Kiss Dum R - Engage Planet: Gentlemen, We can Rebuild it Better than it was Before... Better, Stronger, Faster

Previously on Volume 16 of Demo Disc:
"...You can tell that I decided to focus this Demo Disc more on Kiss Dum's apparent production hell, and how that seemed to radically alter the direction the story took, alongside the sometimes rough visuals, rather than have it be a direct assessment of things like storytelling, the characters, or the people behind the animation, visual style, designs, music, or voice work.

That's because Engage Planet Kiss Dum did eventually see a home video release, one that actually did see the series officially make it outside of Japan."

Satelight's sixth original anime production didn't work out quite like how it was intended, either as the sci-fi novel adaptation it was originally intended to be, or as the original story that Yasuchika Nagaoka conceived before having to effectively bow out due to whatever problems he was having; the staff apparently did had a rough scenario to work off of, but that's all. A DVD release was planned to start in June of 2007, & had even been licensed for English release by Bandai Visual USA, before getting delayed to that July & then being "indefinitely postponed". You see, even with the problems that came about, the staff for Kiss Dum were driven to deliver the best product that they could muster, and what aired on TV Tokyo in late-night was simply not good enough for them. They wanted another go at it, and this time they'd do it "right".

So, on April 27, 2008, Kiss Dum R - Engage Planet (again, the halves are essentially interchangeable) re-debuted on TV, this time airing midday on AT-X, TV Tokyo's anime-focused satellite service. It would start airing a few days later on fellow satellite channel BS-11, with each episode there being followed by a short, minute-long segment called Road to Kiss Dum R, where the staff & cast openly discussed the production of the original version. As for Yasuchika Nagaoka, he was apparently not a part of this "retake" of Kiss Dum, though he was re-credited for "Original Concept", replacing the "World Business Enterprise" that had replaced him on the original TV airing; he was also still credited as "Chief Director". In turn, director Hidekazu "Eiichi" Sato, who went on to direct Time Jam: Valerian & Laureline as a Japan/France co-production following Kiss Dum's original airing, took full control of this new version. Once this airing ended, though, a home video release was still nowhere to be found. However, an online survey done by the Blu-Ray Disc Association in July of 2009 saw Kiss Dum ranked at the third-most-wanted anime to see a BD release, at least within the small sample that took the survey, beating out the likes of Clannad, Toradora!, Gurren Lagann, & The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Three years later, when this new version got re-aired on BS-11, the Road to Kiss Dum R segments for Episodes 1 to 18 got replaced with Kiss Dum R Information, and along with that came a new website titled "Road to Kiss Dum R BD", which featured documentary-esque footage starring Sato as he revealed plans to finally give Kiss Dum R a home video release, complete with brand new OVA episode; later that June, it was announced that enough pre-orders had been made to put the release into production. Finally, in September of 2017, it was announced that Maiden Japan would give Kiss Dum R an official English release on BD, a decade after Bandai Visual USA's original announcement; within a year the entire show was streaming on Hidive, with the addition of the OVA to its catalog. So, after everything this series had gone through, how did it end up, is it truly any better than the original TV version, & did the staff manage to stick the landing & deliver a proper ending?

[NOTE: If you would like a proper introduction & initial synopsis of Kiss Dum's plot, please read the first few paragraphs of the Demo Disc article linked at the top.]

As troubled as this series has always been, I will admit that the cast of characters within it is generally strong, at least when it comes to the heroes. Lead character Shu Aiba is bullheaded in that he prioritizes wanting to get revenge for his girlfriend (& NIDF scientist) Yuno Rukina's death in Episode 3, after she had revived him into the Necrodiver, but he's not so single-minded that he comes off as uncaring towards humanity or being a hero; he's more than willing to save & protect innocents, but mainly if it's in the area he's currently in. Joining him during the majority of his travels are Noa Rukina, Yuno's little sister, & Iera Hamon, a pilot-in-training before the end of the world, who are intensely close BFFs & are always looking out for each other, so much so that one could easily see shippers put the two together, & it'd make perfect sense. There's also Varda, the "servant" of the Necrodiver (in this case Shu), who gives off a veneer of being completely unemotional & purely logical, constantly calling Shu a "failure" for not simply taking the most direct action (usually because it would leave Noa & Iera in danger), but is still a stalwart supporter of her "master", and in her own way does show compassion & friendship; she's blunt, but never to the point of actually showing disdain for Shu, Noa, or Iera. There are also Vaire & Varal, the offensive & defensive servants Shu gets in Episode 4, but they're more or less just like Varda; there's even a scene where the two point out a more compassionate way Shu could have handled a situation. As the story goes on, though, the three do show a more "human" side, especially due to Shu's steadfast dedication to protecting his friends, who he considers his "servants" to be.

