Kaiba was not originally on my list of shows to watch this season. I admit, I saw a couple of screenshots, dismissed it as a simple Japanese kids’ show and went about my business. How wrong I was.
Kaiba is now the second star of the season in my opinion. A tale about an amnesiatic boy who awakes in a world where human bodies are harvested by the rich for spare parts, and his only clue to his past is a locket around his neck with a blurred picture of a girl. Kaiba is one of those stories which drops us in the middle of a strange, exotic world and asks us to trust and hold on. And oh, what an exotic world it is. The art style reminds me of Antoine de Saint Exupery’s The Little Prince (a story dear to my heart) and French science fiction art of the 60s and 70s. This aesthetic was clearly a conscious decision as it informs every aspect of the world: a strange, eyeless ostrich creature with a bubble-encased head rescues our hero, Warp; the “guns” look like rayguns out of 1950’s Buck Rodgers; Warp’s friend and savior Popo dresses like a spaceman from the alien vista of a 70s disco album. It’s strange and otherworldly, exotic and terribly charming.
Needless to say, this show comes with my highest recommendation. We really have something special here this season.
