カイバ

Written on 06/08/25

Found out about this one when I came across the opening on youtube. I won't say too much this time, simply put, this show is about a world where in which memories and bodies are a commodity as a result of being able to implant, copy or remove one person's memories into another's body. I found this concept pretty interesting and liked how the show protrayed it and what can be done with it, whether it be to satisfy one's hedonistic desires, impersonation or just fitting yourself in a new body. One particular usage of it made me think a lot, since it was a character who had their memories manipulated and then copied into another body which looked completely different from her original one and by the end of the series it comes into question if the two bodies having memories of that one person are even the same person after a while.
Anyway, the show is unintentionally(?) divided into two halfs, the first primarily revolving around world building, where we follow our main character who we know as Kaiba who has lost his memory and ends up planet hopping with a horny police officer guy named Vanilla who is, for a lack of a better word, a simp due to one of the bodies Kaiba inhabits. The latter half has more of a focus on Kaiba's past and those ties he has with others.



I found the first half and it's self contained episodic stories to be a really good engaging considering how we spend only an episode with the majority of the characters we meet. All their stories are deoressing or bittersweet but I don't think I ever felt it was overly sad or anything due to the vibe of the show and how it presents these things like, it is what it is, and we move on. This isn't to say these were unmemorable but its more like the show telling you, this is how things are.
As for the 2nd half of episodes, assumably due to the lack of time to properly smooth segway into them from, it can feel confusing at times but I think it ultimately did a good job at showing us Kaiba's backstory, even if a bit scuffed, and it really elevates a particular scene and other smaller details in a neat way.

Visually this show reminded me of Osamu Tezuka's artstyle and given that this came out in 2008, it looks quite distinct for that. The character are fairly easy on eyes and simple but also very bizarre in some cases. Bodies aren't as permanent, there are a lot of characters who dont look typically human, beyond what may just be a stylistic choice and I think that's cool and adds to making the world building since of course people would chnage their bodies to whatever they would prefer, or the most that they could afford. Even on a particular episode where its clear they are thin on budget, they manage to make character designs that, on paper, look sorta messy or unifinished contribute towards the world building whilst not looking deliberately low effort, given the context.

The music is great, I love how mellow the opening is compared to what I usually expect form an anime opening. Left a bittersweet feelinng in me whenever I watched it. The ending is just as good and gives me similar feelings but more aligned with deep thought and introspection.
The different arrangents of the planet theme all fit where they are used and I like that they have on particular song or maybe you might call it a leitmotif that they use throughout the series. I'd say it compliments the first half's episodic nature well.
There's the tree song and its renditions too, it honestly reminds me a lot of the song of healing from Majora's mask. Besides those songs, I like twinkling photon as well. It just reminds me of mario galaxy and that makes me feel content.

That's about all I have to say about Kaiba, I really liked it and think you highly recommend it, hence why I didn't spoil much. A melancholy, visually distinct world and pondering one's self or identity, is what Kaiba brings to mind.