Karas (TV series)

Did You Know?

• Dark Horse Comics produced a one-shot comic adaptation of episode one, written by Phil Amara.
• Columbia Music Entertainment published Ike's music for the show as a 24-track audio CD on October 24, 2007.
• Manga Entertainment released Karas: The Prophecy on UMD.

Plot

Karas was initially conceived as a horror story with a vengeance theme, following a protagonist karas who slaughters mikuras to recover his murdered lover's body parts and assembles them into a katana. The final version became a superhero action story, originally intended to have three leading heroes like the Japanese period drama Sanbiki ga Kiru!. The characters Otoha, Nue, and detective Kure were the leads, but the final version primarily focuses on Otoha. The show maintains a serious tone without slapstick or exaggerated expressions, avoids heavy exposition, and uses short dialogue that requires viewers to infer events from minimal information. Substantial details were omitted from the show and printed in a booklet in the final DVD package. The setting is a fictional Shinjuku, Tokyo, designed by Hajime Satō as a modern version infused with East Asian cultures, featuring fictional lettering resembling Chinese and Hangul characters, Western gargoyles, and Singapore's Merlion statues. Humans have become indifferent to the yōkai and fail to see them.

Themes

The series explores the relationship between technology and cultural traditions by personifying traditions as yōkai and mikuras. The production team noted that yōkai represent the city's culture and functions, and their strength is inversely proportional to society's technological level; as society advances, the yōkai weaken. The mikuras symbolize the five elements of Taoism and turned to technology as cyborgs to regain strength, so when a mikura dies the city loses the function associated with that element—for example, Tokyo's water level fell after the death of Suiko the kappa. This theme implies a vibrant city needs a mix of technology and culture. Another theme is the yōkai's choice between the two karas: following Eko enslaves humans and imposes yōkai presence, while supporting Otoha lets yōkai continue living with humans. Using this as an analogy for human interaction, the team suggested people should be open and make decisions rather than passively hoping for results.

Production

Tatsunoko Production, founded in 1962, released Karas in 2005 for its 40th anniversary. Keiichi Sato joined as project director after pitching the concept of a life-sized dark hero, and researched kabuki and Japanese staged sword fights for production techniques. Choreographed sword fights rendered with 3D animation were rare at the time, and Sato believed this would distinguish the show. The use of theatrical elements and movie shooting techniques sets Karas apart from contemporaries. Producer Kenji Nakamura felt the team's inexperience pushed them to break free of traditional animation restrictions. The series used a 2D-3D hybrid approach due to budget and aesthetic concerns: 2D allowed greater artistic detail, while 3D saved resources. Sato disapproved of using 3D purely for economy and pushed for detailed CG, and was dissatisfied with computer lighting effects, ordering animators to draw them by hand. They darkened the images and concentrated on shadow areas, leaving light areas untouched.

Reception

Reviewers were impressed with Karas's animated imagery. Mania Entertainment stated its lush imagery could hook viewers and that some 2D-3D scenes matched photorealistic standards. DVD Talk noted the effort in merging 2D and 3D animations but felt darkness and smoke effects marred the quality. Anime News Network called it one of the best action animations due to detailed images, fast action, and visual effects. Fight scenes between CG karas and mikuras were praised as realistic and stunning, though DVD Talk complained the camera movement never showed fights cleanly, and Mania felt later fights lacked the beauty and intensity of earlier ones. Ike's music impressed reviewers, with Anime News Network noting his long scores set mood, and the Prague Symphony Orchestra's main theme was praised for bringing out heroic essence. The story received the worst criticisms: many reviewers and voice actors could not follow the dialogue and presentation, and some felt the abstract presentation required extreme attention. Reelfilm and DVD Verdict stated viewers should not need to read packaging summaries to understand incoherent battles and indistinguishable characters.