Kemonozume

10's all across the board eh? Now I'm going to really have to defend that decision aren't I? This will be interesting because for something like Kemonozume there just aren't adequate words to describe how and what it is.

Story: I almost want to say it's Romeo and Juliet. But....it isn't. It sort of starts out that way, two groups of people who hate and kill each other....but it definitely evolves from there. It's a beautiful love story, the two protagonists go through quite alot...and not just with each other. The blend of characters that contribute to this story were ... quite amazing, each character shaping pieces of it as it went along. There were a couple things I saw coming from a mile away, but I wasn't at all disappointed by that, it was beautifully done. It's 13 episodes long, which is a perfect length for something like this. It did kind of slow down near the ends of a couple of the episodes but it was almost always very engaging.

Art: What is there to say about the art? Kemonozume is art. I remember seeing Kemonozume featured on a different site and every single person commented on the art. It does take an open mind to view this. The art is completely sporadic, sometimes it's absolutely barbaric and crude and choppy, while other scenes are beautiful and smooth. But the fact that the art is all over the place makes this a truly memorable anime. I've never seen this art used in any other anime, except for Mind Game. It's incredibly refreshing.

Sound: The entire soundtrack is jazz. I don't know why they chose jazz, considering that it's set in Japan in a relatively recent time peroid....but they decided to go with jazz. And it definitely works. It's all up-tempo stuff and it really does a great job of furthering the mood in this piece. They re-use some of the songs a bunch, and it's cool to see how the same song can be used in a completely different scene and give a completely different feel to it.

Character: They did an amazing job with characters in this anime. Some are kind of cheesy, and contain traits that are a little...stereotypical. The way they made each character interact with each other is great. I could imagine each character as a person, the emotions they exhibited were incredibly real. I found myself genuinely caring about these characters, something that doesn't happen to me as often as I would like it to.

I watched Mind Game, then I decided that since Kemonozume had the same style of art that I would watch it. I'm glad I did that. It's not the kind of animation from Naruto or Gankutsuou or any other kind of anime. Unique, is a more than perfect way to describe this entire anime. There aren't any annoying anime cliches in this. However you have to have an open mind about your anime to watch this. It's not something that can be enjoyed if you're only in to one kind of anime..like Mecha or Shoujo. And if you are interested in watching this, please download Mind Game first, just so you know what you're getting into.

How many times have you accused someone of not having an open mind when they judge your obsession with japanese cartoons, or anime action figures, or 2-D little girls, or whatever? I sure have a few times, yet even my supposedly "open" mind was put to the test right from the very first minutes of Kemonozume.

Its not just about the fugly art, mind you. Weird little monkeys, tower-sized detectives, man-eating monsters that look like right out of some simple children's picture book with their overly round and stubby shapes. I began watching the show all like "dude, finally an artsy and refined piece for such ... a mature and elite anime viewer like myself" and ended up almost dropping the show after the first episode. Why? Because it caught me completely off guard and didn't match my usual tastes at all.

Good thing I gathered my wits to go on watching, however, as Kemonozume showed me that "unique" isn't always an euphemism for just plain "shit".

To start with the art of which everyone seems to have an opinion when it comes to this show: yes, it's "unique". Yes, in that euphemistic way. But as someone with a way better way with words than me once said, you get used to everything except an icicle up in the ass ('cause it melts before it gets comfy), and such is the way with Kemonozume's art as well. Or perhaps it isn't as much about getting used to the crappy art is it is about realizing it's grotesque genius in this very anime? For just like Kemonozume's story and characters vary in their nature, the art varies from raw, murky, surreal, and sketchy to light, joyful, and truly beautiful.

Character-wise, Kemonozume is a treat for anyone tired of angsty teens all across their usual anime. Not a single character under 20 years of age in this show. The average year count ain't the only mature aspect about the characters either, for the chemistry, dialogue, and interaction they have with each other all clearly depict we're not talking about a middle-school drama here. Instead of the stuttered "I like you" and a hesitant, clumsy peck on the cheek, the two lovers in Kemonozume meet each other on a dark beach, exchange not a word, meet again, and fuck. While perhaps a highly romanticised setting (a beach, a girl literally falling from the sky, and BANG [get it?], love at first sight), it is a rather realistic portrayal of young love's carnal nature.

The story of Kemonozume manages to be both simple and multi-layered at the same time. "Simple" meaning that the viewer can easily grasp what's going on instead of having to endure pointless overphilosophicalpsychologicalwhatevermindfuckshit, whereas the plot's different aspects can be seen how, on one hand, it's a conflicted love story about two people so obviously representing two opposite sides, a story about the characters who all have their own goals and ambitions and trying to find their place in their environment, a story about the distinction between man and monster, and so on. Yet even with all these different sides, Kemonozume's story feels like a whole in which the varying aspects support and fulfill each other instead of annoyingly pulling it into a myriad of ways. Which, in turn, makes the story that much more enjoyable and intriguing, and unlike with many other animes, it doesn't end with a more or less horrendously disappointing conclusion.

Unlike with some of my previous reviews, I think I'm going to skip the part about how unnotable I found the soundtrack and go right to the ending rants. Overall Kemonozume was very much an enjoyable show once the eye got adjusted to the unique artwork and I learned to swallow the mindfuck-ish aspects which I usually hate with vehemence. A fair word of warning here, btw, if you're generally of the same mind and would prefer your anime withOUT any overt surrealism: prepare your...selves. Kemonozume does twist and turn all sorts of laws of physics and logic but worry not, it's not about bombarding you with lame philosophy as much as it's just another aspect of the artwork where, just like in Kemonozume in general, all sort of groundbreaking is abound.

I'm looking over all these reviews, the majority giving this anime 9 or 10, and am thinking to myself that it must be some kind of joke. I have watched a good amount of anime and cannot understand how such a bogus-ass anime could garner such high ratings.

