Bradley Meek from Anime Now! joins us to talk about the 2006 TV series from Masaaki Yuasa, Kemonozume. Sword fights! Flesh Eating Monsters! Monkeys! And the anime contains all those elements too. [...]
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The Kifuuken are a secret order of swordsmen dedicated to slaying flesh eating monsters. But Toshihiko, the heir apparent, has fallen in love with one of the flesh eaters. From the description, this might sound like some innocent story of … Continue reading →
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Kemonozume's opening scene kicks off by introducing us viewers to a race of man-eating demons called the Kemonozume, who take the form of human beings and lead normal lives apart from the fact that they subsist on eating people. After the OP, the first scene (which feels like a total sendout to every two-guys-talking scene from any Tarantino or Guy Richie film) is a dialog between two man-eaters on the subject of eating people itself, beginning with one of the guys stating that he 'only eats cute girls'. The conversation is brilliantly written in that it is ground into real conversational habits and lines that make the inhuman subject matter wholly relatable.
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I don’t care about style. Whether characters look pointy or retarded doesn’t matter to me as long as I get a good story. What I do find annoying is when unconventional style becomes the focal point of the anime. Style should never take precedence over substance. Fooly Cooly: Yawn Lucky Star: Stupid Kaiba: Bullshit Do you think you can [...]
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Another title that’s strictly speaking not actually from this year, I only recently watched Kemonozume. Besides, it’s a bit of a sleeper title anyway so deserves a bit of extra attention. As with the products of Studio 4°C, it is relatively little-known and its art style is probably the biggest hinderance in its popularity; this [...]
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Follow a monkey to find your true love. I loved the sequence where they stand panting facing each other in the rain. <3 Being taken under a waterfall and kissed *girly sigh.* Crashing through the window and landing in the pool was so dramatic, but I especially liked the part when they were lying next to the pool. Beautiful. I really wanted the prostitute to change her ways. Hey, two happy
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The final battle between Toshihiko and Ooba, who is hellbent on transforming everyone into a Shokujinki, is finally at hand. With Yuka drugged up and against him and an opponent who is seemingly completely indestructible, can Toshihiko and co win? Well, duh. I think it’s best not to think too hard about the final episode of [...]
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Jin proves an unwilling enlistee to the cause of defeating Ooba, so Toshihiko, Bon and the monkey all head off on their own to Ooba Place; however, Kazuma is also on his way to a final rendezvous with some octopi, and Ooba’s machinations are coming to a climax. What ARE Ooba’s machinations? I suppose we [...]
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God, shut UP Ooba! This episode, despite being really good from a production point of view (acting, animation, music, all were top notch this time round) really pissed me off with Ooba just going on and on and ON at Rie and Yuka. He’s annoying enough anyway, but jeez, I got what [...]
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Ooba gives a big Bond villain speech but backs it up with firepower as he unleashes the Kemonozume upon a hapless and Yuka-less Toshihiko (and an insidious supermarket jingle!). Meanwhile, as the Kifuuken crumbles in the face of stock takeovers and the spread of shokujinki-disease, Kazuma’s grip on his humanity slides ever further and [...]
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It’s roadtrip time as Kazuma and Yuka hitch a lift with two old folks driving through the wilds of Japan. This is mostly an excuse for some slightly ropey animation, some entertaining writing, and MUTATING DEATH GRANNIES. I accidentally watched this after episode 10 (which made the beginning of that episode rather confusing) and thus [...]
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Toshihiko and Yuka are captured by Gackt (well, he DOES say he’s a 300 year old vampire, that’s pretty close to a Shokujinki), Yuka’s old squeeze, and The Insidious Truth about Ouba is kinda revealed. Well, vaguely, anyway - you know, I’d completely forgotten about the drugs he was giving the Kifuuken? Anyway, a big [...]
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As Yuka becomes ever more wanton (and pregnant?) Toshihiko receives a visit from a catsuit-clad Rie desperately trying to win him back by the power of her enormous breasts. Meanwhile Kazuma’s control of the Kifuuken and the Shokujinki situation begins to erode away ever faster along with his humanity, and Ooba’s machinations gather steam. Ah [...]
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It’s Yuka’s birthday, and whilst the monkey trains Toshihiko she prepares a feast; however, accidental paralysis and a visit from Bon, the World’s Tallest Detective, don’t make it the most normal of occasions. But when you’re a flesh-eating monster trying to get to a mythical free hospital, what is? I don’t think there are many [...]
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It's been a bit over eight months since I first started writing posts for this blog, and I'd like to think that it has contributed a little something to the anime blogging community through its presence. At all times I have tried to escape the common mold that plagues the anime blogging community, ridden as it is with episode summaries. To this end I focused on the editorial side of the house,
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It's fair to say that the creative staff "working on" (more like playing with) Kemonozume must have had so much fun, from flying heads and sexed up monkeys to a perverted old man shoving a pair of severed female arms down his skanky speedos - this is a show that clearly had no pretension of sensibility and instead embraces insanity, playing out like a giddy reimaging of Neon Genesis Evangelion's apocalypse. If there is an on-going theme, it..
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Kemonozume is an adult-themed love story with a little dose of action. It’s set in a world in which humans are plagued by creatures known as flesh eaters, human-like beings who can change into monsters and eat anything they see that moves. It follows one of the strongest hunters of these flesh eaters, who falls [...]
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I know I haven’t posted some of the episodes, but here is ep13 for those who can’t wait to see what happens in the end ^_~ Impression consists of massive spoiler for those who haven’t watched ep10~12. [...]
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Since we're now hitting the final couple of episodes, Kemonozume is building up to an action packed climax. The villain, or "big boss", has turned out to be the fat Ohba - I liken his bizarre appearance to that of a clown, and deep down, we're all scared of clowns - their smiley made-up faces covering a deeply seeded malevolence. Just ask Stephen King! Ohba wields a double "Kemonozume" too; both his arms are transplanted claws ripped from innocent young flesh eaters - so no doubt, he will prove a fearsome opponent for Toshih..
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