Category: Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction

And so Kemurikusa comes to a fitting end, one that never surpassed its peak that was episode 11, but it’s a decent one to close off this series. Kemurikusa is an adventure show at heart, so it’s always more about the journey than the destination. They go for hopeful route here, as Wakaba and Rin reach the natural world, as opposed to their destructive world. Frankly though, I regard it as the least favorite part of the episode, it feels more as a wish-fulfilling part where they all reach happy ending: the perfect place to stay free of red bugs, all the girls somehow make it alive (despite several heartfelt goodbyes) and Rin expresses her love for Wakaba. About the last part, while it sounds corny on paper, it actually has some deeper layers. Rin embodies the original leaf of The First Person, and the First Person herself is pretty much in love with Wakaba. She’s the one who erased her own mission of saving Wakaba once she learns that he’s consumed by the red fog. That makes it quite a tragic story of splitting herself up for no purpose at all.

At the same time, the whole point of this journey, internally, is for Rin to realize her feeling with Wakaba. While I could argue that having Wakaba stabbed (and then miraculously rescued later on) just to bring Rin’s emotion out is a bit calculated, I don’t really mind it personally. As soon as she speaks out her heart, the lost sisters appeared to save the day. These girls have a strong presence throughout the show despite their limited screen time that I’m more than happy to see they come back and kick some ass. There’s still some slightly loose threads that I want to know more. For example, Wakaba’s origin and more about the Sisters’ death circumstances, but at the same time I’m pleased with the amount of world-building Kemurikusa has put in. The intriguing of this apocalyptic universe is certainly Kemurikusa’s biggest assets.

As a whole, I don’t regret blogging this show. The visual elements remain the show’s biggest love-it or hate-it. I think the detractors have their valid arguments when they point out the show’s “unpolished” look. For me though, it has become TATSUMI’s signature style, one that remains unique in this medium. To add to that, the show has a strong grip on its color palette and the sound designs. Full review will come shortly.

At long last, we have an entire episode in flashback and explains much of its Kemurikusa’s rich settings. Even at the risk of over-informed us with details, all the information we learn this week is both unexpected, and makes total sense. Before we get into the details, (AND WHAT A MAJOR REVEAL), I feel the need to mention the soundtrack/ score of Kemurikusa. The score isn’t flashy by any mean, but it fits very well to the tone of this world. TATSUKI is the person of praise here, as you can see the pure authenticity, the total control towards this indie project. While normally characters writings (and their dialogues) aren’t his forte, the way he builds up his world-buildings – details upon details, to the point you can see every bit in its world is there for a reason – is amongst simply masterwork. More than any other episode, this week sweeps viewers away by a flashback story between Wakaba and the First Person, which turns out to be a resurrected child name Riri, at the very start of it all. And Kemurikusa manages to close the episode seamlessly when it cuts from the cliffhanger to the extended ED that just by looking at the ED alone, you’d learn the entire context of what had been happening. Beautiful. This week certainly the best episode of Kemurikusa so far, to the point where it singlehanded raise the show up a notch for me.

So the first major drop is Riri herself, whom who soon learn is “saved” by Wakaba the researcher. The show distinctly points her as the only human in this cast (leaving Wakaba as an alien. We will get to that later). She does have a talent of mixing/ creating kemurikusa, and she’s the one who creates red toxic kemurikusa out of her goodwill. The irony is certainly there as she only wanted to make it just so that Wakaba won’t overworked. I certainly appreciate the art direction of this flashback, especially in regards to the red/blue hybrid post-apocalyptic world these girls are in now. The settings are drawn with dull (and much less aggressive) color palette compared to the current world. In addition, with only little screen time, the flashback does a decent job of selling us the chemistry between Wakaba and Riri.

The reveal certainly answers many questions, but in turns it brings another one: who and what exactly is Wakaba the present? His former self is an alien scientist who studies about Kemurikusa and making islands. He is indeed the Captain of these white bugs, and lastly the Kemurikusa technology is entirely man-made and unnatural. But what about his current self? I believe he’s Wakaba’s clone who inhabits his personality but not his memory. It’s pretty much up in the air whether the original Wakaba is still alive or already bite the dust.

