Kemono no Souja Erin – 21/22/23/24 – Throwback Thursday

Welcome all, to the halfway point for Kemono no Souja Erin! We have a lot to talk about, this was an eventful week. So let’s just jump right into it!

First up before we get to the good stuff I want to talk about something Erin does a lot that I’m honestly not a big fan of: Flashbacks. Erin has a lot of them. So many in fact that I often feel like it doesn’t trust us, the viewer, to remember anything. I’m talking about how half an episode will be filled reminding us about Erin’s time with Jone, or about what she saw with the wild Beast-Lords. On some level I understand this, the show aired in a timeslot for children. On top of that the way we are watching it, 4 episodes a week, is much faster than when it originally aired. Even with those however, I often see the same flashback either in back to back episodes or twice in the same episode. And that’s just… Insulting? Unnecessary? Wasting time? It doesn’t feel good that’s for sure.

Ultimately this isn’t a huge issue, Erin is still good and the flashbacks are always relevant to what is happening on screen. I just wish it would show a bit more restraint with them, that it would trust the viewer to remember what has happened a bit more. With that done, on to the episodes!

First up we have episode 21, “Extinguishing Light”. This is Erin’s first day of caring for Lilan and, unsurprisingly, the students are gossiping about it. Wondering why she got the job over Tomura, questioning if it’s legitimate, if she’s using Mist People tricks, etc etc. This is all expected, I said as much last week. What I like though is how Tomura isn’t engaging with any of it. He has his problems with Erin, he doesn’t appreciate being supplanted and removed from his role. But he isn’t going to disparage her or engage with rumors. Instead he calms them, tells them not to worry about it, and generally presents a united front to the rest of the school. It speaks well of his character, regardless of how combative he can be with Erin in private. Makes me like him.

As for Erin herself, she’s spending this episode caring for and watching Lilan. And I have to say, I really appreciate how much Erin is walking us through her thought process. Having her observe Lilan, seeing how she reacts to various stimuli, then comparing that to the Beast-Lords she saw in the wild. Figuring out that light coming from above reminds Lilan that her mother is gone, as normally light glows off of their feet, that sort of stuff. It’s a really nice process and helps you, the viewer, think of the Beast-Lords as legitimate and real animals rather then fantastic fantasy birds. It grounds them and helps make Erin’s world feel more real, at least to me. Plus it makes Erin’s intelligence feel earned rather than smart just because the story tells us she is. Simply put, it’s something I enjoyed a lot.

Speaking of things I enjoyed, it was also nice seeing Erin talk about her past with Tomura. Explaining why she’s so invested in Lilan, how she connects to the Beast-Lords feelings of being alone and separated from its mother. There is a kinship there beyond Erin simply caring for an animal, similar to how the wild Beast-Lord saving it’s baby from the Touda meant more to Erin than simply not watching a child get eaten. She’s projecting a bit, and acting for Lilan as Jone did for her. It’s sort of like she’s paying back the favor for how the Beast-Lords helped her overcome her own trauma a bit, though that isn’t to say it’s a conscious transaction on her part. I just like how these things are reinforcing each other for her, how the Beast-Lords bring her comfort and she in turn is compelled to care for them.

About the only thing I had even a marginal issue with, and I want to be clear I found this to be silly more then actually bad, was how Erin used the harp as a solution. Thematically it’s nice, it connects back to Ial and is really bring all of the characters with mother issues together. But on a phonetic level I think using a harp covered in a blanket to mimic the sound of a wild Beast-Lord is just a taaaad silly. Still, the way it is used is nice enough that I don’t much mind it. Comforting Lilan with a familiar sound, when paired with light coming from below, it makes sense why she would feel more comfortable and react to it. And it’s not like Erin just leaves it there, this continues to be expanded on as we go!

This brings us to episode 22, “The Sound of the Harp”. This episode Erin takes us back to the capital, letting us catch up with Ial as well as get some updates on all of the politics. We get to see Damiya purposefully stirring the pot, going out of his way to cause problems and ramp up the tensions between the Duke and the Queen’s quarters, as well as a history lesson on why the Sezan exist. Overall it was… fine? Not terribly exciting, especially after how interesting episode 21 was. But it did have a nice payoff at the end, and Ial giving Erin some advice and the two getting to interact more made it worth it. Hopefully Erin is able to take all of this and, when the time comes, bring it together to an exciting final arc.

