Common Name: Kemurikusa
Score: 6/10, 5/5
Length: 12 Episodes
Genre: Sci-fi, Action, Thriller, Supernatural
Summary: As the only survivors of a dying world, every day is a battle for a family of supernaturally-powered girls. Together, they battle the relentless "mushi" that hunt them and search endlessly for water that will keep them alive and give them the power to fight. Try as they might, though, the chances of their survival seem bleak until a newcomer stumbles his way into their group. Unsure of who he is or where he came from, the newcomer, Wakaba, has the uncanny ability to notice things that the sisters wouldn't and concocting plans that might see them to the end of their journey. Whether that end will be sanctuary or simply their deaths, though, will all depend on how well they can learn about and control the mysterious kemurikusa that fuels the sisters' strange abilities.
Review: For anyone familiar with his previous work, the original Kemono Friends anime, it should come as no surprise that Tatsuki's latest endeavor, Kemurikusa, is something of an odd duck. Pretty much everything he has made thus far in the anime world can be called such, thanks to his weirdly charming but amateurish brand of CG animation. Yet, in comparison to his other works, it really isn't much of an exaggeration to consider Kemurikusa "peak" Tatsuki. This is, after all, essentially a reimagining of a concept he produced as an amateur back in 2010, long before Tatsuki was brought on by Kadokawa to adapt Kemono Friends as an anime. So, it should also come as no surprise that Kemono Friends and Kemurikusa have a few things in common.
And, of course, I'm talking about more than just that weird,
stilted brand of CG animation Tatsuki is famous for.
Like its predecessor and technical successor, Kemurikusa centers on a group of disconcertingly quirky characters trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic or dystopian world where they are regularly threatened by a species of single-minded, predatory creatures. Almost immediately, though, it is made abundantly clear where some of the conceptual similarities depart. Namely, in Kemono Friends, the world is still very much a bright and happy place for the Friends who call Japari Park their home. While it is sad that the Cerulians make life difficult at times, the Friends more or less have everything under control and know how to live around their predatory threat. In Kemurikusa's case, however, everything is much more dire. Rather than an apocalypse that has come and gone and seen life flourish in mankind's absence, this world is on the brink of a total world death. While the structures and some technology still survive, it is made clear that resources are both scarce and dangerous to acquire. As is pointed out later in the series, the world is, as far as the sisters are aware, only made up of a series of islands that are separated by walls and surrounded by a lethal red fog that is steadily encroaching on what little land is left each passing day. Then, to make matters worse, the show's counterparts to the Ceruleans, known simply as "Bugs" or "Mushi," are presented as being generally more aggressive, lethal, and a near-constant threat that the cast opts to avoid whenever possible.
A fact made clear by the simple fact that the show starts with one of the Rina sisters dying to protect a tiny pool of water they'd only just found.
So, without any room for argument or even a pause to really consider the logic of implications of everything that happens at the start, we are made to understand that these characters are a family barely clinging to life. In fact, a little later on, the reality of how bad things are is made even more clear when Rin explains that their group has lost three of her older sisters already. Despite the losses they've suffered and how impossible their odds of survival are, though, they are still a family fighting to keep each other alive as best they can. In fact, that statement alone pretty much sums up the heart and appeal of this series as a whole. There's an earnest but single-minded kind of love shared between this family of weirdos that makes their journey all the more engaging. There's just this strange kind of assured understanding that, no how dire things get for them, these girls are the center of each other's world. So long as they are together, they are happy and each would do anything to keep the others' happiness alive, even if it means sacrificing themself to make that happen. Even though they're all fairly simple as characters go, they way they all mesh together as a family and look out for one another offers a solid root to the actual drama and plot of the show itself.
It's kind of hard not to love Tatsuki's simple but earnest characters
once you've gotten used to the look of his shows.
That's right, though, all that character and setting establishment is just the root of this show and the heart that keeps the plot going. While the show is given several moments that let that heart shine, it isn't necessarily the story itself. No, that doesn't really begin until the new addition to this family of weirdos makes his appearance and gets the ball rolling. Almost literally appearing out of nowhere, Wakaba basically comes into being to upset and, at least in the sisters' eyes, potentially destroy what little peace they've momentarily found for themselves. Both to them and to himself, he is something of a mystery that no one can really explain since he doesn't seem to function like anything they've dealt with before. For starters, while he might bleed the color the same color as the Bugs that attack them, he isn't openly hostile and can't be killed using the plant-like tools known as kemurikusa, thus ruling him out as a bug. At the same time, though, while he can talk like they can, he doesn't have any special ability or natural affinity for any particular kemurikusa, which also rules him out as one of them. So, while still unsure of what he is, the sisters' eventually decide it might not be a terrible idea to bring him along on their journey since he might prove to be useful somehow.
That's right, boys and girls, meet perfectly-normal-human Wakaba.
