Note: this is from a video review, look for links on my profile page.
Kaiba is the visual type of sci-fi whose expositions are minimal, but relies on a more intuitive understanding of a possible world. It has this organic feeling, in that anything can grow anywhere, anyone can be any object. Perception is questioned, geometry limitless, but society is still very much familiar, as is often the case in this genre. Viewers' comprehension is baffled, but they try to juxtapose the puzzle any way. These, they learn, are artificial bodies, now a technology intrinsically.
Can memories be blown away like the sands of time? How does hue, variance, temperature change our impression of a moment? Can mood be separated from feeling? How is darkness filled in by the void of the mind? What difference does background have, does the exterior have a relational countenance? Can one be blind to the actual, yet give in to illusory possibilities? Why does memory function differently in stages? Are analogies ever adequate? Is this a sphere or a jumbled mess of degrees? Is fire ever possible without oxygen? Why does one even assume darkness has no atmosphere?
Is it to be assumed that flowers bloom on rocks? Would that be some sort of eel-snake amalgamation? Why at a micro level is there a practical reliance on the global scale? How could technology be anthropomorphized? Could the sociological descriptions of relations be that of mere substitutes? Is there 'intention' behind certain evolutionary traits to propagate? Survival depends on every possibility. But, from a personal, subjective perspective one values specific objects more or less, whether inanimated or still existent. Whichever plant this may be.
What if distinct planets do end up with different cultures? What kind of physicality is preferable, would it be solely based on functionality? How would its shape change consciousness? Would gene modification even be involved with artificial objects? It doesn't seem necessary to sustain a plush toy. There certainly is the likelihood of an industry springing up to sustain this, though. Would society be fundamentally different, or would the only distinction be in appearance, limitlessly? Vanity would likely still be derived from the same source. But how could ears spawn creatures? And what if a human facet passed down to blobs of cells, or even evolved molluscs? In this world even cerulean centaurs can be an option, actualizing mythology. Cats invent artificiality with the aid of emoji interfaces. The contrast between light and darkness. A window of technological potentialities. A cartoon future devoid of universal familiarity.
Is the cycle of life disrupted if indestructible mixtures are intertwined? Would it be possible for a flow of will to transition into a parallel continuation? Would it make a difference if it was fibre or protein? Are they the same electrical impulses that course through at different rates? Perhaps we could gauge the lapse of old age. Could the entirety of waking consciousness fit in some minuscule contraption? What would then be the difference between dolls - with eyes open - and ones where life inhabits? Could a blueprint exist for a perfect life?
What role would colour play in a smoothly-flowing society? Would rhythm make any sense if shapes are indistinguishable? How much hedonism could groups at large sustain and for how long? Historically, not indefinitely. In this narrative personalities diverge, and even clones forge their own destiny. Memories are uncertain as they're essentially recreations based on the amygdala. History is a series of interactions between brains and egos.
Technology, as shown in this anime, is often inspired by what nature ended up with in its random permutations. Water is as fluid as some machinery can be in navigating it. It plumbs the depths of some indistinct planet of indeterminate hue, just as it also delves into the subconscious role of memory and the psyche, abstractly.
How does one perceive incoherent likeness? How unique is a mental state upon the moment of judgement? Kaiba shows, viewers question, but answers aren't necessarily forthcoming. A fog of arbitrariness permeate Masaaki's anime, it seems, and it appears functionally useful in a sci-fi narrative, to create a sense of unexpectedness associated with the unknown. It attempts to create an overarching world, analogous to Evangelion, but the slice-of-life elements are mostly what elevates it to the interest of psychology, at a more quintessential level, than the interpersonal.
Kaiba can be a quirky, heightened experience with unusual art and a contemplative, inquisitive story that straddles the thresholds of dreams. The science fiction to Tatami Galaxy's romance.