As far as specific goes, we get to see a bit more into Ial’s head this episode. We see how he appears to be starting to doubt some of what he’s been taught, reflecting back on his experiences with his mentor and what he’s seen. But as per the advice he gives to Erin, he’s not yet at the point of questioning/hesitating against it. As he says, “Never hesitate, even if the decision isn’t perfect”. It makes me wonder just which side Ial will fall on. Will he be tasked to take/deal with Erin in the future, and these words will turn him into an enemy? Or will he doubt, will he fail to live up to them and, in turn, let Erin escape? I don’t know yet, and I think either one could work. But what’s clear is that Erin is setting him up for something soon.

Meanwhile on Erin’s side of things, she’s just looking to get the harp changed to better produce a sound for Lilan. While I’m still skeptical that this works phonetically, I like how much importance Erin is giving it. To modify this harp is to change it forever. Should this fail, she will have ruined one of her dearest possessions for no gain whatsoever. It gives Ial’s words a bit more weight, despite what Erin is working on being so small in the grand scheme of things. What she’s doing cannot be taken back. And this extends to her treatment of Lilan as a whole. As we will find out later, Erin is breaking a lot of rules/ ideas of how you’re supposed to care for Beast-Lords. Once everyone knows about that, you can’t take it back.

Speaking of Lilan though, I really did like the framing around this. Even if the scene was short, the way it was shot was just great. Putting Erin and Lilan in the cage with the light but framing it so that Esal and Tomura look like the ones in captivity. Meanwhile Erin and Lilan look like, in that moment, like they are actually free. The combination of the light and the harp having Lilan look at Erin like its mother. It reminds me a lot of a scene in Avatar The Last Airbender to be honest, though I won’t go to indepth on that so don’t worry about spoilers. Honestly it’s probably one of my favorite shots/scenes in the show so far, it was just that good. Hopefully Erin will be able to keep that feeling up going forward with Lilan’s story.

Next up we have episode 23, “Kazalm’s Oath”. This one is all about the fallout of Erin’s success, which is a weird thing to say considering what she accomplished. Still that is what is happening. Despite achieving what no one thought she could, breaking new ground in the field of Beast-Lords and discovering a way to raise them without breaking them, she must be punished for going against the established practices of the craft. It’s not so dissimilar to what happened to her mother, Soyon, which I’m sure makes this extra traumatic for her and only really servers to further put the corruption and flaws of this country into focus. In fact it apparently got so bad that much of the school was questioning if she even did it legitimately, asking if she didn’t use some Mist People tricks to do what Tomura couldn’t. A sad state of affairs really.

Apparently it could even get so bad that, if reported to the capital, Erin might have to be locked away in Lazal, the largest and greatest of the Beast-Lord care centers. That is assuming she wasn’t executed. All because her ability to tame a Beast-Lord is something only the Queen should be able to do. And that if Erin, someone other then the Queen, could pull it off then that would threaten the stability of the kingdom. People would want to use her, even if Erin herself was against it. Honestly I really liked all of this, it was a lot of stuff I hadn’t considered. I like how seriously Erin, and its characters, are taking this development. It adds a lot of narrative weight to a moment that was, otherwise, small and personal for Erin herself.

Now of course unsurprisingly the school, and it’s students, refuse to report her. To a man, or woman, they are all just like her. People who came here because they love and want to study, and care for, Beast-Lords. None of them are going to turn her in for this. In fact many of them even admire Erin for it, with Esal herself saying that Erin’s accomplishment was not a difference in imagination but of knowledge, going out of her way to point out that Erin is the only one here to have observed wild Beast-Lords. This is high praise coming from her! Of course it’s also funny that with this the school is, effectively, in rebellion since they aren’t following the law. Which is going to make the eventual crackdown on them all the more tragic.