Story: 5/10

This is pretty much a story revolving around humans and their relationship with monsters known as "flesh eaters" who are cursed with an appetite for human beings. The general story starts out pretty solid and interesting - a typical situation in which a person has to choose between his human comrades and ... a monster. One would think that it would be pretty hard to botch this tried-and-true plot line. However, this anime manages to turn what could have been a relatively decent story into one of absolute bullshit and nonsense. The episodes turn from engaging and suspenseful to utter crap that simply drags on. By the closing of the series i was forcing myself to hang in there till the end. Good thing it's only 13 episodes. I would stay away from this anime unless you like watching mindless, uninteresting crap pulled out of the director's ass. the only reason i give it a 5 is because the first few episodes were somewhat interesting.

Art: 3/10

Sticking a paintbrush in my ass and attempting to draw human figures on a canvass would produce a better picture than what would be found in the "art" of Kemonozume. i can understand the artist wanting to create a rushed, violent, and haphazard look to try and match the mood, but not to the point of looking like something out of a 10-year-old's doodling in a school notebook. I for one do not hold art in high regards when judging and anime, but for those who do - I think you will need to be a very "special" person to appreciate this lousy, half-assed artwork.

Sound - 6/10

The sounds and music used are nothing special. They consist of mostly jazz/jazz related music. The music is neither outstanding nor mediocre and sufficiently plays its roll in this uninteresting anime.

Characters - 5/10

The characters in this anime are adequately interesting. However, many of the main characters are very inconsistent in their behaviors, ideas, and actions. It isnt really clear why some actions are carried out by some characters. Many of the actions seemed to be pulled out of the director's ass in order to boringly further the plot. None of the characters appealed to me or stood out as is usually the case in animes/mangas.

Enjoyment - 3/10

The beginning of the anime gave me the idea that i would be in for a decent ride. However, the episodes/series turned to crap as they became filled with a third rate plot; shitty, pointless, weird ass sex scenes; and lame fight scenes. This anime was a struggle to finish.


The only reason i can think of for the various high scores given to this anime is that people fall for the third-class plot line that tries too hard to be deep and philosophical. People also probably find this anime "artsy" for its use of jazz and broken-looking drawings. It is a shame that in its attempt to be philosophical and mature, this anime turned out to be inconsistent with a plot full of holes.

Overall: 5/10

In the very first moments of Kemonozume we learn of a legend about a man rescuing a woman who is to be sacrificed to the gods: when they escape and run off together, the gods are angered and condemn them to feed on the flesh of humans in the form of monsters overwhelmed by bestial rage, lust, and the urge to devour. And so the descendants of these banished lovers live on as Flesh Eaters, some of them choosing to embrace their inner beast, and some choosing to suppress their curse by will alone, retaining their human form and living normal human lives.

The story ... here truly begins when Toshihiko, a key member of the Kifuuken, a clan dedicated to the slaughter of these abominations, and Yuka, a Flesh Eater, fall into a tangle of hungry lust with each other — before they know what each other are. When the shit hits the fan the suddenly star-crossed lovers end up on the run, unsure of where to go or what to do, often doubting themselves and struggling to find a way. Together, Toshihiko and Yuka wrestle with their desires and sexuality, their sense of duty and belonging, and having the courage to do what they feel is right.

Ultimately, Kemonozume — like Masaaki Yuasa's own Mind Game — has a very simple thing to say: love and dreams are worth fighting for even in the face of the "maddening, dreamless truth" of reality. Both leave us not with a sense of overwrought tragedy or profound enlightenment, but a reinvigorating affirmation of the importance of living for what we believe in — and perhaps most importantly, they do it with fucking style. The story of Kemonozume is such that could have been told just as easily with vampires or anything less novel than the Flesh Eaters, but instead its creators opt to take a traditional story and a traditional form and approach them in an extraordinarily fresh way.

Yuasa's love of whimsical surrealism and macabre comedy coupled with the raw, emphatically hand-drawn and viscerally expressive style of animation flies in the face of generic anime blandness, particularly in the amazing final episodes. As it becomes increasingly psychedelic, Kemonozume is like a jazz fusion record that spirals into free jazz madness; rock giving way to feedback-driven climax. It's dark, funny, romantically and sexually mature, and wildly stylistic in a way that comes off as improvisational yet intensely focused, perfectly suiting the story and theme.

Note that most of the visual style present throughout the series draws more from a unique impression of manga-style absurdism than from mainstream anime's insular concept of what anime is "supposed to look like" these days (i.e. moéfests galore), and because of the choice to involve a number of different animators the look and feel naturally varies slightly or sometimes shockingly from episode to episode, to subtly kaleidoscopic effect. Again, this allows for audacious imagery that parallels the vision behind this story, and its characters' quest to redefine the way of things and what is acceptable.

The music, too, suits the theme here, presenting a mixture of crazed jazz and swinging fusion reminiscent of Cowboy Bebop's timeless soundtrack.

If you have an affinity for fresh, exciting, mature, and daring forms of expression, for love and dreams that shred through all misfortune and the crushing banality of those in power, Kemonozume is for you.

Three words. Piece of crap.

Thought I should give more balance on this load of shit for all you anime watchers out there so here it is. It might give you another point of view from a reviewer who didn't give it a 9 or a 10.

First of all, beware of brain cell damage after watching this anime!

Overall art:

I understand some people are into this but c'mon man, looks like everyone's been run over by a train. Too many distortions and un-proportional animation. Movement angle's all wrong. You can argue that it matches the style of the dark-themed storyline, but the last four episodes look like ... they plain gave up on common sense whatsoever. That is, unless you enjoy watching ugly heads dancing around, WTF.

Story:

If you enjoy romance that consists of nothing but sex, then this might be your anime to watch. Have to warn you though, the sex scenes aren't even that good- unless having sex with ugly looking monsters turn you on.

The plot is poorly developed. This guy finds sex with a monster and runs of with her. They have sex.Things happen back home. They have more sex. More, boring, things happen back home. They continue to have sex.

