A world blanketed in an endless and ever-growing ocean of
snow. The people eke out a living, either huddled around the
roots of enormous trees dotting the surface, or high in the
canopy, which spreads over the planet's atmosphere.
A chance meeting between Kaina, a youth from the canopy, and
Liliha, a young woman from the surface, sets off a chain of
events that will change the fate of the world.
(Source: Polygon Pictures)
Tsutomu Nihei's attempts at commercially viable narrative are even more offbeat than his overtly nonhuman work, only in subtle, infinitely funnier ways. On the one hand, he doesn't look all that concerned with traditional narrative (even when [he really is](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2016-08-26/knights-of-sidonia-mangaka-tsutomu-nihei/.105800)); his character interactions tend to be a little stilted and his structure always steers away from convention somewhere. On the other, regardless of genre, he refuses to let go of his career-spanning imagery, mutating seemingly stereotypical concepts into whatever the Polygon Pictures series end up capturing. Going through his current work feels akin to communicating with an alien that's trying to replicate human behaviour, and [he appears to be in on the joke](https://anilist.co/manga/47368/Blame-Gakuen-And-So-On/). It's a little sad, then, that Kaina is such an alright show. _____________ ~~~img520(https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.play3.de%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F08%2FKaina-and-the-Great-Snow-Sea-CRX-Weltpremiere-Kaina-und-Ririha.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=9cb02ec8bc19033be3028d20be6dd42ed34001123601d1fcea17a979d784f0e8&ipo=images)~~~ _________ The series is still off-kilter enough. Despite a self-described high fantasy setting, all of Nihei's obsessions--from TOA Heavy Industries to monumental orbital structures--show up in one form or another, accompanied by the strange sense of physicality that he creates through clothing, gear, and specific interactions between characters and setting. And in the middle of that, there's two teenagers, inexplicably engaging in the most by-the-books heterosexual romance possible as football-sized snowflakes levitate and ancient mecha emerge from the depths. In a self-aware fashion, the anime lets these two tones bleed into eachother, making a slapstick joke into a fit of realistic violence or interrupting a tense sequence with teen awkwardness in the most willfully jarring way possible. It's all part of the game, thechnically, and it does manage to create a neat sense of familiarity by staying consistent in its contradiction and using the characters--who remain *supernaturally human* through the absurdity of it all--as a reference point. The larger the contrast, the better it works, which also means the series' worst moments are the ones that blend too well and feel like a generically competent fantasy story. Said moments are more frequent than I'd like, either due to the show being a minor production or the team lacking an unhinged original comic to follow, but not enough to make the experience boring. In the final episode, when it's getting somewhat close to that point, The Graviton Beam Emitter makes a "surprise" appearance in what feels like a punchline to the whole fantasy story. It's at once funny, meaningful and a perfectly appropriate ending to the action, sure to make people looking for serotionin in any form of Nihei media who knew it would happen all along (me~♥) shout "HE DID THE THING!" and put on a dumb smile for a few minutes. That's the show at its core: ***"café para los muy cafeteros"***, an overly expensive treat for people who know what they're going to get *and* are looking to get it, along with some fantastic background work and cool worldbuilding ideas. If you find the romcom aspect funny or enjoyable *because* of the absurd circumstances around it, you owe it to yourself to check out [Knights of Sidonia](https://anilist.co/anime/19775/Sidonia-no-Kishi/). If you already have, this one can't hurt. _________ ~~~img520(https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fanimesgames.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F01%2Fooyukiumi-no-kaina-episodio-1-animes-online.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=164d385b77a34a99e82baa4849b4d7c8de2846e7ad1b0121333f9a162dba8a55&ipo=images)~~~ ___________ Thanks for reading! You can comment on this review [here](https://anilist.co/activity/536413836). For what it's worth, I recommend checking out all of Tsutomu Nihei's manga, starting with BLAME!, which influenced a lot of amazing creators, and finding what your favourite flavour of his work is. If it turns out you only enjoy the more audience-averse stuff, [the BLAME! ONAs](https://anilist.co/anime/1055/Blame/) are definitely the thing for yout!
~~~img500(https://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Kaina-Banner.png)~~~
CGI has had a bad rep in anime fandoms for a long time, and
it isn't undeserved. From *Berserk (2016)* to that bear in *Golden Kamuy*, studios typically aren't very good at it. And why should
they be? It's generally a cost-saving measure. There are
only two studio's that really seems to care and invest in
their CGI pipeline. The first is Studio Orange, the team
responsible for *Houseki no Kuni* and the latest *Trigun Stampede*, the front-runners in the industry. The second, and the
ones responsible for the topic of this review, is
Polygon Pictures. And while not quite at the same level as Orange, it's
clear from this latest project that they are really trying.
