to the point of making it feel fake, it was surreal to look at. Even if I'm exaggerating a bit, I have to give them credit for how smoothly it was implemented. The animation and art in the ending fits with the music perfectly likewise in the anime prequel. - MUSIC - Speaking of music in the movie's ending, it was really nicely done. But that isn't all, the subtle soundtracks playing in the background of a few selected parts of the movie really gave the whole shot(s) a new feeling to them, either excitement or dread, it was executed wonderfully to further increase the mood of parts of the movie. - CHARACTER - Well... Ahhh... I can't get over how well the relationship of Mumei and Ikoma developed over the course of this movie and even the anime season before this. It wasn't rushed, even if at first it felt like one of those "star crossed lovers" thing, it was slowly developed with time and it just brings happiness into my heart watching how they react to each other throughout the course of this movie. The other characters weren't all that bad but, some of them seemed a bit of the "stereotypical characters that interfere with main character's plan, and is there to only make conflict". - ENJOYMENT/OVERALL - I really enjoyed this movie, it was satisfying to watch with all the well animated scenes with exceptional soundtrack to back it up. And it's one of the few animes/movies I didn't want to skip forward or backwards while watching it, because the plot was rushed or too slow. Even sitting through the whole ending credits felt worth it, to savor every second of this movie. I really wish for WIT Studio to keep on developing this anime and it's plot, it seems like there is still much to explore in terms of character's relationships and the story itself. Even though the whole premise might be kind of dry since so many animes are using this kind of plot, they did a good job of making this unique. I don't know if they can exceed the expectations coming from this movie, but if they can then, i really want to see this be continued since... We all know AoT can't last forever.

I will try to keep this review as succinct as the movie itself: this one-and-one-fourth hour movie is well-worth the time, even for those who were (like me) disappointed by Kabaneri's initial outing 3 years ago. Unato Kessen is a direct sequel to the 12-episode season Kabaneri had in 2016, and as the title indicates, revolves around a battle at Unato. In terms of content, Unato Kessen breaks no new ground. What makes it a positive addition to the series is how it maintained the strengths of the series while being more deliberate in its storytelling. The art and soundtrack were both as impressive asone would expect with this series, and the many action sequences were fluid and entertaining to watch. Being roughly 3 regular episodes worth in length, the movie did not have a lot of time to work with, but instead trimmed away the hedges to squarely focus on the story and the development of Ikoma and Mumei. Frankly, I thought this was a massive improvement over how the 2016 season--which often felt a little out-of-focus--was handled. Nothing felt overdone or un-explored, it ended right when it should have, and it even gave us a very nicely animated ending song to boot. In all, this was a content-packed movie and a must-watch if you enjoyed the 2016 season, but even if you didn't, there is still a lot to like about this continuation of Ikoma and Mumei's journey. Note, however, this is not a standalone entry, so those who have not yet watched the 2016 season should dive into that first.

I seem to be one of the only people who liked the original series but hate this movie. This movie is a distillation of everything bad in the series, with some added garbage for flavor. The only reasons I can see that people like this more is that it's almost nonstop action and Mumei is now a useless waifu. In the previous series Mumei was the power house, who basically carried everyone for most of the show. Sadly, she's now Ikoma's main love interest and as such she can no longer be good at anything. A proud tradition carried on from Orihime, Asuna, and manyothers. While she still manages to get some shots in, Ikoma must rescue her literally every battle, twice in one of them. She spends most of her time fawning over her attempt to confess her feelings to him and being rescued by him. A previous complaint people had about her was that she kept 'stealing the spotlight', so I guess that's an improvement for some people. I miss when she would punch people in the crotch. The actual plot is almost a moment by moment repeat of the previous series. Ikoma is part kabane, and part human, so no one trusts him even though he's right! He gets thrown in solitary for 3 days to prove he's human even though he's not. If you guessed that he will also have to break out and prove he's right as the place descends into chaos under an attack, requiring him to save everyone, well then you've seen the original series! This is trash. It's also full of characters who are basically rehashes of characters from the original whom couldn't be brought back to be minor antagonists because they're dead. The solution then, was to make nearly identical characters. However since the characters behavior is identical to the ones they're based off of, most of what they do doesn't make sense in the situation. You'd almost have to believe that they're literally trying to get killed. At least one of them disappears with no conclusion on what happened to him or his men. This is despite the fact you're repeatedly intended to care about these characters who have all of 10 minutes of screen time. The series also finally goes the full way into making Kabaneri coordinators/newtypes. Before they certainly occupied the role of Coordinators from SEED in some respects. Ikoma was the ace fighter new to the situation, in a conflict where he was of the same breed as the enemy. A super human above everyone, who didn't trust him for it or wanted to use him. The train went from colony to colony seeking refuge and supplies on its way to the main base. Eventually the show even went as far as to turn Kabaneri into cyber newtypes who more or less piloted giant Pschcho Kabaneri. That not being enough, they can now also see into each other's hearts and minds. The movie also works to finish pairing off every character it possibly can, once again prioritizing this over a meaningful epilogue. I mean, it's 6 months later and they're still planning to do the exact same thing that they were planning to do at the end of the series. What happened? Why haven't they? How did they get involved in this at all? Nothing is explained, no one cares, nothing matters. There is no resolution to this series, the characters are all worse, the plot is worse, the events are worse. The art and animation are great, however it takes the superfluousness to the next level. Everyone spins all of the time. There's so much unnecessary spinning. Even bodies spin in air. It gets comically over the top, even in this franchise. Mumei spends fights twirling her weapon because she can more or less. A lot straight up doesn't make sense too, or you're asked to really suspend your disbelief. Ikoma is shot like 5 times and it doesn't affect him, but 1 bullet from the same type of gun takes out his leg. It's nonsense. If you liked the music, it's literally all the same music except for I think one new song. It's nice, but I don't care about that nearly as much as everyone else does. All around this just exemplifies why I hate OVA/Film sequels. This was an unnecessary, even harmful additional to the story, and I didn't enjoy watching it.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Studio

Producers

Themes