They somehow manage to find time from all that sex to destroy a crazy maniac.

Romance my ass.
The END.

Overall:

Sometimes shit is created with a constipated attempt to seem mature and deep. Some people interpret it as more than it is, and think it to be genius. This is one of those occasions.

If you're trying to dim the lines between what is human and what is monster, then writing about how both human and monster are lustfilled idiots who kill each other is not the way to go. If you're writing romance then give me at least one scene where it doesn't involve sex, PLEASE.

So, yeah. Do not recommend.

When I first found out that Yuasa Masaaki was directing an anime, no less one with swords, I thought "Holy crap, my prayers have been answered!" Well, I was partially right. Kemonozume is in the same style as Mind Game and Cat Soup with the very same twisted sequence of events one was to expect. I personally love this bold new animation style, like a sketch colored with water colors that doesn't adhere to any sort of spacial rules (limbs bending way out of shape to emphasize movement). Anyway, I have to say that the love story is frighteningly realistic and very touching, ... something rarely found. This isn't to say that the action isn't incredible and wonderfully stylistic, hell the whole series is. My complaint with this series is that it slows down immensely in later episodes, but I suppose the production team thought it best. There's a great amount of scheming and terrifying plot twists, something always appreciated. I highly recommend this series, just be forewarned that it is in a very serious tone with little relief (except of course for the ultimate badass monkey master). I'll leave it at that.

Man versus Monster. It's a classic tale, told in variations for as long as the human mind has held thought. In a stroke of brilliance, Masaaki Yuasa redefines this ancient epic and brings to light the full spectrum of human emotion and psychological development.

Our story starts simple enough.We are introduced to an accomplished young warrior of the Kifuuken (a clan with a thousand year tradition of hunting Flesh Eaters), Toshihiko, who is led on a fast paced chase through his Japanese village where he stumbles across our unfortunate heroine.

Yuka,beautiful Yuka. Flesh Eater Yuka.

After ... a fateful encounter between the hunters and the hunted, Toshihiko and Yuka are forced to flee, wandering the countryside in the hopeful search of a place where they can live and love in piece. In the first handful of episodes we are introduced to a truly inspired and whimsical world with a take on macabre humor that sets Kemonozume in a place all its own.

The true depth of this series however, comes with the revelation of our main antagonist, and this is when the viewer is confronted with the true potential for depravity not of the Flesh Eaters, but of mankind itself.

Without revealing too much, our main villain is the most well developed character I have encountered in a series thus far, anime or otherwise. What began as a noble pursuit ends in a horribly demented fantasy twisted and corrupt. More impressive is that the entire complex scheme is started not through power or force but through the successful manipulation of human desires and dreams and his sociopathic tendencies continue all the way to the climax.

The character development in Kemonozume is superb and far beyond any expectations I had set for it. We bear witness to many crushingly realistic human reactions between the cast and within themselves. As the sinister undercurrent develops from mere hints to full blown plot device the tone and setting of Kemonozume drives considerable deeper into the human psyche, drawing out not only vivid portrayals of overwhelming emotion, but a visual experience unlike any other. Every main and supporting character goes through a powerful transformation that they must struggle to overcome or die trying.

The unique art design and story structure combined with a fast paced and perfect soundtrack eases the viewer into a world filled with gruesome consequence and powerful prejudice. The visual experience is often in complete juxtaposition with actual story elements, presenting the viewer with complex and conflicting emotions.In the end, this is a story about courage, trust and faith in yourself, a story of maintaining your humanity despite overwhelming odds pointing you towards darker, easier paths, and of course a story of love and the struggle to maintain it no matter what.

If you're searching for something unique, vivid and emotionally charged, this is more then worth your time. Once the story picked up I could do nothing else but finish it, finally staring blankly into the screen as the credits rolled, breathless at four in the morning pulling together my blown mind.

When you first start to watch this anime it really is all you expected it to be: unique animation, unusual art style, interesting characters and a plot-line that promises some level of enjoyment. Unfortunately, it all goes down hill when you reach about half the show. It pains me to say it was a disappointment. Lots of loose ends, they didn't bother to explain details that were crucial to the development of the characters initially and because of all the sudden twists nothing seemed credible about their choices. If there was a plot hole it would be filled with some unknown bit of the character's ... past and they would roll with it. Surely it's nothing we've never seen before, but it was terribly done and still they left me with questions. Now to break it down:

STORY: Overall poor. It had great potential but it just collapsed on itself because of the romance. It is based mostly on sex and the dangers a "monster" partner might bring (wow where have we seen this one before?). Also, the sex as plot tool is not exclusive to the main couple. All the relationships in the show grow up from that and never manage to be truly convincing. I don't know if I should even refer to the storyline of the monsters and the Kifuuken because it barely survived the awful development of the main characters. Good conquers evil in the end but we don't exactly know why and to be honest, by the end we don't even care. The animation masks well the adult themes but they are not successfully addressed.

ART: Enjoyable and a great breath of fresh air from the moe stuff that has been breeding all over the charts for the past few years. It was the reason that made me watch this anime and for that I don't regret it. Madhouse can be proud of this one (though not so much story-wise). It you liked Tatami Galaxy I recommend you take a peek at this. It also reminds me of some of the shorts from the Gurren Lagann Parallel Works anthology.

SOUND: Nothing extraordinary. Jazzy. Abides by the show.

CHARACTER: The protagonist who should have the most development never sees it, his initial problems are never tackled and simply add on once he meets the girl flesh eater. She is mildly interesting and stumbles upon some of the show's most endearing moments. Were not for the excessive nudity and sudden changes of heart she might have been a good character. Kazuma, the protagonist's brother, was probably the most verisimilar character but he had to be ruined for the show to work in accordance with its mediocrity. Rie was a feminist pebble sunken in a well. After serving her purpose as fanservice material, she discovered she had ambitions and tried to do something about it, not to mention save the Kifuuken. Needless to say what happened to her. The evil guy was pretty entertaining by the end. He was crazy enough to let his weak motives go by unnoticed.