So without further ado I give to you, directed by
Hiroaki Andou, created by
Tsutomu Nihei
with music by
Kouta Yamamoto, Misaki Umase
and
Hiroyuki Sawano, Polygon Picture's latest attempt: *Kaina and the Great
Snow Sea*. **Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked
spoilers for *Kaina and the Great Snow Sea*. It also
contains major spoilers in some sections however these will
be heavily marked to avoid accidents**.
~~~img(https://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SubsPlease-Ooyukiumi-no-Kaina-01-480p-E7D84EEC.mkv00002.png)~~~
#~~~__Production__~~~ Diving in head first, there's one
thing that immediately comes to mind when thinking about
*Kaina's* production: Backgrounds. They are absolutely
*stunning*. Huge props to Yoshikatsu Matsumoto, the 3DBG
Matte Painting Supervisor, and Kimiko Kubo, the Art
Director, as well as their team. Every episode these were
consistently the most beautiful shots of the show. Not only
were they highly detailed, beautifully lit pieces of art,
they brought *Kaina's* fantastical world to life in a way I
couldn't have imagined from the PV. How do you really
conceptualize giant trees reaching into the atmosphere,
connected by a translucent web-like canopy, the sun's rays
shining off its surface as these branches/tendrils stretch
on for miles? Or a city built up and around the trees base,
woven into the very roots themselves? You can't! Not with
the same detail and creativity of these backgrounds at
least. But don't think for a moment these backgrounds are
only used in wide, empty shots! Oh no, they are integral to
every facet of *Kaina's* world. Do you remember the "3D"
part of Yoshikatsu Matsumoto's title? Well it's very
important. Because his work is specifically created to be
applied to 3D models. Models like say... a giant tree. This
ends up giving the roots and trunk, all the wood really, a
beautiful texture that makes this otherwise giant 3D
cylinder look *authentic*. Even as the characters climb
around and walk all over it, it still *works*. The trees,
the characters the boats, they all feel like they belong in
the same world as they interact with each other. This leads
to another of great shots as the characters are running
along roots and such. Rather then floating on top of the
background, they feel like part of each other. Sadly, it's
that "running" bit where *Kaina* starts to falter. As
beautiful as the backgrounds are, the fidelity of the CGI
humans simply can't keep up. Generally low detail, the
characters are very "anime" in an otherwise highly detailed
world. For anyone used to watching anime, this probably
won't be a big deal. You're used to how anime faces are
designed at this point. But for those newer I can see it
throwing them off. In particularly, *Kaina* doesn't do a
very good job with *shadows*. Using a CGI shader, *Kaina*
attempts to shade models based on their own geometry and
light sources. Often this is fine, most characters are
overall smooth so there's no jagged edges. But with older or
more complex characters, like the Canopy elders with their
wrinkly faces, it's very noticeable and generally rather
ugly.
Additionally, for a show named *Kaina and the Great Snow
Sea*, Polygon Pictures really can't do snow. Like... at all.
It's giant beach-ball sized globs. From falling in the sky
to being kicked up as the ships move through it, *Kaina's*
snow looks *terrible*. Now I get it, there are limitations
to what Polygon Pictures can do, rendering that many snow
flakes would probably kill them. But when contrasted against
absolutely *gorgeous* snow-scapes like the one above, you
can't help but feel like you lost something. Luckily for
*Kaina*, as questionable as it's CGI can be at times,
Polygon Pictures does do a decent job of actually animating
it. The characters can generally move just fine.
Occasionally they even move well, with some rather dynamic
action scenes as they cross swords! While few and far
between, when these do happen they are always a treat. All
in all, for a CGI production that I went into expecting
absolutely nothing from, *Kaina* pleasantly surprised me. A
step up from most CGI productions, barring those made by
Orange anyway, Polygon Pictures is definitely starting to
carve out their niche. Between this and *Drifting Dragons* I
feel like they are finally starting to figure this "CGI"
thing out. Hopefully they are able to take what they have
developed here and, with a bit more time, money and
practice, turn it into something truly special for the
upcoming movie.