Beyond them there are Shu Nanao, Roki Demon, Ton Kiri, Aguri Io, & Itsuki Sasara, Shu's NIDF squad mates who are left for dead at the end of Episode 3, but actually (mostly) wound up becoming "transformed" humans, effectively being semi-Necrodivers, & slowly come back one after another as the show goes on, half of them becoming opposition for Shu for personal reasons (jealousy, covering up for past mistakes, love, etc.), while the other half become recurring characters in their own rights. In particular, Nanao comes across an amnesiac Yuno & takes advantage of the situation to act upon feelings he had kept hidden out of respect for Shu & Yuno's relationship, creating a nice extra wrinkle that slowly falls apart at the seams. As for the villains, they sadly don't really make much of an impact for the large majority of the show, since they rarely appear. Kyoka Iburi is the Commander of the NIDF, only to side with the monstrous Hadeans for her own reasons, but she literally does next to nothing throughout nearly the entire show, and gets no explanation for her backstory or actions until the last few episodes. Almost always by her side is Souma Masaki, who is quickly shown to be willing to do just about anything to protect Kyoka, but likewise doesn't actually do anything of note for the majority of the entire show; how he actually indirectly relates to another character is only vaguely indicated visually. Of them, the only one to appear the most is Rei, Kyoka's subordinate who actually follows about Shu, & later the rest of the NIDF squad, trying to find ways for things to result in Shu's death. Admittedly, she has an amusing personality in that she seemingly never takes things seriously, usually appearing before characters to offer them various drinks (hand-made tea, wine, a Bloody Mary, etc.), while also talking to them in a simultaneous condescending/sarcastic tone. Naturally, there's more to her, especially in regards to the entire conflict between humanity & the Hadeans, but for the large majority of the plot the anime is more about Shu fighting with & against his old squad mates, rather than actually fighting Kyoka Iburi.

Before we get to what Kiss Dum R exactly does to "fix" the original series, I think it's time to finally go over how Kiss Dum, in general, works as a story, because now I can judge it as a whole. Now, to be fair, I feel like I have to give this series just a little bit of slack, because it's easy to tell that what Yasuchika Nagaoka had obviously set up in Episode 1 wasn't exactly followed through on quite like how he originally planned, due to his quick departure from the production. The reveal that Kyoka betrays humanity to side with the Hadeans could still have been a Nagaoka idea, but I definitely feel that turning Shu Aiba's former squad mates into semi-Necrodivers due to their proximity to the Book of the Dead was not in the original plans, as it makes the NES, the transforming jet/robot of the series, effectively useless; at that point, why even design giant robots for the show, especially when you have Shoji Kawamori doing it? Shu's Necrodiver powers are also simply known to him once he receives a power up in Episode 4, resulting in a bit of a sudden display of thing like his arm blade Yig Sword, spine-like wrist whip Tailbone, Kamen Rider-esque kick attack Shadow Spin, earth-quaking attack Al Kadath, wing-like Yug Migo, or his wild Abhoth transformation (with Death Twirl attack), which is rarely seen & always looks too wildly different to ever feel normal. While the seeming Guyver influence is cool to see, it would have been nice to see Shu slowly learn & get used to his powers, rather than get a throwaway line about the six-month time skip between Episodes 3 & 4, to set up the "main" plot, & then Shu instantly knowing everything he's capable of. It would also help give context for the various Lovecraftian references like Kadath, Yig, Abhoth, Yuggoth, R'lyeh, & Shoggoth, deific references like Gerd, & Tolkien references for Varda, Vaire, & Valar, because otherwise they just sound like they're being used for nothing more than cool points. The climax of the story even reveals that Aguri, Roki, & Ton even had names for their special attacks, which by then is WAAAAAAAY too late to finally let the viewer know.

