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B+ really ?!

I say that anime deserve F-
It bad in almost every way. Horrible animation/art, bad uninteresting story, boring characters etc. I have seen much better anime get C. How the hell this got B+ ?!!!

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In fact, Wakaba's kind and inquisitive personality generally makes all the dialogue more interesting

I dunno about that, it feel like all of his dialogue are the same:

"Wwowoooooooowoow what is that? That's so interesting! eeeeeeeeehhhhhh so that's how things are. Ooooooooooooo".

The voice actor is really overselling it and there's little information to come out of these interactions considering there essentially all exposition dialogue.

syoshii wrote:

...This is just my guess at the moment, but probably the setting of the story is inspired by the early days of the earth when primitive living organisms which produce oxygen have appeared, and the background of the story is the history of life, just like Kemono Friends had the history of human beings behind the story. And Rin's crush on Wakaba shows the beginning of sexually reproducing organisms.

This is an interesting take on the story and at this point I'm glad for some sort of intellectual framework for trying to understand this because the story seems pointless and the only input I've gotten is that kemuri/kusa translates to kana that are the name of the tobacco plant (lit. smoke weed). So the Rina's reproduce by mytosis which they about said directly this Ep, and Ritsu is the supposed microbial plant/animal hybrid like the Hydra. The fog is the primordial "soup", red fog seems like acid so that makes the red bugs yeasts or maybe viruses? Wakaba then must be a supposed extra-terrestrial pan-sperm. The "kemurikusa" inside their bodies are mitochondria??

If that's true, it would explain why the writer doesn't seem able to tell an engaging story or develop characters that one can get invested in if he is thinking of something so esoteric. On the contrary, I think like these guys above that Wakaba is getting really annoying, the sisters are "one note" paper dolls in terms of dimensionality and the show's pace is glacially slow. Beyond that, I can't fathom why the story didn't begin with the 0.X episodes and instead uses really lame dialogue to fill in the details which leaves the characters in question unrelatable. You and the reviewer seem to really like the show and are getting much more out of it than I, so I look forward to what you make of this because as much as I liked KF and Yaoyorozu's work so far I feel like dropping this.

A Japanese fan (not me) has provided English translation for ep0.5 - 0.9. See his tweet thread here; https://twitter.com/SakamotoRyuu/status/1089322650306936832

He also put some of the hints found in ep1 - 3 (not all; actually there are many more hints found) together and translated it into English for deeper understanding. See this thread; https://twitter.com/SakamotoRyuu/status/1088863674314350592

All throught this review I was pinching myself.
I do not know where all these great directorial choices were. Maybe I didn't notice them while watching but then again I didn't notice them in kokomo friends either.
I think tatsuki has a very good grasp on imaginative world building and character design but I can't say the same for his writing. It feels like I'm watching Bob the builder but with clunky CGI. And the CGI isn't even a problem for me.
As others have pointed out I just don't understand wakabas character. They are way to upbeat and happy about every single thing and change emotional states on a dime. Same goes for the others they just act so childish its irritating but then again this might be one of those deeper philosophies that people talk about.
I'll never really understand why kemomo had such a huge cult following and why kemurikusa is seen in the same light, all I can say is it feels so sweet and happy that it calls out to the 4 year old inside me or something.
At any rate I feel the reviewer and followers of tatsuki are pulling a huge prank on all of us normie anime fans who can't see the marvel of childish CGI Dora the explorer anime.

^I really hope you don't accept what some arrogant commentators here are promoting that they are "higher level" anime fans who are better, know better, etc. as opposed to supposedly ignorant "normies" as they brand those who aren't in thier list of buddies or who don't agree with them. If you like anime, you're a fan and if a show doesn't strike your fancy no one should put you down for it. The mods should get all over that, but sadly they don't.

I can tell you why I liked Kemono Friends and it was because of the good writing and direction with generous portrayal of "cute girl" behavior and educational tidbits. I said so after Ep2 way before the self-proclaimed "higher level" fans and the bandwagon. I could go into detail, but then I'd produce a page-long post I detest like some of those "true" fans do sometimes. Sadly, Kemurikusa isn't shaping up like that at all and while I keep hoping, I can't say it is a good show at this point. I'm not sure what happened with the Yaoyorozu team but I'm fairly sure I'm not missing something important that would change this interpretation and so I say neither are you.

syoshii wrote:

A Japanese fan (not me) has provided English translation for ep0.5 - 0.9.

