(L) Kotetsujo no Kabaneri (Knocking on the Walls of the Armored Fortress)

[Wandering Soul]

This had potential but sort of wasted it. The first half was fine, but it went downhill after Biba's introduction. This series is best enjoyed as sort of a popcorn flick where you just turn your brain off and watch for pure enjoyment, like a Micheal Bay film.

Overall I give it a 5.5/10

[Kazu-kun]

Biba was a mistake. They should have let Mumei and Ikoma keep kicking zombie ass the whole season instead of adding such a lame villain.

4/10

[Triple_R]

In a better and/or more normal show, this ending would have been good, maybe even very good. It would still have some issues, but it would have been a solid feel-good ending with decent action and some highly compelling visuals.

But given what Kabaneri has been like since Biba showed up, this ending really was too normal. Kabaneri had reached a point where it's biggest strength was its "rule of cool" OTPness. So given that, this ending actually felt strangely safe and conventional, slightly underwhelming.

The final major set piece, involving Ikoma and Biba and Mumei, really needed something more. It's hard to put my finger on it, but the Ikoma/Biba clash probably needed more dialogue and/or more charisma, or maybe more colorful/explosive attacks. Biba in particular came across as far too normal a "last human boss" given his characterization to date. The actual action choreography in Ikoma vs. Biba was good enough, but just barely. Mumei's role in all of this was Ok, but it did feel rushed.

On the whole, this ending could have used more surprising zaniness. The one scene that stands out to me as living up to Kabaneri's inherent ridiculousness was Ikoma blowing away that train. That was a very good scene for the type of show this had become. But the finale needed more of that in order for it to be a truly satisfying ending, in my opinion.

I'm not yet sure what I'd rank the show overall.

[scififan]

For the show's intended audience(15-16 years old), the show is quite interesting. It has all conflict and anticipation. For audience with twice that age, the show is plain.

Overall, I enjoy the happy ending.

Ikoma: Maybe it's just me. The spirit of deaths may gather on it.
Ikoma: I still think little sister Hatsune and Takumi are inside this rock.
Ikoma: Since then, they will help us from this rock.
Ikoma: Therefore, Mumei, I give it to you.
Ikoma: Because I don't want to lose anyone.
Mumei: Likewise.
Ikoma: Me?
Mumei: We made the promise!
Ikoma: Right, we made the promise. Mumei, I will turn you back to human.
Mumei: Mm

[Kusaja]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

In a better and/or more normal show, this ending would have been good, maybe even very good. It would still have some issues, but it would have been a solid feel-good ending with decent action and some highly compelling visuals.

Honestly, I think this is good enough for a dumb show like Kabaneri. I can see them giving more "oomph" to the combat for the film versions that they will release this fall/winter, but straying too far from normality would be too risky. As a matter of fact, I'd argue the ending needed to bring some balance to the Force after all the accumulated darkness surrounding it.

It's less entertaining, on the surface, but also safer. This way, not everyone is happy but some are content and at least others can move on with little or no anger in their hearts. In my case, I can just shrug it off in relative acceptance as another one for the stockpile.

[orion]

Hurray for happy endings!

The Mumei x Ikoma ship sails proudly into the sunset.

[Benigmatica]

Episode 12:
Oh Biba Amatori... Biba the Fool!

Well, it was a fun ride now that Ikoma, Mumei, and the rest of the Kotetsujou crew are out of Kongoukaku! Still, there are things that are left unresolved though like what will happen to the Kabane plague and such.

[Freeter]

The show literally became a trainwreck

Can we get a spinoff with just Yukina? And throw in conductor TK for good measure. Mumei can rot in doujin land for all I care.

[RX-78GP04G Gerbera]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

In a better and/or more normal show, this ending would have been good, maybe even very good. It would still have some issues, but it would have been a solid feel-good ending with decent action and some highly compelling visuals.

But given what Kabaneri has been like since Biba showed up, this ending really was too normal. Kabaneri had reached a point where it's biggest strength was its "rule of cool" OTPness. So given that, this ending actually felt strangely safe and conventional, slightly underwhelming.

