Category: Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama

Welcome all, to the grand finale of Kemono no Souja Erin! This is it, this is what 50 episodes have been building up towards. Was it good? Does everyone get a happy ending? Do any of you care or are you just waiting to vote on the poll? Well that’s at the end, so you might as well read through to get there. Now lets jump in!

Starting off, as far as production goes this finale was a bit of a let down. With copious flashbacks and generally lackluster movement, it didn’t really feel any different from the rest of the series. Now I’m not asking for some kind of sakuga fest, Erin isn’t that kind of show, it never has been. Action simply isn’t what it cares about. But I would have liked a bit more… pizazz? Use that eye-catch artstyle a bit more, cut down on the CGI Touda, less flashbacks. It’s not like Erin can’t do it, stuff like Lilan’s roar and Nugan falling off the Touda looked good. But those were about the only “memorable” visual moments. Not even Lilan’s flight or Damiya’s last scene were really all that visually interesting. It just feels like a missed opportunity to me.

Continue reading “Kemono no Souja Erin – 48/49/50 – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to the penultimate week of Kemono no Souja Erin! This is a short one, only 3 episodes. I do that so that next week can have 3 episodes as well instead of 2, it’s almost like I plan these things ahead of time a bit. Enough with the preamble though, we have a lot to talk about so lets just jump right into it!

First up we have episode 45, “Bird in a Cage”. This one sees Damiya further his plot, assuming direct control over Seimiya and the capital at large, as well as going head to head with Ial. Overall I thought it was pretty good. Damiya needed it, this sort of “Damiya-centric” episode has been a long time coming. And what better time to really take proactive control and start making overt moves against all of our lead characters then right after you basically become second in line for the throne? If anything it feels like Erin is backloading a lot of the work that could easily have been built up during the episode 30-40 stretch. This is fine, better late than never, but I can’t help but feel like that middle stretch wasted a lot of time. That’s not what were here to talk about though, is it?

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Welcome all, to another week of Kemono no Souja Erin! We’re getting close to the end here, with only 2 more posts left. That means we’ll be picking a new show soon, so if you have one you’re interested in being covered make sure to comment with it down below. Now without further ado, on to the episodes!

Starting off we have episode 41, “The Truth About the Queen”. This episode finally sees the political fallout of Erin’s little jaunt on Lilan. Surprisingly however, it’s not actually all that negative. Oh the Queen wants Erin and Lilan to move from Kazalm to Lazal, true. But they see it, or at least frame it, as more of a promotion than anything else. They want Erin to become the Queen’s personal protector, the one and only Beast-Lord rider who can keep her safe even against Touda. Of course it probably wouldn’t stay as just that, she’d probably be expected to look after/raise more Beast-Lords just like Lilan. But there’s a whole lot less threats of death and treason than I was expecting. At least until Erin turns them down that is.

Continue reading “Kemono no Souja Erin – 41/42/43/44 – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to another week of Kemono no Souja Erin! This is a good week for me, I quite enjoyed it, it feels like things are finally coming to a head and it’s great. What do I mean by that? Well let’s jump right into the episodes and talk about it.

First up is episode 37, “Birth”. As per the title, this episode see’s the baby Beast-Lord be born! Surprisingly however, that isn’t actually the focus of the episode. Oh the baby being born was nice, it was a good scene. Lots of light rays and well framed shots, some good music, tastefully showing just enough that we have to recognize it’s significance without showing an actual live birth. As far as birth scenes in anime go, and god is that not a larger group then you’d think, I found it decently done. I was able to focus more on what it represented then all the gory details of the process. Like I said though, this was more the culmination of someone else’s arc rather then one of Erin’s It was only relevant in the finale. So the question becomes, who is it that’s so important for Erin to do this?

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Welcome all, to another week of Kemono no Souja Erin! Apologies for the lateness on this. Like I said in the Zom 100 post, I actually caught Covid this past week and its kind of fucking me up a bit. Expect things to be delayed. I’ll get them out, but man is it tiring. Anyways, on with the episodes!

First up is episode 33, “Fly”. This one is all about Erin completely ignoring Nasan’s warning deciding to train Lilan to fly on command. And you know what? I’m here for it. Not only for Erin to start proactively forging her own path but also for what it does to Erin and Lilan’s relationship. This idea that Erin lost sight of Lilan a bit, started to view her more as a pet/work animal than a partner, was intriguing. She was more focused on getting her to fly, on getting what she wanted, that she didn’t really consider what Lilan wanted. Not until the end at least, where she noticed and started to play with her again rather then force her out into the fields to work. Erin figured out Lilan needed to want to fly, she couldn’t be made to. And that was sweet.

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Welcome all, to another week of Kemono no Souja Erin! We are safely in the 2nd half now, and speeding towards the end. Only… 4 more weeks left really. Time flies. You know what that means though, soon you’re going to be voting for a new series, so make sure to keep that in mind over the next few weeks! Selling future seasons aside, lets dive into the episodes!

Starting off we have episode 29, “Beast’s Fang”. This one centers around another moment of doubt for Erin, a confrontation with the fact that even with the best of intentions Beast-Lords are still large, wild animals with the power to kill you. On an individual, single episode basis, I found it pretty good. Erin was forced to, once again, recognize how dangerous what she is doing is and the risks associated with that. But that “once again” bit is my primary issue with the episode. Simply put, it feels like we’ve been here before. Like this isn’t the first time Erin has had this exact realization. While nice and affirming of her decision, I can’t help but feel like we’ve beaten this horse a bit to much at this point. Like it wasn’t particularly necessary, you know? Luckily this seems like the last time Erin will have to do it.

Continue reading “Kemono no Souja Erin – 29/30/31/32 – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to another week of Kemono no Souja Erin. This is a bit of a down week for the show, without much going for it. There are bits and pieces of good things of course, but overall I was a bit disappointed in this week. Why is that? Well let’s dive in and find out.

Getting right to it, first up is episode 25, “The Two Go Out Shopping”. This is… To be brutally honest this is a filler episode. Almost nothing of consequence happens, nothing is progressed, it’s just the Egg Thieves showing us how they have grown and changed since we first met them. Don’t get me wrong, that’s nice and I’m glad to see them get some development. I just can’t say it was particularly interesting, or welcome. Maybe were they anything more then gag characters it would mean something. They simply aren’t very important, nor engaging, for me. They could disappear at any point in the series and I honestly don’t think I would notice or care. Maybe that’s a bit harsh, it’s not like they are actively bringing down the series or anything. They just happen to be the least interesting part of Erin in every way.

Continue reading “Kemono no Souja Erin – 25/26/27/28 – 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!

Continue reading “Kemono no Souja Erin – 21/22/23/24 – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome all, to week 5 of Erin! Apologies for the lateness of this, it’s been a really rough week for me and I just didn’t have the drive to get this prepped ahead of time. Hopefully next week will be better. Regardless, what do you say we put that bullshit behind us and just jump right into it huh?

First up we have episode 17, “The Targeted Queen”. This episode doesn’t really involve, or concern, Jone and Erin that much. Instead it primarily serves to educate us on the current state of the countries politics after the 4 year time skip. Teaching us about the Saigamaru, people who believe the Duke should be King and rule both parts of the country, other dissident elements within the country. How much of the nation is trending towards inaction, not taking them seriously as a threat. All the while Shunan is trying to change the country and Ngan is falling right into their trap. It’s all pretty interesting stuff. Erin is setting up its late-game narrative well, and I like how early/consistently it’s been doing it. My big question at the moment though is how it’s going to fit Erin into everything.

Continue reading “Kemono no Souja Erin – 17/18/19/20- Throwback Thursday” →