In the year 2030, Kathleen Funada is seeking a cure for a horrible disease that has ravaged the planet, one which turns humans into monstrous creatures. Gibiate, as the virus is known, spreads when a creature, known as a gibia, stings a human. It is irreversible. In 1600, samurai Kanzaki Sensui has been exiled, taking the blame for his daimyo’s rebellious actions. Together with shinobi Sanada Kenroku, Sensui slips through time and encounter a gibia, and also meets Kathleen. Suddenly thrown into a new battle, can these warriors from the past help Kathleen prevent the the extinction of mankind in the future?
The brainchild of Yoshitaka Amano, Gibiate is a throwback to demon / monster series of old. It should have stayed thrown back. Gibiate is incredibly out of place in today’s anime landscape, a show with themes, characters, and writing that would have blended right in 20 years ago, but like its samurai lead, just doesn’t fit in during the current day, this despite some comparisons that could be made to the current pandemic and an idea that’s pretty cool (Can’t decide whether to make a Tokugawa period historical anime or a monster-virus sci-fi series? Why not do both?). Unfortunately, the execution is poor. The CGI monsters look awful, worse than I’ve come to expect—2010 CGI awful. And the writing is just as bad; this is particularly seen in the reaction to time-traveling samurai. Some are skeptical, some are accepting, but none act in a realistic or reasonable way (except for the time travelers themselves, who don’t quite buy any of this). No matter, I guess, since our attention will be diverted from the writing to the samurai-ninja-monster fights, in all their awful CG glory.
Gibiate can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
[…] First Impression: Twwk […]
[…] receiving. The most amusing is TWWK’s suggestion that Gibiate has no place “in today’s anime landscape” and that anime like it ought to be relegated to the days of yore. I tell you, if […]