Eternal life is a pretty tempting concept, but in truth, any actual path there would probably turn out something like Kaiba. Even just in this first episode, a strange and compelling world feels fully established, complete with firm social strata and quirks of social engagement. In this world, minds and bodies can be separated, letting people truly try on someone else’s shoes, or even continuously switch bodies to live indefinitely. This doesn’t result in a golden age – it results in the rich buying bodies off the poor to maintain themselves, and many poor families being reduced to a collection of minds inhabiting one rickety shell. When one character’s brother has his mind forcibly removed by some flying creature, the remaining family members jokingly bicker over whether they should return him to his body or sell the frame for cash. It’s a dark world Kaiba is establishing, but it’s pretty much exactly the world the show’s conceit would create.

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