The final major set piece, involving Ikoma and Biba and Mumei, really needed something more. It's hard to put my finger on it, but the Ikoma/Biba clash probably needed more dialogue and/or more charisma, or maybe more colorful/explosive attacks. Biba in particular came across as far too normal a "last human boss" given his characterization to date. The actual action choreography in Ikoma vs. Biba was good enough, but just barely. Mumei's role in all of this was Ok, but it did feel rushed.

On the whole, this ending could have used more surprising zaniness. The one scene that stands out to me as living up to Kabaneri's inherent ridiculousness was Ikoma blowing away that train. That was a very good scene for the type of show this had become. But the finale needed more of that in order for it to be a truly satisfying ending, in my opinion.

I'm not yet sure what I'd rank the show overall.

I was actually hoping that Mumei would get up and start attacking Biba while still the black smoke while shown through her swatting through all the red butterflies, trying to reach the single blue one representing Ikoma. And then after Biba was taken care of, then Ikoma could save Mumei in that similar fashion.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Kusaja

Honestly, I think this is good enough for a dumb show like Kabaneri.

It's not good enough, precisely because it is a dumb show. When you throw reason to the curb to the degree that Kabaneri did, then the ending should live up to that. When you decide half-way through your zombie apocalypse show that it's no longer good enough to simply be a zombie apocalypse show, then I think something truly wild and zany (or at least unpredictable) should be the show's end-game to justify that unnecessary switch-up.

Kabaneri went from a pretty interesting and creative zombie apocalypse show to very conventional shounen good guys vs. bad guys. It shouldn't be hard to see why that would be disappointing to many viewers. But what maybe could have salvaged it was making the shounen side less conventional.

Originally Posted by RX-78GP04G Gerbera

I was actually hoping that Mumei would get up and start attacking Biba while still the black smoke while shown through her swatting through all the red butterflies, trying to reach the single blue one representing Ikoma. And then after Biba was taken care of, then Ikoma could save Mumei in that similar fashion.

This is precisely the sort of thing that could have helped this finale. Honestly, Monster!Mumei was a huge letdown on the action side of things.

I was hoping for a truly ridiculous OTP fight between Monster!Mumei and Ikoma, where Biba tries to pull something very Snidely Whiplash-y with an evil shit-eating grin causing an "Oh shit!" moment for Ikoma, and then something wild happens to resolve it all.

Instead we get a very conventional Main Good Guy vs. Last Human Boss fight, and the big monstrous version of the popular female character is just kinda there, hoping to gain Key-esque FEELS I suppose.

[IceHism]

The ending was kind of nice to see Biba and his people die. But we wouldn't even be in this situation if he never existed to begin with. Just 1 character ruined the whole show. So sad.

I'll give this show credit for the first 6 episodes, the sound track, animation, and art style though. At least that was enjoyable to watch.

[RX-78GP04G Gerbera]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

This is precisely the sort of thing that could have helped this finale. Honestly, Monster!Mumei was a huge letdown on the action side of things.

I was hoping for a truly ridiculous OTP fight between Monster!Mumei and Ikoma, where Biba tries to pull something very Snidely Whiplash-y with an evil shit-eating grin causing an "Oh shit!" moment for Ikoma, and then something wild happens to resolve it all.

Instead we get a very conventional Main Good Guy vs. Last Human Boss fight, and the big monstrous version of the popular female character is just kinda there, hoping to gain Key-esque FEELS I suppose.

It was amazing how she seemed to do even less than MonsterHorobi, who, with a much shorter time span, was able to do some major damage by breaking down the wall and allowing hordes of Kabane in and even almost killing Biba herself in her near-Kabane state. Mumei just kinda...stomped a few things and only took Biba by surprise.

[Kazu-kun]

It should be self-evident there's no point in having a cool ass-kicking girl character in your show if you're gonna reduce her to rescue fodder. You're killing the appeal of having such a character in the show in the first place. It should be obvious, yet lots of "authors" keep making the same mistake, specially in anime.

