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Lay Your Hands on Kiznaiver
Kiznaiver delivers a heartfelt and powerful message on the importance of empathy in our relationships. The anime tells the tale of a group of isolated teens who bond together through their shared physical and, later, emotional pain.
The Kizuna project brings great turmoil to the teens, but, it also allows them to gain a better understanding of each other and deepen their bonds. This creates a perfect analog to the Hedgehog's dilemma; we get hurt the closer we get to each other. Being burdened with someone's pain a first seems horrific. All of their discomfort and trauma becomes your responsibility. Why would anyone want to experience someone else's pain in the first place? The members of the Kizuna system each express their contention for the experiment and how they believe it brings more harm than good. This system isn't without merit, however. It forces them to be more considerate of how they approach each other or else they too will be hurt.
Growing intimate with others also means emphasizing with them. Their struggles and misfortune become your concern. Friends share their burdens. Some will see this as a hindrance while others will view it as a testament to their relationship. Katsuhira wasn't aware how much his aloofness was harming Chidori until he experienced her emotional pain. This realization motivates him to apologize to Chidori while being more thoughtful of her feelings. Once the cast learns of Maki's troubled past, they all set out to understand her feelings and be a shoulder for her to cry on. Finally, even after the Kizuna system has been removed, the characters can feel Katsuhira's pain with all the vividness of before. They've become true friends at last.
Kiznaiver's biggest flaw is its short length. This greatly stifled the potential for in-depth character development seeing as how Honoka is the only character besides Katsuhira with a major character arc. The other characters felt bare-bones by comparison. The cast was still enjoyable, but, there was a lot of room for improvement. We could've easily had a show twice its length had the producers been more generous.
Art and animation are consistently fluid throughout the entire run. Studio Trigger brought out their A-game and finally produced a show that doesn't look like an embarrassment once you pause it. Another thing to note is that it had the grace of getting a dub from Ocean productions. Canadian anime dubs are extremely rare in a medium oversaturated with LA-based voices. Using a Canadian cast allowed for each character to have a voice unique to them and every performance sounded fresh. It is such a breath of fresh air hearing lesser-known actors getting their time to shine.
Much thanks to Mari Okada for crafting such a charming teen drama. It seems that her genius truly shows when she works on anime with supernatural/sci-fi themes( Black rock shooter, wixoss, Aquarion Evol). She has a strong understanding of the human condition and what makes them tick.