English Dub Review: Kemono Jihen “Kemono Incidents”

Overview:

Nobimaru is unable to remove the nil stone because of how cold it is. With Kabane’s help, they exhaust Yui and Akira manages to pull out the stone. Kabane’s stone and the nil stone fuse into one. Yui and Inugami fill them in on what the stones mean and how they might be linked to Kabane’s parents. Inari has a mission for Kon. Where will her loyalties lie now that she is close to Kabane?

Our Take:

I want to get the big negative out of the way. I HATE cliffhangers, especially when there is no guarantee of a second season. Also, when the stuff that gets teased is super interesting and I want to see where it goes. This episode closed out the arc and the season but then gave us even more. Usually, I love that but this is a one cour series and I would be really surprised if this gets another season. I guess if you want to continue the story this is another one of those “read the manga” endings.

Okay, bad stuff out of the way. The fight in this episode was awesome, and I love when characters use their abilities in unique ways. It’s what makes My Hero Academia and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure such a joy to watch. Since Kabane is practically indestructible he has Nobimaru set him on fire to fight Yui. Eventually, they are able to wear him down but since the nil stone is so cold they aren’t able to touch it.

Luckily, Akira can touch it and with the help of Kabane’s life stone, they are able to remove it. After this, we get some awesome backstory and find out the reason for the title of the show. Turns out kemono jihen stands for demon incident and references a war that took place between humans and kemono. Only the most prestigious of kemono had a life stone which means that Kabane’s parents were probably pretty influential.

Kon is also tasked with spying on Kabane and trying to get him to give her the life stone. They don’t outright say “make him fall in love with you” but I am pretty sure that is what they mean. Luckily, Inugami sees through this but Kabane still wants her to travel with them.

I am not a fan of how the series ended but it was a fun ride and I liked the show. I guess now I just have another manga I need to start reading to get the full story. You win this time anime industry!