~~~img(https://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Kaina-and-the-Great-Snow-Sea-2.3.jpg)~~~
#~~~__Narrative__~~~ As praise worthy as *Kaina's* CGI is,
compared to most anime CGI at least, it's story leaves
something to be desired. Unsurprisingly, *Kaina's* setting
is pretty good! The background art goes a long way towards
establishing and fleshing it out, but *Kaina's* narrative
doesn't just ignore that. Kaina living on top of giant
trees? Yeah, he can see pretty far and saw some stuff those
on the snow sea didn't. Snow is falling from the sky in a
world that never gets hot enough to consistently melt it?
Well the snow sea level is rising and older parts of the
city have become submerged, leading to some more gorgeous
shots under the snow. People are running out of water? Yeah,
someone is going to go on a war-path to steal everyone
*else's* water. *Kaina's* world doesn't just exist for no
reason, it informs the story, as it should. So why then is
*Kaina's* story lacking? Well I see 2 main reasons for that.
The first is due to how *Kaina* was made. Simply put, it's
incomplete and to short. *Kaina* has a moving coming up in a
few months, which *might* serve to alleviate some of that,
true. But even then, *Kaina* is an 11 episode show set in a
world that could easily be a full 2-cour, 24 episode season.
That's how well built up this setting and premise is. What
*Kaina* starts is far grander then what its actually been
given. So because of it's short season and offloading of its
true finale to a movie, your experience with *Kaina* as a
show is probably going to feel lacking. It doesn't end in a
way that is satisfying as a stand-alone season. As for the
second? Well for this I will have to dive into spoiler
territory, as it pertains to *Kaina's* ending and the
implications of it. If you don't want to be spoiled then
skip this section. If you don't mind, or have already seen
it, then read on. ~!So, what is *Kaina's* other big
narrative screwup? Simply put, in the last 2 episodes
*Kaina* undermines everything the story is based on and
speeds through any and all consequences of these decisions.
The core conflict of *Kaina's* entire world is centered
around the scarcity of water, an important resource. And yet
for some reason, *Kaina* never gives any reason or
justification for why the people of this world can't just...
*melt the snow*. The snow that, in the penultimate episode,
is melted by Deus Ex Machina and that everyone is surprised
to find is actually water. *Kaina's* entire conflict is
built on ignorance of a basic scientific fact: Things melt!
I don't think it's to much to ask for a small "The snow is
infected/salty" throwaway line to explain it away. As for
the rush? *Kaina* spends a lot of its runtime building up to
an answer for this scarcity problem. Of setting up this
fabled location where water isn't an issue, a place they can
go to save their people. Yet not only is this fabled
location completely undermined by the fact that *snow can
melt*, but *Kaina* speed runs through convincing anyone of
it in the span of 5 minutes. One of the main conflicts of
the last 5 episodes, figuring out a way to convince those in
charge that it isn't a fairy tail, gets glossed over in the
credits! *Kaina* does introduce a map, yes. But that map
burns up in a fire, it's a whole big narrative moment of
choosing the map vs saving a person. Yet there's no
consequences for this, because they end up not needing it to
begin with. Thus I ask you: Why bother with the map at
all?!~ Over all, *Kaina's* story isn't *bad*. In fact I
think the early portions, as Ririha and Kaina meetup and
travel together, are quite good! It's well paced, the
characters get plenty of time to interact and connect
without it feeling like dead, wasted time. Both the heroes
and villains have agency, Kaina himself gets one of the
coolest moments of the entire show when he figures out a way
to surprise the bad guys that no one has ever done before.
It's great! *Kaina* only falters in the last few episodes as
it tries to tie things up in preparation for the movie. Had
it 2 more episodes to properly end things, heck even just 1,
I think *Kaina's* ending would be a lot stronger. Instead it
comes off very much as a "Go see the movie" ending, and
those are never great.
~~~img(https://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Kaina-and-the-Great-Snow-Sea-8.9.jpg)~~~
#~~~__Characters__~~~ Moving on, as questionable as the
narrative's ending might be, how do the characters
themselves fair within said narrative? In the interest of
being positive after that last section I'll just come out
and say it, they do well! Not perfect, *Kaina* has some
issues here and there, but mostly only in regards to the
previously mentioned finale. Prior to that, and even during
for many, *Kaina's* characters are likeable and intelligent.
Kaina has this sort of country bumpkin personality to
everything. Yet because of how fantastical and magical
*Kaina's* world is, so different from most standard fantasy,
Kaina's ignorance plays into the audiences own, allowing him
to be an effective excuse for a lot of explanation. Yet none
of those explanations feel "Info-dumpy", as they are often
given in a quick and to the point fashion. The rest of the
main cast, Ririha and Yaona, are similar. Both have solid
motivations regarding their kingdom and develop their own
relationships independent of each other. They aren't reliant
on being together to be characters, with every pair of this
trio having their own bit of the story of just them getting
to know each other and interacting. Really the only "Bad"
characters in *Kaina* are the old men in charge, the Admiral
and the King of Atland. Both come off as very one note, with
the Admiral especially being your stereotypically crazy evil
old man who wants to conquer for the sake of conquering.
