Kaiba - Blu-ray

A boy wakes up with no name, a hole through his chest, a strange marking on his stomach, and no memories. His only clue to his past is a locket containing a photograph of a girl he doesn't recognize. He soon learns that he has arrived in a world where memories can be extracted from bodies and stored in chips — bought, sold, stolen, and transplanted into other people. The wealthy inhabit beautiful bodies and live indefinitely by moving between them. The poor sell their own memories to survive or inhabit rotting, discarded shells. His name, he gradually comes to understand, is Kaiba — and many people in this world want him dead before he remembers why. Traveling with the earnest and devoted Popo, Kaiba moves through a succession of strange worlds and stranger lives, each episode functioning as a self-contained story while the larger truth of his identity and the girl in the locket slowly comes into focus.

Kaiba is a 12-episode science fiction series directed by Masaaki Yuasa — the visionary director of Mind Game, The Tatami Galaxy, Ping Pong the Animation, Devilman Crybaby, and Lu Over the Wall — produced by Madhouse, and written by Ichiro Okouchi (Code Geass, Angelic Layer, Revolutionary Girl Utena light novels). It aired on Wowow from April to July 2008 and won the Prize for Excellence in Animation at the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival. The series' visual design deliberately draws from the aesthetic of Osamu Tezuka's classic manga work — round, simple, deceptively childlike character designs deployed in service of one of the most emotionally devastating and thematically complex anime series of the 2000s.

No English dub was produced. Originally released in North America by Discotek Media as a Sub.Blu-ray + DVD combo set on September 26, 2017; reissued as a Sub.Blu-ray only edition on August 30, 2022. 

Notable Staff & Voice Talent

Director: Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game, The Tatami Galaxy, Ping Pong the Animation, Devilman Crybaby, Lu Over the Wall)
Screenplay: Ichiro Okouchi (Code Geass, Angelic Layer, Revolutionary Girl Utena light novels)
Character Design: Masaaki Yuasa (deliberately Tezuka-influenced aesthetic)
Studio: Madhouse
Music: Yoshihiro Ike (Kai Doh Maru, Arc the Lad)
Opening Theme: "Never" by Seira Kagami

Japanese Cast:
- Houko Kuwashima as Kaiba (Gate Keepers 21, Ceres: Celestial Legend, Z.O.E. Dolores I, Steel Angel Kurumi, Noir)
- Mamiko Noto as Neiro
- Romi Park as Popo (Fullmetal Alchemist — voice of Edward Elric)
- Keiji Fujiwara as Warp (Birdy the Mighty, Mahoromatic)
- Akio Otsuka as additional cast (Hyper Police, Inuyasha, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, WXIII Patlabor)

Blu-ray Features (Both Releases)

- All 12 Episodes — Complete Series, Subtitle Only (No English Dub Produced)
- Discotek Media Previews

Spoken Languages: Japanese Audio Only, English Subtitles

Edition Details

Japanese Title: カイバ (Kaiba)
Runtime: ~274 Minutes (Complete Series, 12 Episodes)
Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Blu-ray Release Year: 2017 (Sub.Blu-ray + DVD Combo, September 26 — Discotek Media) / 2022 (Sub.Blu-ray Only reissue, August 30 — Discotek Media)
Original Broadcast Date (Japan): April 10 – July 31, 2008 (WOWOW)
Publisher: Discotek Media
Rating: 17+
Region: Region A (North America)
Note: Won Prize for Excellence in Animation at 12th Japan Media Arts Festival (2008). Subtitle only — no English dub produced. Two North American releases: 2017 combo set includes DVD; 2022 reissue is Blu-ray only.
Genre: Sci-Fi, Psychological, Drama
Themes: Memory as Commodity, Body Harvesting, Identity and Consciousness, Tezuka Visual Homage, Masaaki Yuasa Masterwork

Media assumed VG+ unless otherwise noted.