As for Erin herself, she’s taking this about as well as can be expected. She hates that she and Lilan are getting dragged into politics, even if she understands it. Yet when faced with the consequences she refuses to back down, insisting that she will never use the Mute Whistle and will care for Lilan in her own way, confirming to Esal how much she cares. She’s probably prepared to be kicked out or sent away, to lose another family for the same silly reasons she lost her mother. So I’m sure it’s very emotional for her when everyone stands up to protect her, refusing to report her. Kazalm is probably the first community, IE more than 1 person, to truly accept and think like her. Even in her old home she was look at as a “Mist Person” after all. It’s rather touching, and I liked it a lot.

Finally we come to episode 24, “Song of Grief”. This is where we step away from Erin and Kazalm, instead refocusing on the evolving politics of the country, once again taking a look at the brothers Nugan and Shunan. While not a particularly exciting or emotional episode, at least not compared to episode 23, I think Erin did a lot of heaving lifting with it. Really diving in and justifying not only the growing split between the Duke and the Queen’s citizens, but Nugan and Shunan as well. After all, these two had a really strong bond until now. So Erin would need some rather strong justification to pit them against each other, it couldn’t just have Nugan randomly attempt to kill Shunan or something. And that justification is exactly what I got.

Nugan is, effectively, a conservative. He believes that the country is just right, that it should stay as it is, that their people are the Queen’s shield and should protect them despite everything thrown their way. This is important, because it means Nugan isn’t actually against the Queen, he doesn’t want to supplant her. But he doesn’t need to to inadvertently support Damiya’s plans. Meanwhile Shunan wants to do away with the divide, uniting the two halves of the country and turning them into one unified people. He wants the Queen’s citizens to understand what the Duke’s soldiers do for them, to convince both sides that the other is human. It’s an admirable goal, but one that would require completely changing how the country functions. In a lot of ways, it won’t even be the same country it was before. And that’s not something they are able to reconcile.

As for Damiya’s place in all of this? Well like I said with episode 22, he is purposefully stirring the pot here. Sending doctors to the palace instead of the battlefield, flowers instead of supplies to “remind them what they fight for”. He’s purposefully antagonizing the Duke’s citizens, driving them and the Queen’s further and further apart and towards rebellion. And the worst part? He appears to be succeeding, as the only thing holding the Duke’s quarter together is him/Shunan. Already we are seeing some soldiers break, either refusing to go back to war or going insane at the sight of the flowers. It’s a rather insidious plot, one with a lot more depth then I was actually expecting of him. I thought he would just kill the Queen, but maybe he intended for the assassination to fail. I’m not sure, but Erin’s politics are ramping up, in a good way.

On top of that, this episode also gave us a new song! I’ve long loved Erin’s music, but it feels like its been repeating the same couple of songs over and over and over again. Don’t get me wrong, these are good, and they generally fit whatever scene they are played over. But there’s only so many times I can hear “Aoi Hoshi” or “Lalalila Lalila” before I start to desire something new. And that’s exactly what I got with “Wajyaku“, a somber sort of war-song about a nation thanklessly doing their duty, dying for a people who hate them. It makes it clear that this isn’t a conflict they want, they don’t want to rebel against the Queen. But they feel like they are forced to as more and more is piled on top of them. Unsurprisingly, I really like this.

As for Erin, she really didn’t do much this episode. Spent some time with Tomura, still taking care of Lilan, all that stuff. It looks like we are getting some budding romance there though, which I’m unsure how I feel about. On one hand, it could be good. Erin is a growing girl, this had to come up eventually after all. And I think it could make for some great tragedy if Erin decides to go down the route of splitting them up or killing Tomura when Kazalm’s effective rebellion inevitably becomes known. On the other hand though, Erin doesn’t really need romance for her character arc. She’s chugging along nicely without it and I can see a world where she goes the entire show without touching on it. Either way, I’m sure Erin can make it work whatever it decides to do, it’s just something I noticed.

So yeah, all in all I thought this was a pretty good week for Erin. Lots of stuff happened, the politics are starting to kick off, Erin herself is making waves. It feels like Erin is really starting to like… go somewhere. Like all of the momentum it’s been building up since Soyon died, Erin waking up to the cruel reality of the world, learning about Beast-Lords, the growing political tensions, is starting to come to a head. And that once it all kicks off we are going to be in non-stop action, or well maybe not action but events, until the end. Maybe that’s just me jumping the gun a bit, I don’t know. But suffice to say I’m excited for where the series is going and I’m looking forward to when the powder keg finally blows.