Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress

The world is in the midst of an industrial revolution when near-immortal monsters appear and, through infection, turn humans into undead creatures: the Kabane. These monsters' only weakness seems to lie in their hearts, but these are protected by a thick layer of iron, requiring tremendous firepower or physical strength to destroy.

On the island of Hinomoto in the Far East, humans have built stations to protect themselves from these creatures; the transportation of people and goods between these stations takes place with the help of huge steam locomotives called hayajiro. The inventive Ikoma not only helps build these locomotives, he has also developed his own weapon to fight the evil creatures with.

When one day his home, the Aragane station, is overrun by Kabane, he tries to save himself with other survivors on board the Koutetsujou. After being bitten while successfully fending off a Kabane, he decides to sacrifice himself to allow the others to escape. However, he is saved at the last second by the mysterious Mumei, who explains to him what he has become: a hybrid of human and Kabane - a Kabaneri.

"Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress" actually surprised me positively, but that was probably because I wasn't expecting much.

The anime looks nice, just like the fights.

The story is relatively predictable, but the anime is still fun.

But it's mainly something for the eye.

This is a show that fails to deliver upon its rampaging and promising start, with a script and dialogue not on par with the animation quality accomplished by WIT Studio. For as good as the first episodes are, the moment the main villain is presented, everything turns sour, as the universe is pretty much unknown and none of the other characters are that enchanting or great to compensate for the failure of a character called to have that much weight in the story and who takes that much away from the Kabaneri and their ominous, fear-inducing portrayal when first introduced.

He is a stereotypical bad guy, with a cheap ass back story and purpose, with no nuance nor anything particular about him. He says ambiguous things with no real purpose or profound meaning, no subtext. It's nonsensical. There are no glimpses as to what great purpose or charismatic attributes would make him and his endeavor worth following. Are his followers driven by hate towards someone? What collective sentiments has he managed to channel and use? Things simply are and are so by repeating tropes in a poorly written manner. "The weak die, and only the strong survive". Really? Is that all that there's to it? That and the overall contempt for the general non-productive panic state that this world seems to be in? He just happens to be there to move the plot, aiming it to the dirt and mining whatever effort was there to make this universe interesting.

While the other characters also fail in a second half with its fill of cheesy, poor-writing moments that offer little explanation or sense for what is happening, the villain centers responsibility as he is the mayor contributor to the downfall of the series.

I'll be brief, I love this anime already. I watched the first episode not really expecting much and I was amazed. I then watched the rest of the season, and loved every minute. The story is great, the animation is beyond top-notch, the voice acting and characters are great, and I absolutely love the music (especially the opening and closing themes). On top of all that, it's intense but also emotional, and it mixes those perfectly. I don't know why people keep saying it's an Attack on Titan clone, because it's not. It's it's own original idea. It takes a zombie apocalypse to a whole new level and it is great. All in all, it's one of those very rare perfect anime shows. Can't wait for the second season, I hope there's a second season.

If you like AOT it's got enough in common to make you watch but it's differences make it its own show. However, it's not as well fleshed out as AOT. The characters such as ikoma, ayame and mumei are interesting but they could use more character development. Also, i actually like the pop rock with the action scenes, it's different. The threat of the Kabane though suspenseful and compelling isn't explored well enough to me. Maybe I missed something but the show doesnt explain where they come from, how they came to be and how exactly the main antagonist uses them. The threat switching more so from kabane to human is a bit jarring because it happens quickly. The show is good especially the last 3 episodes which are exciting but they are rushed. A lot happens and i feel most shows would've stretched those last several episodes into 6-9 episodes easily. 12 episodes isn't enough to adequately flesh out the show but to keep it short I feel like 20-24 would've done it. Some motives, back stories, etc are cut short or i feel ignored entirely but otherwise an enjoyable fast paced show. A solid 8.

First off, many are comparing this to Attack on Titan, but they are completely different. The kabane are zombie-like creatures with less intrigue than titans from AOT. The anime focuses less on the threat of the kabane and more on the social tension. The animation and soundtrack are amazing, often similar to AOT but that's to be expected given they share the same studio. The apocalyptic Japanese-steampunk setting draws you in and captivates you. Every episode kept you intrigued and hooked you to keep watching. There's barely any filler in the show which makes it packed full of plot. The villain is truly despicable, developing a hatred for him in just a couple episodes. Overall well done. I would give it a 10 if there were more episodes since some it did feel rushed in some of the backstory and plot points.