Story:
Katsuhira Agata is an emotionless boy whose sense of pain is non-existent. This lead to him being bullied and being a punching bag for the bullies since he isn't even phased by punches and kicks. Suddenly, Katsuhira, his childhood friend Takashiro Chidori and 5 other teenagers are abducted and forced to participate in the Kizna System experiment, dubbing these group of teenagers "Kiznaivers." The experiments involves these group of kids to forcefully become friends and any pain one experiences will be distributed to the others equally. Now with these 7 teenagers forced into each other's lives, they will have to overcome emotional endeavors and trauma.

Characters and The Voices:
Katsuhira Agata: The emotionless,stoic boy and our main protagonist. Voiced by Yuki Kaji who is also Arita Haruyuki from Accel World, Ouma Shuu from Guilty Crown, Eran Yeager from Attack On Titan and much more.
Takashiro Chidori: A caring and motherlike girl who is a childhood friend of Katsuhira Agata (Nicknaming him Kacchon).
Tenga Hajime: A broad, confident young man who is infamous to be some sort of bully/fighter around the locals. Voiced by Maeno Tomoaki who si also Son Hak from Akatsuki no Yona, Decim from Death Parade, Naotsugu from Log Horizon and much more.
Yuta Tsuguhito: The popular, cool guy who would like to stay away from weird people. Voiced by Shimazaki, Mobunaga who is also Shidou from Date Alive, Nanase haruka from Free!, Sunakawa Makoto from Ore Monogataru and much more.
Maki Honoka: The pretentious,antisocial girl who has quite a mysterious side to her. Voiced by Satou Rina who is also Tanamchi Kaoru from Amagami SS, Nakashima Naomi from Corpse Party, and Mora from Rokka no Yuusha.
Niiyama Niko: An energetic, overreacting girl who is the comic relief of the series. Voiced by Kuno Misaki who is also Hawk from Nanatsu no Taizai, and Tama from Selector Destructed Wixoss.
Hisomu Yoshihara: A masochistic, pain-loving guy who is perfect for the experiment. Voiced by Nishiyama Koutarou who doesn't have many well known roles but with his performance on this character I look forward to seeing more from him.
Sonozaki Noriko: A calm, mature girl who is also head of the Kizna System experiment who is hinted to have some sort of past relationship with Katsuhira though he vaguely remembers. Voiced by Yamamura Hibuku who is fairly knew and doesn't have many performances but I look forward from her.

Music:
The music is composed by Hayashi Yuuki who had also done works for Diabolik Lovers, Boku no Haro Academia and Death Parade. The soundtrack is very well made for the series, considering it's from Hayashi. The soundtrack has a fresh feel with mixtures of electronic and orchestral blends along with casual guitar mixed in. The songs can either get pretty abysmal with a somber tone or perky and casual, a nice dynamic for the series.

Animation:
Animation is done by the famous studio Trigger who had also animated Kill La Kill,Little With Academia and Inferno Cop. Their enigmatic animation style had to take a more slice-of-life turn with a highschool, modern city style which turned out pretty well. There are times when Trigger shows off their fluidity in emotional scenes and sometimes characters look off and odd to look at when they're drawn in a distance. So overall it's okay from them with consistencies here and there. Also, the anime's gorgeous opening is truly something to never skip with beautiful, fluid animations with a mesmerizing song to accompany it, truly the best of the Spring season and arguably the year.

Final Comments:
While I did enjoy the show with it's emotional turmoils, pretty eye candy and great music, I really wanted it to be better with the plot department. While I value the events that occur in the show themselves alone, what they're missing is the development and buildup linking those events together that ruined a big part of what that show could've been. The drama and relationships are mostly forced with almost no given context, hints or build up to even present it. For example, one person would be experiencing pain and it spreads out to the other Kiznaivers, one character coincidentally finds the person who received that pain whom is also the love interest when they couldn't know how to find that person since the pain is distributed evenly and there is no indication to do so. The show focuses to pull heartstrings in the moment of events but don't value the development between those events. Honestly, it was to the point where I wanted to be in tears, but couldn't. Kiznaiver is the perfect example of an anime original with so, so, much potential but there was one fatal mistake they made that toppled the show's esteeming expectations.
I was left mildly satisfied with the show and overall, I look forward for more works from Trigger.

Tweet Share on Tumblr