There's also a seeming focus on sacred items that can power up the Necrodiver early on, named Abhoth's Bones & Gerd's Mirror, only for no more to ever be seen once the latter is introduced; at least Gerd's Mirror does play a part in the finale. As I mentioned in the Demo Disc article, Kiss Dum also hits a bit of a snag when it comes to pacing once Shu's NIDF friends start coming back, as while the story doesn't quite come to a complete stop, it does simply hit a bit of a holding pattern, as Shu meets up with, & eventually fights against, each of his old buddies, with each of them getting an episode or two for their own stories. This lasts from Episode 6 up through Episode 14, and while they aren't badly told stories, it does feel a bit like the show is simply trudging along, as nothing is really advanced when it comes to Shu's hunt for Kyoka. That changes starting with Episode 15, Itsuki's reintroduction, as a new sonic weapon is introduced that actually gives humanity a fighting chance against the Hadeans, Shu gets separated from Noa & Iera, the truth behind the Hadeans finally starts getting hinted at, Iera even finds a possible love interest in a man named Tanaka (who created the sonic weapons), & Itsuki winds up tagging alongside Nanao & Yuno, disgusted with Nanao purposefully keeping Yuno from recovering her memories. Yes, an actual multifaceted plot emerges, with the last 8 episodes in particular really showing fruits of the intense labor the anime staff went through. All of the heroes finally meet up, Shu finds out about Yuno still being alive (& how Nanao kept her memories from recovering), characters risk their lives to protect each other, & Kyoka Iburi's backstory is finally revealed.. 22 episodes in!. Everything converges in the vicinity of "Atlantis" (or "Ryugu-jo" in Japanese). an abandoned NIDF underwater base that the Resistance operates out of, led by Gal Nassar, who bravely tackles everything going around him as well as one could. Of course, in true Kiss Dum fashion, there remains a bleak & unsure feeling about everything, with the show not hesitating to throw characters into near-death circumstances, & even removing Shu himself, the singular savior of all humanity, from the equation for a few episodes. Lastly, the climactic final battle has Shu take on what can best be explained as the embodiment of Schrödinger-defined entropy, with humanity essentially being negentropy; the show doesn't actually use this term, but it does explain things as best as I can. There's also some vague indications of reincarnation coming into play with the various NIDF characters at the very end, which does make sense, but feels a bit out of left field by the last episode. Without a doubt, the staff at Satelight tried their absolute hardest to stick a landing while staying true to the obvious thematic influences, and while it's nowhere near solid, it is ambitious & admirable; I'd argue that it just manages to stick the landing, but I'm sure the Russian judge will disagree.

As for how this "retake" differs, though, I think the biggest one comes from the 1-2 punch of Episode 3, which originally had a bunch of production problems & felt unfinished, & Episode 4, which was literally a just recap of the three episodes that came before it. In that regard, Kiss Dum R is a massive success, as Episode 3 is indeed "fixed", with new bits of animation replacing both repeated still shots, resulting in much better & detailed storytelling, which is essential for an episode that's meant to give the feeling that the NIDF can actually take on the Hadeans, only for them to be utterly destroyed (& seemingly killed) by the betrayal of their own commander. As for the recap episode... It's straight-up ignored, with Episode 5 becoming the new Episode 4, simple as that. The recap is still included as a bonus "On-Air" episode, though, alongside the original versions of Episodes 9, 18, & 25 (going off of R's numbering). Beyond that, it's more a case of fine-tuning things to fix smaller issues, like re-doing certain shots so that they look better, or add extra detail; the staff even went through the trouble of creating new eyecatches to go with the old ones. The OP sequence also skips the first version from the TV airing & instead goes straight to the footage that originally debuted with Episode 15, which makes sense since it prevents the series from looking like it belongs to the mecha genre. This also applies to the second set of OP & ED themes, which now both debut in Episode 15, whereas in the original TV version the ED didn't change until Episode 19, while the second OP was literally only used for Episodes 22, 23, & 24! This does result in some characters (including the final enemy for a second) & plot points appearing in the second OP a fair bit earlier than they appear in the actual show, but it's a fair trade off. To replace the recap episode, a brand new "Encore" episode was created, taking place some years after Episode 25, the original final episode, & giving the show a proper epilogue, which the "original" finale didn't have as much of. As for the "Intermedio" OVA, it's a half-length story that, from my guess, takes places roughly between the Aguri & Roki stories, and it's mainly just a fun little short that's meant to help set up some ideas that'd play more importance in the last third.

