Anime Profile: Kiba

It's on TV, it's plastered over the subway walls and it was seen in every corner at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center during the Tokyo International Anime Fair last March. It's the next big thing, or at least the newest, most formidable contender and its name is Kiba. The newest work from fan-favorite studio Madhouse, makers of Trigun, Aniplex, the producers of Fullmetal Alchemist and TV Tokyo, home of the mega hit Sergent Keroro. Together, they've come up with an original story that is hoped to rock the world like Yu-Gi-Oh and Dragon Ball before it. It is most usual for a anime series to be made out of a manga, but this one was made from scratch.

Kiba is about Zed, an unsatisfied, unfocused 15-year-old living in Calm, who wants more out of life. One day he get his chance when a mysterious gust of wind guides him to a tear in space and time, which leads him to a land full of magicians, crystals with strange powers called shards, and monsters called sprits. But this place is also torn apart by war.

There is Shard Caster, a person with the ability to use magic. Some Shard Casters can even summon sprits. Fascinated by that power, Zed also aims to become a Shard Caster, but he is unaware that he already harbors an extraordinary spiritual force called Amil Gawl, a mighty Spirit with the power to change the world.