Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e

With the initiation of the Patrian civil war came the creation of half-beast, half-human soldiers—a development of the outnumbered Northerners in a desperate attempt to counter the overwhelming Southern forces. Able to quickly dominate battlefields and achieve victory with ease, the soldiers' godlike abilities earned them the name "Incarnates." However, as the war raged on, the Incarnates encountered a problem involving the beasts inside them that they were unable to rectify by ordinary means.

Once the war was over, mysteries and accounts of the Incarnates submitting to the misfortune of their war days surfaced. Aware of the horrors they faced during the war, Special Sergeant Major and former captain of the Incarnates Hank Henriette becomes a Beast Hunter—those who take the lives of Incarnates who have succumbed to the issues they experienced on the battlefields.

After witnessing her father, a former Incarnate soldier, meet his end at the hands of one such Beast Hunter, Nancy Schaal Bancroft resolves to hunt the man who took her father's life. However, Nancy's eye-opening encounter with the Beast Hunter influences her to instead seek the reason behind her father's death and the Incarnates' problematic existence in society.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hank Main

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Bancroft, Nancy Schaal Main

Kakuma, Ai Japanese

Runecastle, Liza Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Madhouse, Cain Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Elaine Supporting

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Beatrice Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Edgar Supporting

Yasumoto, Hiroki Japanese

Miglieglia Supporting

Ichinose, Kana Japanese

Arthur Supporting

Tsuda, Kenjirou Japanese

Christopher Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Ogawa, Takahiro Producer

Kitazawa, Shiryuu Producer

Terao, Yuri Producer

Suzuki, Toshihiro Producer

Reviews

Oct 13, 2019

Rayaxe

Recommended

[This contains no spoilers]
I started this anime, expecting the usual hot mess you get from combining an industrial age war setting with a fantasy concept. Usually, anime like this get convoluted, lose focus and resort to blindly padding the plot with action sequences and tropes. They also end up allowing their sub-genres (like comedy and romance) to dominate the plot, and in turn, stagnate progression. The first episode forecasted that prediction, and I was certain that I didn't need to give it my usually 3 episode trail to determine if I liked it, so I forgot about it for a while. However, this week I ... thought that I might stick to my original principal of giving shows a fair 3 episode trail and just use my train ride home from work to give it a fair try (since I had almost let Youjo Senki slip out of my redar for the same reason - only to realise that I had missed out on a great show). Surprisingly the second episode of this was quiet enjoyable and I realised I had misjudged it a little. Nevertheless, it didn't turn out to be a masterpiece or an anime that changed the formula that is commonly applied to the genre it belongs to, but it didn't it turn out to be a complete waste of my time either.

Upon finishing this anime, I was curious to see the general consensus of it, and was surprised to see it had a bellow 7/10 average on MAL weeks after it fished airing, which is a score you'd usually see on something that was so generic to it's core that it didn't even managed not to capture it's own target audience well enough to score a few free 10/10s. Perhaps it's because I score base on comparison to other series I've seen (with consideration of my personal enjoyment included). It baffles me that this anime was in that score range when anime of it's same calibre would still on the top end of the 7/10 rating with worse art and music.

To summaries my thoughts on the plot, the premise was not original in the slightest and reminded me of Berserk, minus the build up that made the betrayal in Berserk all the more dramatic. Nonetheless, the show did not divert the focus like I previously predicted and kept a good pace for it's progression, while changing up the formula each episode to not make it feel less like an episodic series where the reset switch was constantly pressed to extend the plot further. By this I mean, despite having the opportunity to include some comedy and romance (to potentially mask the fact that the story may not have substance), it went straight to the point and gave you the explanations you needed then jumped into to action sequences - which didn't last for more than a third of the episode and had dialogue that added to the plot instead of reiterations of it. Surprisingly, it didn't keep you with the same set of main characters and didn't always follow the format of "discovery, investigation, interactions and fight sequence" which it had for a few episodes - instead you had some episodes dedicated to looking into the backgrounds of characters who had been established as the villains of this anime (who were anomalies in a few cases and no villains) and you had some episode revisiting previous aspects of the plot to further reflect on them.

On the other hand, the plot didn't avoid the many tropes you'd find within these kind of story. It had randomly included a female solider character with oversized boobs to constantly act as the ice breaker and to be the token strong woman character (which I see inserted into plots like this sometimes) - despite some of the other main characters being able to easily assume that role more tastefully. Her presence was mostly unnecessary, and her lines could have been given to a less flamboyant character that didn't need time invested in them to have some boob physics for an unrealistically massive pair of breasts - which are boldly displayed (while mostly uncovered) during serious dialogue.... It honestly ruined the vibe of the anime.

In addition, sometimes it felt like the plot didn't dig deep enough into the backgrounds of certain characters and missed opportunities to more comprehensively look into the mindset of villains. At times, there wasn't enough time spent in showing characters transition between different emotional states, so you would get stubborn and angry characters become submissive and calm in the next scene, which would break immersion. Also a lot of the lore of the setting wasn't explained at all or in depth, you were left to assume the setting was some 19th century industrial American cowboy setting, since that's all you could gather from the visuals. Though I do appreciate that unlike my experience with many anime of this genre, I wasn't subjected to a complicated explanation of the politics and factions and then expected to remember it, it spread out some of the explanations of politics and kept it simple - albeit too simple sometimes.

