Karneval

Young cat burglar Gareki, breaking and entering a big town mansion, comes upon the wealthy lady owner making inappropriate advances on a wide-eyed boy. When she transforms into a hideous monster, Gareki (a decent thief at heart) rescues the boy, Nai. The two find themselves plunged into an epic struggle between the colourful, eccentric and extrovert members of the crime-fighting Circus (the National Defense Force) and a shadowy organization called Kafka. Kafka may be behind the appearance of shape-shifting monsters called Varugas (like the one Nai encountered). But there’s also a mystery surrounding the unworldly Nai (who has large and appealing red eyes and unusual white hair with purple wisps). Nai tells Gareki that he is searching for Karoku who used to care for him but has disappeared, leaving only a trail of bloodstains and a bracelet behind – a bracelet that turns out to be an old Circus ID. Gareki has mysteries of his own too; washed ashore from a shipwreck some years ago, he can’t even remember his original name but he’s amazingly gifted around gadgets of any kind.

And so Gareki and Nai are wafted aloft onto the second of Circus’s two airships, and tended to by cute little robot sheep. They meet the swashbuckling (but soft-hearted) Yogi (who dresses up in a giant cat-suit as Nyan Perowna to amuse the children when Circus is in performing mode) and trapeze-artist Tsukumo, whose long blonde hair and gothloli clothes seem at odds with her quiet, earnest manner and formidable skills as a warrior. They learn the startling facts about Nai’s origins – and, when Gareki makes the heart-breaking discovery that his adoptive family has been tainted by Kafka’s machinations, he determines to help Circus root out the evil scientists who are creating the Varugas.

One the one hand, Karneval is sparklingly colourful, filled with dazzling action sequences, gruesome monsters and appealing characters: cute Nai, solemn Tsukumo and soft-hearted Yogi, as befits a series about a troupe of crime fighters called Circus. It looks great in a steampunkish fashion, with its Victorian-influenced clothes and airships.

But story-wise it fails – as an anime TV series. If you’re reading the manga by Touya Mikanagi (currently available in Japanese, French and German but coming soon in English from Yen Press) it makes more sense. Yet there’s no getting away from the fact that several episodes are very clunkily put together from a script point of view. They just don’t flow dramatically.

Having said that, if you love the look of the show and fall in love with characters like Gareki and Nai, you probably won’t mind so much. But if you’re frustrated by a confusing and unfinished storyline, you’ll walk away feeling let-down; no amount of pretty gothloli girls or dashing bishounen can make up for that omission.

If you like the gothic bishounen/bishoujo vibe of Black Butler, or Pandora Hearts, you’ll probably enjoy Karneval. So why is it so confusing and unsatisfying, plot-wise? First of all, it’s significant to note that Karneval is an ongoing manga in Zero Sum, the shoujo comic that spawned (all at around the same time) Loveless, Amatsuki and 07-Ghost. And the problem of a manga series that’s adapted as an anime before the series’s end has been written is that the anime team have to either leave matters unresolved (which makes for a deeply unsatisfying viewing experience) or they have to cook up a ‘false’ ending which the mangaka probably won’t adhere to (FullMetal Alchemist). Then there’s the ‘we adapted it from an RPG/video game or light novel’ scenario (SAO, DRAMAtical Murder, Persona 3 and 4) where the anime makes so much more sense to the people familiar with the original material. This doesn’t quite apply to Karneval, but there’s some common ground in that – in trying to develop a dramatic sequence that works – the script writers seem to have assumed that they could rely on the audience’s knowledge of the original material. And as the manga is 13+ volumes and the anime only covers up to #7, perhaps the uneven TV series should be regarded as a ‘taster’ for the (extremely entertaining and highly recommended) manga.

Karneval is beautifully drawn (with character design by Toshie Kawamura that are very faithful to Touya Mikanagi’s originals) and displays a pleasingly high standard of animation throughout. The Blu-ray version is easily navigated and looks great. The orchestral score by Keiji Inai and Shiroh Hamaguchi, supports the action in all the right places and produces a suitably carnavalesque vibe at certain times that is almost reminiscent of Danny Elfman. The Opening Theme is “Henai no Rondo” by GRANRODEO and the more formulaic Ending Theme is “REASON” by KAmiYU (Fun Fact here is that KAmiYU = Hiroshi Kamiya who plays Gareki and Miyu Irino who plays Yotaka, his adoptive brother.)

Both Japanese and American voice actor casts deliver lively and convincing performances – and you can tell from their commentaries (for Episodes 1 and 13) that the Americans were having a ball. An appealing (and useful) extra is a short introduction to ‘Karneval Fashion’ by the excellent J Michael Tatum who is the US script writer as well as playing Captain Tsukitachi of Airship One. In this he gives his personal views on the series – and encourages cosplayers to copy the colourful costumes. It’s not nearly as long – or as random – as some anime commentaries can be and all the more welcome, therefore!

Other Extras are: Promotional videos, Textless Opening “Henai No Rondo (Rondo Of Fixation)”, Textless Closing “Reason” and U.S. Trailer.

In Summary

Karneval may well seduce you with its intriguing steampunk set-up and attractive characters – until the fact that everything is left confusingly unresolved at the end sinks in. But as a taster for the ongoing manga, it works a treat.

P.S. There are no scary clowns. Repeat: there are no scary clowns.