Lastly, we have a pretty firm context regarding the origin of Kemurikusa girls (and how each of them inherits one of the First Person’s sense), and the content of the blurry text. By combining all Kemurikusa leaves and splits into multiple red hair girls, she gives up being a human with her mission is to save Wakaba. It certainly feels bitter how these girls have been struggling (and even lost their own objective) ever since. At this point I am almost certain that we won’t see other sisters again, and hopefully, Rin and Wakaba can take Riri’asbody back. I feel pretty much rewarding that I stick to Kemurikura’s ride until now, because this episode is simply a blast that reaffirms everything that comes before it.

Welp, I don’t think I have taken that long break before since I started blogging. My life has been busier than usual lately and I also feel a little bit burnt out from blogging lately. Writing can be a pain sometimes. Hopefully this is just a temporary slump because I’m not intending to stop blogging anytime soon. Now let’s get back to the last three episodes of Kemurikusa where the world-building remains just as intriguing, the characters getting slightly better and we still have absolutely no idea where the whole journey is going to end. I was certainly taken aback by Kemurikusa’s decision to skip over the big cliffhanger at the end of episode 7. There were an army of Red Bugs and the sea of Red Mist after all, and all it took is 3 seconds into episode 8. Now, upon reflection, while that skip is definitely jarring and affects my suspension of disbelief quite a bit, it does fit with the kind of story Kemurikusa is trying to tell. It’s more about the characters’ relationship and how they figuring out that worldbuilding together, not about them fighting red bugs. Wakaba has gotten full trust from the girls right now, but the star(s) of episode 8 are those little white bugs. They themselves have their own sad stories: products that no longer have any purpose, a bunch of sad sacks who live because they can’t die. Just for a 5 minute duration, these adorable bugs sacrifice themselves because at least they die knowing that their lives have a purpose.

In episode 9, Wakaba encounters the other 2 supposedly-deceased sisters, Ryo the fighter and Ryoku the tsundere scholar. These girls’ personalities are fun and distinctive enough that they make a good impression and clearly stand out on their own. Ryo is hyperactive and has an acute sense of smell (the five sense motif is running strong here), whereas Ryoku is the mind, the one with knowledge (and a written diary). One interesting fact is that these girls are from the same body in which one personality emerges at the time. This could mean that either they are just a hallucination of Wakaba (the others haven’t seen them at all), or they are using the same leaf right now, and for whatever reasons they don’t want to meet their sisters (my big guess is simply because they can’t). In episode 10 we also learn an important detail: the flashback through the point of view of the First Person, who turns out to be a child as well. Whatever written in the memory leaf, or moreso, whatever erased in the leaf written by the First Person, will serve as a big revelation for these next few episodes.

As their journey has gotten into its last leg, it’s almost unavoidable to see the team members apart. I mean, it fits neatly to the hopeless tone of their situations and the dark grim nature these girls are in, and although I could see where it was going with all the “this is the last time” scenes, the time where they part way is still goddamn heartfelt. Rin and Ritsu have their final farewell when Ritsu reaffirms how glad that she is Rin and Rina’s older sister, and the part where they decide to stay behind while slowly withering away strikes the right chore emotionally. In a wasteland world where there’s only destruction and everything resembling life will eventually vanish, it’s the fondness and the love from the sisters that will always remain. Even for Rin, imagine saying goodbye to the home she used to and the very people she wanted to protect. The journey continues, but the presence of those lost souls still remain.

Welp, I’m back to the normal schedule now so my blogging will be back to normal from now on. My apology for those who waited for my weekly blogs for the last few weeks. For Kemurikusa, episode 6 was a slow one, even slower than its standard (and that says a lot), but the latest episode kicks things up a notch nicely. Before I get into the plot details, let me just mention the CG of Kemurikusa. It helps that the show doesn’t have that much of action scenes and they did a decent when it comes to these action sequences. The issues amongst its CG, however, can be seen clearly in episode 7 when Kemurikusa depicts falling objects but it feels as if they are floating instead. The gravity of the models feel off most of the time, and normally our characters get away with it given their non-human nature. When it comes to depicting something falling, however, the issues become obvious. As a whole, do I enjoy Kemurikusa? My answer is: pretty much. It’s slow burn and it has tons of issues but it still remains intriguing, and one of the joy of following this is we have no idea about the scope of the plot. Will it go down to epic path or will it finish small? I have no clue, but I’m game for more.