[Kusaja]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

It's not good enough, precisely because it is a dumb show. When you throw reason to the curb to the degree that Kabaneri did, then the ending should live up to that. When you decide half-way through your zombie apocalypse show that it's no longer good enough to simply be a zombie apocalypse show, then I think something truly wild and zany (or at least unpredictable) should be the show's end-game to justify that unnecessary switch-up.

I see your point, but I am afraid we are going to remain in direct disagreement here. I don't think the only or even the "best" option for every dumb show is to literally go all the way into dumbness and never look back, no matter the consequences or the context. For my money, that can become an extreme and radical way of thinking. It ignores the risks involved in that approach including a lot of details along the way, both inside and outside of the show itself, as well as how other people within the audience might not desire such a potentially self-destructive resolution.

Not to mention that I don't believe Kabaneri ever stopped being a zombie apocalypse show. Just like Resident Evil doesn't stop being a zombie video game whenever you have to fight Wesker, who was at least originally a human (like Biba actually being a Kabaneri, that also eventually changed), or some other technically non-zombie entity at the end.

Nope, I'd much rather watch another throwaway yet harmless series ending like the one for Kabaneri rather than stick with a much dumber show where the finale makes me visibly angry or annoyed after an attempt to "throw reason to the curb" as you've put it. To be fair, it's also possible to make a show that's dumber yet tolerable enough for me to simply enjoy it and not be bothered, under other circumstances, but Kabaneri's already shown that some of the audience's most negative reactions happened when it attempted to get darker/crazier.

Therefore, I don't see that as an improvement, other than for those who are purely hatewatching it with no other concern. On a less extreme level...your suggestion about doing more with Monster Mumei feels like a double-edged sword to me, since it would have increased the angst and drama (more Key "feels" too), but I suppose it's not impossible for them to have tweaked the scenario just enough to provide more of what you want without necessarily blowing everything up (figuratively speaking or otherwise).

[orion]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

It should be self-evident there's no point in having a cool ass-kicking girl character in your show if you're gonna reduce her to rescue fodder. You're killing the appeal of having such a character in the show in the first place. It should be obvious, yet lots of "authors" keep making the same mistake, specially in anime.

Well if you're appealing to a male audience who placed themselves as "Ikoma" then Mumei is going to be rescued by the "MC". Pretty much expected nowadays.

Same thing with Kurusu. He fell off the tracks, landed in a river, faced a horde of zombies and gets welcomed back by Ayame (his crush).

[Blonto]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

It's not good enough, precisely because it is a dumb show. When you throw reason to the curb to the degree that Kabaneri did, then the ending should live up to that. When you decide half-way through your zombie apocalypse show that it's no longer good enough to simply be a zombie apocalypse show, then I think something truly wild and zany (or at least unpredictable) should be the show's end-game to justify that unnecessary switch-up.

This. If your main appeal is ridiculous action with zombies and trains, stick with that, don't derail it into a trite shounen formula everyone's seen a million times already with barely any zombies and a terrible bad guy that you're so desperately trying to make complex and failing. Being pure crazy action is what this show promised, the least they could've done is stay on track (heh) instead of putting everyone to sleep with a copy+paste villain and his revenge plot.
There's a huge difference between being B entertainment and being garbage, it's sad that some people don't get the difference and think that just being shit makes anything into a guilty pleasure.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I was hoping for a truly ridiculous OTP fight between Monster!Mumei and Ikoma

Doesn't OTP mean "one true pairing"? Or do you mean OP, as in overpowered?

[Kusaja]

Originally Posted by Blonto

This. If your main appeal is ridiculous action with zombies and trains, stick with that, don't derail it into a trite shounen formula everyone's seen a million times already with barely any zombies and a terrible bad guy that you're so desperately trying to make complex and failing.

...

There's a huge difference between being B entertainment and being garbage, it's sad that some people don't get the difference and think that just being shit makes anything into a guilty pleasure.

