OP: “Kemonomichi” by Daisuke Ono

Really good anime are always a pleasure, make no mistake about it.  But just what sort does vary a lot depending on the series.  There’s the euphoric joy you get when a show completely hits you out of the blue.  With something like Horimiya it’s almost like relief – the source material and staff are so good that anything less than greatness would have been a disappointment (there’s nowhere to go but down, in a sense, so it’s nice not to go anywhere).  But Kemono Jihen is a particular source of pleasure for me – the pleasure you get when the world gets let in on the secret you feel like you’ve had almost to yourself.

To be sure, there’s a bit of relief mixed in there for me, because there was no guarantee the anime would be as strong on the production side as it has been.  There have been a few minor trims here and there, but for the most part Ajia-do and Fujimori Masaya have done a pretty close to perfect job in these first two episodes of communicating what sort of story Kemono Jihen is.  It evolves a lot from here but the foundation is laid down at this point.  These first two eps are a stellar example of exposition done right.  And while the bulk of the credit for that goes to Aimoto Shou, the anime has been uncommonly good at closing the circuit.

With the premiere having focused on the essential mythology and the two most important characters, the follow-up gets down to the mechanics of the story itself, and the most essential of the remaining cast.  Inugami tells Kabane his agency are “kemonoists”, essentially tasked with addressing the problems which occur when kemono step out of line and make trouble in the human world (“like a bear wandering into a town”).  His two live-in employees are surprised to see their new roommate, though only one of them reacts with outright hostility.

Shiki (Hanae Natsuki) gets labeled as “Baby Bakugo” a lot, but he reminds me at least as much of Killua (I’m tempted to say Ise Mariya would have been perfect casting but that’s almost too on-the-nose).  He straight off asks Kabane his age, and being 14 himself is pleased at the answer – “Probably 13”).  Like Kabane he’s a hanyou, one of his parents a spider youkai (and he uses his thread to trip up Kabane on the first night).  Shiki’s rough greeting mostly amounts to adolescent territorial marking, and once Kabane reveals more of himself Shiki does too.  By the end of the episode it’s clear that Shiki’s aggressive personality results from the fact that he too, like Kabane, has found himself rejected by the worlds both of kemono and humans.

The other resident is Akira (Murase Ayumu), whose exact nature isn’t disclosed but who can be inferred to be a full-blooded kemono.  He can also be inferred to be a boy, because he is, and he expresses some horror at Kabane mistaking him for a pretty girl (as did much of the new audience last week, despite Inugami’s verbal clue to the contrary).  Akira is the Yin to Shiki’s Yang, open and friendly but as delicate and demure as Shiki is brash and rough-edged.  Akira welcomes Kabane because it’s his nature to do so, but he also cuts immediately to the truth of why Inugami has brought him home – either he feels sorry for him because he has no place to go, or he’s really strong.

About the most exciting thing that happens on the first night is Kabane trying to eat his first slice of pizza (which is the first bonding moment between he and Shiki), but soon a job comes in – at the behest of “Ms. Inari”.  It’s way too much for the local rozzers, and it’s easy to see why – a bunch of sanshicu (“corpse bugs”) have descended on a ratty apartment, seemingly consuming a mother and child and one of the rescue squad.  They’re kemono of course, drawn to the house by the guilt (not the act itself) of the younger son for stealing a pair of shoes for their mother, and the older for yelling at him about it.

This case provides a good introduction to the sort of work Inugami does.  It’s gross, it’s scary, and it’s tough – the bugs eat Shiki’s spider thread, and in order for Inugami to go full tanuki and turn his skin to steel much time would be needed.  But Kabane feels no pain and no fear, and has no blood for the bugs to inject their paralytic poison into.  He boldly charges in and defuses the situation, immediately proving his worth to a man in Inugami’s line of work.  Indeed the hardest part of the job for Kabane is witnessing the closeness of the family, a painful reminder of the sort of life he’s led himself.

It’s worth remembering that none of this main cast is human, which can be easy to lose sight of sometimes.  Kabane is seemingly impassive, but still waters run deep – when Shiki coldly assures him that he (both of them, in fact) has been abandoned, Kabane unmistakably bristles.  And he finally admits to Inugami that yes, he’d like to see his parents again, should it be possible.  Just how much of Kabane’s stoicism is a reflection of his bloodline, and how much the emotionally brutality he suffered at the hands of his aunt?  Nature vs. nurture indeed – but the emotional lifeline Inugami good-naturedly held out to Kabane has most certainly been grabbed.