Kaiba

Kaiba
カイバ
Genre	Science fiction[1]
Created by	Masaaki Yuasa Madhouse
Anime television series
Directed by	Masaaki Yuasa
Produced by	Hiroyuki Kitaura Yukiko Futakata Manabu Tamura Chiaki Ikeshima
Written by	Masaaki Yuasa
Music by	Kiyoshi Yoshida
Studio	Madhouse
Licensed by	AUS Siren Visual NA Discotek Media[2]
Original network	WOWOW
Original run	April 10, 2008 – July 24, 2008
Episodes	12 (List of episodes)
Anime and manga portal

Kaiba (カイバ) is a Japanese science fiction anime television series by Madhouse and directed by Masaaki Yuasa. It was broadcast for twelve episodes on WOWOW from April to July 2008.^[3] The series received an Excellence Prize for animation at the 2008 Japan Media Arts Festival.^[4]

Synopsis[]

In Kaiba's universe, memories can be stored as information via a memory chip; when individuals die, their minds live on. This digitization of mental information allows for the transfer of one's mind to someone else's body, and the theft and manipulation of other people's memories has become the norm. Society is largely divided into two classes. In the skies are electrical storms, which cannot be passed through without losing one's memories. Above them lies the realm of the wealthy and powerful, who barter others' bodies and memories for their own enjoyment and longevity. Below the clouds is a troubled and dangerous world where good bodies are hard to come by and real money is scarce.

The series begins with a man named Kaiba as he awakens in a ruined room. He has no memories, but he has a hole in his chest, a triangular mark on his stomach, and a pendant with a picture of an unknown girl inside. After being attacked, Kaiba escapes and, through his travels, regains his memories. Meanwhile, the woman from the pendant struggles with her own convictions and her past, which may be intertwined with Kaiba's origins.

Characters[]

Kaiba (カイバ) or Warp (ワープ, Wāpu)

Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima

He does not speak very much. Kaiba has a hole in the middle of his chest and a tattoo of three circles forming a triangle on his belly. At the beginning of the show, he has no memories he can access.

Neiro (ネイロ)

Voiced by: Mamiko Noto

A woman who shares an unknown connection with Kaiba. In the beginning, little is known about her, although she is currently under the care of Popo. A broadcast reports about a "memory tank" exploding, releasing thousands of memories into space in the form of orange egg capsules. It is believed that Neiro is responsible for this incident.

Popo (ポポ)

Voiced by: Romi Park

Popo is the first to encounter Kaiba upon awakening. After crossing paths with him again, he explains to Kaiba the nature of the current world, and that his life is in danger. Giving him the temporary name "Warp," Popo smuggles him onto the freight ship Neuron while creating a diversion for him to escape from Mantle, a man who is after Kaiba's special body.

Dada-sama

The shady man behind Issoudan, regarded almost religiously by its members. Popo is not as reverent.

Later in the series, it is revealed that Dada-sama is actually three different people in aged Warp clones, working to take back the throne from the original Warp.

Vanilla (バニラ, Banira)

Voiced by: Hisao Egawa

The sheriff on board the ship Neuron. Though Vanilla is extremely strict and oft sadistic in enforcing his authority, and enjoys doing so thoroughly, he is willing to make deals, accept bribery, and/or steal memory chips for himself. He also has a weakness for extremely cute girls. However, he is devoted to Chroniko (which, in actuality, is Kaiba in Chroniko's body), and has gone through great lengths to ensure her/his safety. This devotion comes to a head when the two are on the run from higher authorities. While fleeing, he transfers Kaiba's and Hyo-Hyo's memories elsewhere as their ship is under bombardment, knowing well that they would be unable to escape, and tells Chroniko that he had back up bodies elsewhere to comfort her/him. However, after making sure that Chroniko (Kaiba)'s memories are safe, it is revealed that there was no such insurance, and perishes alongside Chroniko's body when the ship is destroyed.

Kaba (カバ)

A stuffed animal-like body that resembles a hippo. Kaiba uses this body to smuggle himself in the ship. It is very difficult for him to move around in this state, and he is also incapable of speech or expressing facial emotion. While using Chroniko's body, Kaiba also makes use of the hippo body when he doesn't feel like being harassed or chased after by Vanilla. Despite its status as a substitute, Kaiba has an attachment towards it, and shows a brief moment of grief when it is destroyed.