It's a shame that Kiss Dum had such trouble from the start, because it wound up having a really strong staff behind it. Surrogate director Hidekazu Sato, & his assistant Hiroyuki Kanbe, definitely seem to try their best to keep the ship sailing, while making the outward facade look as good as possible, even if the inner workings are likely at critical at all times; again, this could have easily become another AWOL or Gundoh Musashi. Meanwhile, with Yasuchika Nagaoka only able to directly work on the first episode, the writing wound up being spearheaded by three men primarily, Hiroshi Ohnogi (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), Kazuharu Sato (Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works), & Hiroaki Kitajima (GaoGaiGar FINAL), who together wrote 18 of the remaining 25 episodes; Katsuhiko Takayama & Rika Nakase split the remaining six. I can't even imagine what it must have felt like having to write an anime series without nearly any input from the person who was not only the director & original creator but also the head writer, so while I do have my problems with the storytelling, as mentioned earlier, I still think that the writing staff managed to exceed anyone's expectations, because the story itself still makes sense & carries a strong dour feeling to it, fitting the Lovecraftian mood to some extent. Nagaoka's sudden departure also seemingly threw other areas of the staff into disarray, as there were 15 different people handling storyboards on a per-episode basis (only a handful of consecutive episodes were done by the same person), while individual episode directing was handled by 22 different people, with only six actually directing more than one episode! While this method would make sense for a highly episodic structure, like Space Dandy, that's nowhere near ideal for an anime with a heavily serialized structure, like Kiss Dum; it's the anime production equivalent of playing hot potato. The character designs were done by Sushio (Kill la Kill), while the art design was handled by Thomas Romain (Oban Star Racers, Basquash!), and while the anime doesn't always do them absolute justice, though R's visuals are an improvement over the original TV airing, Sushio's iconic style still shines through, while Romain gives the world a fittingly bleak & often desolate look.

Meanwhile, there's the music, which is easily the most consistently outstanding part of Kiss Dum, even back with the original TV airing. It's composed entirely by the group II MIX⊿DELTA, a variation of Two-Mix, best known for its Gundam Wing & Detective Conan songs, that existed from 2005 to 2009, with ROMantic Mode's Joe Rinoie (of Gundam X fame) joining Minami Takayama & Shiina Nagano. If you aren't familiar with these people, it means that Kiss Dum's soundtrack is very focused on a mix of electronic & rock melodies, though there are plenty of somber & orchestral pieces, lending the show a sound that can be rough & caustic to establish the futility humanity feels against the Hadeans, while also delivering rousing rock ballads when Shu starts gaining the upper hand. In fact, one of the best songs in the soundtrack is actually an instrumental mix of a previous II MIX⊿DELTA song, "Wazato Tsuyoku Karameta Yubi"; a clever reworking of an outstanding song, in my opinion. As for the theme songs, II MIX⊿DELTA also contributes the two OPs, "Toki wo Koete" & "A Runner at Daybreak". The first is an absolutely rocking anthem that gets your heart racing, and is easily the gem of the entire soundtrack, while the second is the complete tonal opposite by being an upbeat & inspiring theme to help give the idea that humanity can surpass the seeming impossible odds put against them; it takes a few episodes, but it does really grow on you. The Encore episode features "Toki wo Koete The Second Chapter", a neat remix, as the OP theme, as well as a slower ballad of an insert song by the group titled "Étranger". Meanwhile, the OVA has its own more pop-styled ED, "Pocket Rocket Revisited", showing off the group's versatility. As for the EDs, they're both performed by Stephanie (Nonoshita Topalian), an American singer of Armenian & Japanese descent who shouldn't be confused with Steffanie (Reiko Borges), another Japanese American singer who did some theme songs for Urusei Yatsura in the 80s; in Japanese, they use the same exact kanji. Both composed by Joe Rinoie, "Kimi ga Iru Kagiri" & "because of you" are two absolutely amazing & majestic ballads that really showcase Stephanie's outstanding singing voice, and match the underlying theme of love that the series has.

