Kemono Jihen – 09

I honestly don’t know which is my top pick of the season between this series and Kai Byoui Ramune, even if you pushed me.  It’s going to be interesting to see how I feel when I do the Top 10 list in December, which both series will surely be on.  What’s nice is that they’re as different as chalk and cheese, with the one big caveat of both being great.  Anime is like that, which is one of my favorite things about it.  Even with two titles broadly labeled “shounen” there’s such a divergence in tone and style.

Even within Kemono Jihen itself the tonal range is pretty huge, which is one of the things I really like about it.  After some very heavy and dark material the past two weeks, this episode is mostly comedy-driven.  There is some serious stuff though, as Shiki’s mom is still comatose and Aya is feeling very worthless for not having done more to protect her.  Ohana-sensei is confident Kumi will recover, however, and Shiki – who always defers to decency and kindness whenever the chips are down – has no qualms about accepting his sister as just that, his sister (though being called “Onii-chan” does weird him out a bit).

There’s a slightly heavy atmosphere at the office, too, as Shiki has decided to stay at the clinic while his mother (who finally does wake up) recuperates.  Akira and Kabane are glum about this, though only Akira has the emotional context to understand why.  For Kabane, the disconnect is that he knows he should be happy for Shiki, but feels emptiness because of his absence.  His attempt to smile his way through a lie about that is one of my favorite panels from the manga, hilarious but kind of heartbreaking at the same time.  Kabane is basically learning what it’s like to be emotionally vulnerable, and it isn’t easy.

Shiki has no intention of staying away, however – nominally because he feels (correctly, if we’re honest) that he owes Kabane a debt and wants to repay it by helping him find his parents.  In truth he wouldn’t stay away anyway, because those three are his family every bit as much as Kumi and Aya.  Speaking of which, Aya joins her brother in visiting the agency, and informs Inugami-san that she’s decided to open her own sub-clinic to help people (humans and otherwise) with her golden thread.  She shows a rather lurid taste in clothes for an eight year-old, and immediately decides Kabane is going to be her boyfriend.  Since he doesn’t really know what that is, he placidly agrees.

The arrival of Kon couldn’t have come at a better (for us) time.  Kon is as dense as dwarfstar alloy but her feelings for Kabane are unmistakable, even if she too lacks any emotional literacy to catalog them.  Aya, therefore, is immediately a rival and when Aya invites herself along on the job Inugami has assigned Kabane (and Akira, before he passed out from the description), Kon determinedly invites herself too.  This despite Inugami’s bemused warning about doing a “tanuki’s work” – her attachment to Kabane trumps even the admonition of her precious Inari-sama.

The case itself is relatively straightforward.  A kemono named Katanashi is peeling women’s faces off to try and make herself look more human (it… doesn’t work) so she can pursue the human lad at the local boutique.  Katanashi sees a kindred spirit in Kon, who’s agonizing at being frozen out by Aya.  It’s actually Aya who winds up solving the case (with an assist from “When in doubt, punch” Kabane), but Kabane is concerned that Kon leaves brokenhearted and furious (and he’s not even really mad that she tried to eat Aya).

The thing about Kabane is that his empathy is as pure as it can be.  Even if he doesn’t understand why he understands Kon is hurt and that he’s somehow involved, and wants to make it right.  He’s a precious gem of a child, truly, and he and Kon are a matched set in their innocent confusion about the heart.  When push comes to (a) shove (from Akira) and Kabane is asked to choose his “Number One”, though, he doesn’t hesitate.  It’s Inugami-san, of course – and if you think on it, how could it be otherwise?  Inugami is the first person at least since his parents (we can’t even be sure about them, and Kabane doesn’t remember them anyway) to show and concern for him as a person, and make him feel as if he had a right not just to live but to be happy.

All this works so beautifully – the charm and humor of the scenes with Kabane and Kon, the melancholy of Kumi secretly requesting a memorial to the ones dismissed as abominations who were still her children.  Kemono Jihen can handle such a tonal range that it never seems out if its comfort zone.  Next week we’re headed for another big change – though there is an interlude beforehand which I hope the anime doesn’t cut, even though it isn’t strictly necessary to the recurring plot.  The iceberg is just barely breaking the surface, and it would be a real crime to have this adaptation cut off in three episodes (especially when the series seems to have really struck a chord with audiences both here and in the English-speaking world).

