Anime 31798 Kiznaiver Reviews Filter Check 1

If you don't know what state your wounds are in, or where you're hurting; if you don't know that for yourself, then there's no point in trying to share it with others is there? -Hisomu

What makes an original?

Is an original a piece that spawns copies, or something that comes from within a creator; something that no one else has ever before thought? Have you ever had an original thought? What if, despite your thought that your idea was original, someone across the globe, someone with whom you have never and will never have contact with had your same idea and yet, weren't able to ... act on it. Is it still original?

No matter your definition of original- Trigger continues to pump out quality writing and both new, heretofore unseen content, and new ways of presenting old ideas. This season, they pulled the trigger on a double barrel shotgun of new for the anime viewing populace with the zany Space Patrol Luluco, and the much more subdued Kiznaiver- and what a season it's been.

Kiznaiver is what I would describe as a new twist on an old classic. One of the interwoven themes is referenced in both my opening and ending quotes- the power of friendship. Had Trigger just stopped there, they would have produced a trite, unimaginative, and unfulfilling series much like those that crop up each season. Kiznaiver is not content to merely focus on the power that friends hold over you, but also delve into deeper concepts of pain and loss, the stages of grievance, and the ties that bind.

Much like the multifaceted Kill La Kill before it, Kiznaiver tackles these themes with depth and sophistication. Conversations that outwardly appear to be simple exchanges between friends often reveal much more about the characters and their mentalities. The characters themselves also outwardly seem to represent the kind of one note stereotype- Katsuhira the unfeeling, dull, mophaired main character. Chidori the tsun tsun. Nico the genki girl, etc. However simply the characters are presented in the beginning, throughout the course of the show, we watch them grow as people, friends, and characters. In the early episodes, we see the group forced together as part of some sick social experiement- a disparate group of persons from different cliques, if you will, thrown together and told to "become friends" (whether through traumatic shared experiences, which has been proven to form bonds between people who might not otherwise associate- such as in fraternity hazing, gang initiation, etc. or the typical socialization process that people go through.)

We get to know the person of the characters, what drives them, their insecurities, wishes, and failures. Each has their turn in the spotlight, and as the viewer, I felt like most of these characters, even though many had larger than life personalities, could have been real people. They don't have superpowers. They aren't infallible, neither are they perfect. They don't win every time, and the certainly don't all get along perfectly, kiss and make up after every little thing. Like real friends with disparate interests, they get on each other's nerves, hurt each other (in more ways than one) fall in love, fall out, make each other cry, and experience life together. Trigger, in all their savviness, also recognized the potential for relationships in the show, and makes moves for different character romances to happen, fall apart, and change. It's not your typical ensemble where the bland, self insert protagonist has color coded dereotype ladies throwing themselves at him for no reason. No, Kiznaiver takes a more nuanced approach, and the characters have viable, believable reasons (some are not pretty, just like life) for being interested in each other like mutual interests, pure pity, opposites attracting, and finding kinship.

The plot of the show takes a backseat to characterization in what's known as a "character driven story", which is also something of a rarity in anime these days. It's not all about some grand scheme or hero's journey, but about the interaction of the characters themselves that matter. As mentioned above, I think that the characters experience the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance) throughout the show, as a theme. As part of the Kizna experiment (linking people through sharing pain), these kids in the story, through their own relationships and getting to know themselves and the people around them, experience these stages as part of their characterization. Each is in denial over some reason or another, whether it's "how could my friend have died?" or "this person loves me, they just don't know it", etc. This progresses as the story heats up- they're angry over their inner demons, and it spills out onto each other- until the voices of reason, Hisomu and Nico bring them all to their senses (bargaining). After the climax of the show, they all decidedly experience a strong depressive episode, where the characters decide what they're going to do with themselves, and about each other- having made themselves vulnerable and revealing their secrets to each other. Eventually they come to accept each other, and the story takes its final twist, which would be criminal of me to reveal. Suffice to say, it's certainly worth watching to find out.

The art of Kiznaiver is also excellent, with the flair Trigger has for small details, and making their characters look fresh and interesting. There are a lot of stylings of Little Witch Academia, especially the hair, but still very within the modern style. It's crisp, clean, and flows well, but the lighting is really something. Reflections, eyes, and anything lit look really great, drawing attention to details and adding depth to the shot composition. I applaud the casting director at Trigger, whoever they are- for they have done it again. Similarly to Kill La Kill, Kiznaiver is impeccably cast. The nuance and emotion (or required lack thereof) that was put into the performances really sells the drama and characters. The larger than life Tenga, fragile Maki, zany Nico, wacky Hisomu, hot and cold Chidori, stiff Katsuhira, and mysterious Noriko (and some nice performances from the supporting cast as well) all add up to a very well produced product.


tl;dr for my lazy folk

+ great characterization
+ fantastic art
+ a human drama, one that you can get behind, that doesn't descend in to pointless melodrama
+/- your favorite characters might not get together


Friends are soy sauce! The omnipotent seasoning! - Nico

SPOILERS! (RE-UPLOAD)

Have you ever planned to watch an anime with no expectation then it impressed you so much? For me, Kiznaiver is the first anime in that situation.

I read the synopsis of it and found it interesting but thought it would probably be really bad. When I watched the first episode I was impressed and it was interesting. Then I continued and ''Now, this is really good.''

The thing that I liked most about the anime is everything fits the anime nearly perfectly. The art, the music, the characters, everything... Just give the director his award already!

Every episode I get sad because I think ''This probably ... will be the best episode, I don't think they are able to make better episodes.'' then next episode I live the same situation. Seriously how can an anime get so much better in every episode.

Story: 9/10

First of all, I have to mention about Kizuna System. So, if I understood correctly, The main purpose of the system is ensuring peace. If people connect to each other and share their pains they will understand each other's feelings too. As a result, there will be peace. Am I right?
So a group of teenagers are connected to each other, and they share the pain and emotions under the name of ''Kizuna System''. I have to say the story is really interesting. The dominant part is the mystery, ''What is this system?'' ''What is the purpose?'' ''What happened to Sonozaki?''. These questions were the ones I was mostly curious about and I'm really happy they all solved. It is kinda slow pacing, most of the questions are answered at the end of the anime (I mean last 3 episodes) and before those episodes, the anime was full of character developments, comedy and drama. This anime is actually based on the characters and all episodes are plotting the characters and their feelings so about story being interesting is enough. And it's getting more and more interesting every episode.

Art: 10/10

I can't imagine a better art style for this anime. It could be just good for another anime but it gives you the feel like it is created just for this one.

Sound: 10/10

I have to say, the first thing impressed me in the anime is the opening. When I first watched it, the animation and its style made me feel like I was reborning. So, did the music. I wanted the opening to last forever, I wanted it to never end. The ending is awesome, too. For me, they are the second best opening and ending this season. And the insert musics are also really good. Especially the final episode, you can feel the all thrilling and sad moments.

Characters: 9-10/10

The characters are probably the most important thing to me (when watching anime), maybe even more important than story and I become so happy when I see the characters are developing. This anime has 8 important characters. They all are seriously MAIN characters. They all have feelings and past, and the anime is based on those. All characters are original and have so different qualities. One of them is even masochist. I said the main question was ''What happened to Sonozaki (and between Katsuhira)?''. So she was the key character. First episodes she was like an emotionless annoying character and people didn't like her, but last episodes (especially last scene of the 10th episode) she won our hearts. Nico was the most friendly and funny one, Chidori suffered a lot because of her feeling to Katsuhira, and Katsuhira was always brave. But still I think the most developed character is Maki (or maybe Sonozaki).