I think it's sad that you believe there are no B movies which one perspective considers to be shit and another outlook finds to be a mindless (not even guilty) pleasure. Plus those who would say the zombie genre sucks because it's often too formulaic. This whole argument automatically assumes there's a strictly defined line between "ridiculous action with zombies and "trite shonen formula" that should never, ever be crossed. As if they were mutually exclusive or inherently contradictory elements that have never been in the same production before.

Which is a rather preposterous idea when fully considered, because several of the cliches that people have complained about are also present in zombie media, including the "humanity is the real monster, not the zombies!" angle as well as having the hero rescue the girl/other survivors, etc. and all the stupidity from guards or other authority figures.

Kabaneri has gotten a lot of heat for that sort of mix, and yet that's clearly part of the zombie genre too, in practice, and not an exclusively shonen trait. "Pure action shows" are no less cliched or stereotypical by nature. In fact, quite a few action show cliches are also present in this final arc. It's also not true that this series never had stuff like the old shonen idealism at the very start or was "promising" to have action scenes with nothing in between. But hey, whatever. This is already getting old and the show's barely ended.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by orion

Well if you're appealing to a male audience who placed themselves as "Ikoma" then Mumei is going to be rescued by the "MC". Pretty much expected nowadays.

It's fine if your MC's going rescue a chick, but in that case there's no need for the girl to be strong.

If you're going out of your way to make the girl strong, stick to it. Because the appeal of a strong girl is to be strong. That's the freaking point.

[Tempester]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

In a better and/or more normal show, this ending would have been good, maybe even very good. It would still have some issues, but it would have been a solid feel-good ending with decent action and some highly compelling visuals.

But given what Kabaneri has been like since Biba showed up, this ending really was too normal. Kabaneri had reached a point where it's biggest strength was its "rule of cool" OTPness. So given that, this ending actually felt strangely safe and conventional, slightly underwhelming.

The final major set piece, involving Ikoma and Biba and Mumei, really needed something more. It's hard to put my finger on it, but the Ikoma/Biba clash probably needed more dialogue and/or more charisma, or maybe more colorful/explosive attacks. Biba in particular came across as far too normal a "last human boss" given his characterization to date. The actual action choreography in Ikoma vs. Biba was good enough, but just barely. Mumei's role in all of this was Ok, but it did feel rushed.

On the whole, this ending could have used more surprising zaniness. The one scene that stands out to me as living up to Kabaneri's inherent ridiculousness was Ikoma blowing away that train. That was a very good scene for the type of show this had become. But the finale needed more of that in order for it to be a truly satisfying ending, in my opinion.

Dammit, Triple_R, you took the words right out of my mouth. The attack on the train (Attack on Train? ) really stood out as an silly entertaining scene in an otherwise boring finale. The rest of the episode was so conventional and by the books that it felt like reading off of a script. Biba's previous actions make him way too much of an over-the-top wicked villain to be defeated in such a boring way; if they were going to ruin the show with his presence, they might as well have gone all the way through with him rather than chickening out in the last episode.

Originally Posted by RX-78GP04G Gerbera

It was amazing how she seemed to do even less than MonsterHorobi, who, with a much shorter time span, was able to do some major damage by breaking down the wall and allowing hordes of Kabane in and even almost killing Biba herself in her near-Kabane state. Mumei just kinda...stomped a few things and only took Biba by surprise.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Blonto

Doesn't OTP mean "one true pairing"? Or do you mean OP, as in overpowered?

In this case, he's referring to "over-the-top".

[Xander]

Originally Posted by RX-78GP04G Gerbera

It was amazing how she seemed to do even less than MonsterHorobi, who, with a much shorter time span, was able to do some major damage by breaking down the wall and allowing hordes of Kabane in and even almost killing Biba herself in her near-Kabane state. Mumei just kinda...stomped a few things and only took Biba by surprise.

That does sound odd when you put it like this. To be fair, it's probably part budget issue and partly because Mumei was reluctant. She was not nearly as much into causing destruction as Horobi, who was fully following Biba's orders with gusto, nor did she lose her mind and go full Kabane.