One of the main event in episode 6 is that Wakaba meets another Kemurikusa sister, Riku. Riku is a good addition to the cast since her personality is distinct and even her power (that she could use all types of Kemurikusa power – a nod for her exceptional “touching” sense) and she leaves a lasting impression in the first half of episode 6. She teaches Wakaba how to use certain types of Kemurikusa, and conveniently reveals more information about the worldbuilding. Two things of note is that it appears that both her and Ryoku are still safe and sound, but for some unknown reasons they prefer to stay away from their sisters. “We are supposed to be death”, says Riku. My take on it is that they are currently carrying another mission in Island 6 that they don’t want the remaining sisters to be involved, because we can clearly see how fond Riku is when she talks about Rin, Rina and Ritsu.

After the fateful encounter, Wakaba learns how to use the kemurikusa to make it as a shield, and with the Yellow one he can function it like a memory Ipad. All these letters written there are assumedly made by Ryoku, the kemurikusa scholar. The bit that remains the most interesting is the letters written in different characters that mentioned about the original self who has the memory leaf. There are two theories behind this written text. At first, my initial reaction is that the text was written by the original Rina before she splits into six. If you notice you’d see one standout Rina who sleeps/ closes her eyes all the times. My hunch is that she is the original Rina and she has the memory of other Rinas before the split. My second take on it, however, is on the grander scheme. It could be that it was the First Person who splits herself into multiple different Kemurikusa girls, each of them carry different personality and is exceptional of one distinct sense: Rin has a great vision and Ritsu can listen to other sounds by using the Midori for example.

Another important turn of event happens at the end of episode 6 where they found another water source: the giant tree with a lake the runs beneath. There’s heaps of interesting factions going on here: there’s this thick Blue Wall that separate the tree with the rest and it’s function like an Ipad Kemurikusa. There are Blue Bugs which attack the girls, but for me it’s more like they are protecting the Blue Wall themselves. My favorite moment of episode 7 is the brief moment of happiness from the girls when they find a safe place that has water and no Red Bugs to fight. We could really feel how the weight has (momentarily) taken off their shoulders. But like any good fiction, it’s too good to be all true. Wakaba and Rin find out that in the other side of the Blue Wall, Red Bug and Red Mist run amok and on its way to destroy everything. It’s a nice turn of events in general. I give the credits for the show’s confident control of its pacing. Other normie shows would rush to this high-stake part to provide “drama”, Kemurikusa instead makes all the little happy moments sink in first, then reveal this massive conflict. By doing so, we have all the reasons to feel their stake, root for them and look forward to this battle.

My apology for skipping over the other two shows and week in review this week, given I’ve gotten busy in the last week or so as my sisters come to visit. So for the next two weeks I won’t promise to blog regularly, but I’ll try my best. For Kemurikusa this week, the group reaches island 6 and encounter another one of Kemurikusa girl, whom we still have little idea about. One of the biggest reveal in this episode is the full function of Midori the tree. In Wakaba’s own words it is “to fix things”, but I still believe it goes broader than that, to heal things. Remember it heals Wakaba’s injuries in the first episode? It might sound like another one of tired game mechanics but I believe in this case it is for the show’s benefit. Speaking of Wakaba, although he’s represented as a human so far, upon close inspection I would say he has the least human traits out of all characters. He doesn’t sleep, he eats and drinks very little and he can manage to function various kemurikusa power. In this episode, he managed to sniff the scent of… a tram wheel!! If we take the ED literally, he might be born from Midori’s tree, hence that can explain how he has no prior memory in the first place.

This episode also raises another interesting threads regarding the robots/bugs. If we consider Midori’s power is to heal things, doesn’t it make sense that these Red Bugs are some sort of virus and Midori’s power can wipe that out? In addition, the little robot that helps and communicates to Wakaba feel like a relic from the lost era, which I suspect that all the robots are designed to support human in some sorts but they go berserk by the red power and destroy the humanity. The fact that it can communicate to Wakaba (it seems to understand what he says) and Wakaba can read support this train of thought. I wouldn’t be too surprised if the robot helps out mapping the unexplored Island 6 to our team.