Hyo-Hyo (ひょーひょー, Hyōhyō)

Voiced by: Wasabi Mizuta

A small intelligent creature that accompanies Kaiba after flying aboard the ship. It cannot speak intelligible language (though it does have a voice) and it flies around, spinning its two antennae like propeller blades to float. Hyo-Hyo goes to great lengths to make sure Kaiba avoids capture.

It is revealed near the end of the series that due to Kichi's displeasure at being ordered by Popo modify Neiro's memories, he backed up Neiro's original, un-altered memories in Hyo-Hyo. Thus, Hyo-Hyo was actually Neiro trying to help Kaiba remember his memories and who she is. However, by the end, Neiro and Hyo-Hyo have experienced a completely different series of events, begging the question of which is the "real" Neiro.

Chroniko (クロニコ, Kuroniko)

Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō

A girl Kaiba meets during a stop Neuron makes. She sells her body (literally) so that the money can support her family and hopes that someday her family will become wealthy enough to buy her a new body in the future. However, she is killed by a corrupt doctor (by simply releasing her mind rather than putting it in a chip and sending it to her family), and her body is sold anyway. Before her body is taken by the buyers, Hyo-Hyo places Kaiba's mind inside her body, and Kaiba uses this disguise to avoid capture and get back aboard Neuron.

Baru (バル)

An ostrich-like creature who saves Kaiba. It is revealed that Baru contained the memories of Kaiba's mother.

Technology[]

Memory chips

One of the most defining factors in the universe of Kaiba is the ability to store a person's memories, preserving them after death and allowing them to change bodies if needed. Not everyone opts for the change, but many do if they can afford it. While this provides a great advantage and convenience, as well as essentially prolonging their life, it can also make a person shockingly vulnerable, because their chip can be removed putting them at their attacker's mercy.

Memory chips are small metallic cones which insert into the top of the head. With some assistance, it is easy to switch bodies at will. It is also possible to modify, copy, and trade memories on the open market or at a clinic for good or nefarious purposes alike.

Blasting guns (カーバイル, Kābairu)

The most common type of weapon in the show, these golden, metallic guns are nearly omnipresent. They are shaped like a globe with a ridge over the top, and feature a pointed end with a handle on the opposite side. They appear to be heavy, and a character moving or brandishing one creates a distinctive sound of dragging cast iron or brass. These weapons vary in size from handheld all the way up to very large, wrapping around the body and carried similarly to a large marching band drum. These weapons are devastating in power, and are capable of exploding a person into blood (which appears as green) in a single shot. They destroy most objects with the exception of memory chips and memory eggs.

Memory readers (ホーレイトー, Hōreitō)

These odd-shaped green devices can be used to not only read the memories of a living person, but to physically walk around inside the person's memory bubble and explore their mind. Memories usually appear like books, though the style varies greatly depending on the person. It is also shown that the room the memories are in stays the same regardless of who is in the body; changing the person using the body merely changes all the memories inside. The devices can also copy the memories from a living person and play them back later, as if the person was still there.

As a secondary and tertiary functions, they are also capable of freezing their target in place over a limited distance, along with completely erasing memories, effectively killing the target.

Memory tanks

When a person (or their body) dies, if they do not have a memory chip, their memories are released as small yellow-orange "memory eggs," which float away through the atmosphere, creating vast rivers of deceased individuals' memories out in space. On some planets, these memories are collected in huge yellow memory tanks like anchored hot-air balloons, the contents of which can then be searched and viewed.

Artificial bodies

Many artificial bodies are shown throughout the course of the show (most notably Kaba, the hippo body), although they appear to be inferior in quality to natural bodies. Advanced cloning and biological fabrication technologies are also very well developed.

Episode list[]

Theme songs[]

Opening Theme

"Never" by Seira Kagami

Ending Theme

"Carry Me Away" by Seira Kagami

"The Tree Song" by Kiyoshi Yoshida

References[]

External links[]

• Kaiba announcement (in Japanese)
• Official site at the Wayback Machine (archived May 12, 2008) (in Japanese)
• Kaiba at Anime News Network's encyclopedia