Why you should watch KADO: The Right Answer (Seikaisuru Kado)



@PurposeDevoid (Matthew)



©TOEI ANIMATION,KINOSHITA GROUP,TOEI

My absolute favourite show this season is "KADO: The Right Answer (Seikaisuru Kado)" and I'd like to try convince you to watch it too! 'Tis the sleeper of the season, with top comments of the most recent reddit thread saying:





"Why is this shit so underwatched?! It's amazing!"





"If only every show I watch could keep me this riveted all the way through. Shows like this take effort to write. You don't have to be an anime fan to enjoy this show. Any fan of scifi would eat this stuff up. "





"holy fuck, this is anime to show to counter old argument "anime is for kid" shit. "





This show is so captivating! I can't get over it. It's creative and smart and thoughtful, and it's somehow pretty gorgeous. The CGI is actually impressive.





(The series has just recently aired its third episode, fourth if you include the pre-air zeroth episode.)

If this has already convinced you, then my job here is done! Going into the show blind may well be the best option (scroll to the bottom to see the section on how to watch), as a big part of the appeal is the intrigue each episode delivers. However, I can still hear you say "but Matthew, what is 'KADO: The Right Answer' about?".' Continue reading, and you will find the right answer...

(While attempts have been made to keep this article relatively spoiler free, the cost of describing any show inevitably comes with some minor spoilers. You have been warned!)

The show - a synopsis

"KADO: The Right Answer" is an engrossing, diplomatic/political sci-fi, set in real world modern day Japan. When a strange giant dynamically varying fractal cube appears and lands at Haneda airport it swallows up a taxiing passenger plane and its 252 passengers, whom Kojiro Shindo is among. Renowned in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his skill as a negotiator, he is one of the first to meet the mysterious being called Yaha-kui zaShunina that appears from the 2 kilometre sided cube, who wishes to make contact with humanity. While the otherworldly Yaha-kui zaShunina's motives continue to be ambiguous, he requests Shindo's help as a mediator for the ensuing talks with the world.

Unsubbed trailer for the series

Yaha-kui zaShunina (left) and Kojiro Shindo (right)

Bullet point advantages

Not a high school magical harem battle show

Every character a working adult, working their job as part of KADO's arrival

Super ~~intriguing~~

Grounded in realism, the supernatural parts of the setting is convincingly approached in a realistic way by the cast, i.e. scientifically and sensibly. Sci-fi done right (see also Brandon Sanderson's Laws of Magic for related concepts).

Has a Professor of Physics, and a genki (energetic) overactive quick-talking female Theoretical Physicist who's just loving all the new physics going on!

Theoretical Physicist, Shinawa Kanata,

While only recently introduced, has a young but experienced female negotiator, Saraka Tsukai, judged as an equal match to Koujirou and appointed to be his "opponent" in negotiations. Not just a token female character, but one with known experience as an international negotiator representing humanity on the table.

Saraka Tsukai and Kojiro Shindo

My Thoughts - the CGI

First let's address the elephant in the room: the show is mostly CGI. Some people are a bit turned off by this, with its visual style slightly similar to Ajin and Knights of Sidonia (from Polygon studios). In the case of the recent Berserk anime, the choice of CGI (and its poor quality) for the adaptation has assisted in dragging CGI's name in the mud, with a CLANG.

I don't think I can easily persuade someone who dislikes CGI to suddenly like it, but I would argue that KADO: The Right Answer not only has high quality CGI for its character animation and interactions, but also makes impressive use of its use for the visualisation of the cube, KADO, and the other ethereal elements present.

Promotional art of the the eponymous cube of the show, KADO

If the show was primarily done with regular 2D animation, the CGI objects and effects that Yaha-kui brings about would appear heavily out of place due to their incongruent nature. The choice of CGI for the entire show allows for a different range of animation effects that would otherwise not be possible.

No better entity in the show exists to illustrate this better than the cube KADO, which is featured in the show's Episode 0 ending theme (which you can see below). Apparently created using a combination of Houdini, Maya and Unity, the show realises the cube KADO and other effects in an entirely novel way for anime.