There's no nuance to either of them. Considering how
important the Admiral is to *Kaina's* story, that's a shame.
Luckily the Second in Commands, Orignoa and Amelothee, carry
both sides of this conflict. Both get about as much screen
time as their commanders, but that screen time is used far
more effectively. Amelothee especially spends the entire
season being built up as this effective, efficient,
terrifying yet sympathetic villain. Her arc isn't exactly
surprising, it's telegraphed from her initial introduction.
But that doesn't mean it's done poorly. Simple and effective
is better than complex and mediocre in my book. Of course it
helps that, unlike the two leaders, Orinoga and Amelothee
interact relatively often. So not only do they build each
other up, their relationship becomes the true face, the true
front line, of the greater conflict. All in all, *Kaina's*
characters are perhaps the most effective part of *Kaina's*
story, aside from the backgrounds that is. Their personal
struggles and narrative arcs as they traverse this world
will carry you through most of *Kaina's* run time. Will you
be disappointed a bit at the end by the rushed finale and
what it does to some of them? Yeah, probably. But at least
the journey won't be terrible.
~~~youtube(https://youtu.be/MAJAyYkHBI8?list=PLvXMARe51eebPu6VaZOvJcNqgCnjMr9Us)~~~
#~~~__OST__~~~ With that we come to the final, and most
positive, section of this review: The OST! *Kaina's* OST is
in a fun place, with 3 separate composers involved. The
first is a name you probably recognize, one that has created
countless beloved OSTs,
Hiroyuki Sawano. Alongside him is a long time collaborator, someone who
has worked with Sawano over and over again for over half a
decade,
Kouta Yamamoto. And finally, making her debut appearance as a composer,
Misaki Umase. Together these three crafted what I think is one of the
best OSTs of the season. That said, most of the credit goes
to Yamamoto and Umase, as Sawano was only involved for the
creation of the
main theme, an important but small section of the music. Focusing in
on those two, Yamamoto and Umase's contributions feel like
two completely separate approaches to music. This was only a
collaboration in the sense that they each wrote half of the
OST rather then creating each song together. And you feel
that not only in the music itself, but in the very track
names. Yamamoto is very reminiscent of that Sawano style.
Sweeping, heroic epics like "K_save_G", grand orchestras like "K_village_G" and looming ominous sounds that reverberate through your
skull like "K_character_G". And yes, those are their names, that to is a Sawano-ism.
These sorts of large, overwhelming sounds are very typical
of his music. Suffice to say, if you like Sawano, you'll
like Yamamoto's work here on *Kaina*. Personally though I
prefer, and am much more interested in, Umase's style of
music. Umase's sound is much softer, with a stronger focus
on strings and single centerpiece instrument arrangements,
such as in "Amelothée". That isn't to say she can't do larger epics or action
pieces, they are simply different. Take for instance "The duel of freeze", which uses less reverb than Yamamoto to achieve a
similar effect, even going so far as to use what I believe
are
Didgeridoos
near the middle. Most telling of all though, Umase seems to
have a love for mystical, ancient sounds like in "Hikari" and "Origin". This also carries through into her vocal tracks, such as
my personal favorite of the OST "In the snowsea". As someone who has listened to Sawano/Yamamoto's brand
of music for a long time, I find Umase's stuff very
appealing. Luckily however, *Kaina* uses both very well, so
there's something there regardless of which you prefer.
However good either composer's music is though, it would
mean little if *Kaina* didn't *use* the OST to its fullest.
And this is where *Kaina* impresses me the most. *Kaina's*
integration of its music and visuals, how the two play off
of each other and interact, the music informing what is
happening on screen and vice versa, is fantastic. I'm not
just talking about having a cool action track as our leads
are getting chased. I mean timing orchestral swells with the
reveal of a vista, or a new instrument with a character's
appearance on screen. *Kaina's* music does not exist
independently of the show, like so many other series. They
work together, making it truly memorable and worth listening
to.