But you found it so I really appreciate it (bows)! Also, for what it's worth, my daughter came up with a possible interpretation of Kemurikusa as metaphorical of cigarette smoking addiction and elements associated with it. The Rinas might be representative of synapses reacting to the tobacco which seems to fit more this Ep as the mobile balls could be neurotransmitters which are usually attached to the synapse ends in clusters which fire them off in response to thought where they cross the synapse gap to attach to receptor sites. Nicotine is similar to the neurotransmitters and can attach to the receptors and seeing the leaves on the balls this Ep could be visually representing that. However, nothing completely fits...

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Also, for what it's worth, my daughter came up with a possible interpretation of Kemurikusa as metaphorical of cigarette smoking addiction and elements associated with it.

Cigarrette is probably one of the sources of inspiration. The leaf that Rin uses to attack Akamushi was rolled in cigarette-like shape at the original Kemurikusa uploaded to Niconico in 2010-2012. And the title itself can be written as "煙草" in chinese characters, which can be read as "tabako" (=tobacco) in Japanese. Also the shape of the big Akamushi which attacked Rinayo in Episode 1 may be inspired by tobacco mosaic virus.

Again, another review full of praises and the episode only receives a B+.
"Ma ika?"

I'm loving to discuss and theorize about this, at this point I'm almost sure that Wakaba was "fixed" inside that water tank by a Midori's leaf that fell into the water because the Rina were shaking the tree.
The root must have sucked some "remain" and as the body is mostly water the leaf was able to "fix" him a body.

And I side with the reviewer about Tatsuki.
His animation is so full of little details. From the more obvious ones like that bit with Rin walking holding hands with one of the Rina to... show the wheel actually falling right after the tram left the tracks in the beginning of the episode to one of Ritsu's ears reacting instinctively to the voice of the Rina who noticed the missing wheel.
See: https://twitter.com/Paninodesu/status/1093974866477416448

I had made this theory.
Watched the twitter shorts? Those shorts always ends with Rin talking with one of her sisters and the camera is on the horizon, framing the two sister at their backs. When I first watched I thought that it was just a framing that Tatsuki liked, because the 2012 version had a similar shot during an important moment.

This distracted me from the fact that Tatsuki was showing horizon, intentionally.
At the first short it's dusk time.
At the end of each short the Sun is a bit more down in the horizon and then finally the night comes.
When the TV starts is all out night.

And here comes my theory.
I have the impression that the night is brightening, and look how the sky is during the last episode:

Don't you think that there's the possibility that a new day is coming?
That the Sun will reappear in the sky?
The timing is right for such a dramatic event, with Riku's comeback from the dead and the Sun rising bringing hope.

It was just a theory, but I really think now that it may be right.
Look the preview Tatsuki posted: https://twitter.com/irodori7/status/1095246244471951360?s=19

Isn't that the sunrise light around 6 seconds?

I'm disappointed that the sun didn't appeared but... wow!

To think that Midori's group was left behind for being weak and dumb... who expected that?
So many theories now, like Rin being the "inactive" Memory Leaf, and the last page of First Person's log after the mission is told being adulterated because the lack of proper final punctuation.

Last edited by Panino Manino on Sun Feb 17, 2019 9:33 am; edited 1 time in total

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this is actually where Kemurikusa slows down and dumps a lot of information on the audience as Wakaba scrolls through the journal entries on the big rectangular yellow leaf. It's not the most graceful way of getting this across to the audience, but it's a pretty short scene, and it's aesthetically appealing too.

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Probably the most important piece of information dropped is the existence of something called a “memory leaf” that likely contains answers about what happened to the world and other humans.