In terms of the voice acting and music, it was decent and was good enough to set the mood. The voices fit each characters and the music usually fit the scene. I can't say it did anything amazing, but it didn't have any flaws either in my opinion, so "good enough" is the best way to describe it. However the art was indeed above average, with MAPPA not resorting to using CGI for some of the action every scenes with a lot of movements, body transformations and lib distortion. The designs for uniforms, hair styles and the look of guns were well thought out and considered the setting well. The backgrounds were the usual mediocre stuff, so I can't give it much praise, but overall there was a decent amount of effort displayed through the character design, animation and presentation style - and it was definitely was not an anime filled with lazy and loose animation and character designs like some of it's counterparts.

So in conclusions, I think this anime isn't something to write home about, but it seems to also not be deserving of it's poor reception, when at best it was lacking certain element, rather than being completely void of them (like character development). I feel like the above average art and animation, as well as it's consistent focus on a premise (that is decent enough to enjoy) and the fact that the execution was not too shallow, boring or filled with repetition - makes this a 7/10 at the very least to me. I say that as someone who was probably not the target audience for this anime - since I'm not being a huge fan of action fantasies and value dialogue heavy plot with character development over fight sequences. I managed to enjoy this series despite my preferences, and I think that's great.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 16, 2019

Inferno792

Mixed Feelings

Medieval fantasy anime are rare these days as compared to genres like rom-com and sci-fi. The good ones, even more so. As a fan of the genre, I’m always interested when I see a show set in the medieval age, hence To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts instantly caught my attention after I saw the PV. From the studio that had produced Zankyou no Terror, Zombieland Saga and Yuri!!! On Ice in recent years, there was cause for excitement, even though the PV had made it clear that this was a low-budget anime as compared to the other hits the studio has had.

From the beginning, To ... the Abandoned Sacred beasts throws us into a war between the North and the South, with the South dominating the war for the most part until the North delved their hands into something they should never have: transforming humans into all-powerful beasts of destruction and war. The humans who’d been the victims of this were made to believe that they were special, revered by their army but on the inside, the entire populace was terrified of them. However, such beasts were only going to be useful until the end of the war. As soon as that ended, the army always wanted to get rid of these creatures who, in their view, threatened their existence. That’s pretty much the premise of the story. Not bad. Unoriginal, but the execution was fairly well handled at the start.

Now, that’s where the problems begin. There comes a time when you get bored of the same script every episode over and over again. Find an Incarnate, hear about how they’ve been ravaging stuff around the area, talk to them, and then at the end of the episode, eliminate them. That’s the formula that was followed throughout the season. The repetitive nature of the plot had me rolling my eyes from boredom at times.

We’ve got two main protagonists: Hank Henriette and Schaal Bancroft.
Hank Henriette, the charismatic leader of these Sacred beasts or incarnates, as they’ve been called, is a pretty straight-forward character to understand. Being betrayed by your best friend, who also kills your lover is an easy way to make yourself hate someone, isn’t it? He’s about the only incarnate who’s neither lost his humanity completely nor wants to eradicate humanity for what they’ve put all of the Incarnates through. The threat posed by these mindless beasts who were once his comrades in arms is understood by Hank, hence he takes the mantle of eliminating them before they cause any further damage to society upon himself. And we follow his encounters with his fellow incarnates. Hank rarely showed emotions, keeping himself focused on his goal for the most part.

The second protagonist is the daughter of one of the Incarnates. Loved by her adopted siblings, her father as well as the village, Schaal is an exuberant spirit full of positivity until he sees what’s happened to her father, who’s body had changed into a dragon permanently. Even so, she never hesitates to treat him as the same father she once knew. When one day Hank arrives and kills his father, she goes into rage and vows to track down his killer. As she meets and gets to know Hank though, she decides to accompany him and see for herself the reason for which her father had to be killed. As time passes, she begins to sympathize with Hank. Watching their interactions and relationship develop is one of the better points in the show.

Talking about the animation, I was extremely disappointed. I was expecting a lot better from MAPPA, who’d done such amazing work in the past. Far too many of the battle scenes, which are supposed to be the best animated panels, are crappily done for the most part. The character designs are better but nothing to write home about. The soundtrack is meh, the voice acting okay. I guess they really had a low budget because there was one soundtrack they kept repeating over and over again in tense situations.

