Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is an anime series by Wit Studio. The series was directed by Tetsurō Araki and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi, with music by Hiroyuki Sawano and original character designs by Haruhiko Mikimoto. The series premiered on Fuji TV's Noitamina block on April 8, 2016, and ended on June 30, 2016, with a total of 12 episodes. A prologue for the anime premiered for a week in theaters across Japan starting March 18, 2016. Amazon streamed the series on their Amazon Prime Instant Video service. Two compilation films premiered in Japanese theaters on December 31, 2016, and January 7, 2017. Crunchyroll and Funimation co-released the anime on Blu-ray and DVD in the United States; Crunchyroll also acquired the merchandise rights. An anime theatrical film that is set six months after the anime series, titled Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress: The Battle of Unato, premiered on May 10, 2019. A Netflix version was released as a three part series on 2019.
Plot
A mysterious virus appears during the industrial revolution that transforms infected humans into Kabane and rapidly spreads. Kabane are aggressive, undead creatures that cannot be defeated unless the glowing golden heart, which is protected by a layer of iron, is pierced, or an important body part is completely severed. Unfortunately, most melee weapons and the steam-pressure guns used by the samurai are not very effective against them. On the island country Japan, people have built fortress-like "stations" to shelter themselves from these creatures. People access the stations and transport wares between them with the help of fortified steam locomotives. One day, a hayajirō hijacked by the Kabane crashes into Aragane Station and they overrun the city. A young engineer called Ikoma uses the opportunity to test with success his anti-Kabane weapon, the "piercing gun", but is infected in the process, although he manages to resist the virus and become a Kabaneri, a human-Kabane hybrid. Assisted by Mūmei, another Kabaneri who appears to help them, Ikoma and the other survivors of the station board a hayajirō named Kōtetsujō and depart to seek shelter elsewhere, fighting the hordes of Kabane'' along the way.
Three feature length anime theatrical films were released between 2016 and 2019. The first two films, which are recaps of the first and second halves of the TV series, premiered in Japanese theaters on December 31, 2016, and January 7, 2017. The third film, titled Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress: The Battle of Unato, takes place six months after the events of the TV series and revolves around the Battle of Unato. It premiered on May 10, 2019. The Battle of Unato was streamed internationally on September 13, 2019 as a Netflix originalconsisting of three episodes.
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A manga adaptation, illustrated by Shirō Yoshida, was serialized in Mag Garden's Monthly Comic Garden magazine from May 2, 2016 to November 5, 2018. Mag Garden released four tankōbon volumes from December 10, 2016 and December 10, 2018. A mobile game developed by TriFort, Inc. and published by DMM Games titled Kōtetsujō no Kabaneri -Ran- Hajimaru Michiato was released on December 19, 2018 for Android and iOS, featuring an animated opening sequence by Wit Studio.
Music
The soundtrack was composed by Hiroyuki Sawano and was released by Aniplex on May 18, 2016. The opening theme is "Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress" by Egoist and the ending theme is "ninelie" by Aimer with chelly. For episode 11, the ending theme is "Through My Blood " by Aimer.
