This article is part of a web-original series
Marco Cian (Hyogo)
Trixie the Golden Witch is a youtuber who first introduced me to proper media analysis. I don’t know how her Asterisk War video series first popped up on my algorithm back in college, but I’m supremely glad that it did, as it not only introduced me to a whole slew of new anime, but also a new way to view and think about the media I consumed from that point on. Trixie would of course not be the last media analyst I would discover. But her work still has a fond place in my heart, as fond as the folks at Ferretbrain.
It was Trixie who first alerted me to the existence of Kaiba (funnily enough, in that same Asterisk War video series). She held it up as a prime example of cyberpunk, despite it possessing none of the aesthetic that I associated with the genre. To quote Trixie herself on the subject
One of the ideas behind many cyberpunk stories is that with the advancement of technology the differences between individuals and how they interact with one-another begin to lose coherence. People with power and technology at their disposal become increasingly alien, while the cultures below them bleed into one-another and get left behind by the shifting cultural tide. As information technology joins people on the conscious level, and the cultures of the physical world blend together, the entire world becomes a sort of chaotic, amorphous mess, where everyone’s sense of self and individuality is simultaneously pronounced, and made irrelevant. You can’t tell a robot from a human, but you can tell a rich man from a poor man–and so on and so forth.
This is slightly different from the cyberpunk criteria Arthur outlined in his “Baaa, Humbug!” article which I’ve been using for this series, but I bring it up because it’s definitely a set of criteria that Kaiba fulfills. I see all those ideas and more presented with artfulness and flair in this series. But is said series actually good? Well…
Kaiba
Kaiba. The seahorse (hippocampus in Latin). Where the memories are stored in the brain. Ironic then that it should be the name given to a young boy who wakes up with a hole in his chest and no memories whatsoever. After receiving his name, Kaiba is told that his life is in danger and smuggled out on a spaceship, by which he is sent on an adventure throughout the universe, slowly uncovering his memories and the secrets of this cosmos.
Kaiba is visually arresting, deeply soulful, utterly unique, and the bleakest, most depressing piece of cyberpunk I’ve ever encountered.
It’s also incredibly difficult to talk about without being very vague, because actually going into a deep analysis of the series would require either a boatload of context or a truckload of spoilers. About the only thing I can say about it without spoiling the whole plot is that, if not for the cutesy, cartoony aesthetic of the whole thing, I don’t think anybody would be able to stomach watching the sheer extent of cruelty and exploitation in this universe.
It’s fascinating because it tries to conceive of a universe in which technology becomes so advanced, that the very ideas of our bodies, minds, and the concept of wealth are alien to modern eyes. This is still a world in which the rich exploit the poor through technology, but high tech has caused the form of that exploitation to look wildly different from the typical 80s trappings of the genre. It’s much more in line with the bright colors and simple stylization of 60s scifi. You could totally see the Doctor and Jamie or Kirk and Spock running into these planets on their travels.
But god-damn is this show bleak and depressing.
Human bodies and minds have been reduced to material components like Mary Shelley envisioned, prompting their reductions into commodities to be bought and sold and traded and upgraded until nobody is quite sure what “them” even exists anymore. It’s like Ghost in the Shell on steroids, and everybody is the ghost.
All anybody knows is that, because our bodies and minds are now things, those who have power hoard these things, while those powerless are forced to sell pieces of themselves bit by bit, until in some cases there’s nothing left. And that’s if you at least have enough safety to sell yourself. Oftentimes in the poorest regions people are simply kidnapped and sold on the black market.
Or you could get eaten by one of the memory-stealing mutant plants or animals that have sprung up in this new environment. Or you could just get screwed over by the many, many shitty people that live in this universe. Or shot dead like a dog in the street by the police state. Or… y’know, I think I’ll stop right there.
How about I just skip to
Is this a Cyberpunk?
Cyberpunk is about the little people – Not just them, but yes. We see just about every rung on the ladder of this society, but the main focus is on the little people, and how they’re a bunch of petty, spiteful, selfish little bastards. Characters that aren’t that either die or get screwed over. Possibly both.
Cyberpunk is pessimistic – Good God yes. I half expect John Brunner himself would look at this and go “For real?” At some point the overwhelming spitefulness of the world reaches a point where you don’t even get upset anymore. You just laugh.
Cyberpunk isn’t about changing the world – Sort of? Kaiba presents those who seek to change the world as hypocrites who wield platitudes in order to take over the system for themselves. Revolutionaries don’t actually want to change the world. They just want to use other people to get themselves on the throne of power and then become the new exploiter. The only change the show conceives of possible or just is Ragnarok. And even this probably won’t fix anything, given how the story states that screwing people over and exploiting those with less power than you is an inevitable part of humanity.
Cyberpunk is set in today, turned up to 11 – More like 20, which I think is the point. Some have compared the aesthetics of the show to children’s entertainment like Pocoyo or Teletubbies, and while I can see that, I think a better point of comparison is old scifi, like Tezuka or Doctor Who. If you remember stuff like “The War Games”, you had this highly advanced technology that was practically magic, which took the form of brightly-colored fridge magnets. That aesthetic largely developed from budgetary constraints, but Kaiba latches onto it to present a world in which tech is so advanced it looks alien and magical to us. All to show that humanity never changes, even in the farthest future.
Cyberpunk wants to look cool – Not so much cool as cute, but yes. It has a clear design in mind and spends a lot of time showcasing it to us.
All in all, I wouldn’t say I regret watching Kaiba. I’d say it’s very good. But did I enjoy it? I honestly don’t know. I wonder how it compares to Joe Abercrombie or Thomas Ligotti. I guess I’d have to read them to see. But until then, I’ll see you in the next one.