Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress / Koutetsujou no Kabaneri

Submission 27,089

Editor's Note: This entry contains spoilers to the plot of the anime series.

About

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (Japanese: 甲鉄城のカバネリ, Kōtetsujō no Kabaneri) is an anime series directed by Tetsuro Araki and written by Ichiro Okouchi. Set in a post-apocalyptic, medieval Japan in the middle of an industrial revolution, the series follow Ikoma, an steamsmith who has developed a weapon to defeat the Kabane, a group of aggressive zombie-like creatures infected by a mysterious virus.

Premise

Set in Japan during the industrial revolution, the series revolves around a post-apocalyptic war between humans and Kabane, a type of undead creatures born out of a mysterious virus who can infect other humans by biting them and can only be defeated by piercing their iron-coated heart. Because most weapons have proven to be ineffective against the Kabane, humanity has built fortress-like stations to protect themselves, using a network of armored and steam-powered trains known as Hayajiro. One day, a Hayajiro train gets hijacked by a group of Kabane and crashes into one of the stations, immediately prompting an invasion of the creatures inside the fortified city. A young engineer named Ikoma, who has been developing a weapon against the Kabane, sees this attack as an opportunity to test his weapon, but after getting bitten by a Kabane in the process, Ikoma manages to stop the spread of the virus and transforms into a Kabaneri, a hybrid between human and Kabane. Along with Mumei, another Kabaneri hybrid, and other survivors from the stations, they put up a stance against the Kabane for their survival.

History

The series, first announced on November 27th, 2014, has been developed by Wit Studio and directed by Tetsuro Araki, both known by other works like Shingeki no Kyojin. The anime first premiered on April 8th, 2016, with a prologue for the series premiering on Japanese theaters on March 18th, 2016.

Reception

Upon its premiere in April 2016, the series was met with positive reception. As April 28th, 2016, the series is ranked as the 94th top anime series in MyAnimeList, with a score of 8.51.^[15] However, despite the generally positive reviews, the series has been mocked by some viewers due its similarities with Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin_), earning it the pejorative nickname "Attack on Kabaneri" (_Shingeki no Kabaneri).^[16] After the anime premiere, an anonymous user posted on 4chan's anime and manga board /a a video mixing the opening from Koutetsujou no Kabaneri with the opening song of Shingeki no Kyojin, which was subsequently reuploaded to YouTube by Hiecchi on April 8th, 2016.

Online Relevance

On October 22nd, 2015, a dedicated subreddit for the series was created, and on December 18th, a a wikia about the series was created.^[13] In February 2016, another subreddit was created, gaining over 170 subscribers in the following months.^[14] On April 7th, user fordanguyen submitted a thread on /r/anime to discuss about the first episode of the anime series, gaining over 2,020 points (over 98% upvoted) and over 1000 comments in less than a month.^[11]

Fandom

The series gained a huge following online after the premiere of the first episode. As April 28th, 2016 the Japanese artist community pixiv leads to over 650 results under the tag "甲鉄城のカバネリ",^[8] and the artist community DeviantART leads to over 150 results under the keyword "kabaneri".^[9] Fandom presence can also be found on other communities like 4chan^[7] and Tumblr.^[12]

Habanero

Habanero is a pun used by fans of the series as replacement of Kabaneri, due the similarities between both words.^[2] Being the earliest registered use of the word a post from April 8th, 2016,^[1] the joke quickly grew after a scene from the second episode where Mumei covers herself with a cape, making her look like a bell pepper.^[4]

Episode 2 Fansubs / Peasant-chan

The second episode of the series, originally scheduled for April 15th, 2016, was delayed due an earthquake on the Kumamoto Prefecture the day before. Due the delay, a RAW version of the episode with Chinese subtitles was used in order to translate the episode into English, which was consequently mocked due the low quality of the subs. While several moments of the episode were mocked due the subs,^[5] the most notable part was when a background character is attacked by the Kabane and Ayame calls him "Peasant-chan".^[6]