Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress: Unato Decisive Battle

The animation, the background art and all the technique is a master piece, very high quality, but the story felt a little "meh" Not much chemistry between most of the characters, poor dialogues, it really wasn't an engaging story.

The Battle of Utano takes place after the events of the 2017 12-episode series. Three clans fight to wrest control of the mountain city Utano from control of the metal-hearted Kabane zombie horde. Again our main focus is the giant fortress locomotive and train we followed in the initial series.

Here again our main characters are the warrior Mumei and the inventor Ikoma. Both are "Kabaneri" and combine both human and zombie features. As before, mistrust of these two is constant despite their superior speed and fighting abilities. There is plenty of melodrama throughout the three episodes as they deal not only with the general mistrust of their multi-species natures but also their own self-doubts and questions about their own feelings for each other.

Much of Utano probably won't make any sense to someone unfamiliar with the original series. Still, it is again made very clear in Utano that we are following a human clan where women have leadership positions unlike the other clans they now must team with to defeat their mutual zombie enemy. The women, including Mumei, exhibit both aggressive leadership and - sometimes confusingly -- very traditional familial and emotional roles. It even appears at time that warrior Mumei and emotional Mumei were drawn by two separate teams.

But that is a small quibble. The "series," which appears to actually be a full-length movie chopped into three parts, has some of the most breathtaking animation I have seen. The world of Utano is rendered in almost spellbinding detail. This detail acts as a counterweight to the phantasmagorical action and fight scenes. But, be sure to watch the 12 episode series first, otherwise you will be totally lost.

While this series is okay as a standalone one on Netflix, it misses a lot of the backstory and the layout thats necessary to engage a viewer. So I started watching the original series and then watched this and things made a lot more sense and the story although not perfect is decent for a continuation from the end of the initial anime series.

I was really excited to watch this after the generally good first series, what a huge disappointment, I could barely make it through this by contrast.

Whats good?

• Well the animation is still broadly good, fight scenes are fluid and creative
• The soundtrack is acceptable, the Japanese voice actors also do their best (broadly speaking)
• There isn't much in the steampunk/zombie anime genre to compare by

Whats bad?

• As another reviewer mentioned, the Kabane have been hugely nurfed from the deadly threat to a minor inconvenience. A hilarious scene at the start shows about 30 Kabane jump a single solider and pile on in a huge zombie snowball...only for Ikoma to come along and throw him out and blow the lot up. What a load of tripe - compare this to the tense first episode of season 1 where (in the first three mins) we literally see a man have to commit suicide because of a minor bite, what a change in stakes.
• Hugely disappointing story, oh boy, I wonder who the obvious bad guy is? Say, those other 'allies' seem a little dodgy, 'no we don't need to station troops at the back, trust me' - oh yeah, twirl a mustache while you do it more idiot...I mean the heroes buy it so I guess wtf do i know?
• Ikoma and Mumei - oh dear, oh dear...Mumei at least was an interesting character (for the first six episodes of season 1 before changing to 'oni-chan' mode), now both her and Ikoma are hugely unlikable anime cliches. The previously excellent supporting cast of season 1 make appearances here and there but are largely stock anime characters now.
• Oh and a fairly nonsensical story about an attempt to retake a city, was that really the best they could do with this series, a shame...

Bottom Line

• Enjoy the first season for the fun it is (and seriously, the first six episodes are genuinely, really quite enjoyable), don't bother here unless you have a very low barrier to entry, just love Kabane that much or harbor a morbid love for idiots.

Granted that is often the case, but it's much worse in this instance.

The story is weak, the total runtime is a fraction of the 1st season and there is no real development of note.

It's watchable but I'd avoid paying money for it.