If you’ve read any of my reviews in the last couple of years, you may have noticed me making comments about some shows not being my “preferred animation type.” Maybe there’s too much CG, too much chibi going on, the character designs look weirdly drawn, and so on. Well my friends, wonder no more.
Kujira no Kora is exactly what I look for when I watch anime. It follows the current trend of using CG alongside the traditional 2D animation, but when I saw the preview several weeks ago I knew I just had to cover this show. The animation is breathtaking at times and although this “traditional” 2D look can sometimes mean the frames are a little more noticeably choppy, I think I will always prefer this style. Perhaps it also subsconsciously reminds me of the Escaflowne movie too, and that might be why I’m drawn to this show as well. #ormaybeIamjustold
Anyways, enough of me yammering on about how much I love this show’s animation. Kujira no Kora follows Chakuro, the 14 year old archivist for the Mud Whale. The Mud Whale is literally an island made up of mostly mud which drifts (aimlessly?) in a sea of sand; any water the island’s residents have is gathered from rainwater. A little more than 500 people live on the Mud Whale, and of them about 90% are “marked”, meaning they are able to use special abilities called thymia; the other 10% of the island’s inhabitants are unmarked. The island is guided in its daily life by a Council of Elders, and they are all unmarked.
It’s mentioned in the beginning of the episode that while scouting parties from the Mud Whale have occasionally encountered other wandering islands like theirs, they’ve never found another human being on them. Only supplies and materials they can put to use. So I imagine the inhabitants of the Mud Whale might have thought that they were the last of mankind. But what happens when you learn that those who are responsible for leading your community have been hiding information from everyone? What happens when you learn that they know things about which you’ve never heard?
That’s what happens to Chakuro. He participates in a scouting party and encounters a young girl with a samurai sword, but she’s injured and not in good 
health. He brings her back to the Mud Whale and the Council of Elders leads her away so they can ask her questions. Chakuro ends up secretly overhearing the conversation between the Elders and the young girl, named Lykos, where he learns that the Mud Whale might actually be a place called Falena. Lykos is also apparently a Apathoia, a person without emotions. The Elders want to lock up Lykos, believing her to be a sign that the outside world (“the Mainland”) hasn’t yet changed.
That never happens. A marked criminal who was released earlier in the episode, Ouni, breaks into the room where the interrogation is happening and snatches both Lykos and Chakuro during his escape. Knowing now that there is indeed an outside world that the Elders have kept hidden from their people, Ouni wants to live in that world, not isolated on a mud boat. He asks Chakuro to lead him to Lykos’ island, and Chakuro agrees.
There are so many questions raised during this episode. What is the Mainland, and where is it? What is the rest of mankind like, and what is so bad about them that the Elders believe that a “calamity” will strike the people of the Mud Whale if the outside world is contacted? Who is the blond man with the eyepatch standing atop the Mud Whale? And of course I want to know more about Lykos and what the Apathoia are like.
This was THE show I was looking forward to this season, and so far it’s living up to my hype. Hang on tight because I’m pretty sure this will be the show I won’t be able to shut up about during the remainder of the season. ;D
Possibility of Watching: Guaranteed
Possibility of Blogging: Guaranteed