Kubikiri Cycle is an ova adaptation of the light novel series of the same name. Zaregato debuted in 2002 but it wasn’t till 2016 that an anime adaption was created. The anime focuses on the Decapitation arc of the light novels and it gets more action oriented as the story progresses. The story focuses on the brilliant Iria Akagami who lives a secluded life in a mansion located in “Wet Crow’s Feather” Island. She invites several people who are all geniuses to stay with her as guests.
One day, a guest is brutally murdered in the mansion and it's up to Ira, an assistant to one of the guests, and friends to solve the mystery. The killer left no clues and the tension builds as people become suspicious of each other. It follows a whodunit type plot where they are all trapped in the mansion and everyone is a suspect. Everyone has a motive and just layers upon layers of what is that it is they do.
The atmosphere is strange and mysterious. It explores many philosophical themes like one's own place in society and how they adapt and perform in the assigned role. The cast was all unique and had their own forms of “quirks” and had their own distinct talents. Spook-e” the mc is a typical edgelord loner kid and is a hacker. As time goes by that kind of quality does mellow out as he interacts more frequently with others. “Spook-E” is a loner who's only out for himself and has no desire to fit into any one role. The relationship between “Spook-E” and Iria was pretty complex ranging from envy, jealousy, protectiveness and kindness and every scene with them something was bound to happen.
“As per many of Niso’s works, there's a good amount of extensive wordplay from narration, monologue to dialogue. The animation by Shaft really complimented the artstyle and the character designs were really good as well. The coloring scheme was very unique and just surreal which is fitting given Niso’s style. The cinematography and visual effects were quite brilliant. It does have many of the Shaft styled visual gimmicks like the infamous “head tilts” and wide shots. The musical score was really good and the voice acting complimented the dialogue. The humour was a nice touch given the serious theme of the show.
Like in many of Niso’s works there is an irony, in this case the word “Zaregato” means nonsense in Japanese while the story itself is pretty serious. It didn’t cover the full novel series so there's still parts of the story that are yet to be resolved. Some dialogue from the novel was cut out from the anime. The character development varied depending on how important they are so there was some inconsistency in that aspect. Also characters coming and going in such a short length will often leave you bewildered.
The show was overall a pretty interesting watch.
It gets 4 out of 5 stars.
This would greatly benefit from another season.