Enjoyment: 10/10

*Starts episode, the opening begins* - 10 second later - *The ending starts*
Seriously I can't figure out how fast it pasts. This anime can be so boring for some people (especially who don't like slow pacing, character-based animes and who like action) but I'm enjoying it a lot. And melodrama is strong in this one. I never thought teenagers drama could be sad. I think the tags should've been like ''Drama, Comedy, Psychological, Thriller, Sci-Fi''

Negative Sides:

- Too short. Some characters developed enough and well but we don't know much things about the others. Especially Yuta.
- We don't know Chidori's final thoughts clearly. So did she get over Katsuhira and decide to be with Tenga or not?

Overall: 10/10

So, here is my thoughts about it. This is not kind of anime that most of the people can like, but I'm in the team of lovers. Some people think these flaws are enough to ruin an anime, but still I think it is amazing. Even I'm surprised that this anime became the top in this season for me :)

Something something, anime is saved. Except that’s for Luluco.

Welcome to Keeeeeeeeeznaiver, the new full-length anime series from the meme machine known as Studio Trigger, where we come together and cut our pain into pieces. You might be thinking that this show is edgy. And it totally is. But then you watch red-headed Kamina punch someone in the face with his ass and then teabag him, and it’s reassuring that this is gonna be much more light-hearted than you’d expect.

Going more into detail about what this madness is about, it’s easily one of the lamest concepts presented in a while. It’s about seven weirdos who get ... linked together through pain; as in, when one of them receives physical pain, it gets distributed to the other six. And then they’re tasked to live their summer vacations while getting thrust into some weird challenges and relationships.

Oh, but don’t cringe just yet, it gets even better! The Kizna system (which is the thingy that does the pain thingy) is deeper and more complicated, as the Kiznaivers (the weirdos with the pain thingy) eventually start to share emotional pain, or more specifically, heartache.

As terrible as this sounds, it’s presented and written pretty well. First off is that the characters and their interactions with each other are Kiznaiver’s bread and butter, not so much the system thing. While it certainly has an impact on them and the plot itself, I was undoubtedly watching Kiznaiver for the people, not the ideas.

The other thing that I respect is how the KeezNuts system is presented to the audience. A lot of series tend to sell you on concept alone, they’ll just throw their “brilliant” idea in your face and then spend the next eleven episodes on the different ways they can make it work. Kiznaiver gives us the idea in portions, acclimating the audience to reduce the amount of groans in the first episode as little as possible. I guarantee you that, if the “voice of the heart” thing was displayed in the first three episodes, this show wouldn’t have been as big of a deal as it is. (Unless you’re in Japan. Nice 600 sales rip trigger) But since the story spends time getting you hooked on the characters instead, they raise the bar when the time is right and make seem like it’s not as silly as it is.

And so, the series will more-or-less live or die by your opinions on the trope-y characters. The MC Katsuhira is probably the least amusing, being a walking bag of nothing. Literally. His personality is that he has no personality. Aren’t we off to a great start?
He actually isn’t some sort of self-insert light novel fuckboy, and there are good reasons for him to act the way he… well he doesn’t really act like anything, but you get the point. But it’s pretty easy to get bored of him, and even his bigger, more emotional moments rarely come through unless he does a full 180, unlike Nico.

Yeah, Nico’s the super-peppy girl with the candy-colored-hair that will probably come off as annoying to others, but for me I… actually found her to be the best. While she is one of those characters that apparently needs to say something at every waking moment, I’m surprised by how not excessive she was. And being the clumsy, ditzy, idiot character that she is, her big emotional moments DO come through, and in a very big way.

I won’t go into detail about everyone, but almost every character was a lot of fun in some way. While they don’t have much of a personality beyond their basic tropes, watching them do shit together was a blast. It actually makes me wish I was part of their group in some way, which is something I rarely feel. And it makes me remind myself that, oh no, I don’t actually have friends. Sasuga, Trigger. Perhaps if we were given more than twelve episodes, a lot more could’ve been done with the characters, but it is what it is.

But here’s the part that’s undeniably true: the production of this anime is fucking fantastic.

The character designs have a lot of… well, character. They’re colorful, they’re unique, and they have that “anime” feel without being over-the-top. Just look at the Gomorins. How can anyone hate these fuckers? Sometimes it feels that the models are a little off; dimensions are slightly distorted, hair is more like a twisty piece of metal than hair, but I more-or-less ignored that, as it adds to the overall nature of both the designs and the show. Not only that, but Kiznaiver takes place in a rather beautiful city, and so background art doesn’t lack any inspiration either. Good direction makes the visuals rather telling, with effective shot compositions and great body language and visible motions. On top of that, the animation, actual movement, is very smooth despite the complex aesthetics. All in all, it’s safe to say that Kiznaiver has a lot of ambition with its art.

But the underdog of Kiznaiver is its FUCKING AMAZING soundtrack. Holy shit. Much of it is electronic, whether at a driving pace or quietly lingering in the background, but the orchestral scores hit hard. VERY hard. And one of the most interesting things is how some parts will be reversed, as to compliment a dissonant scene where the emotions aren’t at a great place and relationships are breaking apart. No insert songs are found in here, just a beautiful composition that sounds perfect at every moment.

The OP and ED are no slouches, either. In fact, I daresay that A-ha’s ‘Take On Me’ is the best OP of the season.
Alright, it’s actually Boom Boom Satellites and the song is called ‘Lay Your Hands On Me’, I’ll respect them since this is their last work. But lemme just say that I’ve never been a fan of these guys. They’re kinda out of my comfort zone, and I just think they sound like crap most of the time. But this one song here actually clicks; it puts you in a sweet, yet subtly melancholic trance as dizzying lights and incredibly smooth character animation arrests you visually. Put them together and you have an OP that feels unlike any other, whether you appreciate it or not.
And to close each episode off, a pleasant alt-rock song by Sangatsu no Phantasia, whoever the fuck that is, leaves a bit of a hopeful atmosphere right before the next episode’s preview, as we get more shots of the beautiful characters holding flowers. Because, why not. It has a bright tone with its crystal-clear vocals and vibrant piano and violins playing over the band. Yet, it doesn’t feel overpowering or generic, it strikes a nice balance.

So, uh. I bet a lot of people aren’t gonna agree with a lot of this, and I’m completely willing to admit that Kiznaiver is a flawed show and a lot of people will/do hate it, but I greatly appreciate what Kiznaiver set out to do and accomplished. This isn’t Monogatari or anything, but I’ll take it over most of the other shows that came out this season.

Story - 7/10
Art - 9/10
Sound - 10/10
Characters - 7/10
Enjoyment - 8/10
Shipping - Teamblueallday/10
Overall - 8/10
Favorite episode - 5
Favorite character - Nico
Recommendation level - High

What better way to make friends is there than making them feel your pain?...Is most likely an accurate way to describe what this anime is about.

Story(7/10)

Kiznaiver is an anime that focuses more on the characters and their development rather than the story.Because of that,there is the imminent confusion to where the plot intends to go.
It starts with Katsuhira and his dream of a blue haired girl telling him that ''he'll definitely get his pain back''.Because of his lack of feelings,Kacchon is bullied and extorted money from.One day he meets a mysterious girl who pushes him off the stairs.The protagonist wakes up in what seems to ... be an surgery room and the earlier figure who introduces herself as Sonozaki explains to him that he's been ''chosen'' to participate in an experiment with 5(later 6) of his classmates in which their pain is divided and felt between each other.They are put to make all kinds of tests to reveal their most embarassing secrets and missions to help each other whenever one is in torment.It mostly is that but then it's revealed that the experiment is not as safe as they thought and some were affected by it and while at it,the reason for Kacchon's lack of feel.And as the MC gains his feelings,he demonstrates a few things to Sonozaki too.
It's quite cute and it has an interesting sense of humour.I also like the bonds they formed between them and there are some ships to sail too.Felt quite heartwarming at times to me so that's why it gets a passing grade.


Art(8/10)

I dig colorful art like chocolates as presents.The characters are soo rainbow inspired(as most MCs in anime intended for younger audiences).I don't have anything to complain but it still didn't leave my mouth gaping,most likely because the only interactions it focused on was talking.


