Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Last week, we took a look at Kabaneri: The Iron Fortress an original anime produced by Wit Studio. The best way to describe it was a cross between The Walking Dead (when it was still good) and Attack on Titan. It was meant to satiate everyone’s hunger for Attack on Titan at the time and it did it’s job pretty well. While a lot of people compared it to Attack on Titan, in truth the anime was a good watch and those who watched it did like it. Which is why it’s so weird that Wit Studios never continued the series until today with the Battle of Unato. Serving as a theatrical sequel to the anime, the Battle of Unato came out in May of this year thought technically it came out in Japan in 2016.
(Seras): Wait, they’ve been hiding this movie for three years?
(Nitsuj): It’s weird, here’s what happened. You see the movie was split into three parts with each one coming out at different times. The first part came out in 2016 followed by the second part in 2017 and finally the third part in 2019. It was odd as each part was roughly the running time of an episode, but each movie got to be shown in theaters and then got streamed on Netflix. Now this movie had a lot to live up to. The anime ended on a cliffhanger and for years fans were wondering where the story was going to go next now that the country had become leaderless. Let’s find out by taking a look at the Battle of Unato.
We start off on an action sequence where Ikoma, Mumei, and the others are passing through a fortress and fighting the kabana. After the opening credits, we find out that half a year has passed since the events of the last episode (Seras: Oh it’s been more than that I can assure you). With the fall of Kongokaku the kabane began attacking other fortresses close by and with the shogun gone the people of Japan have split into factions with their own specific goals and ideas to take back their land from the kabane. Meanwhile, Ikoma and his group continued to travel and headed to cross the Hida mountains to go to Unato. 5 years ago the place became overrun with the kabane and now the Federal Force is mounting an attack to reclaim Unato, and Ikoma and the others have volunteered to help. We get another fight scene with Mumei taking out kabane left and right only to get distracted and saved by Ikoma where after the events of last season, it’s hinted that she might have feelings for him (Seras: Isn’t she like 12 years old? (Nitsuj): Well the age gap is 5, that seems pretty manageable). They all manage to defeat the kabane in the area and continue to push forward on their destination to Unato castle. During the battle Ikoma noticed that the kabane acted differently than the ones he’s faced before. The kabane in Unato seem more interested in killing people than they do in turning into kabane and Ikoma suspects that someone or something is controlling them as their movements are way too smart and organized. The next day Mumei tries to give Ikoma a gift but he’s too distracted to go to a meeting with the commanders where they plan on launching a full assault on Unato castle. Ikoma warns them that there’s a chance the kabane will attack from behind and wants to investigate the area more but nobody believes him.
Ikoma decides to investigate the area himself and he prepares to head out where we see that his bloodlust takes over and he attacks Mumuei. He manages to regain control and tells the soldiers to lock him up promising that he’ll be back to normal before the day of the operation. Ayame sends out a small team to investigate the area Ikoma was going to investigate where they discover a secret passageway the kabane have been using (so once again Ikoma knows more than the people who were trained to handle these kinds of situations). As they prepare to head back, the Federal Force’s rail canon the Narukami arrives sooner than expected and they decide to start the operation a day early. The kabane come out of the passageway and begin attacking with Mumei going into the tunnel in order to reach the castle and kill the guy in charge. Ikoma manages to break out of his chains after hearing about the operation and goes to help Mumei. Along the way he gets shot by Federal Force soldiers but he keeps pressing forward to save his girl (still underage so I can’t call her a woman). Speaking of Mumei, we see her get cornered by this big, strong, and agile kabane where just when she’s about to get squashed, Ikoma shows up to save her. Back outside, the battle against the kabane is not going well. The kabane get the jump on the Federal Force, they destroy the Narukami, and one of the commanders gets killed (he was an undercover asshole so no major loss).
After Ikoma saves Mumei, a green light surrounds them and heals them. They get rescued by the others and continue to the castle while Ayame and the others rally up the troops and continue to advance towards the castle. Once Ikoma and the others reach the castle they see that the kabane running the show is a kabaneri. The kabaneri is Kageyuki the lord of the land from 5 years ago. When the kabane attacked he got bit by one but just like Ikoma managed to maintain is humanity. However, the samurais at the time were scared and turned their guns on him. Kageyuki’s daughter Miyuki died protecting him and in a fit of rage Kageyuki turned his back on his people. In order to save his daughter, Kageyuki turned her into a kabane as well where she became the core of the Black Fog. Mumei fights him and manages to fatally shoot him which releases Miyuki and transforms her into a Black Fog. Ikoma and the others reunite with Ayame’s group and board the Kotetsujo to run away. The Black Fog catches the train and rather than panic (like I would if I saw something like that on a train), they drive full speed into a dead-end tunnel while firing the canons at the Black Fog at the same time. This manages to work as they destroy the Black Fog and stop in the nick of time. With Unato reclaim, the group leaves and we end on a tender moment with Mumei giving Ikoma her gift and kissing him.
Final Thoughts
So that was the Battle of Unato and it was a good movie. Just like the anime, the animation is breath-taking, it looks great, the colors go well with each other, the attention to detail on the characters facial expressions and movements is awesome, and once again the camera work is top notch here and makes you feel like you’re apart of the action. The music and action is great as well. I liked the new weapons they got such as Mumei’s steakpunk Wincester and I love how fast-paced her fights are and how she varies her fighting style from gunslinging the kabane to straight up going to town on them with her martial arts. Probably this movie’s only downside is that the stakes aren’t as big here as they were in the anime, so this fight is a step down and we don’t get to focus on most of the side characters but other than that everything else has been improved on. We see the development of Ikoma and Mumei and how they’ve become a dynamic team with Mumei acting as the sword and Ikoma her shield just like she always wanted. It was also nice to see Mumei interact with the others more and engage in the occasional girl talk as well as see her develop feelings for Ikoma who has now become the center of her life after the betrayal of her brother. The kabane didn’t disappoint. I really do like how these zombies have some level of intelligence to them and can operate as an effective unit when given the right commands. Speaking of commands, Kageyuki was a pretty tragic character. While we don’t get to see him all that much in the movie they gave him a good and sad backstory as well as showed us how he’s like an alternate version of Ikoma and Mumei. Ikoma and Mumei had people close to them that helped them maintain their humanity. Kageyuki didn’t have that, and as a result he abandoned his humanity and became a very intelligent and dangerous kabane. This shows us that the greatest threat to humanity isn’t a regular kabane, but instead an intelligent kabaneri who lost their humanity.
Final Score
I give the Battle of Unato a 7.5/10. Did this movie deserved to be shown in theaters? No, but I’m glad it exists as the movie continues this intrigue story and puts a new focus on the characters and seeing their relationship grow in this harsh world. While there’s been no world of a second season I’m really holding out for one. I really do think Wit Studios has something here and really need to capitalize on it. Until they do thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj. MUHAHAHAHAHAHA- *doorbell rings* now who could that be?
*Nitsuj goes to answer the door where as soon as he opens it he gets pelted with eggs*
(Kid): Take that old man Kessler!
(Kid 2): Hey wait that’s not Mr. Kessler.
(Kid 3): Dang it Jake, you gave us the wrong house! Let’s get out of here before he calls the cops.
*Kids quickly run away as Nitsuj lays there covered in eggs*
(Nitsuj): I don’t know who Kessler is, but I know a few kids who are in for a frightful Halloween this year.
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