Common Name: Seikaisuru Kado
Alternative Names: KADO: The Right Answer
Score: 8/10, 5/5
Length: 12 Episodes, 1 Prequel OVA, 1 Half-Season Summary OVA
Genre: Sci-fi, Drama, Supernatural, Political
Summary: In the world of business, politics, and governance there is sometimes a need to hire an individual who can determine what actions can or should be taken to ensure that a project proceeds as smoothly as possible. Shindou Koujirou, a professional negotiator, is one such individual. He is so skilled at this, in fact, that he is something of a renowned figure, one who will work tirelessly to find a compromise that benefits everyone involved. How will his skills fair though when a being akin to a God, the anisotropic (extradimensional) being Yaha-kui zaShunina, arrives on earth to gift humanity the power to surpass their natural limitations? Will it even be possible for Koujirou to find a compromise between the indomitable will of God and a rapidly evolving humanity without losing himself to either perspective? Yaha-kui zaShunina certainly seems to think it's possible.
Review: Before I get into my Seikaisuru Kado review proper, I feel like a little recap on my opinions of CG is necessary. I say this strictly because Kado is one of those shows that I believe does CG "right." So, to make my biases clear and sensible, I'm going to give something of an abridged version of my views on CG. In my Frame Arms Girl review, I mentioned that CG animation is a growing trend within the anime industry that has seen a lot of success and failure in unequal amounts. I discussed how the industry seems to have something of a misunderstanding when it comes to using this new technology. Specifically, I focused on how so many shows use CG as a "special effects" tool or a way to cut budgetary costs without giving enough attention to the decision to warrant its use. From there, I discussed some of what I think to be "best practices" when it comes to anime--i.e. there are some situations that suit the technology better than others. Action shows, like Frame Arms Girl and Nekotama, benefit from it greatly because CG models allow for a far more fluid and realistic range of movement. Slower, more political shows like Seikaisuru Kado can benefit from this technology too, though, because of that kind of low-budget, strange "otherness" that CG animations evoke for the average viewer. So, it makes a kind of perfect sense that Kado, a sci-fi drama centered on unnatural evolution and extradimensional beings, would actually use the "otherness" of CG to tell its thoughtful and beautifully executed story. More than that, though, it's still downright impressive that this show is able to blend CG and standard animation in a way that doesn't look garish or annoyingly out of place.
Alright, kiddos, test time! Can you tell what in this scene is CG and what is normal anime art? Highlight the text below to find out!
Answer: The back seats and the characters in them. That's it! Everything else is traditional, 2-D art.
The way Kado uses its CG is similar to the way the tone of a song can change the entire perception of a scene. Grand, sweeping orchestral movements evoke action sequences in the same way silence or a muted moment make a scene feel tense and the audience uneasy. Kado uses its CG mainly when matters involving its sci-fi nature are at the forefront, which is pretty much all the time. However, during the show's more down-to-earth OVA or in a quiet scene between two human characters the CG gives way to standard animation so it can be more expressive, more "human." Though the show does use CG for its special effects moments too, like the anime I complain about, it puts enough effort into the CG animation to make that decision worthwhile--creating gorgeous movements and set pieces that standard animation could never even hope to replicate.
Seriously, just look at that! All that cool artsy looking stuff--yeah--that moves. Hand-drawn animation could NEVER do that.
It's almost like the production team understood the limitations of their CG tools and worked around those problems, rather than trying to force feed the CG into a situation where it wouldn't work. When used properly, the balance between the CG and standard animation tell something of a compelling narrative in their own right. I'd honestly love to see a documentary on the thought and decisions that went into the making of Kado.
Here's the thing though, all I've been talking about up until now is just the production quality for this show. That's something I typically save for the end of my reviews since the appreciation of a particular art or music style is highly subjective; not to mention I hardly ever find those things to be worth discussing in any critical capacity. In the case of Kado, though, I'm convinced the production aspects of the show have a lot to say about the actual story. The CG might just serve as an extra, not entirely necessary, layer to what is already a solid show, but there's enough thought and effort put into it that I can't help ranting and raving about how good it is in my opinion.
