I don’t know how many of you guys are watching Kiznaiver (mostly because I’ve been very poor at writing up those weekly posts this season due to the volume of stuff I’m watching), but episode 7 was really, really good. Good enough to motivate me to devote an entire post to detail how it, and the rest of the show, uses visuals to communicate beyond what the writing says.
Mage in a Barrel 
Mm, I may belatedly pick up Kiznaiver in the next season, it’s on my ‘wait until it’s finished and see what’s the final consensus’ pile. Been hearing seriously mixed things on this, but this post is interesting stuff.
(props btw for the additional sourcing on the writer’s intention. People seem to be very prone to just jump to their pre-existing assumption when it comes to Okada’s writing, for some reason).
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As usual I can’t read anything posted on Crunchyroll, but second that episode 7 was awesome. I’ve been up and down on Kiznaiver but as a whole I’m enjoying the show, and last week’s episode was the best of the series to date.
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I’m not watching Kiznaiver, but where you said
“Even when its characters aren’t explicitly communicating themselves, Kiznaiver is constantly communicating information about them through other means.”
and
“the base of the show’s character designs plays directly into one of its biggest (and most crucial) visual strengths: its unrelenting commitment to displaying its characters as unique individuals”
got me thinking about Joker Game, which I am watching. Joker Game’s character designs are tailored to achieve the opposite effect of Kiznaiver’s, by emphasizing its characters’ lack of individuality, since they’re spies and need to be able to blend in wherever they go without drawing unwanted attention. In common with Kiznaiver, though, there’s also a lot of information about the spies, antagonists, and other key characters that gets communicated to the viewer non-verbally, and your thoughts had me reflecting on some of the scenes and storytelling choices in that show.
Anyway, good article! Even for not watching Kiznaiver, I found it interesting and had no trouble following your train of thought.
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