Spoilers!
Circus is a defense organization that works for the government. They put on shows for the public as an apology for scaring the citizens from the raids they perform to capture criminals and solve crimes that the Security Force otherwise could not handle. Circus recruits new talent when it stands out, so when on a mission Tsukitachi runs into Nai and Gareki and decides to take them under his wing on airship one. The airships are full of weird little robotic sheep wearing top hats that speak and perform various tasks around the ship, but don’t let their plush like appearance fool you they can hold their own in a fight!
So let us talk about some of the characters of Karneval. One second we see clueless Nai then we see a mythical looking Niji jumping in the air whom we cannot take seriously and I assume Gareki wants to punch said Niji. How Gareki keeps his cool with these characters like Yogi who is a complete idiot and constantly fails at everything we will never know, and then we have skilled acrobat Tsukomo who has a serious look on her face at all times and does not understand emotion at all and I mean at all. These characters really hold it together and make the show what it is.
Karneval has a certain elegant feel to it in a way that only gentlemen and top hats can accomplish, lots and lots of top hats. The show had me on the edge of my seat watching the action asking myself when they were going to sit down to have a cup of tea and some crumpets! I mean they were all well dressed and so well put together, I loved the characters especially Gareki cold and sarcastic. Karneval is a beautiful piece, although I would have liked to see a little more back story on some of the characters to gain a better understanding of who Circus really is.
Now we have Kafka, the dark hidden organization that Circus is constantly trying to take down because they are involved in illegal genetic research and their true goal is to bring about the growth of incuna cells in human beings. Kafka is always one step ahead of Circus and constantly outsmarting Circus in one way or another leaving the two at each others throats at every twist and turn. Kafka creates horrible looking abominations that kill without a second thought, Uro commands the creatures calling them Varuga. Varugas are post-humans and post-animals with special abilities that were created thanks to a drug.
Karneval produces a certain playful attitude and mystic atmosphere about it while maintaining it’s serious but charming, yet elegant appearance holding it all together so delicately thanks to the wonderful selection of well drawn out characters and events that unfold. The show was full of magic and fantasy at every twist and turn with flying ships, people and magic swords (failure Yogi) we love you! and even a magic scythe man! We can’t leave out Nyanperowna the giant lovable cat costume that Yogi wears so very well and oh boy does he love wearing that cat costume, he does not break character even for a second.
I really enjoyed Karneval from the second I started watching until I finished the last episode which made me very sad because I realized It was the last episode and that the adventure would be ending, hopefully there will be a second season for the show. I enjoyed the portrayal of the characters and what little story there was in the 13 episodes, now I do believe that this show really has room for improvement in many good ways and has room to expand as I would love to see a second season of Karneval and I thoroughly enjoyed the first season but sadly it does not appear as if that will happen.
I would say Karneval is 17+ because of the language, but hey if you want to let your kids watch it do what you want I’m not your mom so don’t come after me with any of that legal garbage!
Produced by: Manglobe
Directed by: Eiji Suganuma
Novel by: Toya Mikanagi
Aired: April 3, 2013 – June 26, 2013
Genre: Fantasy
Setting: City, Forest, Sky, Town
Rating: 17+, Tv14
Episodes: 13
Image is a screenshot from the anime: Karneval