There's also doubt.
An invested viewer immediately gets suspicious, and as some pointed after watching (this is becoming "anime demon's souls", no joke, the worldwide collaboration has been wonderful) there's evidence that the last page of the First Person's log was written by another person that wanted to hide the mission.
Who did this?
The Memory Leaf?
This specific sister exist in this version of the story? In the original from 2012 that sister immediately after it was born decided to commit suicide. So, there was a Memory Sister that hid the mission, killed herself, and wasn't mentioned here?
Or, as some others suspect (I included), Rin is the Memory Leaf that needs "to be open"? This would explain why she is aimless without a purpose.

EDIT:
About the possibility of Rin being the Memory Leaf, I was thinking (reference image).
When Rinako died, her clothes vanished with her body. Meaning that the clothes are born with the body? When Rin lost her arm the sleeve and glove got restored when her arm grew back, like they're part of one single thing. Which led me to suspect that Rin didn't "picked" mementos of her sisters, instead it just "materialized" automatically in her body, to not forget them.

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Their only motivating factor so far has been finding more water so they can continue to live.

For Midori's group, at least.
The other? Probably no.
Riku for example, her wish (from the Twitter's shorts) was bury her hands in animal fur. Maybe she is doing what she is doing now to realize her wish, meet fluffy animals.

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their journey through Island Six continues mostly through a series of still images. Kemono Friends used this trick a lot too, presumably to conserve animation power within its relatively small team.

This is very common in anime and... if you pay attention, they were being watched in one of those still images.
Maybe.

Again, another "B", and no mention to the fabulous music?
Man, I want that OST already!

Don't know what to expect now, because we already reached all the places that were hinted in episode 3.

I think I'm ready for them to take the vines off of Wakaba now. Smile

He didn't run away when he could have, so they should trust him, seeing as he's been always helpful.

Are the YouTube shorts spoilers for this series or a prequel or what? I haven't watched them yet since I'm not sure what I'm getting into with them. Are those different from what you call the Twitter shorts?

Gina Szanboti wrote:

Are the YouTube shorts spoilers for this series or a prequel or what? I haven't watched them yet since I'm not sure what I'm getting into with them. Are those different from what you call the Twitter shorts?

Not spoilers.
The 2012 original is another version. Wakaba was not an addition of this new version, he always existed.

The TV is a re-imagined version of the same story and characters.

The Twitter shorts are just to show the face of the sisters that are dead when the TV version begins (and to give a few hints).

You can watch the 2010 and shorts translated here: mega dot nz/#F!mZ1jmK6J!aKp5evkwiRyrAy-bf9ZHQg
(it's not piracy, Tatsuki distributes this openly and freely, but not with subtitles)

^Thanks so much for the link, this is what I've been looking for!! I saw these last year but no translation so I wasn't able to pick up what was happening. Now it seems that tobacco was definitely the inspiration and that cigarettes/smoking were integral to the OVA as we see Rin smoking to get a "power up" and use the smoke as a weapon and "insecticide" which it in fact is.

Especially telling is the "nushi" declaring "this area is smoke free, please leave immediately. Commencing purification" which ,might indicate that the story is about the battle between smokers and non-smokers and/or vape-hipsters which apparently were a nuisance about 2012 when my daughter was in high school. The "nushi" might be emblematic of "e-cigarettes" and the "red fog" of animosity and the territorial fight the attempts to restrict the places smokers can smoke. Also, the tobacco plant grows mostly in marshy environments because it needs a lot of water which follows the connection in the show.

Based on this, I think that makes the sisters varieties of tobacco plant which is bolstered by there being about 6-8 naturally occurring tobacco plant varieties used for human use worldwide (by my count out of the 67 species of the plant in general). Some wild varieties are harsher in taste (Ryou or Riku?) while the leaves of other varieties are harvested serially in 3-4 stages as the plants mature (Rinas?). There is even a "tree tobacco" which might be "Midori" though the actual plant doesn't grow that way.

Still, all this seems out of place relative to the series at present because the leaves seem to have attributes between magical and that of a computer-tablet.

#7

It's frankly amazing how convincing the emotional scenes are.
By this point everyone wants to protect Ritsu and just want to see her getting at the end of all this alive.

Again, another good episode full of little details and info.
I'll have to let this episode sink a bit before starting making up stuff.

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EP. REVIEW: Kemurikusa