This week, we have another brief mention to the dead members of Kemurikusa girls, this time revolving around two deceased Rinas. From the appearance of the other Kemurikusa girl though, I have high hope for the team to revive the dead members as some point in the future. Kemurikusa’s plot might be a bit slow at times, but I’m surprised to say that I enjoy every single episode so far. It reminds me a bit of Made in Abyss in the sense that it goes deeper (but more horizontal instead of vertical) and explores new settings with so much details put in the world-building. It might never reach the level of Made in Abyss but it does have the same kind of appeals, and I would be lying if I say that I’m not looking forward to what it does next.

Kemurikusa just keeps getting better, huh? This episode does a pretty good job on establishing its world building, and we learn more about these girls’ special abilities, as well as the dead sisters (thanks partly to Wakaba this time). I really hope that we can see the dead ones in some ways or forms because based from the ED they aren’t just there as some backstory – they have their own designs, personality and special abilities. Last week we heard about Ryoku (God, their names are confusing) who knew best about the mechanic of this world and who teached Rin and Ritsu many “survival skills”. This week, we know more about the other two late members, Ryo, who were even better at combat than Rin and Riku, who can used all types of kemurikusa. We also see some of Rina(s) special powers. First, they can use parts of their body to move on their own (with prove to be more than helpful later on). Moreover, they eat stuffs in order to multiply and appears to lose their original memory. What worrisome, however, is one of them start to lose energy and I’m not so sure what going to be happen with that poor soul.

Even the settings on the new islands and the power of kemurikusa start to become clearer as well. Although he activates the kemurikusa power by pure luck, it further confirms that either there are more ways to activate the power, or Wakata himself is a key to all this. The big ass Nushi, however, is clearly designed to destroy the kemurikusa and I suspect that it killed one of the girls and that brings a huge impact to Rin. It’s interesting to note that as long as the girls’ leaf isn’t destroyed, they won’t die and they can regenerate their body. The question I have for now is whether or not these girls are organic (created by the tree and whatnot) or are they artificially made using the same technology that destroy this world? In this episode, when they move inbetween island, we can clearly see the signs, the billboard that clearly resembling the world we’re living right now. What the hell happened in that universe that kill the humanity?

It’s a lot to unpack regarding its ambiguous settings, I know, and I believe this is the right direction Kemurikusa is heading now. Exploring the world, at the same time pick up all the quirks and the functionality of each character has been a rewarding ride. On the production value side, if you get used to the CG models, there are a lot to enjoy here. The use of music, in particular, is strong and enhance the action sequence greatly. The strong use of color is another highlight and each color represents some sort of different power, so it has its purpose. Rin is also a character worth following around, since she has strong sense of what she wants to do and what she wants to protect. Island 4 is going to be a big task for the team, given we know that something is waiting for them there, and that something seems to be a really bad news.

DISCLAIMER: this is an original review of an original show from one of our own reviewers. His ignorance of future characters and plot points may limit his perspective on the series as it unfolds. Proceed with caution!

At there episodes mark, Kemurikusa’s strengths weaknesses are more in clear view now. In a positive side, the world building proves to be ambiguous and compelling. I’m always a fan of a near apocalyptic world where human race has regressed and declined and somehow lose many historical and technological context from its ancestors (many of my favorite anime has this settings: Humanity Has Declined, Sora no Woto, Girls’ Last Tour). This week, we have a glimpse of the next island and it appears to be ruins from our very society. There’s a amusement park, there’s many abandoned buildings that could be the what left of a catastrophe we haven’t yet learnt about. One interesting fact is that the girls regard themselves as human, even though they have their own kemurikusa leaf inside their body and just drinks water to survive. It’s fascinating because with that one remark we get a good idea that these girls have never encountered any real human being before, not up to this point anyway.

