Happy Times Don’t Tend To Last Very Long

It can be hard to write these reviews sometimes. Taking an episode of a show, regardless if it is an anime or not, and creating a review for it with a decent word count can be daunting. Kiznaiver is one of two shows that have given me enough content in their 20 minute episodes that makes my job a lot easier this season; not just for writing, but for writing about something I am enjoying.

We now understand what the Kizuna project is, and what the overall goal is; to bring peace by creating links between people through their pain and emotions. The main focus on the series has been the physical pain they all share, and recently, the negative emotional pain as well. This particular episode has introduced the element of love, or what we perceive as love at least, and attraction.

Our group of lab rats have been gathered up to be given a brief tutorial about the history of the Kiznaiver project, where they learn about the outcomes of failed experiments in the past. This doesn’t give the group feeling good about the experiment that they are a part of. This is a very dark episode given the plot.

This episode takes place during a monsoon that gives it a very dark and menacing quality. Like most meetings that the kids have, there is always something that gets thrown at them. This time, the mascots of Sugomori City (all of which look like a product from a fever dream that Tetsuo would have from Akira) chase after them which in turn forces the group to break off into pairs. This, of course, is not by accident as the project admins want to measure a new feeling that some of the group has developed; love and attraction.

If you have watched the series up to this point then the few groups that are being focused on should not surprise you any, but what may surprise you more are the feelings that some have for others that hasn’t been very obvious. I teased in my review of the last episode that Hajime Tenga will have a love interest, and he does, but the episode sets up possible love triangles for the future. I sincerely hope that it doesn’t put too much focus on those in the future as that is not what the series needs to be. We have enough of those as it is this Spring season, and we don’t need this gem turning into one.

In the grand scheme of things, the episode doesn’t bring a whole lot to the characters that we haven’t already known, or assumed so far. Instead it just verifies it as we are given some quick flashback scenes involving Katsuhira and Noriko. The big scene in this episode is when Chidori appears to be pouring her heart out to Katsuhira and he turns his attention to someone else because of a feeling he gets during it. Out of everything that has happened so far, Chidori seems to be the biggest victim in terms of her feelings.

Overall, another great episode that gives us something new to grab onto so we can look forward to the next. The only aspect to this series that takes me out of the show is the creepy mascots of the city that show up to cause more trouble than good. I am not sure if they exist to be some kind of comic relief, or something that we are supposed to dread; maybe it’s both.

 Final Verdict: 4/5

Original Air Date: May 28th, 2016; Studio: Trigger; Genres: Drama, Sci-Fi; Duration: 24 min. per episode