~~~img(https://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Kaina-and-the-Great-Snow-Sea-7.2.jpg)~~~
#~~~__Conclusion__~~~ All in all *Kaina* is a strong
fantastical adventure in an engaging fantasy world that
stumbles a bit towards the end and delays its payoff to a
movie a few months out. Did I enjoy my time watching
*Kaina*? For the most part. It's certainly my surprise of
the season, as I didn't expect it to be anywhere near as
consistent as it was. Considering how low the expectations
for it were, *Kaina* definitely made its mark on the season
and was a worthwhile watch hitting above its weight. Just be
prepared for it to not feel like a complete experience by
the end, despite its status as an original that *should* be
able to finish in a single season. Thanks for reading! If
you want to leave a comment, positive or negative, you can
leave it [here](https://anilist.co/review/20544).
~~~img(https://starcrossedanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Kaina-and-the-Great-Snow-Sea-3.3.jpg)~~~
~~~img220(https://s4.anilist.co/file/anilistcdn/media/anime/cover/large/bx144144-dja2cBUKz3lu.jpg)~~~ # ~~~__Synopsis__~~~ The story of Ooyukiumi no Kaina takes place in a world covered by an ever-growing layer of snow. People live around the roots of enormous trees that dot the surface or at the top of the canopy of these trees, which spread throughout the planet's atmosphere. The chance encounter between Kaina, a young man from the tree canopy, and Liliha, a young woman from the surface, sets off a series of events that will change the destiny of the world. # ~~~__Direction__~~~ The direction of this anime is very good. The moments that the director shows us of that fantastic world with interesting concepts and beautiful visuals make us very immersed in the anime in the first few episodes. ~~~img220(https://64.media.tumblr.com/a2f0c2c29606626850b5aca38cea4b41/29548b34ce33035a-ee/s540x810/b92b31fbbce50a7aae6df85d0d1824b1cfee400f.pnj)~~~ # ~~~__Story__~~~ The story of this anime is quite interesting. The concepts it presents are very good, but just because the idea is good doesn’t mean the story is good. The anime seems rushed. # ~~~__Protagonists__~~~ The protagonists are Kaina and Ririha. I would say that one of the mistakes of this anime is that the only more interesting character is Ririha because you can see that she has a goal and goes after it at all costs. Kaina is a shallow protagonist. He seems like a simple empty shell. He doesn’t have many motivations and he’s sometimes very naive, so I thought he was kind of bad. ~~~img220(https://anime.atsit.in/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/data-de-lancamento-do-anime-kaina-of-the-great-snow-sea-no-inverno-de-2023-musicas-tema-de-ooyukiumi-no-kaina-reveladas-pelo-trailer-pv.jpg)~~~ # ~~~__Soundtrack__~~~ The soundtrack of this anime is very good. It gives you the feeling that what you’re seeing is really incredible and fantastic, making you feel some emotions. ~~~img220(https://img.hmv.co.jp/image/jacket/400/0000135/5/3/655.jpg)~~~ # ~~~__Animation__~~~ The animation of this anime is in FULL CGI. It’s not bad CGI in my opinion. It looks more like an anime game released for PS4. img220(https://64.media.tumblr.com/49ffbbb9f00d75c25430b3efcf8f1b99/4c5901c1df3bd053-86/s500x750/40a6c6fb1032ee337b1b55c5b6ffd7659a62b4ea.gifv) img220(https://64.media.tumblr.com/b5ad566de3529320ec97eb05f2177004/4c5901c1df3bd053-8e/s500x750/b20ad12626c8d5d01385bf728b6e297acfd0d5fa.gifv) # ~~~__Visuals__~~~ Visually, this anime has some very beautiful parts that could easily be a wallpaper on your PC. I was impressed visually by this anime and together with the spectacular soundtrack it gets even better. img220(https://i0.wp.com/www.animefeminist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/kaina4.jpg?resize=810%2C457&ssl=1) img220(https://64.media.tumblr.com/e295a38876638ab28a9f41d2c9cf71c2/29548b34ce33035a-c0/s540x810/ddc86e318cd474724de1587ed2bf4f31032cb11b.png) # ~~~__Overall __~~~ Okay, let’s go. I found this anime okay. Nothing that would make me hyped for another season. I really found this anime visually very beautiful and was impressed by certain parts of it. Together with the spectacular soundtrack, it really makes it seem like this anime is an 8 out of 10, but the story tends to fail since as I said in this review it seems quite rushed and there are some episodes that don’t make much sense in terms of how the characters are reacting to certain situations. I recommend this anime if you have nothing to do and also don’t have a prejudice against FULL CGI animes. ~~~img220(https://64.media.tumblr.com/bcbbe46c770b51db7775d7aac18c76a4/4c5901c1df3bd053-1f/s500x750/cb7e34684f0555f7c2a720ea741452416c4471be.gifv)~~~