Sound(7/10)

The op gave me a hypnotic high kind of feel and while I liked the ed,it didn't attract me especially.None of my favorite seiyuus but Nico's voice is too cute to ignore.

Character(8/10)

We have an emotionless MC and his emotionless love interest,an childhood friend,the macho guy,the narcissist,the energetic weirdo,the masochist and the girl who has a sad past so she doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone.They are characterised by Sonozaki as ''the seven deadly sins'' because of their obvious flaws that prevent them from making friends.All in all,the characters are lovable,even if they are not the most unique.Of course,that should be a given,as this focuses on the characters more.I could recommend watching this if only for the masochist's weird moans and reactions and Honoka's acidic remarks.

Enjoyment(8/10)

I strangely enjoyed seeing those teenagers going through their angst and misunderstandings,and the weird love octagon formed between them.This most likely is a representation of one of the questions which humans always asked themselves:how do you understand other people and the feelings they have?

Overall(8/10)

Despite the mixed reviews this anime has,I liked it.Not most try do something besides the normal friendship formula so this was an intriguing take on what it means to be connected and have bonds.I would recommend watching this for the lols,the colorful characters and maybe if you want a bit of a change from what you usually watch.

What does it mean to hurt? What does it mean to love? What does it mean to be a friend? Kiznaiver, a Drama/SciFi manga adaptation from Studio Trigger (Spring 2016), takes a stab at a heavily character driven story and completely succeeds. The show uses it’s beautiful animation + soundtrack, objectively unique and strong characterization, and deep philosophical questioning of human connection to deliver a new twist on the plot of Rebirth and a meaningful re-imagination of anime’s friendship cliché.

Love or hate the show, there’s no denying Studio Trigger ‘showed up’ for the art of Kiznaiver. Each character has an identity, their looks reflecting ... their personalities brilliantly, not to mention their body language. Simply watching the intro, we are given a grand spectacle which imprints an understanding of the characters early on, before we have even met most of cast (but I’ll be going more in depth on Kiznaiver’s OP on my blog at a later time). Each character is visually appealing and expressive, giving the audience little reason to turn away from the screen for a majority of the series. Even those with little emotion in the show are extremely interesting to look at, allowing the director (Hiroshi Kobayashi) to set up some genuinely funny and serious moments as a result. On top of that, the animation itself is phenomenal, making use of fluid dynamic camera angles and the works.


As far as audio goes for the show, it is great. The music rises and falls in a perfect flow for the narrative, and knows when to go completely silence to let powerful lines of dialogue hit hard. Yuuki Hayashi (previous works including: Haikyuu!, Death Parade, and Boku no Hero Academia) was in charge of music for this series, and did a terrific job. The music for the opening and endings are fantastic (the op being the thing that drew me in to watch the series in the first place), and the ed following up was a great touch to every episode (the ed being another thing I’d like to go in depth on at a later date). Going past the music, the sound effects were spot on. The fictional sound effects that was generated for group’s connected pain was intuitive and, for how often its heard, never gets distracting or feel out of place. Well done over all.

(Plot Summary will be kept to a minimum for MAL review guidelines)

Getting into the story, the plot revolves around seven main characters, the most prominent being: Katsuhira Agata (or Kacchon). Katsuhira is completely unable to feel pain, and is emotionally distant from the world. A glimpse into his past in the first minute of the pilot shows him at a young age chasing after a girl standing on a roof. While trying to talk her down, she grins and jumps. He cries out, reaches down to his chest in pain and his hair turns white (see: Marie Antoinette syndrome). This scene sets up a potent understanding of, and connection to, our protagonist as we view his behavior and hear his first few words. In this scene he is holding conversation with Chidori Takashiro, a close friend growing up. He asks why a cicada bothered coming to the surface: its safer underground and it won’t live very long anyways. Chidori replies, “Maybe it wanted friends, or something?” It is the brilliance of these lines, that expose us to the main ideas of the plot while giving an introduction to these character’s personalities and already starts to build a connection with these characters.


As the story progresses, Katsuharia meets a strange girl who we later find out to be Noriko Sonozaki. She tells him that people bully him because he doesn’t get scared, and doesn’t feel pain, meaning others “cannot find themselves within him”. As he processes these words, she suddenly throws him down a flight of stairs, knocking him out. Upon waking up he is in a hospital with 5 other individuals. They are informed they are a part of the “Kiznaivers experiment” and they are now connected by their wounds. If one individual experiences pain it will be divided equally between everyone connected, in an attempt to create true human connections. The others who are chosen for the experiment were selected under the criteria that they would have never met normally or got along with each other, as well as loosely fitting the definition of the seven deadly sins (or an updated version for modern japan). These differences in characters truly play into the strength of the show’s characterization as each one is unique. From their designs, to body language, to behavior; but it doesn’t stop there. Each character has very human flaws, insecurities, and desires; so when the characters get time on screen you to truly begin to understand them and connect. No character can simply fill an archetype, as they are all diverse and feel deeply human, and in their doing so: Trigger has made a colorful cast of individuals who you want to know more about. This creates an environment where every line and decision made feel purposeful and impactful to the group as they learn how to get along.


Lastly, the show taps into a deeper philisophical question, of how do humans connect? Human inherently are not perfect, and as a result of this connection with others is not always simple. Especially in our age of internet its easy to keep to ourselves. In context of Katsuhira’s cicada, why bother going outside where you have to open up and can get hurt? We die too soon anyways. We can see an argument formed through the show’s use of the Kiznaiver experiment, This creates a literal empathy between the characters, and over the course of the show we see these individuals grow, connect and change. They will never be the same people they were at the start. They’ve opened up slowly and they will get hurt along the way. The guy doesn’t always get the girl, others don’t always return their feelings, tragic events can completely destroy friendships, but as humans we keep on moving. The show doesn’t sugar coat the hardships, but it shows us the joy in making the connections, to being a friend to some body. Characters may not end up with who you want them to, and while this has been known to piss some viewers off, we should really see it as beautiful thing. That’s not how real life works, why should it in the show? Getting to know these people so well, you want these relationships to blossom as much as the characters themselves, so it can hurt when we get the truth, but in the end they come to terms with things and learn to live on. This is the re-imagination of the ‘friendship’ trope; we aren’t forcefed a “friendship concquers all” scenario, but instead are eased into a more human and compelling arguement of: “connection with others gives meaning to life”. The main theme the show is presenting is: people need to open up. It’s not easy, you will get hurt, and need to share that pain with those closest to you. But goddamn is it ever worth it.


TL;DR

+ Beautifully Animated
+ Deeper Themes to make you think
+ Strong connection with the cast makes dialogue feel purposeful, and decisions feel impactful

– Plot lags in the interest of character development
– It had to End

If I have to put a number to it:
9/10

So what happens when 7 people, who knows almost nothing much about each other, are forced into a situation where they have to work together, know about each other's past, feeling each other's pain together (both physically and emotionally) and etc.? Well, Kiznaiver shows us how and they did a pretty good job presenting us how


[Story]: (7/10)
One day Katsuhira, Chidori, and four other teenagers are abducted and forced to join the Kizuna System as official "Kiznaivers." Those taking part are connected through pain: if one member is injured, the others will feel an equal amount of agony. These individuals must become the lab rats and ... scapegoats of an incomplete system designed with world peace in mind. With their fates literally intertwined, the Kiznaivers must expose their true selves to each other, or risk failing much more than just the Kizuna System.

The story of Kiznaiver is nothing new. High school students are forced to be together and they eventually learn about each other and all that crap. I've seen another anime that did pretty much the same thing called "Kokoro Connect". The only difference is they literally feel each other's pain and this is just an experiment while Kokoro Connect is some mysterious entity forcing high school friends to work together or else they suffer the "consequences".

