About time I looked at something that isn’t a straight-up drama!  Anyway, you know how I said Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko was an odd duck last week?  Let me tell you something: it is nowhere near as odd as Kemonozume.

Kemonozume

Episodes: 13

Original run: 5 August 2006 – 5 November 2006

Production: Madhouse Studios

Director: Yuasa Masaaki

Genres: Action, Demons, Horror, Romance, Supernatural

Rating: R+ – Mild Nudity

Unlicensed

Synopsis:

There exists a race of monster cursed by the gods called The Flesh Eaters.  As the name implies, they feast on humans to survive.  A secret sword technique society, the Kifuuken, exists to hunt down these Flesh Eaters.  Momota Toshihiko , the next heir to the Kifuuken school, dedicated his life to the sword, but has constant trouble fighting Flesh Eaters due to his inability to control his bladder and a flashback that pops up whenever he fights one.  Nevertheless, he dedicates himself to the sword until one day, he meets the beautiful Kamitsuki Yuka.  He and Yuka instantly connect, only to find out that she is a Flesh Eater.  So begins their run from the Kifuuken, who are both trying to hunt down Toshihiko and Yuka and deal with a new way of fighting Flesh Eaters.

Review:

Kemonozume is from the mind of auteur director Yuasa Masaaki, so without even looking at the show, you should be able to tell that this is not your ordinary action drama.  Some of Yuasa’s other, more famous works include Kaiba, Mind Game, and (most recently) The Tatami Galaxy.  He tends to incorporate a strange visual style into most of his works, employing equally strange subject matter and adult themes in them.  Kemonozume is the earliest of these works out of the ones I previously mentioned, and displays a lot of what one might encounter in his later works.

Most striking about Kemonozume right off the bat is the art style and animation.  The art style is very sketchy and rough, with the animation working within the constraint of its art style.  This leads to a rushed, hectic, messy look where characters can very rarely be what one would consider ‘on-model’.  It’s almost as if these characters had no model to speak of to begin with and are free to bend the laws of anatomy to their whim (given the context of the show, this feels completely intentional).  The whole thing is ugly, but in a strangely aesthetically-pleasing way.  Personally, it took me an episode or two to get used to this art style, but once I saw it afterwards I appreciated it.  Despite the sketchy art, though, the character designs are all memorable/recognizable, with the Flesh Eater designs being horrifically cool.  The process of morphing into a Flesh Eater always made me squirm, and the gore in this show both made me want to look away from the screen and want to keep watching.  The huge amount of exposed breasts was not to my own personal liking, but to each their own (this will be covered later in the review, as well).  This rough art and animation also shows in the fight scenes, which both compensate for the occasionally nonexistent budget through some clever cheats and actually are well-choreographed, employing both decent animation for the art style and nifty cinematography.

This is seriously the best that some of these characters will ever look.

Also rather striking about Kemonozume are its story and characters.  Kemonozume is filled with fast-paced action and slower-paced drama and horror.  The first few episodes are a good indication of this division, being more balanced in story and action than the rest of the series.  This is initially very much appreciated due to the focus on developing the backgrounds of Toshihiko and the Kifuuken, lightly touching upon the Flesh Eaters as well.  These first few episodes suffer, though, from pacing fluctuations thanks to this equal division.  Thankfully, the later episodes fix this by being geared more towards one aspect or the other.

After this bit of development, the story focuses on the development of Toshihiko and Yuka’s relationship, along with their life on the run.  Now, to be honest, this statement is slightly fallacious, as we also focus on the continued fate of the Kifuuken, but for fear of spoilers I will not say much about it.  The focus on Toshihiko and Yuka’s relationship is never boring, with their mature conversations and…*ahem*…mature exchanges, but they always develop healthily as a couple, even if their circumstances are less than healthy.  About two-thirds through the series, they get entangled in the major side-plot, which becomes the main focus of the end of the show, and it all meshes perfectly.  This is storytelling that other anime writers could learn from.

Oh, grow up, it's just a flesh wound.