The ED that appears this week, along with some passing comments from the girls, do an amazing job of fleshing out these kemurikusa girls’ backstory. We soon learn that there were more team members and many already died before the start of this event. If this ED is any indication we also know about the order of their disease as well. There was a girl called Ryouko whom Rin and Ritsu are quite fond of. She was seen as the one who teaches these girls all the basic survival stuffs. Then there were Ryou and Riku, and two of the six-pack who bite the dust (one of the Rinas died in the first episode). Based on what I heard the OVA and shorts did include them, and I don’t know about these kemurikusa girls enough to know if they can be revived in any way. So far though, I feel a clear sense that the body count will likely to increase as the girls moving to several islands now. The box of grey urns have the same number of the girls who passed away, so it makes sense for me why Rin treasures them so much.

We also learn about “The First Person”, the one that gives birth to all the girls. For now, my theory is that this person learns about the human destruction so they creates this new humankind to survive. While nothing is concrete yet I have a sense that this world is a result of advanced technology went berserk that destroys all the lives on earth. It comes for a reason that these girls function like a plant, one of the most natural resource of them all. Like I said, this world is so layered and intriguing that so much has been discussed, yet there’s still more mysteries around the corner.

In a negative side though, Wakata is still the weakest link but he isn’t the dealbreaker for me. The dialogues aren’t that good to be honest, and it feels rather clumsy the way Rin already develops some physical feeling to Wakata. Many has argued that if Wakata were a girl, we wouldn’t consider him as annoying in which I say, NO. The truth of the matter is that he doesn’t feel like he belong to this world, and while part of the narrative is designed that way, I can’t help but feel Kemurikusa deserves a much more tolerable male protagonist.

I’m glad that the girls (FYI, their names are: Rin our main girl, Ritsu the oldest cat-ears girl, and Rina the quadruplet) decide to explore to other islands because the world building of Kemurikusa is easily its biggest strength right now. I also appreciate the fact that the show doesn’t toss around exposition or explanation to its settings, instead we pick up pieces as we go along. This whole post-apocalyptic world revolves around the “kemurikusha” energy, which so far we see how they are color coded with different purpose. The “green roots tree” Midori serves as a energy source and produces leaves as food for our girls. It can also extend its roots to serve as a pipeline or communication line, and can maybe heal human’s injury (“maybe” because I’m not so sure if anyone from the cast is human or not). Then we have the yellow Kiiro which can be used as light and the blue water-detecting source called Aoi. Finally, the evil bugs have their red mist and their red kemurikusa and apparently Rina has that red kemurikusa on her as well. I don’t know what to make of it but maybe, just maybe these girls are born from the red kemurikusa source themselves?

While the story goes into some interesting territory, it’s Wakaba who serves as an self-insert protagonist annoys the hell out of me. His antic is grating, and he usually breaks the mysterious tone the show is trying to accomplish. A better comparison would be it feels as it he comes from another series altogether. It doesn’t help that Kemurikusa’s overall dialogues aren’t that great. They’re generic, cliche (chief among them is big sister Rin and her nyan speech), doesn’t have any flair and Wakaba’s constant babbling remains its biggest offender. The huge chunk of this episode is spent around Rina dragging him around the island. While Rina still doesn’t fully trust the boy, she does acknowledge her physical attraction to him which she thinks as a toxic. While their interaction is far from what I consider solid, we do learn one new thing from each of them. From Rina, it’s her total devotion to protect her sisters to the point she put their well-being above her desire. For Wakaba, the fact that he heals quickly when he’s injured might mean that he isn’t human after all. Another interesting note to take is that through Wakaba the old aqua kemurikusa starts to glow, albeit only momentarily, again. My theory right now is that he might be born from Midori’s source himself.

I can point out one single sequence in this episode that really sold its rich and mysterious world building. It happens right at the end where Rina decides to visit other island (which I believe is a strong premise), and we see the Midori energy carries the bus to the railway. Somehow that single scene reminds me to Ghibli’s world, which further strengthen my hope that this settings is gonna be more awesome as Kemurikusa goes on. Some might argue that this show’s aesthetic looks cheap and amateurish. For me though, I’m going to borrow the great Pedro Almodovar quotes regarding his debut failure: “When a film has only one or two [defects], it is considered an imperfect film, while when there is a profusion of technical flaws, it is called style.” Kemurikusa, for all its unpolishments, does have its own charms (along with GoHands’ W’z this season). After the first two episodes, Kemurikusa remains a flawed but intriguing watch.