The plot of the show is decent and much of the show is focused on developing each and every main character in the series. I guess you can say that Kiznaiver has a "Forced Character Development". While that may be a bad move for most series, for Kiznaiver, it's not. That's the whole point of the series and it magically works.

My review for this section will be short since I'll be focusing much of my review on the characters itself. Meaning most of my review will be on the "Characters" section.
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[Art/Animation]: (8.5/10)
I don't know what it is about Trigger's animation that I find so appealing and unique. Maybe it's because the way they draw their characters or how weird the visuals and some of the character designs look. Whatever, it doesn't matter because I weirdly love it for whatever reason.
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[Sound]: (8/10)
Some of the OST's stood out like the theme that plays during the action scenes or scenes that has no action but is super intense but for the most part, the soundtrack is just average and not really worth mentioning. Now the OP and ED theme song(s)

The OP theme song is "LAY YOUR HANDS ON ME by Boom Boom Satellites". The ED theme song is Hajimari no Sokudo" by Sangatsu no Phantasia
I'm sorry guys but I'm going to be on the minority here and I will say that I hate the OP theme song. It's boring and I don't know what it is about the OP that people find appealing. On the other hand, I love the ED theme song. The singer has a nice voice and there are actual lyrics playing on the song instead of "Woahhh Layyyy Youuurrrr Haaaaands On Meeee!" which to me is not an actual song and more like a theme to something.
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[Characters]: (9.5/10)
"Character Development: The Animation"
^^
In my opinion, that title fits perfectly on what the show portrayed. When I first watched the series, I knew the character development would be amazing like Kokoro Connect and after 12 episodes, the show proved me right. Literally every single main characters here gets a screentime of their own and they will get a character development. It's like the Kizna Experiment is (not literally) stripping them down and exposing their main flaws and weakness that made them who they are today. Funny because I said the same thing when I wrote a review of Kokoro Connect.

Anyways, at first, the characters may come out as either super-cliche or just plain boring but as the series goes on, you'll understand why they're like that and you'll love these characters for who they are. Well, I did anyways. An example is Katsuhira Agata. When I first saw his character in episode 1, I thought he was going to be one of those silent and bland protagonists that we have seen a million times before. I don't know what it is about the silent types in anime that Japanese audiences find appealing but I'm tired of it. Except, he's not your typical silent dude. There's a reason why he's an insensitive and emotionless freak who doesn't feel any pain. They explained in the last 2-3 episodes and to be honest, those episodes were very emotional for me. To think how much kids have suffered just because of the Kizna experiment.

Kiznaiver has one -- if not -- the best character introductions I have ever seen in my entire f*cking life. If you check Chibi's episode 2 reaction to Kiznaiver, you can see that I left a comment saying the same thing and apparently, a lot of people agreed with me. Why the hell would I say that though? I'm going to explain. In my 1 year of watching anime, the way they introduced their characters is super boring and filled with expositions that makes it very hard for me to watch the first couple of episodes when I want to watch a new series. Kiznaiver is an exception. It's either introducing yourself to the party or you suffer the consequences. There's an exciting twist that makes Kiznaiver's character introduction so thrilling. Plus, during those character introductions..the experiment exposes that they may seem like your usual cliche characters that fits into one of the character stereotypes but there's a reason why they're even that way in the first place. The writers intended them to be that way and they have a reason why they're like that.

When it comes to character drama, not everyone will like it and it is evident (based on what I've read from people's opinions) that the community is split in half when it comes Kiznaivers character drama moments. 50% will like/love it and 50% will not like it because it's too melodramatic for them. If you ask me, I'm kind of on both sides. While I agree that the show's drama is so over the top, like the love triangles and how everyone in the groups loves someone in the group, I also disagree with the fact that Kiznaiver's drama as a whole is melodramatic. Besides the love triangle or pentagram or whatever , the show did a good job with its drama. The dramatic story that I want to use is Maki and her friend Ruru and their relationship. In my opinion, it was very well done. When Ruru showed her feelings to Maki, Maki didn't give her back the same feelings. Even though Maki is in love with Ruru, she didn't want their relationship to go any more further because Maki knows her fate. If she responded to Ruru's feelings, it would have hurt her more emotionally once she dies so she decided to just ignore her. This is actually one of those "Pick your poison" moments. If she responded to her feelings then she'd have to endure a more emotional pain once she dies while ignoring her would have caused her emotional pains too but not as hard or as painful as the first one. Their relationship also f*cking hit me right in the center of my heart which still hurts for whatever reason.
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[Enjoyment]: (8.5/10)
I don't follow Trigger nor do I follow any anime news. So my expectations were at 1% when I first watched the series but after watching the first couple of episodes, I was very surprised. It exceeded my every expectations and after watching Kiznaiver, I expect every author/writer to write an exciting character introduction instead of our usual boring-ass character introduction. In other words, I'm expecting changes.
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[VERDICT]
Kiznaiver was an exciting series to watch and it's a series that I didn't even plan to watch for Spring 2016. It exceeded my every expectations. While the show's plot may be weak, which is the reason why the show's overall score for me is an 8.5, the character development, on the other hand, is amazing. I never expected I would get emotionally invested in most of the main characters, especially Maki and her relationship with Ruru. In my opinion, the show's weakest plot point is its love triangle and some melodramatic scenes. After being disappointed with Trigger's Kill La Kill, Kiznaiver is currently the best show from Trigger. This makes me gain hope for Trigger and makes me excited for their future works.

[OVERALL]: (8.5/10)


Pros:
+Amazing Character Development
+Kiznaiver currently has one of the best character introductions
+Trigger's Unique Animation
+Most Character Dramatic moments are well done

Cons:
-Weak Plot
-The Love Triangle Plot is completely melodramatic.

The plot isn't mindblowing despite the originality of the kiznaiver project (although I really liked the idea) and there are some scenes that are "unnecesary" if you take them like real events, but they are metaphors used to get the messages across.

If you take seriously the points that brings to the table and think thoroughly about your memories, relations you had or have right now and... the human condition in general, I think that you can really comprehend what they wanted to achieve and see how well they did it.

I was skeptical and I though that it would be an anime just ... good enough to entertain me on this week's bit of free time, but it really made me think about my life. It opened some wounds, I reflected on them and closed them again with a different point of view.

Maybe all of this is because i'm sensible today, but I can't help it but give it a 10 because of how much I enjoyed it :)

Taking a single look at this anime, is becomes evident that Trigger is the studio behind it. The unique and vibrant visuals as well as having a colorful and mostly unique cast of characters is unmistakably theirs, but that seems to be where the similarities end.

Kiznaiver is a step away from their previous work, Kill la Kill, in a few big ways. Kill la Kill was centered around a relatively small cast of main characters, but with a color cast of side characters to fill the spaces. Kizvaiver takes a different approach, having eight characters as the focus and having few important side characters. ... Also, where as Kill la Kill was action oriented and strongly plot driven, Kizaiver is more comparable to a drama or a slice of life.

Now, these changes definitely made distance between their two works, but was that for the best in the end? My answer to that question is both yes and no. I'll explain why in the body of the review.

Story: 6

Now, you would think for a story driven drama, the story would need to be string, right? Well, sadly, in kizaiver's case, it tends to feel confusing and pointless far more often then is feels driving. The plot seems to be there just as a tool to make the characters interact and feel emotions, and, in a way, I suppose that makes sense to the plot. That being said, it doesn't make the plot any better really. It isn't a terrible story, but there are a few holes and lose ends that never really go explained and motives which make little sense.

Art: 10

By far the best thing about this anime is the art. Beautiful, colorful, and unique, the art goes far to make up for what the anime lacks in some other aspects. The style is clearly Trigger, and the setting itself is very well done.

Sound: 9

Probably one of the best OP's of the season, and the ED was very good was well. Very good voice acting, and everything felt very well done.

