English Dub Review: Kemono Jihen “Truth”

Overview:

Before Shiki can kill Akio some kemono show up to save him. They are Shiki’s siblings. Hearing them speak like his mother, Shiki breaks down and asks Kabane to help. Kabane goes into his powered-up form and kills them all. Turns out the little girl from previously is also Shiki’s sibling and the source of the golden webbing.

Our Take:

I know I said that the last episode was messed up but I think we will just say this whole arc is creepy. Still enjoyable and a fun watch but creepy nonetheless. All the kemono they are fighting are Shiki’s siblings from the “experiments” Akio, Shiki’s uncle, had her perform. It’s pretty messed up and the way they communicate by just saying things that Kumi said is the stuff of nightmares.

The animation in this episode was on point since there was a lot of action going on. The studio in charge of Kemono Jihen is Ajia-Do and I am not super familiar with much of their work. They have some popular shows under their belt but I just haven’t gotten around to watching a lot of them. The only one I have is a movie called Our Seven-Day War which was really well animated. The fight scenes in this episode were gorgeous plus it’s always awesome getting to see Kabane use his powered-up form. Kabane does not hold back during battle, literally crushing a kemono’s head at one point.

Madeline Morris and AJ Beckles put in great performances in this episode. AJ breaking down and screaming that he missed his mom was really moving and you could feel the emotion. I was holding back some tears, I could relate to how he was feeling especially when he was begging Kabane for help. Speaking of Kabane, Madeline did great portraying his anger at seeing his friend in emotional turmoil. Kabane didn’t even care when Nobimaru asked for help. We all hope to have a friend as devoted as Kabane.

That was a really intense arc and I wonder what is going to happen after this. The episode ends when they are trying to get help for Shiki’s mom, Kumi. His sister Aya is with him as well, I am hoping they join the agency as well. At the very least it would be cool if they were involved somehow. We will find out next time.