ENJOYMENT: I'd say the enjoyment with which you began is not the same you'll have by the end. If you start to watch this anime with the intention to take it seriously and with hopes of seeing the plot flourish and be resolved than you're going to be sourly let down as I was. It's better to take it lightly and enjoy the bizarre turn of events.

An explosion of striking art and buoyant story developments erupt in "Kemonozume". It encompasses everything from bloodthirsty, sword-wielding monster killers to small, fighting monkeys. This is Masaaki Yuasa's (Mind Game, The Tatami Galaxy) full anime series debut. As usual, he does not allow anime industry norms tone down his surreal art style and storytelling. This is not the best showcasing of his talents or his finest work, but it still manages to be amusing and eccentric enough to be a memorable anime in and of itself.

The story of "Kemonozume" is definitely an unusual one with many twists to offer. The fierce and extremely dangerous monsters ... known as Shokujinki run rampant. Toshihiko Momota falls in extreme love with a woman who ends up being one. He comes from a family who are renown for being capable swordsmen whose occupation is to hunt down these grotesque monsters, and many issues that arise as he attempts to be with her. Their interactions together is the second most interesting aspect right behind the art.

The problem is that the interactions between them aren't as heavy as they should be. The emotional resonance for the main characters is weakened by the lack of focus that sometimes appears in this anime. "Kemonozume" gives them some nice development and back story, but not as much as it could have. Many of the other secondary characters that are introduced feel fairly dull and serve the sole purpose of being killed. They take up unnecessarily long amounts of screen time, and ultimately only hold the anime back by not leaving it enough time to fully develop the main characters, which are easily the most interesting ones.

Its art is the most noteworthy feature of the anime. It is impeccably gritty and alluring. Uniqueness does run much through this anime. Character designs are very rough and sketchily drawn. This anime does not use the huge-anime-eyes-possessing character molds that many other typical anime incorporate. Fans of moe will definitely not be pleased by this move; standard anime artwork fans are simply not catered to in "Kemonozume". Action scenes are fairly fluid, and the artwork in it enhance the intensity well. Backgrounds are often riddled with heavy brush strokes and very moody.

Much of the anime's soundtrack is jumpy and jittery. It's composed of jazz music that slightly elevates the tense or exciting moments. Other smoother and more laid-back songs preform their role well, and don't intrude the dramatic scenes they are played in. Most of the soundtrack is nice but not all too memorable. The standout is the opening theme "Auvers Blue" by Katteni-Shiyagare. It is an unrestrained jazz song that becomes as intense with excitement as the most action-filled scenes in the anime. The ending theme by Santara, "Suki", is nothing special or irksome. It's just a decent, somewhat melancholic song.

"Kemonozume" is bloody, creative, albeit lacking, fun with a gripping and odd twist on traditional monster and love stories. The flaws are not enormous and the visual approach is fresh enough to outshine many of its contemporaries. Those who enjoy overtly strange, violent, and fascinating anime with an appealingly coarse and offbeat art style should definitely check this one out.

Seven Large, Staining, and Darkly Red Blood Splatters out of Ten.

Kemonozume is obviously not your typical anime. I knew what I was expecting from the director Masaaki Yuasa, known from his critically acclaimed works such as Kaiba, The Tatami Galaxy, Mind Game, and the most recent work of 2014 Ping Pong the Animation. The surrealistic art style, jarring enough to see the choppy yet dynamic movement, and the unconventional means of using a diverse set of characters to get the message across its audience would be also in Kemonozume. I was half right.

What I didn’t expect was the copious amounts of gore, sex, and nudity that were there. However, I did get used to ... it and the nudity was far from an erotic hentai and was more under the lines of unsettling due to its abstract art style.


**Pretty much spoiler-free. Be aware of the frequent uses of “T and A” and grotesque violence that’s usually there for every single episode and sometimes at the same time. Also, it doesn’t get lighter. In fact, it’s somewhat progressively worse, but you might get used to it and see the other things it has going. **


Characters, Concept, and Story-

The concept itself is far from original. Unwanted supernatural beings living and hiding in our society have been used (and will have been used), ranging from titans, hollows, ghouls, aliens, ghosts, demons, chiropterans, parasites, beastmen, walkers and other inhuman organisms. However what makes Kemonozume different from other monster exterminators is its focus. It manages to have a collection of motley tones and genres that when the action and gore are removed, Kemonozume holds water compared to those others that would come off empty. The elite hunters called the Kifuuken aren’t solely at a conquest for more power-ups and the monstrous Shokujinki aren’t superficially painted as the decisive villain. Also, the narrative is not a bleak melodrama as there are various insert comedic reliefs mainly for the monkey Saru and the beginning of some episodes. Yet it also has its placid moments and energetic romance.

With that being said, it’s quite difficult to separate the characters from the scripted plot. More akin to Baccano! it focuses on an eclectic cast of characters, done by granting them a moderate amount of screen time and contributions to the individually segmented, but somehow overall, cohesive plot. But the same, inseparable problems are still prevalent. Characters are blown up to extreme exaggerations often to offer a quirk or two: a pair of star-crossed lovers, a rival, a kick-ass monkey, a deranged megalomaniac, and a jealous partner. Problems within the narrative often make a large hop, skip, and a jump towards their objectives in the beginning such as when Yuka hopes to go to this certain place to [insert spoiler]. However, that may be a minor flaw because as it goes on, the crafty and nonlinear story starts connecting the dots by the viewer’s progression.


Art, Animation, and Sound-

By now, the art style is more towards Yuasa’s Ping Pong the animation rather than the more polish Kaiba and the Tatami Galaxy. Expect the jagged contours, asymmetrical figures, trippy color schemes and real images. However, despite its rough drawings, it’s far more dynamic than most cel animated shows. I would also mention the change in art style typically at the beginning of each episode, as the start of Ep 5 has one of the cleanest art styles. While I wouldn’t call the art at face value for just a bunch of scribbles, it’s quite fitting to it as a whole. But I can’t deny the clumsy movement of a person tied to a chair in one scene.