Character: 7

While some of the character development was great, it felt as if a few of the characters were ignored for a vast majority of the show. 12 episodes is a short amount of time to try to introduce and develop 8 main characters, and I think they did a decent job with what they had. However, it seems as if it might have been too much for them, because a few of characters felt a little cardboard, or as if they were there more for decoration than for the plot. But all together, the characters were unique and well portrayed enough to earn a 7 from me.

Enjoyment: 7

Originally, I had rated enjoyment at an 8, however, after considering the fact that I had stopped watching this show after episode 4 and only continued after being goaded by a friend, I decided that 7 was probably a more accurate rating.

This show takes a while to get going, and at first it is a little hard to see what Trigger was going for. But once you get past the halfway mark, everything starts to fall into place, and the show gets much better and more enjoyable to watch.

Overall: 7

This was a decent follow up to Kill la Kill, although being in a very different genre. It was not the masterpiece that some had hoped for, but it was definitely not a bad show in any regard. I would recommend this show to those who are looking for a beautiful and unique drama as long as you are willing to forgive some plot holes.

I have to say... I don't LIKE this show anymore. Not to say it is bad, but it isn't a show I could highly recommend, let alone re-watch.

STORY 6.75: I know I hate that rating but I can't give it a 7, but i certainly don't think that it deserves a 6. I love the story about these characters, besides the MC and Nori, but the plot just doesn't work when you actually think about it. Why connect them through emotion and pain? Couldn't you just force them to go on a summer trip together or have them work on a project? It just sounds ... like the writer thought it was a fun plot and just went with it.

Art 10: Truly gorgeously animated and the character designed are like my second mix tape(coming out 2124, pre-order soon). That's really all I can say, i don't really think I saw any sight not worthy of being seen.

Sound 9: The OP is FIRE, albeit a total rip of of another fire song. Everything else is fine, but I will give it a 9 because of how much I just love the op.

Characters 8: Would most certainly be a 10 if not for MC and Nori. I truly thought they'd develop, but they just don't. I'm not saying that they don't change from time to time, but there is a difference from a character changing and a character developing. Moving on to the rest of the cast... I think they are great. They all have their own personality and flare to them and their interaction is what makes the show worth it.

Enjoyment/Overall 7: I put both together because I, personally, believe that they coincide. This was my most hyped show of the season, so anything below a 10 is a bit of a disappointment(unlike my mix take, coming out 2567), but it is certainly not a bad show. I hate to make a review before the conclusion because ending is the most important thing, but when I have to stop a show with only seconds remaining, I believe a review is in order.

Story: "fair" 6

For the story I'm being a bit harsh because its narrative could have gone smoother, less forced.. anyway animes this short are doomed to get forced plot development since they don't really have much episodes to correctly do it.

I believe this anime's mistake is being too greedy for a 12 episode anime. It tries to get to some really deep spots in the plot which aren't quite satisfying. First episodes go really slow and it seems like they rushed the storyline too much in the last ones, specially in the last 2.

Ignoring the greedy plot mistake let's get to the art..

Art: "very ... good" 8

I don't see much remarkable stuff about the art, I believe any anime should have this smooth animation and the character art as well as their facial expressions are well-made. Its got a satisfying art and drawing style.

Sound: "good" 7

Mainly because of the opening I give it a "good", since the soundtrack isn't bad enough to be awkward nor good enough to be noticeable. The opening is very good in my opinion but the ending is nothing special, not attention-catching at all in my opinion.

Character: "very good" 8

Here is where I prize the anime. Its characters are the typical steriotypical characters, they're even meant to be it (not wanting to give spoilers but they get "gathered" together since they are distant stereotypes) but even so, I like it that their bound is what unites them and separates them at the same time, this is probably more of a "story" section point but I do think it's more about how their emotions evolve, and how they're expressed than about the actual storyline thing. Won't say much more since it could be a bit of a spoiler but this show does focus a lot on how we carry our emotions and how we get along with others since them, that's really wonderful.

Enjoyment is a "good" 7

I liked the show, saw it really quick cus I like watching animes as soon as possible, its a bit of an anxiety thing. You're gonna enjoy it, it has a good amount of romance, a bit of comedy even when it may not make you laugh it may get you into a good mood. It's emotive and if you arent too harsh is a good show, lacks a bit of smoothness in the narrative that's all. Overall is 7, it's the average rating I did and is how I feel of it; a show I wouldn't really rewatch but I would recommend to people who like friendship-centered animes specially.

Sometimes you know you're going to like something from the very beginning and this was one of those animes. I got sucked in immediately by the art style and stayed for the plot.

Everything in Kiznaiver well executed. It balances itself between character developement, giving us some slice of life (I mean, everybody is a teenager and has your average love problems and other things) while still providing science fiction backstory about a program that is intended to bring world peace. So Kiznaiver is a mix between Slice of Life and Sci-Fi which I don't see as often as I'd like to. One of my favorite ... animes is Steins;Gate which did something similar.

The anime itself is pretty close to perfect, the only faults I can think of is that at some very rare points it slows down a bit and I'd wish that it had more focus on the audio. For example, what makes Death Note so memorable is the OST while here they have stayed more safe without really bringing music to the front, opening being the exception because it was freaking AWESOME.

Also, I have a longer review up on my channel on YouTube. MudanTV, would help a lot if you could check it out and leave some feedback. Thank you.

Careful, may contain a few spoilers... or english mistakes.

Since my childhood, one of the things that I used to admire, was my friends, and how they are important on my life.

Kiznaiver remind me, how it used to feel, how is great to have friends, and it goes so deep, so intense, that looks like exactly how I wanted to say what is a "friendship".

It's an anime about a experience, and how strange people could feel about each other, they show those interaction from many ways, from physic pain and even a heartbreak, it show how they surpass those difficulties and overcome it together, but ... the most important, they show what is the difference between that experiment, from a real bond.

Even being a drama, my heart feels so light that I wanted to write this review, even never had done one before, or having the best knowledge about the english language.

And I'll finish this with a comment that could be made from the main character. I feel so... .... ... happy.

Kiznaiver Review
(There is a possibility I spoil minor details of Kiznaiver in the following review. So be warned. I won't spoil any plot-heavy elements, but I do delve into the shows themes, as well as lightly describe a few characters and tease a late-series scene, but don't actually describe it in detail.)

