Original Run: July 15, 2020 - September 30, 2020 Number of Episodes: 12 Genre: Action, Fantasy, Horror
***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Gibiate. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
In the year 2030, humanity has been brought to the brink of extinction. The mysterious Gibiate virus has spread across the world, transforming those infected into terrifying monsters. Any hope that might be left is quickly fading. However, young Kathleen Funada (voiced by Yukiyo Fujii) refuses to give up.
One day, Kathleen meets two oddly dressed strangers. Their names are Sensui Kanzaki and Kenroku Sanada (voiced respectively by Tetsuya Kakihara and Hiroki Touchi), and they are warriors from Japan’s feudal past.
Kathleen is thrilled to have met such strong fighters and believes that humanity finally has a chance of defeating the disease. With Sensui and Kenroku’s help, a small group of survivors tries desperately to develop a vaccine and bring this nightmare to an end.
Series Positives
Hee…
Hee…Hee…
Ha…haha
Hahaha
HAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
GIBIATE CAN GO F@#$ ITSELF!
Series Negatives
WHAT WAS THIS?!
No, seriously, what even was this?
Please, somebody, tell me, what in the almighty hell was this?
Who approved Gibiate? Who saw this flaming pile of utter trash and said, “Yeah, that looks fine. Release it like that?”
Saying this series was terrible doesn’t even come close to being a sufficient description. It’s more like this show was wrong, just so very, very wrong. I’m not sure where I should begin. It was all garbage. Nothing went right; nothing was redeemable.
I do know this, though. Whatever direction this review goes, I am not caring about spoilers. We’re well past that point. However, if you’re dead set on checking Gibiate out with fresh eyes and an unbiased mind, then please, by all means, stop reading now.
Assuming you’re still around, here’s a less than fifty-word rundown of what sort of anime Gibiate was:
The year is 2030, and a disease that transforms people into bloodthirsty monsters has devastated the world. Warriors from feudal Japan are summoned to this future to fight the creatures and help develop a vaccine. Swords, blood, and death, and all this because of wish-granting magic and aliens.
How does any of that go together?
And boy oh boy, the B.S. was instant; this show didn’t even make it five minutes before driving off a cliff. I especially loved it when in the first episode, Sensui Kanzaki and Kenroku Sanada meet Kathleen Funada.
Let me remind you – because I need to make this crystal clear – Sensui and Kenroku were randomly summoned from the past. They appeared out of nowhere. They were dressed in a clothing style and spoke in a dialect that hasn’t been around for a few hundred years. I imagine most people would be a little bit wary about coming up to these two. Their talk of castles, ancient battles, and death and glory might raise a few eyebrows.
Well, guess what? Kathleen wasn’t most people. She instantly accepted that time travel was a thing without a single shred of proof or doubt. For you see, Kathleen lived in a world where people turned into monsters; therefore, how farfetched were time-hopping samurai?
(In case my sarcasm isn’t coming through, Kathleen’s logic – and by extension, this show’s logic – was beyond dumb.)
Here is a brief paraphrasing of when Kathleen met Sensui and Kenroku:
- Sensui: I’m a samurai.
- Kathleen: Well, geesh golly, that story sure checks out. I see no need to ask any more questions.
- Kenroku: I’m a ninja.
- Kathleen: Neato, mister. I’m gonna dye your hair blue for no reason because fashion.
I will say this about Gibiate: It never gave me any reason to hate its characters. Of course, that’s not much of a positive. After all, everyone was either hilariously uninteresting or unfathomably stupid. There was not a slither of room for me to build up even the faintest notion of hatred towards anyone.
Take Sensui, for instance. His main/only personality trait was brooding, brooding to the point where he made Batman look like a cheery ball of sunshine. To his “credit,” Sensui was an accomplished swordsman; what with his ability to duel-wield a Japanese katana and a European longsword. Why could he do this? Obviously, it was because he was a freakin’ badass.
Come on, how can anyone think Sensui was anything besides the coolest S.O.B. ever to exist? The black hair, the black clothes, the deep voice filled bitter with soul pain; he literally had it all. Goddamn it, just look at the way he walked; hands in fists, his arm stiff and permanently three feet away from his torso. You can try and convince me otherwise, but Sensui looked to me as though he was always ready to mess up someone’s days, and definitely not like he was trying to hold back the biggest of s@#$s.
The rest of the cast was as absurd as Sensui was. To be honest, I cannot be bothered to recall them. To be even more honest, I mentally check out from this series by episode three. If your attention span held longer than mine, let me know in the comments below.
So, let’s see. Gibiate had a joke of a story, and its characters were what they were; what of everything else?
Broken, unfinished, rushed, lazy, inept, inconsistent, these are only some of the words I would use to describe this show’s soundtrack, lip-synching, and character designs. Gibiate was a spectacular example of a show that was, technically speaking, atrocious, and it’s impossible to tell if any effort went into this at all.
Oh, and one more thing – the animation.
I dare 2020 to present me with a challenger because Gibiate is, without a doubt, the worst animated series I have seen this year. This show was the bottom of the barrel. So, if there is anything worse, that means we will have broken through to the other side of the manure filled bucked of awful anime.
I sincerely hope that Gibiate is this year’s low point because I don’t know if I can sit through something like this again.
Final Thoughts
Let’s not stretch this out any longer than we need to. I think I’ve made myself pretty clear how I feel about this show.
Gibiate is not a series you should skip. It is a series you should go out of your way to avoid.
But these are just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this series? How would you advise Gibiate? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.
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For Anime Hajime, I’m LofZOdyssey, and I’ll see you next time.