As you might expect, Wakaba's primary role to the story is to serve as an audience proxy that will steadily learn about his traveling companions and the world they live in throughout the show. Yet, as the show goes on, he steadily sheds that mantle to become a solid mystery in his own right. Though he lacks the powers the sisters naturally possess, he steadily gains the ability to use every kemurikusa they come across, rather than just the one each sister is naturally attuned to. What's more, unlike the sisters, he is able to read the messages left behind by one of the deceased elder sisters and some mythical figure her notes refer to as "The First Person." Though most of this doesn't actually go anywhere until the final couple of episodes, both the mystery of Wakaba's past and that of the world at large is drip-fed throughout the series. This slow and gradual revealing of the larger truth offers a well-balanced level of intrigue to the show on top of the ever-present tension of the sisters' journey and the action that crops up whenever they hit a wall, literal and metaphorical.
And, of course, there's also some fairly good character comedy to offer
a little levity that wonderfully humanizes the cast.
One of the show's least impressive but fundamentally integral mysteries to the show, however, is simply what Wakaba's presence is adding to the group and how he is affecting each sister. Specifically, as he slowly comes into his own as a character, the sisters steadily begin to shift their opinions of him, eventually forgoing the thought that he might be a danger to them altogether. In the case of the youngest sister Rina, who has split herself into pieces (Rinacchi, Rinaji, Rinayo, Rinamu, and the deceased Rinako) so they might be more effective in combat, they get to play into their role in the group as the little sister more energetically. While obviously energetic in their own right already, Wakaba functionally becomes a playmate they can torment, mock, and play games with without bothering their older sisters. In the case of the eldest sister, Ritsu, who functions in the group as a kind of telepath and channeler for the Midori kemurikusa that is both their primary weapon and means of transportation, Wakaba plays the role of a friend and fellow nerd. Like him, she shares a similar fascination with the kemurikusa but is concerned primarily with her beloved Midori. This shared ground offers them a few quality bonding moments throughout the series where they just get to relax and geek out over how impressive her baby is.
Like I said, pretty decent character comedy.
The character exchanges that prove to be the most important, however, are those between Wakaba and the valkyrie of the group, Rin. Among the sisters she is, by far, the most skeptical of Wakaba from the very beginning and the last to finally accept him as a member of their group. Though she has no real personal reason to really dislike him, Rin is understood to be extremely defensive of her sisters and is always wary of anything that might endanger them. Having lost four of her sisters already, though, her wariness and initial bitchiness toward Wakaba are entirely justified. As the two of them steadily break the ice between them, though, their uneasy camaraderie steadily develops into feelings of love that Rin doesn't know how to handle.
It's kind of adorably hilarious how she just assumes that her heart racing and face flushing
whenever he's around is a sign that he's somehow poisoning her.
Yet, what's important about this isn't necessarily the development of love itself but, rather, what those feelings mean for Rin. Throughout the entire series, there's a bit of a subplot regarding Rin and how her sisters worry about his she values her duty to protect them over simply enjoying life. Unlike the rest of them, Rin has yet to find something she really likes that might make her troubled life a little happier. For example, the Rinas love eating things they've never seen before and treat every new structure or pattern they see as a gourmet meal for them to savor when they have the time. Then, of course, Ritsu has her maternal love for her precious Midori. So, with Wakaba's appearance and the effect he seems to have on her, there seems to be a good chance that Rin might have finally found the thing she likes. Yet, since she's not really in a situation where she can afford to consider her feelings or desires, Rin simply opts to deny her own happiness for fear that she might get distracted or grow weaker somehow, endangering her sisters in the process. It's not until the end, though, that Rin is forced to really look at what she wants out of life and realizes what her sisters have been trying to tell her all along, to value herself over her insecurity-fueled duty.
While it takes a couple of attempts to really sink in, though, it's these rare moments when Rin really speaks
about her own desires that prove just how much Wakaba's presence is affecting her.
So, like I said, there are a few similarities between Kemurikusa and Tatsuki's Kemono Friends but this is easily the best story he's told yet. Perhaps that's simply because Tatsuki has had years to hone his story into something truly special but it's still a significant step up from his previous work in many ways. For starters, with a setting he had full reign over, we got a properly dire post-apocalypse story with characters that believably struggle to survive but also manage to maintain a kind of hope rarely seen in the genre. With these characters, we see both the beginnings of characters like Kaban and how they might have grown if given the chance, simple though they are. Though the presentation of it all is in Tatsuki's signature brand of janky CG, it managed to tell a truly special story that ultimately feels like a celebration of what new and amateur talents have to offer the industry. From his work on the story and the shoestring budget CG to the use of a Vocaloid-orchestrated song for the ED, everything about this entire series screams that this is a passion project, which a brand of anime rarely seen in the industry these days. So, needless to say, I recommend this show highly to anyone who has the stomach to put up with amateurish CG and would personally love to see more. I just worry that we might not see this same level of quality from Tatsuki again unless he's given the assistance and resources necessary to succeed and survive in the anime industry.