As I’ve said before, there are a lot of scenes of people making out, having sex, having innards spew out and having the grotesque figures of the Shokujinki. Overall, it does well to capture the horrific images and visceral actions. I could have also sworn that I’ve seen Yuka without clothes almost more often than not. It’s obviously something to take note.

In the sound department, it has a jazzy theme done by Katteni-Shiyagare and a calmer ending. But it really disappoints me that there really isn’t much music in the background and it’s usually jazz played during the action sequence. Meanwhile, voice acting is fun and exaggerated and the sound effects are fine.


Personal Enjoyment

6/10 Episode 1 & 2 (Fine)
7/10 First half(Good)
9/10 Latter part (Great)

It was an uncomfortable start when lacking prior knowledge of its content. Also, because of its jarring tone change I sometimes get whiplashed as I couldn’t pin what Kemonozume actually is, but soon see what it is trying to do. However, towards the end, it was a fun ride even if certain events were absurdly random and were just there to escalate the thrill.

Btw: Shortly after it finished, it just dawned on me what just happened towards the very last scene after the turbulent climax. I almost forgot a critical event and had a major epiphany.


Overall- low-mid 8/10 (Very Good)

As much I enjoyed Kemonozume, I can’t overlook the structural and technical issues with its possibly offensive content. It is definitely a diamond in the rough with several scratches here and there. However, the beauty of this gem would be its somewhat critical approach for its themes of our own reflection of our dark, primal instincts needed to satiate our idealized lust, greed, and strength. While very much extreme, it can also mainly be taken at face-value for its rollercoaster ride entertainment, chock full of a cornucopia of genres and style.

There are no two ways about it; "Kemonozume" is HOT!!! This Wowow/Madhouse modern horror anime will slam you back into your chair and leave you totally astounded. It is a brilliant, in-your-face take on an old folktale that has smashing action, don't-give-a-care animation, outstandingly witty humor, touchingly human protagonists, a totally over-the-top villain, and a very cool jazzy sound track.

Toshihiko Momota is the oldest son in a family of monster-hunters. Like his father Jyuuzou, Toshihiko believes in the "way of the sword" as the correct means to get rid of the man-eating Shokujinki who prey on humans. Toshihiko's younger brother Kazuma wants to modernize the ... "family business" with high powered mecha-suits and other bits of high-tech, but Jyuuzou and Toshihiko oppose this, resulting in a split in the family and Kazuma challenging Toshihiko to a sword duel.

But the duel between the brothers is interrupted by a monkey who is chased by Toshihiko out to the beach, where a strangely attractive woman sails out of the sky in a parachute and lands in front of Toshihiko. Toshihiko is immediately smitten by the woman, who is called Yuka, and they start a blindingly passionate affair, causing Toshihiko to forget "the way of the sword", initiating the destruction of the Kifuuken - the organization of monster-hunters - and begetting something much more horribly evil than even the Shokujinki.

"Kemonozume" is definitely not for "all tastes". There is a tremendous amount of black humor tied directly to violent death, very raw and sometimes monstrous sex, more nudity than in most hentai anime, and lots of surreal animation. But if you are looking for something different in terms of an anime that is truly meant for adults, "Kemonozume" is a tremendously entertaining place to look.

Spoilers ahead
For the sake of being more concise I want to separate the story into 3 big chunks, Kemonozume plot doesn't really pay off because of how bad the ending is but despite that the first few hours have a lot going on and I'd rather not go into long paragraphs describing a lot of what simply happens in the show to provide a more in-depth take on them.

1. Romance
For the most of the show you'll be following Toshihiko and Yuka. To begin with there's a very "forbidden love" vibe to their relationship since Toshihiko hunts monsters and Yuka is one but they both have ... something in it that makes them overcome it. For Toshihiko it's about feeling love for the first time, he sees her, falls in love and then can't think of anything else until he runs back to beach and meets her again through sheer luck. They start dating more and more and after some time Toshihiko realizes how much he needs Yuka in his life, his priorities shift from upholding the mantle of martial artist and future head of the Kifuuken to his personal life and relationship with Yuka. At one point the truth comes out and they're forced to elope. From there things advance rather slow and from certain points of view don't really move at all until much later. You know these two won't just break up at this point without something really drastic happening, something more drastic than risking getting killed every time they have sex but it's interesting to see them deal with it, with the frustrations that occur when your girlfriend turns into a flesh eating monster when she gets too excited and living a normal life when you're constantly chased.
On Yuka's behalf things are just as complex. When Toshihiko first meets her she's still dating another man, another flesh eater, someone she probably thought is the only choice for her because of the problems mentioned above but that's until she meets Toshihiko which gives her hope to be normal again. Unlike a lot of other Flesh Eaters in the show she's not into the whole murder thing and wants to be a normal human, she doesn't want to become a victim of her claws like her relatives.
It's also later revealed that she's already pregnant from the man she dated before and while it's not really built up well and drops on you just as suddenly as it is resolved it's still kinda sweet to see Toshihiko pull through for her despite knowing all this and in a conversation with strangers answer that she is his wife and she's carrying his child and then tells her that no matter what they'll raise and cherish him. It all plays into Yuka's desire to be normal, and find someone to support her despite the flaws.

There's also a bit of rivalry between Rie and Yuka but unless I'm missing something it was rather pointless and Rie's love for Toshihiko could've been dropped entirely without any significant impact to the story. Also as I mentioned from episode 9 things just go to shit, Yuka gets captured, Toshihiko saves her and then they jump out of a plane to lead a happy life after a pretty nonsensical moments where Yuka tries to jump alone thinking that she'll only cause him harm. It's a happy ending overall but that part was completely unnecessary, felt like it was ripped out of some shitty fanfic because I thought Yuka is a more sensible person than that. Abandoning the guy who gave up his way of life to be with you, pulled through all the hardships and then risked his life to save you and NOW she's trying to be "we can't be together"? I'm not buying this crap, I feel like it was just the last attempt to manipulate the audience into thinking how sweet it all is when Toshihiko jumps out and goes after her.

