Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (Season 1)

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (甲鉄城のカバネリ, 2016) is a Japanese animated series you can watch online on iFILM. WIT Studio — the team behind Attack on Titan — produced 12 episodes, with voice performances by Tasuku Hatanaka and Sayaka Senbongi.

The world is mid-industrial revolution when the Kabane appear: undead creatures whose hearts are encased in iron, impossible to kill unless that casing is pierced. One bite turns the bitten. Survivors on the island of Hinomoto live inside walled stations and move between them on armored steam locomotives. On one such station lives Ikoma, a young engineer who has quietly been building a weapon designed to do what blades can't. When a compromised train breaks through the gates at night and the Kabane swarm in, his moment arrives — at a cost he hadn't calculated.

WIT Studio built the world with the same relentless pressure that made their earlier work hit so hard. Each episode is designed to deny the viewer a quiet moment. If Attack on Titan left you wanting more of that register, this series sits comfortably in the same space. Stream Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (2016) online on iFILM.