Again, how could I not when it looks this good?! Maybe I'm just a sucker for pattern art.
In its own right, Seikaisuru Kado is a fantastic story that follows the same plot movements as some of the great classics in the world Sci-Fi. If you're familiar with Sir Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End or the works of Philip K. Dick, then this show will lovely be nothing new for you, but it's a fascinating departure from what usually defines Sci-Fi in the world of anime. What I mean by that is, as far as anime is concerned, Sci-Fi is mainly about robots, mecha, and space ships where the themes of transhumanism and the threat of technological advancement. Gundam, Ghost in the Shell, and Cowboy Bebop are the capital ships of the Sci-Fi anime industry so pretty much every "Sci-Fi" follows in the footsteps of those giants. There are, of course, a few titles that separate from those genre staples, like Psycho-Pass, but I'm struggling to think of any other anime title that deals with some of those more thoughtful ideas in the genre's literary world. I cannot think of any other show that features the concept of an alien or god, depending on what you consider the enigmatic Yaha-kui zaShunina, without it instantly devolving into an action-obsessed invasion scenario. So, instead of treading down that path, Kado is more of a thoughtful but tense drama that explores the staple of Sci-Fi story creation that is simply asking "What if...." What if a god made itself known to us? What if said god offered humanity the means to defy the natural laws of our world in a gesture of peace? What if said god had some kind of hidden agenda or was compelled by its vastly different understanding of right and wrong? How would humanity respond to these gifts without losing what it means to be human?
That is, of course, assuming that the sum of humanity could ever reach some kind of consensus.
From the worlds of science and politics to the likely response of the daily news cycle and the ambitions of giant corporations, Kado considers and reasonably presents the answers to all those "what if..." questions to the best of its ability. Yet, in spite of its scope, it never loses sight of the main cast and how they are affected by the presence of Yaha-kui zaShunina and all his world-shaking gifts to humanity. At its core, Kado is a character drama that starts off small and then builds into a story that has a lot at stake depending on how humanity and its new, god-like being react to each gift. There is always a worry about what interaction or reaction with Yaha-kui zaShunina will set off the chain of events that would lead to a "Bad End" in any light novel story. Even if there's no indication that he'll be as fickle as humanity, zaShunina is ultimately an unknown quantity. There's just no real way to gauge what he is, let alone what it's capable of.
Though I suppose it's pretty telling when he talks about his interactions with people the same way
people describe spending the day at a dog park.
The only times when we get anything close to a hint at his character is when zaShunina interacts with the man he would deign to call a friend, the negotiator Shindou Koujirou. Though the exact reason why Koujirou is worthy of being the friend and ambassador to a living god is unclear--likely for the same contrived reason zaShunina appeared in Japan--the relationship these two share is one of the main pillars of this show. Though he could certainly be considered something of a teacher to humanity, zaShunina is very much Koujirou's student when it comes to learning about humanity. Through his eyes, we learn about the anisotropic (the extradimensional reality zaShunina hails from) and it's enigmatic representative. To be totally transparent though, I'll admit that Koujirou is something of a wet blanket protagonist in that he lacks any solid personality outside of "being a nice guy." Though he does have something of a past and a personality, it's not exactly hard to boil down Koujirou down to a mathematical formula designed to: A) place him in the position where he'd run into zaShunina and then B) propel the story on from there. At least until the end of the show, it's hard to say whether or not Koujirou actually does anything on his own initiative. Most of the actual movement of the show is predicated on the rest of the cast figuring out how to use zaShunina's most recent gift and then being introduced to another one just to keep them on a roll. In spite of this, however, it is hard to deny Koujirou's actual importance. Even if his personality can be summarized as him being a "trustworthy workaholic" and a "generally nice guy," he is the character with the most influence as far as humanity is concerned. It is through Koujirou that zaShunina learns about humanity, tempers his plans based on that understanding, and then decides how to move forward from there. That is, of course, assuming that zaShunina hasn't simply manipulated Koujirou into being his best means of gaining humanity's trust. After all, what better way to earn the trust of a nation than through the voice of one good man who has ties to the Japanese government?