Kiznaiver left me with just one feeling at the end of its twelve-episode run: understanding. Not an understand on my part, but an understanding from the studio. It seems legitimately like Trigger understands something that other studios just do not about the human experience. Obviously, they have showcased understanding of what makes fun ... things fun, namely in Kill la Kill, Inferno Cop, and Space Patrol Luluco, three of the most fun, hype, exciting, etc. shows I have seen since Gurren Lagann. But contrary to what the hedonists in your time will tell you, there is more to life than just having fun. I think, after instinct, humans have two basic "things" for lack of a better term: emotion, and connection. As people, we can both feel things that are not in the physical realm, as well as connect those feelings with others. In a way, we become part of each other, sharing our experiences and overcoming hurdles together. And before I continue any farther, I should say that I believe those two "things", those concepts of emotion and connection, are the driving force of Kiznaiver. They are the show, the story, the characters, the animation, and the sound. They pervade every part of this series, and they left me with something I had never quite felt in anime before.
If I just score this show on the outline to the side, using Story, Animation, Sound, Character, and Enjoyment, I cannot do justice to Kiznaiver. Just like human emotions, there is an intangible to this series, something that can't just have a number slapped on it to explain it. The more I write about this show, the more brilliant I think it is. The only way to understand my true feelings is to experience the show, and funnily enough, experience is such a core theme of Kiznaiver. I couldn't tell you for certain if this was Trigger's intention, but damn is it successful. Since I don't believe the score's for the five categories will truly highlight why I love this show, I will say now that this intangible I speak of is also factored into my overall rating. That may be confusing, but it is the only way I can see fairly assessing the show.
The story of Kiznaiver is interesting, using a textbook definition of science fiction as its plot. From Merriam-Webster, science fiction: stories about how people and societies are affected by imaginary scientific developments in the future. This is Kiznaiver's story, exploring how connecting pain between individuals can affect said individuals. Initiall, the show posits that world peace would be attained if this were applied globaly, but it doesn't focus on that. It instead uses a sort of slice-of-life format, choosing to zero in on eight main characters: Katsuhira Agata, Yoshiharu Hisomu, Honoka Maki, Niko Niiyama, Noriko Sonozaki, Chidori Takashiro, Hajime Tenga, and Tsuguhito Yuta, and delve into how their lives are affected by this "Kiznaiver", which based on the Japanese words for wound/scar and bond/connection. While Noriko Sonozaki archetypes the rest of the show's characters as "Seven Deadly Sins", it is my belief that this is one of the best casts of characters I have ever seen in terms of realism. I feel like in life I have met someone just as eccentric as Niko, someone just as closed-off and bitchy as Maki, someone as emotionally cut-off as Katsuhira, someone as confrontational as Tenga. The characters reminded me of the Great Gatsby, in the sense that they all felt like accurate depictions of people, not characters written for a story. Each one felt unique, and different, and it was wonderful to see. To add to that, the characters actually progressed from episode one to episode twelve. I was most surprised by Hisomu's progression from a seemingly-forgettable side-character to one of the funniest characters in the show, hands down. Each character reacted normally to situations, and didn't feel like some esoteric, philosophy spouting mouth-piece, but like people!
Speaking of mouth-pieces, they were all fantastically voiced by their actors and actresses. In fact, all the sound of Kiznaiver was excellent. Hayashi Yuuki, the composer of the My Hero Academia, Death Parade, and Haikyuu!! soundtracks did this one, and he was wonderful. The music brought out emotions like nothing else I have seen in anime, making you feel melancholy, joy, elation, excitement, and levity. In addition to the show's OST, the OP by Boom Boom Satellites was an entrancing electronic tune, and the ED was a solid, catchy J-pop song. And I would be utterly remiss if I didn't comment on the sound design, especially of episode ten. The shows sound director, Kameyama Toshiki, crafted one of the most heart-crunching, bone-chlling, emotionally-haunting scenes I have ever listened to in the final part of episode ten. I also feel I must bring up the excellent performances by the voice actors in this scene. I mean it when I say I do not think I will ever forget the word "itai" for the rest of my life.
And I guess I could not end the "objective" portion of the review without mentioning the animation. With Trigger, you have three options, animation-wise. One, Little Witch Academia-tier, which is consistently amazing through out. Two, Kill la Kill and Space Patrol Luluco-tier, which shows flashes of brilliance but also poorly animated sequences, whether by lack of funding or by intention. And three, Inferno Cop and Ninja Slayer-tier, which, to borrow Demolition D+'s word's, embraces the "clip-art animation techniques". It brings me great joy to say Kiznaiver belongs in the top-tier of animation, surpassing Little Witch Academia. The design of the city looks modern enough to surprise you with sci-fi elements, but also feel eerily like real life. The literal animation showcases some amazing talent. For some reason, the shadows stood out to me. The color palette was superb, with vibrancy when needed and dullness when required. And the character design is something to behold. Each character looks unique, with the exception of Tenga, because he just looks like red-haired Space Dandy. Yuta and Hisomu were probably the most original designs I have seen in the Spring 2016 season. Also, the fashion. It's like the gods of good clothing taste blessed these animators, not only allowing for incredibly stylish characters, but also for bright, colorful, and stand-out clothes to associate with the characters. The clothing honestly did so much as to contribute to the characterization, that is how amazing it was.
If you couldn't tell after slogging through my review, I have nothing but praise for Kiznaiver. It excelled at animation, sound, and character, while having a passable and intriguing story. But now I would like to attempt to explain the "intangible" I described earlier. Because that is what pushes Kiznaiver so far, not its superb animation, not its wonderful sound design, and not its diverse and animated cast of characters. No, it is the themes of the show, and their expression that push this show to new boundaries. To not spoil anything, pain, connection, and friendship are explored with more depth than I have ever seen. I believe that depth comes from the realistic nature of the presentation. You literally see pain, you literally see connection through pain, and you literally see friendship bloom because of that connection. The themes build upon each other, each one necessary for the other. Without pain, connection can't happen and friendship cannot either. With connection, then we would become isolated and most-likely calloused, maybe even jaded. And without friendship, we would lack a meaning expression of connection, and feel like pain and connection were purposeless. This is what I meant at the beginning when I said that Trigger understands. They simply get it. But what is "it"? "It" is to be human. I often hear the saying, "Humans are social creatures". And they are right. Humans need connection and friendship, and while it is unfortunate, pain creates connections like nothing else. Pain births people into the world as babies, and often times, pain takes people out of the world. Pain is absolutely core to our being, just like it is absolutely core to Kiznaiver. Without pain, the show, the story, the characters, the sound, they are nothing. But with pain, they are connected. With pain, they are friends. And with pain, they feel love.
I can never truly justify my 10/10 rating of this show. By no means is it perfect, as my rating of the story should prove. And I doubt anyone will really experience the same thing I felt when watching this anime. But the positives of Kiznaiver far, far outweigh the negatives. No show has ever so uniquely and so piercingly explored its themes in the way Trigger explored its themes in Kiznaiver. And no show will likely ever connect to me on the emotional level like Kiznaiver did. Isn't that funny in a sense? A show about connection passes through the TV screen, and connects with its viewers heart. That is something beautiful, remarkable, and something I believe is worth celebrating.
Thanks for reading.

"Your bound by your wounds"

Can we just say that when Studio Trigger does an original work, they always succeed in both themes and being an overall great animes?.

Kiznaiver is very different but having the same impact from Trigger's previous original work Kill la Kill however where Kill la Kill is through sheer battle lunacy, Kiznaiver is through sheer emotional extremes and thus can be extremely relatable even in this state.

In terms of characters, the entire main cast are fleshed out characters with their own quirks here and there, but considering that we're looking at "pain" or "emotional pain" as a central focus, the anime develops ... these characters naturally making the cast to be well-defined, solid and to be frank complex characters, not only on character development but backstory and once again being relatable. LA's favourite character became Niko Niiyama voiced by Misaki Kuno (well that and she reminded LA of a less psychotic but still genki Nui Harime) and LA felt that she was the glue that hold up the main cast together. Many of the characters were homages to previous Trigger/Gainax work, such as rambunctious deliquent Hajime Tenga voiced by Hitoshi Yanai being like Kamina from Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann, the mysterious deadpanned Noriko Sonozaki voiced by Hibiku Yamamura had shades of Satsuki Kiryuinn from Kill la Kill and ever worrying and caring Chidori Takashiro voiced by Yuka Terasaki was Yoko Littner from Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann, however besides Niko, LA had a soft spot for the harsh tsundere Honoka Maki voiced by Rina Sato...not only for her backstory, but Rina Sato did a great job voicing her.

Relationship-wise to this anime, it slowly and surely becomes something of a love dodecahedron with plenty of unrequited love and really LA isn't complaining about the romance in this anime being one part love dodecahedron, one part twice shy relationship as it brings in the great amount of drama it has (consider that LA didn't say MELOdrama), the only three away from dodecahedron are the aforementioned Honoka, the masochistic Yoshiharu Hisomu voiced by Koutarou Nishiyama and the prideful idiot Tsuguhito Yuta voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki.

Finally LA would like to point to the main character of this series, Katsuhira "Kacchon" Agata voiced by Yuki Kaji was at first a deadpanned lifeless person with almost no personality besides his quirk of not feeling pain, but throughout the series, he grew as a character and through his interactions with the other cast members, he not only grew a backbone but a personality and if any character evolved through this series, it was well EVERYONE but also Kacchon too, especially him.

