Kagewani

Have you ever watched a DVD/BluRay extra with a storyboard scene that was never produced? Now, imagine a whole "anime" storyboarded, but instead of being turned into an actual animation film, split into 8 minutes pieces and made into a series. That's the "outside" of "Kagewani" (literally "Shadow Crocodile", from Japanese), a series made of cut out cartoon, blended with live action footage and whatnot. It's exactly like radio drama, but instead of a narrator telling what cannot be understood just by sound, it presents with "animated" features. This is one of those few examples of "mind over body": the story is so interesting that the appearance is irrelevant (at some points, nice graphics could even be a distraction). The story is very interesting and original, taking a turn from pure horror to techno-horror mostly on the 2nd season. Spoilers ahead, so, if you intend to watch it, do so now, because it is really worth it! A long time ago, there were two nations in war. One of them decided to create the definitive weapon, something so terrible that would end the war: they locked all kinds of creatures inside a well (snakes, spiders, sharks, felines and whatever they could find, and eventually even humans), letting them kill each other, and the survivor would be the most terrible creature of them all. What came out of the well was an evil demon, a shadow with the shape of a crocodile. Of course, such a terrible creature wouldn't be controllable, and it, obviously, killed almost everything it could find, including those that created it. Mind you, it's not like the "Lights Out" ghost, the Kagewani doesn't need a shadow to move, it is a shadow, so it can move in plain daylight. The few survivors of the two nations try to destroy the kagewani. At a certain point, a man tries to burn it and, instead of killing the demon, ends up spreading it into a myriad of lesser demons, with different shapes, features, looks, environments and so on, making it a lot more difficult to destroy. Centuries later, a boy is attacked by a kagewani. A survivor helps to heal him, but a part of the kagewani stays in his body, lending him the ability to "feel" the proximity of a demon. He becomes obsessed by the stories of kagewani, instinctively going after them, but he's not the only one, there is someone else after them, a businessman that intends to do what the creators couldn't do: control the Kagewani. At first, he uses brute force technology (supermagnets, lasers, cryogenic chambers, ectoplasm whatever and everything else, like a Japanese Ghostbuster, what is pretty nice), but that eventually fails disastrously (well, much like in the "Ghostbusters"). Later, we are shown that controlling the Kagewani requires a special sound device. Why? Just because. There is no explanation, someone simply "knew" that it would work and kept a diapason at home. Too convenient? Yes, it was. Lost one star for that. Anyway, the sound thingy is just used twice or so, until the end of the final episode, when the businessman reappears, turned into a cyborg with superspeakers/magnets/whatever attached to his chest, which he tries to use to capture the Kagewani... Cheesy? Yes, it was. Lost another star for that. Eventually, the bad guy is defeated, but the Kagewani is not destroyed. Unfortunately, there is no sequel to this series. They could go on the Ghostbusters path and do a full techo-horror series, trying to capture the lesser demons and the original Kagewani using some "cool" gadgets, instead of portable (lame) speakers. Despite the cheesy ending, the story is very interesting and some of the episodes are really creepy. All in all, it was what lots of big productions are not: entertaining.

This series of short episodes follows Sôsuke Banba a scientist who investigates strange phenomena known as Kagewani; weird shadowlike creatures who attack people from nowhere. At first this appears to be a 'creature of the week' series but later there is more of an ongoing story as he tries to learn more about the nature of the Kagewani and in the second season deals with a human adversary who wishes to use them. The series has a very distinctive look and animation style; at first I thought it just looked rather cheap but soon started to realise that it added to the creepiness of the story. Overall I'd certainly recommend this series of eight minute long shorts to anybody looking for a creepy anime series. These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.

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