What They Say:
Mysterious monsters that appear and attack in present time.
The people can only be played with by them in this extreme situation.
Why do these monsters appear to attack people…?
Sousuke Banba, a scientist, searches for the truth with the keyword “Kagewani”
A new feeling of panic suspense animation begins.
The Review:
Content: (Warning, as this review may contain minor spoilers for this premiere)
Kagewani is a horror anime series comprised of short episodes lasting no more than eight minutes. Being only a third of the length of normal anime shows, Kagewani still accomplishes enough in its first episode to set the tone and atmosphere for the rest of the series. Kagewani follows the scientist, Sousuke Banba, as he searches for the truth behind the recent attacks of mysterious monsters. Though it is regarded as his story, he doesn’t show up in the first episode until a brief appearance in the final scene. Instead, the majority of the episode is designed to introduce the world and the mysterious creatures that are attacking innocent people. The episode begins by following a group of men in a forest searching for UMA’s, unidentified mysterious animals. However, they quickly find far more than they bargained for and end up on the run from a monster that is a strange and unique take on a brachiosaurus.
Majority of the episode follows the group in true horror fashion as they run, hide, and are subsequently eaten by the beast in some truly gruesome ways. Horror tropes can be found here in quite the abundance, from the classic “don’t turn around” to the face in the reflection. Though absolutely cliche, Kagewani does a good job of building up a genuinely scary atmosphere using creepy ambient sounds and heart-pounding background music. One major problem, though, is the animation style. Going for a very unique, almost live-action style of animation, Kagewani fails to impress in that regard. Backgrounds and set-pieces look decent, but the character designs are just horrid. I want to praise studio, Tomovies, for trying something unique, but it just isn’t appealing in the slightest. Not to mention, the movement of the characters is so laughably bad that they almost look like puppets or paper characters hopping across the screen in fear. This becomes a huge problem since you are primarily looking at these very characters running for their lives for most of the episode. It is rather unfortunate, because Kagewani looks to be the anime to give the thrills and chills horror fans are looking for this fall season.
Summary:
Kagewani is a cliche, but good attempt at genuine horror in anime. Though you are given no real idea at what the overall plot is, the first episode does a good job at giving some nice scares. If you can overlook the both controversial and poor animation, Kagewani could be just the show you need when all alone in a dark room at night.
Grade: C+