The animation by Trigger, well like Trigger to have some solid animation across the board, from the unique character designs to the aesthetics of the Kiznaivers to even how the characters act are solid. The animation is overall solid and unique typical of Trigger.

Kiznaiver's plot does bring up some plot twists here and there and by all means, it's justified and "makes sense" and LA really can't fault the writing for it either as even some of the more outrageous moments can justified all because Kiznaiver's theming, concept and execution were done excellently especially as a touchy and generalized subject of "pain" and LA isn't gonna lie, many of the plot twist to revelations the characters knew kinda got LA teary-eyed at times.

Voice acting???..well what can LA say but the voice acting was stellar throughout the board to the point LA can't single someone out as the best voice actor, the voice acting was just that great.

The ending was by in large, something immense wringing in the character's motivations, emotional highs and connecting it's core themes into this finale and even though the final episode's impact wasn't "physically batshit crazy" amazing like Kill la Kill, but emotionally it "triggered" all the right notes and although it had a message about friendship, it's not about "defeating evil" more like trying to bring out an ENTIRE CAST' beliefs and revelation to the most emotional extremes. On the other hand LA thought the romance side of things did actually pull all the romantic notes decently enough with some official couples formed but some left up in the air and really LA isn't complaining, the ending was still great overall, OTP be damned or not.

Kiznaiver like it's central theme of being connected through emotional pain, it's another great venture from a Trigger work and can be relatable (be it romantic or what have you) and by far this is LA's favourite anime of Spring 2016.

Voice acting and visuals were absolutely the most ideal for any series-- art direction wise probably trigger's greatest yet. Character designs were so so so diverse and unique but they all fit the style so nicely and voices matched perfectly.
Premise is extremely unique but pretty lackluster. The concept of the entire series just doesn't have a good enough base. It had a pretty weak start but my interest piqued in it around episode 3. I personally only really enjoyed one of the plot points surrounding one character and that only lasted 1-2 episodes. Many of the characters were ridiculously one-dimensional. The only thing that defined ... them was their overall goal???
Overall I would highly recommend just because of the art-- the style alone is enough to make this a 7/10. If you enjoy ridiculous drama and romance then this is the series for you.

It is so underrated! Just go and watch it you won't regret watching it.
It's about friendship and how we're connected to each other through pain. Art style is so amazing it will make you feel the story so deeply.
The idea of proportionally sharing pain among multiple people may sound like a pretty interesting premise for a series, but in Kiznaiver’s case it’s just that – a concept. Despite all the talk of shadowy scientific organisations, a grand plan for achieving world peace and some rather curious flashback foreshadowing, the main crux of Kiznaiver doesn’t do much in the way of carrying the show forward. ... If anything it’s just a method of getting all these wildly different characters together in the first place. Once the whole “if one person gets hurt the rest will feel it” thing is set up there isn’t much left to really do with it other than for it to act as a visual metaphor. As the 12-episode series approaches its conclusion and starts to answer some of the bigger mysteries of the series (why Katsuhira can’t feel pain anymore, Sonozaki’s true identity), what should have felt like huge revelations instead comes across as minor background material.

I've read many of the reviews and I disagree with many of them. I honestly do not think they do this excellent anime justice; thus I thought I'd throw in my two cents about it.

The voice acting is superb in this anime. Yuki Kaji, the voice-actor for the main character, expertly delivered the monotonous tone that was needed to convey the character issue - the loss of pain. However, despite the monotony the voice actor portrays in the character, I was not, not even once, bored with Katsuhira. From the first episode, the story developers easily establish the needed hints as ... to why Katsuhira is the way he is and why his loss of feeling pain was actually not how he was when he was younger. As a watcher of the anime, I knew that something traumatic had to have happened to him. Around episode 10, Yuki Kaji slowly changes the tone and intensity in his voice, offering more life to the character that wasn't present in the majority of the anime. At that point, I could literally hear Katsuhira slowly regaining his humanity, almost as if the voice actor himself was slowly realizing that pain is precious in its own way and that his character needed to have the desire to feel pain first before realizing that.

The other voice actors also did an excellent job. I found their delivery of the pain and suffering involved with getting their heart broken for the first time performed very well. I was convinced that Chidori was in a lot of pain and that Honoka had suffered greatly in her youth. Yuka Terasaki delivered that pain in every line and I thought Rina Sato (Honoka Maki) stayed in character and delivered her lines well. Overall, they all did well, and you always have to remember that the voice actors we hear all so often in animes do an excellent job anyway. If there ever is a blame, it is in the story and how those characters are drawn to convey emotion. There's only so much a voice actor can do.

The story itself was excellent. There are a few flaws here and there, but I"m not going to knock off a point for the story just because it isn't perfect. Perfection is, simply, impossible. Let me first start by saying that all of these characters are around sixteen, seventeen years old; so it shouldn't be a wonder that these characters are going to have high school related drama. In other words, they are going to fall in love with their friends but find out that friend doesn't love them but one of their other friends...etc etc. To be honest though, I thought the way the love stories developed was refreshing. If you've watched as many animes as I have, especially recent ones (e.g. The Asterisk War, GATE, Fairy Tail...even Fate/Stay Night...) I think you'll find the candid confessions of the other characters to be very refreshing, indeed. (cough cough, Gray and Juvia anyone???) I mean, how many times have you seen a girl character have secret, hidden feelings, blushing like no one can notice and stuttering at every word when she's around the MC? HMMMM??? Yeah, a lot. And how long does that last? THE ENTIRE FREAKIN' SERIES. In this anime, literally in the second episode, one of the female characters outright admits that she likes the MC. Let's just say that I was appreciative of that.

I thought the use of the Kiznaiver system was a good way to push plot development and character development. As other reviewers have stated, this anime is a character-oriented anime that involves a failed government program called Kiznaiver. This system started with nineteen adolescents (around the age of six or seven, although they don't specifically state that) with the hopes that if these children can learn to share their pain with each other, then world peace can be achieved. This is pretty intuitive actually. I mean, how many murderers would murder (unless they were like Hisomu) if the pain they inflicted on others rebounded against them? How many people would kill another if they were linked to that person knowing that that person they killed would be the end of them as well? Murder would, for all intents and purposes, cease to be; war would end and everyone would become more conscientious of each others wants and needs. Sounds like a great idea....right?

Wrong. There was a flaw in that system, resulting in devastating results for those children. I won't say why, for spoiler reasons. Once the sponsors and the government running heard of this failure, the scientists running the show were left scrambling to fix the 'error' they had created while pushing forward a failed system that still had the potential to achieve their ultimate goal. This is where the anime starts. Seven teenagers are 'kidnapped' and taken to a facility where they are all put into the Kiznaiver program. The anime is centered around these seven characters and through the series, they slowly become friends while learning how to cope with each other's pain.

Friendship, itself, is the saving grace for the characters and is pivotal in explaining why one of the characters is dead wrong in her pursuit. There is an underlining tone of being alone, of loneliness, and how that some people will try to do anything in order to achieve that. Sometimes you end up hurting the ones you care about the most without even realizing it. But that is the lesson of the anime; you can't go through life expecting not to get hurt and yet still live a fulfilling life. A fulfilled life requires good friends, friends that will still like you even if you cause them pain or, you are in pain for whatever reason. To me, that is what this anime is really about. It's realizing the importance of feeling pain. This anime plays around with that concept, such as in Katsuhira and Himosu. One doesn't understand pain and cannot feel it. But at the same time, he acts lifeless and uncaring to his friends around him. Himosu, on the other hand, loves pain because it makes him feel alive and it allows him to know who he really is. That is the contrast with the characters and Himosu stands out for that reason. Through pain, Himosu knows himself better than the others because they are afraid to get hurt. Katsuhira is the extreme version of that.

