Welcome back, to another week of Kaina and the Great Snow Sea! This week we reach the bottom of the tree, Ririha and Kaina get to know each other, and the villains introduce red-haired general lady. Lots to enjoy this week, so lets dive in!
Right off the bat, I want to say that I’m actually starting to get used to Kaina’s visuals. It still doesn’t look good, sure. But without the wrinkled skin old people to show us just how texture-less it is, it’s nowhere near as noticeable. It also helps that the Canopy Tree is a fantastic backdrop, and that Polygon Pictures actually did a decent job of compositing them onto it. They stood out, sure. But they still interacted with it, and were framed against it, pretty decently. Take the ledge scene for instance. They fit pretty well onto that small outcrop, and it felt like they interacted with it well. Most likely it, and the tree surrounding it, are CGI models themselves with a painted texture. But however they accomplished it, it didn’t look bad. At this point, it’s really just the hair that stands out. Most of the time.
Getting into the episode proper, most of it was just Ririha and Kaina climbing down the tree. And you know what? I liked it. Yeah, it’s an artificial way to get the two to spend some time together without their epic quest bearing down on them or something similar. But it was also a trial they did have to overcome, and skipping over it would have been a disservice. So using the time Kaina did have, of them climbing down an otherwise boring tree, to help them bond was a smart decision. Stuff like the small ledge, forcing them to sleep together, talking as they climb, bonding. They did this for days, enough time that them growing closer makes sense rather then immediately being fast friends/lovers. Plus it’s a pretty majestic local if you ask me, perfect for this sort of stuff.
During this we also got a fair bit more world building. More explanation on the Sage’s powers and how he apparently planted the world trees. Kaina talking about bugs being in the same boat, and them being an indicator of things to come. How the scarcity in resources affects both of their people. We even got to see one of the Canopy Tree’s collapse in the distance, which was terrifying in its enormity. Imagine something taller then Mt. Everest just… falling over. What would that do to the Snow Sea below? Or to the Canopy above? How often does this happen, and is it related to the dwindling water supplies? What about the creepy red roots below the sea? Kaina introduced a lot of questions this week, and I’m eager to see them answered.
This deluge of information continued once they finally reached the bottom! We saw a bit of combat in Kaina’s first episode. How the Valghian soldiers fought with rock/bone clubs vs Atland’s metal swords. Now we also see these.. Acorn guns, shooting off of compressed gas, where the Valghian’s only have bows and arrows. It’s a really weird mix of technology to be honest. How do they have these super advanced ships and armor, but the worst weapons technologically? Does everyone have these boats? Or is their source unable/unwilling to produce weapons of war? Only time will tell, but I’m curious where exactly Kaina is going with the technology. Hopefully it actually thought far enough ahead about the implications of all of this, or else both me and the show will look pretty silly.
Beyond that, I’m also looking forward to what Kaina does with, well, Kaina. This is his first time meeting anyone aside from the old people I think. And even if it isn’t, it’s definitely his first time meeting people so tribalistic as to wage war. To the people of the Canopy, fighting amongst each other must seem silly. Plenty to go around, hurting each other only weakens you for hunting, etc. It’s a natural reason to avoid conflict. Down in the Snow Sea however, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Will his pacifism and naivete be worn away by the conflict of the Snow Sea? Or will he, as effectively the Sage, bring understanding to these people at the end of the world? I don’t know. But I’m really curious how Kaina will handle him.
Finally, remember last week where I was curious about how exactly they would get off the tree? Well looks like I should have considered enemy/ally patrols. Though considering how little we know of their conflict, as well as their borders, I think forgetting about them is understandable. Still, it looks like Valghia was been hunting her and, by the nature of the Canopy Trees, were able to see her light for miles. Makes sense, plus it lets us interact more with our villains. The only question is whether or not they will be caught, and judging by them jumping into the Snow Sea to escape, I don’t think they will. Most likely we are going to get a chase of some kind next episode as we head back to Atland. So long as they get to interact with the enemy commander a bit though, I wont complain.
So yeah, all in all Kaina continues to chug along. Like Revenger, I honestly wasn’t expecting much from it, and only continued to watch it because it stood out in the season. So far though it’s managing to build its world and establish its conflict rather competently. There’s still nothing particularly “wowing” about it, aside from the background art which is admittedly beautiful. But it hasn’t lost me yet. And the longer it goes without doing that, the longer it has to figure out what it wants to be and to really embrace it. Hopefully now that we are at the bottom of the tree and meeting the conflict head on, we can see how Kaina evolves.