To be clear though, just because I elect to call this show a "classic" or typical Sci-Fi story doesn't mean that it's a simple or even predictable watch. As I've mentioned before, there is A LOT that this show tries to accomplish so there is rarely a dull moment to be had throughout the series. Rather, I found this to be one of the few shows I've ever looked forward to watching each week. While I'm struggling to properly express why that is the case, the best I can say without spoiling too much is that the show finds a way to constantly defy expectation. But the constant defiance of expectation isn't just surprising; it's also very insightful and never feels weird or unnecessary. Rather, it just comes out feeling like the next logical step in zaShunina's grand plan. That defiance then just builds into the constant foreboding that comes with the presence of an enigmatic deity whose designs are just as unknowable, creating a narrative that can be fun or informative moment to moment but feeds into the larger mystery of the show. Moment to moment, we see the characters learning, testing, and even playing with some of the gifts that zaShunina offers in the manner you would expect of the human race. There are even moments where we see a softer side of zaShunina that reduces him to something of a tourist, eager to ingest the food and/or literature of our world.
He even turns into a reclusive bookworm for...his sake! That's my kind of god.
Yet in spite of all these moments, no matter how nice he seems, there is never any way to remove the foreboding that is innate with his character. At the start of the show, he even states that it would be in humanity's best interest to constantly doubt him, to question whether he is humanity's friend or foe. Of course, that could just be the best way to make sure that little is lost in the translation between his concept of language and ours. But the way he talks about wanting to test humanity and his desire to see us reach the titular "Right Answer" makes it very easy to paint his intentions in a negative light. After all, how could humanity ever allow itself to trust someone who has built his authority in this world out of nothing but uncertain terms and absolute unknowns? How could we even begin to understand someone who is inherently as enigmatic as the sum potential of the universe? Answer: that's something humanity needs to decide on its own before it can reach Kado's "Right Answer."
Just having a chat with him over some booze and snacks is probably a good place to start.
In the end, I CANNOT stop raving about this show. I could write a hundred academic papers on it and I'd still only scratch the surface of everything this show has to offer. It is, far and away, the closest I've ever seen an anime get to the depth of one of the greats in Sci-Fi literature and has become, hands down, one of my personal favorites because of that. I'm not sure if it meets TOP 10 ranking status for me (mainly because of Koujiou's distinct lack of character), but it didn't take much to be my favorite show of the season. The art is great and has a lot to say. The music is beautiful most of the time and haunting at its best. The plot goes from 0 to 100 every episode, which kept me on my feet from start to finish. The characters, apart from Koujirou, are fun and memorable in their own ways.
I am more than willing to admit, however, that this anime isn't perfect. Far from it, actually. There's a part of me that's still (now two months after the show's end) a little disappointed with the way things ended with zaShunina. However, the direction the show took and the way it got there made absolute sense. No matter how great the character of zaSunina is, this show is and was always going to be about the human race. I just wish the it's representative wasn't the mechanical Koujirou. Personally, I think that the in the show's quality took a dive when it decided to focus entirely on Koujiou but there really wasn't any other way the the narrative could have gone. Or rather, I it couldn't have ended up any other way unless it turned into a story about the onset of inevitability and the power of entropy--two themes typical of a lot of Sci-Fi literature. I don't think that kind of theme would have worked for this show though, not when it focused so heavily on the human aspect of this world. But here's the thing though, those issues I'm calling foul on are little more than small hiccups in what is otherwise a fantastic story.
When all is said and done, this is one of those shows that'll probably be a great gateway anime for anyone who is a fan of Sci-Fi but has been on the fence with this form of media. I'd recommend giving it a shot if you're even remotely interested in Science Fiction. I understand, however, that this genre isn't for everyone. Even so, I'd recommend giving a shot just to see if it might interest you.