Kemonozume

Creatures known as Shokujinki have been secretly living alongside humans for hundreds of years. Though they may look like humans, Shokujinki are able to transform into uncontrollable beasts with gigantic claws and consume humans to survive. The equally secretive Kifuuken dojo specializes in killing Shokujinki by cutting off their arms, and is the only force preventing unchecked Shokujinki domination.

Toshihiko Momota, the son of the leader of the Kifuuken, is instantly charmed by a mysterious woman named Yuka Kamitsuki. Their relationship is complicated, however, because unbeknownst to them both, Yuka is a Shokujinki and Toshihiko is sworn to kill her. Meanwhile, the Kifuuken is having a crisis of confidence as Toshihiko's brother Kazuma pushes against tradition and tries to modernize the Kifuuken. As emotions are strained and the secrets of both the past and present are revealed, who will live, and who will be eaten?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kamitsuki, Yuka Main

Shiina, Hekiru Japanese

Momota, Toshihiko Main

Kiuchi, Hidenobu Japanese

Saru Supporting

Ooba, Kyuutarou Supporting

Utsumi, Kenji Japanese

Ooba, Saiji Supporting

Gouri, Daisuke Japanese

Kakinoki, Rie Supporting

Kakinuma, Shino Japanese

Momota, Kazuma Supporting

Yoshino, Hiroyuki Japanese

Momota, Juzo Supporting

Hazumi, Jun Japanese

Hoozuki, Shin Supporting

Katsu, Anri Japanese

Hoobari, Gakuto Supporting

Yanada, Kiyoyuki Japanese

Fujio, Tsutomu Producer

Ogisu, Hirotsugu Producer

Yuasa, Masaaki Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard, Series Composition, Key Animation

Nakajima, Toshihiko Sound Director

Reviews

Dec 21, 2007

Phill-z

Recommended

10's all across the board eh? Now I'm going to really have to defend that decision aren't I? This will be interesting because for something like Kemonozume there just aren't adequate words to describe how and what it is.

Story: I almost want to say it's Romeo and Juliet. But....it isn't. It sort of starts out that way, two groups of people who hate and kill each other....but it definitely evolves from there. It's a beautiful love story, the two protagonists go through quite alot...and not just with each other. The blend of characters that contribute to this story were ... quite amazing, each character shaping pieces of it as it went along. There were a couple things I saw coming from a mile away, but I wasn't at all disappointed by that, it was beautifully done. It's 13 episodes long, which is a perfect length for something like this. It did kind of slow down near the ends of a couple of the episodes but it was almost always very engaging.

Art: What is there to say about the art? Kemonozume is art. I remember seeing Kemonozume featured on a different site and every single person commented on the art. It does take an open mind to view this. The art is completely sporadic, sometimes it's absolutely barbaric and crude and choppy, while other scenes are beautiful and smooth. But the fact that the art is all over the place makes this a truly memorable anime. I've never seen this art used in any other anime, except for Mind Game. It's incredibly refreshing.

Sound: The entire soundtrack is jazz. I don't know why they chose jazz, considering that it's set in Japan in a relatively recent time peroid....but they decided to go with jazz. And it definitely works. It's all up-tempo stuff and it really does a great job of furthering the mood in this piece. They re-use some of the songs a bunch, and it's cool to see how the same song can be used in a completely different scene and give a completely different feel to it.

Character: They did an amazing job with characters in this anime. Some are kind of cheesy, and contain traits that are a little...stereotypical. The way they made each character interact with each other is great. I could imagine each character as a person, the emotions they exhibited were incredibly real. I found myself genuinely caring about these characters, something that doesn't happen to me as often as I would like it to.

I watched Mind Game, then I decided that since Kemonozume had the same style of art that I would watch it. I'm glad I did that. It's not the kind of animation from Naruto or Gankutsuou or any other kind of anime. Unique, is a more than perfect way to describe this entire anime. There aren't any annoying anime cliches in this. However you have to have an open mind about your anime to watch this. It's not something that can be enjoyed if you're only in to one kind of anime..like Mecha or Shoujo. And if you are interested in watching this, please download Mind Game first, just so you know what you're getting into.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Aug 6, 2010

RandomChampion

Mixed Feelings

I'm looking over all these reviews, the majority giving this anime 9 or 10, and am thinking to myself that it must be some kind of joke. I have watched a good amount of anime and cannot understand how such a bogus-ass anime could garner such high ratings.

