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Kemurikusa is everything I like to see in an original anime production: it is a unique display of artistry which takes advantage of its visual medium to convey an engrossing story to the viewer. The plot is inherently a mystery, and after watching the first episode I had a dozen ideas of how it might play out. Halfway through the series I had enough clues from the dialogue and set pieces to put some parts together. In the end, nearly every thread of the story was tied together into a conclusion which answered every question I had and even some I didn't know I had.

In ... my opinion the animation is a huge step up from Kemono Friends, Yaoyorozu's most prevalent previous work. There are still some moments where you'll notice cut corners, but this is the case for virtually every television anime series. For the most part the animation is fluid and effective. The character designs may look goofy at first but I quickly grew fond of them. The technical and creature designs are fascinating, with a combination of both familiar and alien elements. The titular Kemurikusa is visually striking and provides a strong over-arching motif which is drilled into your head throughout the series for reasons that become increasingly and alarmingly apparent. There is also a great deal of beauty in the environments, which often have hand-painted background art that plays nicely with the moving CG pieces.

If you aren't bothered by the animation or characters, and you approach the series with an open heart and mind, then I wholeheartedly recommend sticking through Kemurikusa as it becomes increasingly endearing as the story progresses and characters develop. The only man I envy is he who has not yet watched Kemurikusa, because the emotional payoff in the end is immense.

A series of cute shorts which amounts to metacommentary by Yaoyorozu interspersed with slice of life dialogues. If you're familiar with Yaoyorozu and Tatsuki then it's certainly worth a watch and you'll likely get a laugh or two out of it. If you aren't familiar then it won't make much sense but it can still be enjoyed for the beautiful environments and dumb jokes exchanged by the two protagonists.

The title, "Hentatsu", can be interpreted as a dumb joke about being a strange way to spend your time, which it certainly is. Despite being 12 separate minute-long shorts, it has quite a few gags that land ... squarely.