Eien no Kotae (An Eternal Answer/永遠のこたえ) by HARUCA

Most shows that solely use CGI have relatively weak character animation, but correspondingly have impressive scenes of otherwise impossible-to-animate action, such as the fantastic mech fights of Knights of Sidonia or the dynamic gun combat featured in Ajin. I believe that KADO will entirely forgo this advantage of CGI; it is not a show about cool looking action. Rather, it uses its effects to impart a kind of magic and in parts majesty to the otherworldly actions that occur, conveying in my mind the idea of a higher-order existence.

The Themes

A negotiation. Getting what's in your interest is the goal of negotiations. But defeating your opponent and temporarily gaining what you want will always come back to bite you in the long term. What's best for you is giving both parties something in their interest. There isn't just one answer, for one thing. We aren't God. We'll never know what was right – and what was the right answer – for our whole lives. But, even if we don't know, we just have to keep looking.

Kojiro Shindo, from the first part of Episode 1

It's may be a little early to say, but the show to me asks the question: "God is present, and he has a test. He asks you to think, and to keep thinking, to solve this test. For even in the presence of miracles, it is only though both action and thought, and to keep thinking, that you are truly human, worth being saved". It clearly looks into the idea of communication, the idea of reaching common ground with those you do not fully understand, bridging the gap to reach compromises. It looks at the value of critical thought, its place in decision making, and relates it to trust. And maybe, it is going on to explore the components that make up society as a whole: looking into altruism and greed, the motives of the individual and the collective, how we each affect each other. Only in continuing to think can things ever be improved.

The Indescribable

There are various components of the show I would love to comment more on, but am not really knowledgeable enough to really go into, such as the visual direction, the sound direction, information on the staff involved, voice actors, and so on. I̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶u̶r̶c̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶t̶e̶r̶i̶a̶l̶,̶ ̶a̶̶̶ ̶̶̶M̶̶̶a̶̶̶n̶̶̶g̶̶̶a̶̶̶ ̶̶̶o̶̶̶f̶̶̶ ̶̶̶t̶̶̶h̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶̶̶s̶̶̶a̶̶̶m̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶̶̶n̶̶̶a̶̶̶m̶̶̶e̶̶̶ I've been told by reddit user /u/manticorpse that the anime is an original, and the manga is a kind of co-release. Guess I do know a bit more now :) !

I also would like to talk a bit about the story and the script's qualities that lead to the convincing Sci-fi real-world setting, one of the strongest elements of the show for me, but doing so would not only approach spoiler territory a little, but like dissecting a joke would probably weaken or ruin the experience when watched later. I will say though that the science based approach to the supernatural effects of KADO is great to see, though my delight in their appreciation towards this may come from my education in physics :3

One more reason

You want one more reason to watch the show ? I'm incredibly addicted to the opening theme, it's absolutely breathtaking to me. See here for a full length off-vocal version of the song, or the youtube embed below for the OP-length vocal version. However due to my obsession with the song, I have made (with help from lyrical nonsense) a subbed version of the OP length (regular) vocal version, which can be watched -->HERE<--.

KADO: The Right Answer OP - Tabiuta (旅詩) by Saraka Tsukai (徭 沙羅花) starring M・A・O (Mao Ichimichi)

Where to watch

KADO: The Right Answer (Seikaisuru Kado) is available (legally) on Crunchyroll for users worldwide excluding Asia: CLICK HERE. .... Or don't, I guess, up to you ... :'(

Note that there is an Episode 0 also available, aka "Seikaisuru Kado: Ninovo", which is primarily 2D animation and acts as a prequel character introduction to the main series for Kojiro Shindo and colleague Hanamori Shun (who is also present on the plane). While not 100% necessary watching, it do recommend it since the impression and maturity of the overall series is shown effectively even before KADO appears.

Acknowledgements

Thank you for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it!

Quick thanks to assdare, teryhanazawa, and <sigh> yaoisex tumblr users for the source of the gifs, to lyrical nonsense for their translation of Tabiuta (旅詩), and to this fantastic article at manga.tokyo from which I unapologetically obtained some excellent screencaps. The article even has some translated comments from the voice actors of the main characters, super interesting, do check it out!

And of course, to all of those who have worked to create this show, and those who bring it to us, my greatest thanks.





Contact:

Twitter: @PurposeDevoid