Here's Iera wielding a giant daikon like it's an assault rifle... Because it's awesome.

Finally, there's the voice cast, which itself is rather strong. Daisuke Ono (Jotaro in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure TV) leads everyone as Shu, and he pulls it off extremely well, balancing the character's impetuous side with his obsession over Yuno in a way that doesn't come off as grating. Up next is Aya Endo (Cattleya in Violet Evergarden) as Noa, who hits the constant stream of caring & worry over her friends well, while also sounding believeable when she needs to be strong; amusingly enough, though, her favorite word is "Iera", as she screams her BFF's name with such emotion. Speaking of Iera, Akeno Watanabe (Liz in Soul Eater) pulls in a fun & tough performance, keeping her true emotions deep down until needed; honestly, it's Endo & Watanabe that make these two so believably "shippable". Watanabe also pulls double duty as Varal, which makes Iera calling her the "straightman" of the servants more amusing. Then there's Satomi Akesaka (krkr in Gdgd Fairies) as Varda, who honestly is one of my favorites, as her deadpan delivery has just enough emotion to work; her constantly calling Shu a "failure" works so well simply because of Akesaka's delivery. Meanwhile, we have Yuichi Nakamura as Nanao, Yuko Kaida as Itsuki, Nana Mizuki as Yuno, & Ryoka Izuki as Rei, who all also deliver great performances; Nakamura in particular really showcases Nanao's descent from meaning well with love to nigh-madness. Finally, the cast is rounded out by the likes of Katsuyuki Konishi (Masaki), Saori Yumiba (Kyoka), Kenji Nomura (Roki), Marina Inoue (Ton), Shinji Kawada (Aguri), Kazuya Nakai (Gal Nassar), & Yuka Iguchi (Vaire).

For all intents & purposes, Kiss Dum should be a massive dumpster fire of an anime; by all logical thought, this should be a textbook example of a production simply collapsing. Considering the production problems the show had, both upon debuting & even during pre-production, it's honestly a MIRACLE BY THE GRACE OF CTHULHU that the original TV airing didn't simply implode on itself after only the first few episodes... though having to do a recap episode after only the first three certainly came close. It's a testament to the dedication & talent of the remaining staff, following Yasuchika Nagaoka's departure, that they not only finished the entire 26-episode run, but also went through the trouble of later fixing it up into Kiss Dum R, complete with making a brand new epilogue (& later short OVA), in order to make it into a better overall product. Is it still a flawed product, even with the retake? Yes, it definitely is, and if you were to go into this series without knowing of the troubles it had, you might wind up feeling a bit more dour towards it, and I can fully understand anyone who feels that way about it; Chris Beveridge over at The Fandom Post certainly stated his distaste for the series in his review back in 2018. Personally, though, I can do nothing more than simply salute the staff of Kiss Dum R - Engage Planet for never backing down when faced with seemingly apocalyptic & entropic odds, much like the characters themselves have to do when dealing with the Hadeans; while I can certainly see someone not enjoying the end result, I can't help but say that I like it.

Kiss Dum came running back into the daybreak battered & a fair bit broken in some ways, much like humanity by the end of the Encore episode, but it still came back alive... and that's certainly something I did not expect out of this anime.

Anime © 2007 BVSN・Project NES (Bandai Visual, Satellite, Copyrights Bank)