2. Kifuuken

Second I think in importance aspect of the show is a moral conflict within Kifuuken and other martial art schools that existed for a long time but now exist in a world that makes their ideology harder to uphold and all of this is personified within Kazuma, "adopted" son of Juzo who's frustrated that his brother is seen as superior and nobody listens to his ideas. These ideas include building mech suits to battle monsters more efficiently. In the first episode he does a presentation listing all the upsides of his concept but gets shut down by his father who won't accept it because Kifuuken is a martial art first and foremost. In the first third of the show he's mostly in the sidelines but as soon as Juzo had passed takes an very important part of the story. His arc is honestly the most interesting to me in the whole thing, Kazuma might be the single most dynamic and conflicting character in Kemonozume. He boldly walks forward and changes Kifuuken because he's passionate about it, he wants to reduce injuries of his comrades while increasing efficiency of their job, all his actions are motivated by trying to make things better for everyone but then Ooba starts to exert his influence. Ooba is a terrible character and part of why ending was such a trainwreck but for the second half he's just an evil businessman with ulterior motives who pushes Kazuma to make decision that would benefit his own plans. Kazuma slowly starts falling apart at the seams, after the point where he fulfils first step of his plan the momentum he creates moves his forward, sometimes it feels like he has no other choice but to do what he's told cause by using the same reasoning as Kazuma, Ooba convinces him to make further alterations to his organization until it finally spirals out of control and Kazuma is left alone, his final decision it to to go directly to Ooba with a sword and wearing a traditional Kifuuken outfit. It's not explicitly said but I think the implication is that he rejects his old ideas that led to all of this and in his last moments sticks to the tradition his father upholdest to the last.

3. Ooba
Yes, Ooba, the main villain who is also like the worst character of this story. He first appears in the flashback that tells us the story of Kifuuken's triumvirate, a rather out there comparison to three great rulers though they were just candidates to become the heads of Kifuuken. In that flashback Juzo dates Yuka's mother who is also a flesh eater and from that Kazuma is born. Later all three find out she a flesh eater but promise to keep it a secret, including Ooba who seemed like a nice enough guy in the flashback, a bit of a coward even. Because of this Juzo loses a duel that decided who will head Kifuuken. Person he lost to becomes mad that he could never prove his strength in a fair match so he aims to go a step above and prove he's the stronger than everyone by using the technique called Kemonozume that relies in cutting your own arms and taking arms of a flesh eater, he does just that and slaughters a village of flesh eaters before losing control on turning on his own, that forces Juzo to take hands of his wife to kill the other guy, end of flashback. This is later implied to be set up by Ooba without anything to actually back that up. After this Ooba appears later and notices that the woman dating Toshihiko is a flesh eater after which he tells everyone in the Kifuuken about it which leads to them luring her in and exposing her before Toshihiko himself but instead of killing her Toshihiko escapes. I wonder why Ooba would set this up cause his plan largely revolts around manipulating Kazuma but if Toshihiko turned on Yuka there he would be the head of the organization and likely wouldn't listen to Ooba. Whatever that's not the worst part yet. The longer this goes on the more evil Ooba become and we're never given any reason behind why he is this way, neither are we given his motivation yet he becomes borderline the central character in the last 5 episodes. He's at the center of everything and we're supposed to just watch him do evil shit and care because? There's so much build up before and fall of Kifuuken is interesting to watch but Ooba just doing evil shit just for the hell of it was boring. It's an anti-climactic conclusion to what otherwise was an interesting story. It's not made any better by his ridiculous boss battle.
That's about all I have to say about the story, it starts out complex and interesting but devolves into an utter mess when the focus shifts to "good guys fight crazy psycho lol".

Art: Yuasa's art style is often a polarizing aspect of his shows when it goes towards the rougher direction. A lot of people equate the rough lines and inconsistent proportions as bad art instead of a stylistic choice. Personally I loved the look of the series. The rough look of it reminded me somewhat of old low-res games before developers could fully portray characters in complete detail and a lot of it was left up to the interpretation of the player. Similarly the constantly shifting lines made me have a portrait of the characters in my head that went beyond what was seen on screen and while it's far from an objective strong point of the anime it's something that I enjoyed when watching it. Episode 12 in particular is where I think art style peakes, it's extremely striking visually and the animation at times made it look like a fever dream. Kemonozume in this way offers something that you won't get out of normal anime.

Music: It's no masterpiece, the only real standout to me were some pretty slick jazz compositions during occasional fights. Jazz and stylish violence usually go hand in hand.
Voice acting: standard package, everyone sounds very distinct and fits their role if I had to commend anything it's that they had enough sense not to overact all of the times where a more grounded delivery would work better

Fun factor: I avoided watching this for the longest time cause it didn't seem to be on the level of best Yuasa's works nor did I really crave for this type of story at any point and after watching it I can safely say that I could've not seen it for god knows how much longer and wouldn't feel bad about it. While there is a lot to like about it the terrible decline in the end keeps it from being a one of the must-see shows. If you think the synopsis is cool go ahead, check it out, it mostly delivers on the romance but if you want a real solid show then I can't recommend it.

I had only seen the first episode of Kemonozume around last year which wouldn't stop echoing in my mind until restarting the series today, and now I'm betting the echo's amplitude has increased like a les rallizes denudes song. I don't think I've ever seen anything more visually electrifying like this, and it's kinda disappointing considering I haven't really found anything with this kind of style out there.

Story: With Yusa's illogical animation, you definitely need a wacky story to accompany it and here you'll find samurais clashing with human/monster hybrids, cannibalism, zoophilia, peach loving monkeys smooching with monkeys growing out of an evil head running ... on a gigantic ball headed for destruction, you name it. I did feel detached from the some details near the second half, but the conclusion hit it home on an outerworldly level (literally and metaphorically).