The animation or the sound aren’t the factors that brought down the show for me though. The culmination of what Hank and Schaal did throughout the season didn’t have much of a payoff. The first few episodes were interesting, then the loop begins, ending on the same note. This may work for comedy, but doesn’t for action fantasy. The story had potential to develop into an intriguing story that shows the grey side of human nature. But alas, it never took off after the first episode.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 16, 2019

Stark700

Not Recommended

Something always bothered me about shows that mixes fantasy, drama, and tragedy. Most of them always seems to follow the path of a dark past or event that changes a protagonist’s view of the world forever. It’s some of the most cliché writing that easily gets milked into a storyline and the authors would expand on it seemingly forever. When watching this show called Katsute Kami Data Kemono-tachi e (To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts), I had a similarly eerie feeling. If you thought this Spring 2019's Fairy Gone was garbage, this isn't much better.

The practice of using a background story episode as its opener isn’t ... too uncommon these days. It’s what we get from the very first episode as we meet the Incarnates, soldiers with the ability to transform into supernatural beasts. They are essentially living weapons of war. It didn’t long for the show to unravel the war drama that adapts the overall story tone into an unsettling conflict. To be frank though, I find the opening episode to be a clever way of hooking the audience. It managed to captivate me into the premise. After all, the idea of humans becoming Incarnates sparks curiosity on how much they can change. Soldiers who became these monsters also have to deal with the aftermath of this war and the way humanity judges them. This story follows the plot of a young girl named Nancy Schaal Bancroft who becomes a Incarnate hunter after a certain tragedy.

Before coming to understand the full concept of the show, you should realize the brainchild behind this franchise. Mangaka Maybe has been known to mix a variety of genres into their work. However, most often, he tends to add elements of fantasy or drama as in the case of Dusk Maiden of Amnesia and Tales of the Wedding Rings. This show takes the tone into a more serious direction as you see the consequences of war and how it affects humanity. Everything so far seems like the anime has a degree of storytelling potential until you understand the main cast. Can we just talk about how unbalanced the characters are?

First, we got Hank, the Beast-Human hunter. Being a gloomy man with a vengeance, he has no time for foolishness and is hard to approach. The first episode establishes his hate for Cain, the main antagonist of the series. In fact, Cain is the catalyst of Hank’s character change and he seeks revenge as an avenger. The idea of revenge is a major source of motivation for at least two main characters. Schaal also holds a similar goal in her mind although the story makes her into a much weaker character compared to Hank. I can’t fandom how annoying she gets as the story progresses with each episode. The more I watch Schaal, the more I see her as a damsel in distress. She even has hard time making important choices in life and often seems to need someone to lend her a hand. The relationship dynamics between her and Hank is a strange one as even when they understand each other more, the two feels very distant between each other. With how their relationship develops, let’s just say that it’s hardly emotional. The ‘monster of the week’ format puts the duo into compromising positions but it’s usually Hank doing the dirty work. Even with an elephant gun in her hands, she seems very useless on the battlefield. For instance, she gets captured by an Incarnate and almost ends up being dead if it wasn’t for Hank. In later episodes, the show seeks to make us feel sympathetic for her because of the circumstances about her father. But honestly, I don’t buy it. In a time of despair and tragedy, she’s not the only one suffering inside. Unfortunately, you’ll hardly need a tissue when watching this anime because the storytelling’s emotional elements lacks impact. And at the end of the day, it's easy to point fingers at how weak Schaal is as a character.

That brings to another question, what about the rest of the cast? To be honest, most of them feels like filler characters with little to zero development. One of the more noticeable cast is Liza who serves as a sort of mentor and big sister to Schaal. The other noticeable character is Elaine Bluelake, who ends up being dead before the main story timeline begins. It’s what sets the main conflict between Hank and Cain. So if you’re actually expecting some sort of meaningful character study, prepare for disappointment. The reality is that a majority of Incarnates in the show suffer from psychological problems. They struggle between the balance of their humanity and monstrous side. Unfortunately, most of these Incarnates are used as plot devices and amplifying the themes of the show. It also tries to evoke a form of emotion but hardly succeed. Ask yourself how many of these Incarnates you can remember by heart when the show is over. For me, that’s almost zero. Oh for God's sake, why does Cain make me want to turn the TV off every time I see his face?

Studio MAPPA managed to animate the show to fit the time era of the mid-19th century. It’s actually refreshing to see an anime in this timeline for its aesthetics. Even character uniforms in the show is distinctive while the Incarnates are crafted with grotesque elements. It evokes a sense of fear once you realize the threat they pose to humanity. On the other hand, the character emotive performances is a letdown. Some character expressions often looks forced such as Schaal during her emotional outbursts. Hank always has a stoic face that borderlines on emotionless. It’s what drags down their character chemistry and ultimately makes the pair unremarkable. But if you’re in this show for its graphic violence, fan service, and dark fantasy action, that may leave some more favorable impressions. Maybe's cheeky humor writing is also noticable sometimes in the right and wrong ways.

With just 12 episodes, it won’t take long to get through the journey. However, this journey is not built on a masterful storytelling plot or creative cast. Instead, it ends up being a madhouse of generic clichés. I hate using that word but it’s how this anime played its cards. Should you watch this anime anyway? That’s up for you to decide in the end. I’m not your dad. But with everything this series showed us, this isn’t one to brag about to your friends.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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