Now, with the story out of the way, how about the characters?  This is where things get muddy.  The cast deals entirely with adults, which gives them a level of maturity typically not seen in anime characters.  This makes it all the more striking when some character motivations end up being rather juvenile.  Toshihiko is understandable, with him devoting his entire life before Yuka to the sword; he never had another girl in his life before Yuka.  Yuka ends up being the byproduct of her environment, with most of her past being rather destructive and her now finally finding some sense of stability.  Other characters tend to act contradictory to how they say, but this is where Kemonozume succeeds where other anime fail: they call the characters out on their contradictions/selfish desires and have the negative repercussions of each impact the story in a rather significant way.  Also, despite my mentioning of juvenile actions from these mature characters earlier, I cannot really complain about it, because creating characters with faults like these is like creating real people within these extremely unreal circumstances.  It helps bring the story up to a level that the viewer can relate to, thus causing the story to hit that much closer to home.  If you cannot stand contradictions in your characters in general, you will not like the characters in Kemonozume.  However, overall, they felt much more human to me due to these flaws.

The sound in this show is something that never failed to impress me.  The voice acting was pretty spot-on, with Kiuchi Hidenobu and Shiina Hekiru having perfect chemistry as the leading couple.  My major praise for creepy acting, however, goes to Utsumi Kenji for his work as Ooba Kyuutaro.  Every time he spoke, I felt like I needed to take a bath, it felt that slimy and gross.  It was most satisfying as such, however so I did not mind.   The rest of the cast plays their roles well, but can occasionally succumb to over-acting.  The music and sound design, however…thisis where the sound truly shines.  Wakakusa Kei’s score is always used to full effect in appropriate places, sure, but the jazzy score is also a delight to listen to.  The opening itself, by Katteni-Shiyagare, is one of the best opening themes I have heard in anime, with rough/smoky vocals to match the nature of the opening itself.  The ending song is more of your standard poppy love ballad, but it was nice to listen to, so I cannot hold too much against it.

Even the opening credits are slightly squicky.

As I mentioned earlier in this review, there is a great deal of adult content in this show.  In this show, you will find very prevalent examples of nudity, body horror, gore, and sex.  Now, I am definitely not one for exploitation of blood and tits in my media in general, even in my anime.  Usually, these things are used to entice the viewer into thinking that something is much more mature than it lets on (I mentioned this back in my Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne review).  However, in Kemonozume, none of these things are used to try to feign maturity or to try to turn the viewer on (If you are turned on by this art style, you should probably seek help).  The story is a no-frills, mature tale about the very worst in people exaggerated by supernatural means.  This makes the adult content actually adult.  Usually, when a sexual act is portrayed, it’s followed by something that makes the event more creepy than potentially sexy.  The gore prevalent in this show, much like the amount of bare chest on the women, is rather excessive and occasionally unnecessary, but suffice to say that when it is used to convey some sort of important meaning, it does not lose its impact.  In this aspect, it’s appealing to exploitation viewers in addition to viewers who were actually paying attention to the story.

The goriest thing I can show you that's safe for work!

Needless to say, this story is not one for children, or even for those teenagers who are pretending to be adults.  The story in Kemonozume, try as it may be (sometimes to the point of hamhandedness), is not the deepest thing out there, but is easy to understand as an adult.  This is a story about everybody acting upon selfish desires and affecting everyone and everything around them through their selfishness.  This is not a pretty story, much like the art, and it at least got me thinking about my own selfish desires and how I have screwed people over in my own life due to my selfishness.  Unlike another show I previously reviewed, however, it  attempts to explore this theme as much as possible within the constraints of its story.  I must say that this is where the story succeeds the most, despite how heavy-handed it can get at points.

Overall, Kemonozume is an interesting, unique experience in the action genre.  Its art style is ugly and its pacing at the beginning is rather wonky, but the positive elements of this show far outshine the negatives.  I would truly only suggest not watching this if the art style bothers you that much or you are one who will shy away from anything with an overdose of gore and full-frontal nudity.  To the rest of us, this is an overlooked gem that you should not pass up.

Verdict: Watch

+Pros: Rough, ugly art style matches the series perfectly; animation works well for the art style; mature, engrossing story; mature, human characters; incredible, jazzy score

-Cons: Rough, ugly art style may turn some viewers off entirely; occasionally unnecessary levels of gore and nudity might turn some viewers off entirely; occasionally preachy and heavy-handed

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