The flaws, I would say, is that the anime isn't long enough. I would have liked to see the love relationships developed more. Another flaw is that the final crisis in the last episode is weak (not super weak, but weak enough to cause me to think, "the poop hasn't really hit the fan, yet"). The anime also tried to make some of the characters immediate love interests, which I thought was very sudden. If they had extended the anime, that could have been fixed. But that wasn't really a problem since I got the gist of it. I didn't need a lot of backstory with all the characters since it was pretty self explanatory where most of the characters stood. I mean, adding the reasons why Tenga was a hot-headed fighter would have been unnecessary and distracting from the main plot, and diving deeper into Yuta's weight problem wasn't needed either. I get it. Yuta was fat and he was embarrassed by it. What else do I need to know? I do wish, though, that they had developed the MC's love interest storylines more. That would have been welcomed.

Anyway, I'm not going to edit this much. I just wanted to write something that was from the heart. I thought that was appropriate.

This show started really slow for me then gets really good in the middle but becomes a cluster fuck near the end.

The main character is Katsuhiro and his whole thing is that he doesn't feel anything. I normally hate this kind of character but his lack of personality is very relevant to the plot so I can let it slide. However, this makes the first part painful to watch because he's just not interesting.

The middle of the story however, is where the drama intensifies. I don't want to say more because this is the best part of the story. What I do want ... to say is that all the other characters shine in this part of the show. And with that, Nico is best girl.

It all spirals downward from there as the plot tries to up the stakes. The central conflict doesn't have a lot of flavor because the main antagonist's struggle isn't explored enough to warrant her actions. It IS explained but it's very hard to give a crap about it.

In the end, the story misses out on being an absolute blast and simply becomes above average.

I would give this show a weak recommendation if you're only here for the drama because some shows can make you cry harder. If you're someone who likes to draw and is leaning towards a career in fine arts, it's worth it to watch the show simply for the sake of the visuals. Art style is done by Miwa Shirow so of course the designs look sharp and appealing.

On that note, the OP of this show is amazing. It perfectly encapsulates the tone of the middle part of the show. I never miss watching the OP when I start an episode.

Did you read the synopsis? Did you like it? If you did, it's worth watching like it's a ten. If you don't then it's worth watching like an eight. That's actually all you need to know. If you want to know why I think that let me now get to the review part.

The biggest issue of Kiznaiver is in the nature of it's writing. The core idea is a story about people that literally share their pain. If you are interested in things like story writing or simply seen or read a lot of entertainment media like manga or anime then you might already have ... an idea of what will happen in the series. In fact you can make a checklist and play a drinking game with it. There are just certain obvious plotpoints and twists that have to happen in this story to not waste it's potential and they obviously will. I can't recall any anime that previously delt with this gimmick yet I already felt like it's “another one on the topic”. It's good, don't get me wrong. Great even. It's an ideal storyline for a slice of life drama and trigger being an action-loving studio keeps it interesting and well-paced. They basically took something obvious and executed it as well as it was possible to execute, but the topic itself provided little maneuverability and space for imagination. Once you know the characters you will know what will they do. It's an uncanny feeling that shouldn't get you out of the story but it makes it difficult to judge it's quality. The idea is great and the execution is perfect. But there's little to no effort in coming up with the idea or executing it due to how great it is on it's own. Does a story like that deserve a medal? An award for being invented or picked? I don't really think so. That's why I gave it an 8. It's more than good but less than revolutionary or inspiring. Putting it in a weird spot. What I can say for sure is that it's worth going through at least once and that it's by no means any worse than a 7.5, which is quiet a good grade anyway.

What helps the story a lot are the Characters. The character design is very interesting. They are different, they look original but they also don't stand out too much from common people. They fit their realistic modern-day setting but also thanks to that setting can't really do anything outstanding that would make them anything more even if their interactions are quiet reasonable and always in line with their personalities. They're just great. Nothing more, nothing less.

From the technical side the Art of the series is not bad. It has some nice colors and decent linework. I had a small issue with animation of running and only that. For whatever reason characters often run in a bizarre out-of-place fashion that actually took me out of the show a few times. It looks comedic even during dramatic scenes and it has no real purpose. It could be argued that it was done to make it look a bit more frantic but it failed at that. To outweigh that the show has some nice special effects and felt rather pleasant to look at overall. So I decided to rate it as a 7, but a 6 would also be in place.

The sound has similar issues. It was more on the enjoyable side but nothing really stuck in my head. It's just fair.

I would have to rate my enjoyment at 8. I'm coming mostly from the fact that I put a lot of attention to the story of the show I'm watching and I enjoyed the execution of the topic of the show a great deal. Even if I can't rate it all that high. Nothing really stood in my way of having fun even if nothing was really outstanding. You could compare it to a catchy song. It might not have much meaning but there's something interesting in there and it's pleasant enough to put on your playlist.

Kiznaiver, or how to reach world peace by having everyone feel what everyone else feels.

It's errr...okay I guess.

Story: 4: Without spoiling, don't expect the ending to be very good.

The Kiznaiver system ends up not paying off as well as you might expect and the whole of the story is structured around small episodes or double episodes which either explore the characters' psyche some more, either just provide a generic danger or trial for them to pass.

The main idea is interesting but not quite explored as cleverly as it could, and to be frank I found the anime fun and enjoyable to a point, but ... never capable of delivering anything beyond some fun anime times. Mainly because the entire anime sort of waddles around the Kiznaiver system and the plot had other ideas in mind than just that. And secondarily because it's just not that well told. The anime is character-centric and isn't that good at expressing all of the characters' feelings (especially Noriko Sonozaki) and when the plot tries to tie in several layers together at the end, it reaaaaaaaally doesn't work well at all.

Art: 8 : It's Trigger. Yes you'll find a lot of things to look like TTGL or Kill la Kill here. No surprises, it looks good, it's well animated, it feels alive and is overall very well done and stylish.

Sound: 8: ripoff of a-ha or not, that opening alone will let Kiznaiver leave a (small) mark in my mind. Beyond that, solid voice cast and solid sound effects at all times.

Character: 7: I liked Tenga quite a lot and I found Chidori cute and the others were also at least decent, but this isn't a character study.
It's more of a "diverse people become friends" story, and it's built to be like that episode after episode, but since the main plot sort of clonks down around the end, the relationships between them are rarely pushed to the brink and they just all sort of are characters, and they sort of become friends, and they sort of fall in love or don't fall in love and some stuff happens.

Enjoyment: 7 : This one boils down to one question to me:
Do you like anime and specifically Trigger?
If yes to both, you'll enjoy this, at least to a point.
If no to Trigger, this may not find much grace with you.
If no to both, this definitely isn't the anime to show how great anime can be. I'm gonna be a little mean and say that it feels like standard anime with a standard anime plot of sci-fi and a standard character list of standard anime characters.

To conclude, I'd just like to say that I had a good bit of fun watching Kiznaiver. I'm giving it a 7, hesitating on 6.

But will I remember it? Nope. Nothing about it, its plot, its setting, its cast, or any single specific part of it, shone out. This is an anime done by Trigger, with Trigger style of character design, drawing and animation, and it's good, it has a sort of bad plot that isn't terrible, and it has an anime cast of anime characters that are all anime. If you like anime and/or Trigger, you'll like it.

And if I sound bored by Kiznaiver, maybe it's because I sort of was.

Sure, it is stylish. It's from Trigger.
Sure, nothing about the cast, art or sound was bad.
Sure, it gave me a good bit of fun several times.

And no, the subpar plot does not destroy my enjoyment, even if I was sort of let down.

But being on par with the standards, even with the help of Trigger's talent, does not suffice at being anything above decent or good at best. And that's really what this is. It's decent. It's kinda good. It's got a lot of little ups and one down. It's not very ambitious. It's very generic. It's just...standard.