Art: Kemonozume's art style is everything. There was this one girl who always came to my class with the wildest choices of clothes on, I kinda had a thing for her. One part that would always come back to me from the first episode that I mentioned earlier was the water in the background when Toshihiko and Yuka stare at each other before they kiss. Or the vibrant colors used in the intro dialogue, not to mention how illuminating it looks as if the animators somehow took a lamp and underlaid it behind the scenes. My only complaint though is the lack of s_surrealizm which I had really anticipated after seeing the crown achievement of mankind Mind Game.

Sound: The episodes feature some upbeat jazz which I definitely digged as it held hands with the action scenes, but there's another piece of music found in the 3rd episode after the subway chase scene, which was the opposite of upbeat. Aw man, you see pretty umbrellas swaying in the streets with that guitar in the background stimulating my posterior pituitary gland in releasing some chillout hormones. The intro/outro themes are also alright, though nothing personally special.

Character: Toshihiko struggling between the path of the sword and his heart was amusing, his romance between Yuka and Rie had its moments, I never really cared for the minor characters (especially their backgrounds), but there was Saru the monkey who I'll never forget.

Enjoyment: I enjoyed my time... bye.

The art. It's all about the art. It's brilliant. Kinetic madness. Edgy. As if its always scratching itself and drawing line over line. Everything is moving and even when its not moving, you make it move with your eyes. Kinda crazy, hyper poetry in motion.

You should probably just watch it for the art alone even though there are lot of other good things about it:

Sound -- Awesome jazz pieces set to moody scenes of the city. Classic noir feel.

Story - It kinda gets very messy towards the end but then I get the feel that you're supposed to suspend your brain, especially in ... the last episode when everything really gets weird. The craziness is all part of the plot.

Characters -- Lots of unique characters in this anime. You won't see much of the classic stereotypes, tsundere, moe high school girls etc. Everyone is a little gritty, irrational and kinda wild. In the end, everyone is a monster. even if they are human.

Awesome anime and a joy to watch just because so different from all the other generic crap out there.

While the initial episodes are on the dull side, they are still enjoyable thanks to the superbly confident and expressive animation. I don't find the story's premise compelling, but do recognize that it's well told. The lead characters' romantic relationship, which is one of the major axes of conflict in the plot, is unconvincing. However, this is partially redeemed when some of the secondary characters end up in interesting and poignant circumstances. And the madcap ending just plain explodes with crazy (in a good way.)

Overall, a gorgeous and fun anime.

If there is one director in the anime world who never fails to surprise, refresh and delight me, it is Yuasa Masaaki. Having created popular masterpieces like Ping Pong the Animation and The Tatami Galaxy, it is clear that he does not disappoint. His works are stylistically striking and always seem to bear an overwhelmingly positive and uplifting atmosphere. Kemonozume is no exception.

Story: 8/10
The story follows a species of monsters that prey upon humans, the Shokujinki, and the organisation that is dedicated to eradicating them - the Kifuuken. The story gains direction when Toshiko, a member of the Kifuuken, and Yuka, a "Flesh Eater", fall ... in love at first sight. META_BODY's review covers the philosophical aspect of this story far better than I could, but believe me when I say that it is excellent, if obscure. It is, without a doubt, highly confusing and somewhat surreal if one stops to think about it. Nevertheless, it was very entertaining and enjoyable to watch.

Art: 10/10
I have seen numerous comments about the art of Kemonozume being its biggest flaw - that it is messy, as though it is a draft and not the final product. I couldn't disagree more. The art is what stood out to me as the most magnificent aspect of this series. The art style incorporates rotoscope and/or live action shots on occasion - these aspects are also present in Masaaki's film, Mindgame, and The Tatami Galaxy. Otherwise, the art makes use of scratchy, scribbly lines, similar to those used in Mindgame and Ping Pong, and the use of colour varies according to the tone of the scene. Sometimes, the palette is muted and unspectacular, and sometimes it is jarring and vivid. What I love about Masaaki's anime is how eccentric and different it is in comparison with other modern anime: you won't find any moeshit here. No two characters look the same. Each character has, well, [i]character[/i].

Sound: 9/10
The sound, both the OST and voice acting, were another spectacular aspect of this series. The OST was like nothing I have heard in an anime before. Somehow it was jazzy and evocative and interesting, and most importantly, it worked. The voice acting was absolutely excellent. I don't believe an English dub exists, but I'm quite certain one would never do the original justice.

Character: 8/10
Each character in Kemonozume was portrayed uniquely in every aspect - not only scriptwise, but also through the art and voice acting. Each was distinctive in their own way, and developed adequately throughout the series.

Overall: 9/10

Kemonozume undoubtedly does everything right for what it is - and it is a beautiful blend of fantastically absurd art and sound and a seemingly simple Romeo and Juliet-based story that deviates from the norm. It is refreshing and entertaining to watch, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who feels like something a bit different without having to delve into the realm of dementia. Not only is it an excellent anime it is, dare I say it, a piece of art.

*Very brief review--sure to get a lot of dislikes! Yay!*

A bizarre, sexually-charged Romeo and Juliet story involving a flesh-eating monster and a hunter of said flesh-eating monsters. Mashes together fantastic drama and romance with surrealistic comedy and action, so that the end result is something like FLCL, though strictly for adults. There is a lot of nudity and sex here, but, refreshingly for an anime, it almost never dips into fan-service territory. (And when it does, it goes so hilariously over the top that the effect isn't even remotely titillating.) Monstrous transformations during sexual climax aside, the sex just feels real, and the kaleidoscopic, unpolished ... animation helps keep Kemonozume from lewd, ecchi territory. I'd say that this anime is everything that Elfen Lied is not--EL tries to tackle similarly thorny, compelling issues, but its noble intentions are constantly undermined by the consistent, juvenile fan-service and broad stereotyping. Not that Kemonozume is subtle either, but it is, at the very least, a joy to watch.

