Kiznaiver went a long ways towards alleviating my main concerns in its third episode. The important thing here was that in contrast to the first two episodes’ big, bold declarations of feelings, this one had some legitimately sharp incidental character writing. Obviously Mari Okada is perfectly capable of sculpting fully realized characters, but the first two episodes made me worried this whole show was going to exist at a ridiculously heightened emotional revelation tenor, and this episode avoided that entirely. I’m happy to see this sensitivity and restraint, and I hope it keeps up until the show decides to punch us in the face with emotions again.
You can check out my full writeup over at ANN, or my episode notes below!
Maki: “I’ve killed someone before. Just kidding.” Great
They need to survive summer vacation together. A hyper-acute version of adolescent feelings, just the kind of thing Okada likes. And this time the scifi premise is basically an extension of that theme
The tough guy is great. He makes the MC a lot better
Tenga, that’s his name
The designs of their apartments are very nice. Lots of personality
Apparently they only share the initial pain, not the residual pain. Another way this could theoretically reflect on emotional pain
And Tenga immediately gets mad at whoever else got hurt, even though he fell off a balcony. I like that they don’t point this out
This conversation between Chidori and Katsuhira is excellent. They have different goals, and also different impressions of the feelings of the other, but they’re trying to be sensitive to each other’s feelings. Good stuff
Turns out they were all assigned numbers. And there is a seventh
Mission 2: Find the seventh
Nico figures out the smart system of looking for him, by poking Katsuhira and seeing if anyone in class reacts
Hisomu Yoshiharu, who never attends class
Each of the Kiznaivers propose a reason for Hisomu getting repeatedly injured that fits their personality. Chidori assumes he’s being bullied, Yuta thinks he’s a con artist, Maki figures he failed at suicide
Katsuhiro just feels sorry for him
And Tenga wants to help him
Tenga punches Yuta to find him, lol
“I personally don’t believe connections are made so easily”
“I want to help you.” “Why?” “I want to connect. I want to know what others think.”
“Could you die right now for me?” The characters have been taking all of this relatively easily so far. None of them are reflecting on real trauma, or they’re hiding from it. This guy is different
“I think you should take better care of yourself.”
Oh Tenga
This climax is great. Strong use of subtle music, too