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16 comments

  1. S

    It’s surprisingly endearing how someone like Kabane, who has had a neglectful upbringing, can do the right things when it comes to caring for others and he always follow through with them to the end.

  2. It’s proof of his essential nature. You can’t fight the cinnamon roll gene.

    I think the same about Shiki to an extent. He’s a gruff braggart but when the chips are down he always does the kind thing.

  3. S

    Also, there’s an infantile / pet-like behaviour to the way Kabane shows compassion. He’s very tactile and disregards personal space. It’s a very beautiful and untainted display of empathy.

    I can’t help but think of the Sanrio fluffy puppy when you mention ‘cinnamon roll’. It’s as cute as hell.

  4. s

    I just couldn’t stop myself from thinking “who is this for???” every time Aya showed up on screen. I thought this show was far enough removed from the mainstream that it could avoid the otaku bait.

  5. I’d totally forgotten about the Aya clothing thing, but I’m not surprised some viewers are a bit put off by it. It may or not have been a good choice by Aimotou but in her defense, I think the fact that the characters make note of how inappropriate her choices are for her age at least separates this from otaku bait.

  6. S

    In all honesty, I think there are no two ways about Kabane’s parents: if they left him in the care of someone else then it’s abandonment or, at the very least, neglect. Also, given Shiki’s circumstances, I feel a sense of trepidation about Kabane’s origin. Would it be even more horrifying? We’ll just have to wait and see.

  7. a

    Counterpoint: Kabane’s parents left him the life stone. Something so important, that one of the most powerful figures known in the story so far (Lady Inari) is willing to kill for and go against age-old treaties (as seen, when Inugami called her out). Why should they leave him something like that and try to find him a family (leaving him in the care of his aunt)? I sense desperation as their motive. Perhaps, just perhaps they knew they would be killed soon and so, they did what they could for their child. There are other possible explanations, but the fact that Kabane has the life stone is enough to convince Inugami, that his parents cared for him.

  8. S

    My stance is based on the information (or lack of) we are given so far. I’m quite sceptical about whether the parents’ intentions are even good in the first place. I mean, do they care about Kabane because he’s their child or are they involved in some nefarious plan that requires Kabane with the life stone. It’s all very intriguing.

  9. I get both your points here. In Animelax’ defense, I can see a rationale. The life of a half-breed in the kemono world would probably be very brutal, and we don’t know their circumstances to begin with. At least they left him with a sibling rather than a stranger or a nunnery (though she turned out to be a scumbag).

    I just really appreciate how straightforward Kabane’s love for Inugami is. This man cared about him and he remembers no one else doing that, so he gives his love to Inugami unreservedly. That’s an untarnished heart at work.

  10. J

    Ha, all these HxH and Gon/Kabane comparisons and it just occurred to me that HxH starts as a series about Gon searching for his father, while Kemono Jihen starts when Kabane finds the father he’s never had.

  11. Who convinces him to search for his father.

  12. Y

    Melted when Kabane’s real smile came out with Shiki’s return. It’s been a while since we’ve had a show where the characters are as adorable as those in Gakuen Babysitters. Regarding Aya’s clothing, I’ve seen little girls dressed like that (albeit in tube tops that covered a little more) and didn’t think much of it, though I can see why it’d be a cause of concern in anime. I see it possibly as an extreme reaction to years of being forced by Tadamaru Akio to wear clothes that made her look like a doll. Now that she’s free from his grasp, she’s adopted the fashion of a little spice girl.

  13. That’s a very good point. To Akio’s many sins maybe we can add misogyny, since he seems to have basically treated Shiki humanely but obviously not Aya.

  14. A

    Misogyny or objectified dehumanization? Might indeed be some of the former, but another possibility is that Shiki got treated like an independent individual because he was useless to Akio; the more independent he was, the better. Aya, on the other hand, was a precious possession, the Golden Thread. The more dependent she was, the better. I think if Aya had been born male the treatment would probably have been the same.

  15. Quite possible – we’ll never know. The one hint that might not be the case is the stereotypically “girly” way Akio parented Aya – the clothes, the dolls, etc. But the flipside is there’s no indication she disapproved at the time.

  16. Y

    Speaking of their differences, perhaps the fact that Shiki is his brother’s child also played a part or maybe being half-human makes a difference in Akio’s eyes. But then again, I can’t help but think that he took care of Shiki as a way of keeping Kumi.

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