Story 10
Music 10
Main Characters 10
Side Characters 8.5
Visuals 10

Well, it is one of the best if not the best anime, I have ever watched so far. Right after the first episode, I felt at ease and just relaxed and enjoyed the ride. Everything about this anime is great. Story is well developped, you can connect to characters, music is amazing, very much like Cowboy Bebop by the way.

Story:
...
Kemonozume's story revolve around a woman and a man who loves each other passionately despite the fact that they are not meant for each other , lots of physical contact in this anime, their love is Eros type. I will not reveal any spoilers, but as the story goes further, it gets darker and darker, almost every episode has a moment of action or let's say every episode has a touch with the main plot, so you might get diverted a little in the first minutes, though I never did, but right on time it will take you back to its pace.

Music:

Mostly jazz. In action sequence there is a certain uptempo jazz they are using- very much like the first jazz song in the cowboy bebop movie, the one enters when spike fights with a girl- which is great, sometimes to create suspense they use only drums, for emotional scenes they have a song like a jazz/blues, it adds a lot to the scene. It never bores you, or it never feels like its too much, I mean the movies make that mistake a lot, for simple scene like a simple walk in the street, they put a real complex classical stuff, and you get distracted by it, well this anime doesn't do that, and that's certainly a good thing right?

Main Characters

We have two main characters. Yuka and Toshihiko. Yuka is like a source of life to Toshihiko, Yuka was living a normal girl's life with some exceptions, Toshihiko is a master swordsman at the Kifuufen dojo. Until the time when Toshihiko met Yuka, he had been living a life devoted to the path of sword. But Yuka changes everything. The two starts on a journey, which is decided in very stresfull moment. And the anime is the journey, the later developped main plot is actually a device that makes the journey more acceptable, and more fast paced, and the good thing with fast paced plot is that when it slows down, you really see the significance of the scene. Same with the characters, if a moment lasts, it is significant, if a thing is repeated, it is significant.

Side Characters

So for my only concern with the anime is the sometimes under developped side characters. At the end of the story, yes the villain has a good reason to be villain, but where does he get that good reason, and why it is a good reason, you do not see that. Or the side character Rie, an entire episode is devoted to her, that's how significant she is, yet we actually know so little about her, and after a certain point she is used as a stimulating device for the plot, which is so sad for a character which has a real potential to be deep. Toshihiko's brother is a very significant character and yet his relation to Toshihiko is really under developped. Maybe anime should have been a little longer like an episode or two. But besides that, some of the side characters, like the old couple, which is shown only in one episode is very well developped, because, we know a little about their past, and their relation to each other, it is all done in four or five minutes, yet the anime fails to do same thing for more significant characters, or should have done a little bit more, but it is great anyway. Now that I think about it, I'd go who cares, it was great.

Visuals

Well, it is different alright. I loved it, you might not like it. It has a certain attitude, which is, if I am not mistaken, they tried to give or show the meaning/emotion not by just the contents in the drawing but with the drawing style too. I mean, something like this, if the scene is smooth, and loving scene, they draw smooth and gentle, soft colors, poetic visual imagery and all that. But if the thing is rough, they draw rough, lots of visible lines, you can see every corner in the scene, the drawing style changes according to mood, which for me was an amazing experience.

Conclusion

Definitely worth your time. Any one into, visual arts, philosophy, poetry, and mythology and psychology, should watch.

The story of Kemonozume was very enjoyable. While it does have a lot of standard ideas within it, I feel like it separates itself from them by presenting them in a new, unique manner that comes off a wholly original. Most of the episodes feel like a self-contained tale, while still adding to the overall plotline, and I love that style of doing things. The way the story is presented, in terms of the camera angles and the pacing of everything is also masterfully done.

Most of the characters have some unique qualities to them, but don't do too much to sand out from the crowd, ... giving us interesting, likable, and realistic characters... but also entirely forgettable ones. However, one character really stands out to me as memorable, and that would be Kyuutarou Ooba. This old man with his iconic laugh and demented personality is one of the most well done, and most memorable characters in the series, for sure.

As for the art, it may not be for everyone, but I really like it, and I feel like it adds so much to the visceral nature of the show. The rough edges around all of the characters might look sloppy to some people, but for me, I feel like it gives the show a very specific tone, but it also allows the animators to get more fluid and natural with the character movement, combine that with the muted and dark color palette, and it makes the whole show feel a lot more realistic than many other anime.

The Audio is fantastic, across the board. From loud, thumping sound design, to a really effectively used soundtrack, I'm absolutely in love with it. The opening theme is fantastic as well and sets the tone of the series very nicely. The ending theme isn't quite as good, but the contrast between the themes does a good job of showing the contrast between the action parts of the story, and the romance parts.

Overall, this is a really enjoyable show. It's got a few minor flaws here and there, but every episode was a blast. It was one of those kinds of series where, even though it's somewhat episodic, each episode was so well done that I just wanted to watch more of it after finishing one.

Hmmmmmm…. I can see why certain people might say this is a good anime. That it has a tried and tested forbidden love plotline. That the struggles of the couple are real and dramatic.


I however am not one of those people. The art was so bad that I wanted to scratch my eyes out. It looks as if a bunch of first graders were hired to do the job. Art is never the deciding factor in whether an anime is good or not but I mean come on!?

What the art did was ruin every other factor across the board. It made it so that ... even IF this anime had been a triumph in story, sound and characters (which it certainly wasn't) it was ruined by eyeball ripping visuals.

The characters are okay but ruined by rubbish art design so that it looks as if some of them are edgy blocks of putty.


The sound is okay but nothing to brag about. The opening is awful and uninspiring and so is the ending.


Of course what do I know? I dropped it after 3 episodes (my rule for anime reviewing being to watch a minimum of 3 episodes before making judgements)


My honest, short opinion?


Watch something else immediately and forget this one.