SPOILERS FOR KOUTETSUJOU NO KABANERI aka KABANERI OF THE IRON FORTRESS Im sure youve heard this question before: What do you prefer? Starting off strong but ending badly or starting off weak but ending strongly? Whatever your answer may be this show falls into the former like a rooftop jump gone horribly wrong. The first 7 episodes were this fun run with a few stumbles here and there episode 8 was that big leap and episodes 912 had this random train spawning from the sky to smash our fucked airborne friend into the concrete below before exploding. I still had a good time all things considered but theres a reason this earned the nickname trainwreck. In the middle of an industrial revolution an outbreak of armorclad zombies known as Kabane has spread into a zombie apocalypse and now it is up to the likes of Ikoma and all members of the Koutetsujou to hopefully out and end to it. Now this show has some questionable things from the beginning but with enough decent pseudoscience and explanations we couldve seen a really unorthodox and interesting zombie show. Instead a lot of the radical moments werent explained with decent and interesting reasonings but were handwaved for the sake of plot and maybe time. It seemed like a standard story at first but with clever science couldve made for a really good and interesting steampunk zombie apocalypse but then with the lackluster villain and the ludicrously safe and plot mangling finale it unfortunately falls short of what it couldve been. It definitely has more than its fair share of plot holes as well. I mean its a mess Things like Kabane muscle memory and later OP Kabaneri steroids dont get explained at all because action and interesting things like Kabaneri being resistant to heat Kabane clinging on to each other to make a colony beast with one Kabane used as the heart or the knowledge on how to halt and slow down the Kabane virus in order to be a badass Kabaneri get the same treatment. That is the sad thing. Plus the motivations of our true villain Biba dont add up with his actions and well and honestly the second half was so stupidly and boringly written. Ikoma is a slightly more calculated shounen character whose traits I just mentioned flipflop and clash with each other. Sometimes its understandable like when he loses his best friend in EP 10 for the soft and shounen side and like when he has to kill actual people in the finale as well as Kabane because not every human is an ally and not every human has shown a reason to be allowed to live when it comes to the harsher and calculating side. Hes probably the best character here for being a remotely solid character. Plus he actually feels real at some points as well as his best friend due to some of their reactions and conversations in times like this being what most actual people would do rather than just simple characters like freaking out when they find out that their project for making a weapon to combat Kabane in episode 1 actually works as Ikoma kills a Kabane. Mumei is a badass and jerkass in the first half and a total child for most of the 2nd. She has an interesting bit in episode 4 where her mouth and grim ideals get her admonished by her already stupidly jumpy and dickish copassengers but thats the closest thing to anything she has going for her as a character. Kurusu is just a samurai with a jerkass side and Ayame is barely any better being that type of female authority figure that likes cooperation between enemies rather than needless violence which only really gets to shine in the last few episodes. The villain Biba is easily the worst however. Hes shallow cold and calm with grim ideals and a vendetta against his asshole father that shouldve been fleshed out more so that we can buy into his motivations. His actions are pretty deplorable as is so meh. His death scene was the only time we saw any sparks of life in this husk of a character. At least one of his lackeys has some decency despite being kind of a rouge guy. Also poor Horobi. She never got fleshed out and she still managed to call her death. I do like how the first half of the show focuses on these unlikely allies on the Koutetsujou cooperating to defeat a common enemy despite being at each others throats all the time and how betrayal of that begrudging trust by one of the members in episode 10 leaves a detriment in ones reputation even if it turns out he was a spy to get our heroes some benefits later on courtesy of Ikoma. If only we actually saw this with interesting personalities. Some awkward 3D CGI in episode 6 aside this show looks amazing. The fully detailed and high def look to the realistic art style really gels with everything beautifully and the action scenes are well done with some incredible bits here and there. The explosions spark effects for whenever a Kabane or Kabaneri gets stabbed in the heart and the well done and detailed explosion effects are downright astonishing even if there are some odd bits here and there with some action scenes. Hell the art style is an epic update on that 80s OVA shading art style and has numerous references to 80s art style themes like Ikomas cool new haircut in the end of episode 11 reflecting they badass punklooking character type in the 80s. Given that the character designer was Haruhiko Mikimoto legendary designer behind the characters of Macross Gundam 0080 War in the Pocket and Gunbuster. His work is legendary and Im glad to see his stuff again even if it is for a train wreck. The character designs look amazing and more anime need this upgraded shading style. This was by far Studio Wits best work yet in terms of art. Just look at how detailed and well done the character models environmental and explosion effects and backgrounds are Thats probably the main reason why many people like this show so much. It looks impressive and the action is bombastic and glorious. The music in this series has several tracks that are as catchy as they are fitting. This soundtrack was done by Hiroyuki Sawano after all its pretty much expected for him to knock it out of the park every time. The songs are definitely good and the cola tracks are all great and while they arent all that memorable on their own most of them feel like they were tailormade for this series. Not one song feels out of place at all and another large part of what makes the action in this show so breathtaking is how each fight has a piece of music that fits perfectly with what is going on whether that be an action scene or that transformation sequence from Kabaneri Ikoma to Steroids Kabaneri Ikoma. Also the OP Kotetsujou no Kabaneri is done by EGOIST so of course it sounds catchy and awesome. The ED done by AIMER sounds really cool too and I wish there was some cool animation stretched to it. Plus some of their songs were used in this OST so good for them. Plus Through My Blood the song that plays during Ikomas roofed out transformation by AIMER is an awesome track as well. Also WarCry which is sung entirely in English is pretty damn catchy. For the first 7 episodes I absolutely loved this show. It was insanely fun with several exciting action scenes and even a few good bits of banter. Too bad the show tanked after episode 8 aired. The group consensus for this show is that while it was entertaining and impressive to look at and listen to it fell short of what it couldve been via failure to explain its radical pseudoscience and inability to give us a worthwhile final act and antagonist. I wholeheartedly agree. Its not nearly as good or satisfying as what it couldve been but it was a pretty entertaining show to watch even if it turned out to be a total Trainwreck.