English Dub Review: To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts “To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts”

Overview:

During a civil war, one side takes more drastic measures.

Our Take:

There’s a civil war happening, and since the North is losing to the South, they decide to infuse some of their elite soldiers with monsters. This begins to give the North a distinct advantage, which leads to the North turning the tide on the war.

They do a pretty good job of setting up the characters and namely, what makes them all sympathetic. Even if they are viewed as horrible enemies by the opposing side, just because they have the capacity for violence doesn’t mean that they’re actually inhuman. They live, love, and care for people just like anyone else because they are human. The squad is all pretty close to each other too,

At the same time, it isn’t just their enemies that view the squad as monsters, but their allies as well. One of the generals remarks to his subordinate that the monsters of the squad are tools, not fellow comrades. Even if they are all fighting on the same side, the people who can’t transform view those that can as entirely different entities. There’s hardly any camaraderie. Even before things started going wrong, they are at a disadvantage.

It turns out that the experiments that made the squad inhuman is irreversible, and also causes the soldiers eventually to lose themselves. It’s not entirely clear just how things went wrong, but everyone affected will eventually be taken over by their monstrous sides, and lose their humanity. After this, they will have to struggle to remain, people, as they will become no better than beasts, attacking enemies and allies alike. Before their squad can be wiped out, the two people who might put a stop t things are dispatched, leaving the captain injured and near death. He embarks on the promise he made– to kill all members of the squad who have ceased being human, in order to save their souls.

I will say, never trust anyone named Cain. People named Cain are just out to cause trouble. That being said, it’s really hard to tell what exactly Cain wants, besides cause chaos throughout the country. Is he a spy from the other country? What does he have to gain by keeping the degradation a secret from the higher officers? Naturally, it’s too early to tell as of right now, but I do have to wonder since it seems fairly illogical so far without a cure in sight.

That being said, it’s a pretty strong introductory episode. Introduces the characters, the problem, and the mission the protagonist is on.