Story: 5/10

This is pretty much a story revolving around humans and their relationship with monsters known as "flesh eaters" who are cursed with an appetite for human beings. The general story starts out pretty solid and interesting - a typical situation in which a person has to choose between his human comrades and ... a monster. One would think that it would be pretty hard to botch this tried-and-true plot line. However, this anime manages to turn what could have been a relatively decent story into one of absolute bullshit and nonsense. The episodes turn from engaging and suspenseful to utter crap that simply drags on. By the closing of the series i was forcing myself to hang in there till the end. Good thing it's only 13 episodes. I would stay away from this anime unless you like watching mindless, uninteresting crap pulled out of the director's ass. the only reason i give it a 5 is because the first few episodes were somewhat interesting.

Art: 3/10

Sticking a paintbrush in my ass and attempting to draw human figures on a canvass would produce a better picture than what would be found in the "art" of Kemonozume. i can understand the artist wanting to create a rushed, violent, and haphazard look to try and match the mood, but not to the point of looking like something out of a 10-year-old's doodling in a school notebook. I for one do not hold art in high regards when judging and anime, but for those who do - I think you will need to be a very "special" person to appreciate this lousy, half-assed artwork.

Sound - 6/10

The sounds and music used are nothing special. They consist of mostly jazz/jazz related music. The music is neither outstanding nor mediocre and sufficiently plays its roll in this uninteresting anime.

Characters - 5/10

The characters in this anime are adequately interesting. However, many of the main characters are very inconsistent in their behaviors, ideas, and actions. It isnt really clear why some actions are carried out by some characters. Many of the actions seemed to be pulled out of the director's ass in order to boringly further the plot. None of the characters appealed to me or stood out as is usually the case in animes/mangas.

Enjoyment - 3/10

The beginning of the anime gave me the idea that i would be in for a decent ride. However, the episodes/series turned to crap as they became filled with a third rate plot; shitty, pointless, weird ass sex scenes; and lame fight scenes. This anime was a struggle to finish.


The only reason i can think of for the various high scores given to this anime is that people fall for the third-class plot line that tries too hard to be deep and philosophical. People also probably find this anime "artsy" for its use of jazz and broken-looking drawings. It is a shame that in its attempt to be philosophical and mature, this anime turned out to be inconsistent with a plot full of holes.

Overall: 5/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Mar 7, 2010

dur222

Not Recommended

Three words. Piece of crap.

Thought I should give more balance on this load of shit for all you anime watchers out there so here it is. It might give you another point of view from a reviewer who didn't give it a 9 or a 10.

First of all, beware of brain cell damage after watching this anime!

Overall art:

I understand some people are into this but c'mon man, looks like everyone's been run over by a train. Too many distortions and un-proportional animation. Movement angle's all wrong. You can argue that it matches the style of the dark-themed storyline, but the last four episodes look like ... they plain gave up on common sense whatsoever. That is, unless you enjoy watching ugly heads dancing around, WTF.

Story:

If you enjoy romance that consists of nothing but sex, then this might be your anime to watch. Have to warn you though, the sex scenes aren't even that good- unless having sex with ugly looking monsters turn you on.

The plot is poorly developed. This guy finds sex with a monster and runs of with her. They have sex.Things happen back home. They have more sex. More, boring, things happen back home. They continue to have sex.

They somehow manage to find time from all that sex to destroy a crazy maniac.

Romance my ass.
The END.

Overall:

Sometimes shit is created with a constipated attempt to seem mature and deep. Some people interpret it as more than it is, and think it to be genius. This is one of those occasions.

If you're trying to dim the lines between what is human and what is monster, then writing about how both human and monster are lustfilled idiots who kill each other is not the way to go. If you're writing romance then give me at least one scene where it doesn't involve sex, PLEASE.

So, yeah. Do not recommend.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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