Kemonozume (TV show by Masaaki Yuasa)

[wao]

I decided to start it up since it'll be airing on WOWOW soon - it's part of the Summer season. I'm really looking forward to this because I loved the director, Masaaki Yuasa's, recent movie Mind Game (not released on R1 afaik, but the R2s have English subs.)

He has a refreshing approach to anime and favours more simplified drawings that emphasize movement rather than very detailed but static drawings. It's also easy to see, at least in the stuff he has directed, that he really exploits the full gamut of colours that digital animation can provide to the completed picture.

You can read a lot more about him here (just search for "Yuasa", you'll get lots of stuff)

Following will be a bunch of translations (or rather, Very Liberal Interpretations from Yours Truly) from various sites, which may give you more insight into what kind of a show it is.

Spoiler for Save space:

There isn't a heck of a lot of info out right now but there are two (largely uninformative as of yet) sites.

The Madhouse Site
http://www.madhouse.co.jp/kemonodume/

EDIT: The site as of 15 July 2006 has been changed to feature just a link to http://kemonozume.net

Spoiler for translation:

(Headlines from right to left)
A Conspiracy by the name of Love
The first original work by genius creator Masaaki Yuasa!
Kemonozume [in red]
Original work | Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Animation Production: Madhouse
Starting broadcast on WOWOW this coming Summer!

The woman that he loved was the most fearful monster of all.
The man that she loved was the most renowned of all beast-hunters.
Born of conflicting blood, and at the same time bound by a bond that is hard to break...

Presenting a romance-horror-action story that portrays the love between genders in an absurd, yet smart, and witty style.

~and~

The WOWOW site (Which uses the same picture...)
http://www.wowow.co.jp/anime/kemono/

EDIT: As of 15 July the website changed entirely to include different sections. The first part of the "Introduction" section (first button) is the same as what was translated below.

Spoiler for translation:

(Headlines top to bottom)

Airing this summer
Kemonozume
A Conspiracy by the name of Love

The woman that he loved was the most fearful monster of all.
The man that she loved was the most renowned of all beast-hunters.
Born of conflicting blood, and at the same time bound by a bond that is hard to break... [Yes, it's exactly the same text as the earlier one...]

The first original work brought to you by Masaaki Yuasa - recipient of the Bunkachou Media Arts Festival's Animation Divison Grand Prize for his directorial debut "Mind Game", and now the most closely-watched anime creator - is a horror x action x romance story, in which unfolds a drama about love and hate, against the backdrop of conflict between humans and monsters of the current age.

Dastardly plots and cunning treachery are made light of, by the melodrama happening between our leads, written in an exquisitely saucy style of language packed with audaciousness.

Look out also for the utterly bizarre yet very stylish action, what with giant monsters rampaging about, and people whipping out swords, guns and robots anywhere they like.

Presenting to you, entertainment that excites like nothing before it!

2nd part of introduction section - some may consider it to contain spoilers as it does mention a death, but I don't know how early on it happens for it to be considered a real spoiler.:

Spoiler:

Synopsis
In this world, there was a race of monsters that ate humans, called "Shokujinki" (cannibals). And there was also a group of people called the "Kifuuken" which set out to eliminate them. The Kifuuken and Shokujinki waged, for a thousand years, a secret, blood-drenched war in places people didn't usually notice. In the past 25 years, the Shokujinki pretty much didn't appear at all, but just very recently, cases of Shokujinki attacking humans resurfaced once again.

The hero of this story, Toshihiko Momota, is a young swordsman from the Kifuuken. Over there, he is an assistant instructure with a strict personality. Toshihiko has a fated encounter with a girl called Yuka Kamizuki, a beautiful lady who works as a skydiving instructor.

The two started going out with each other, but in fact, Yuka was really a Shokujinki. And then, it became that Toshihiko's father Juuzou Momota, who was the leader of the Kifuuken organization, was killed by Shokujinki. Could the culprit be Yuka? Toshihiko deserts the Kifuuken, taking Yuka along with him. Following which Toshihiko's brother Kazuma, who has a bit of rivalry going on between the two of them, sends purseurs after Toshihiko and Yuka. In the end, what will be of the two's escape?

There is also the Weekly Yuasa Column at the online WEB Anime Style magazine which has more pictures drawn by Yuasa himself (some postulate the main picture that was used in the otehr 2 sites was not drawn by him, but by Nobutaka Ito.) There are 5 parts to it so far. Please look at the pages for the pictures.

Spoiler for Parts:

Part 1 (18 May)
The Name is "Kemonozume"!

Ya, advertising time. This is the animator Yuasa.
I'm doing a 13-part TV show for WOWOW in Summer.
It's going to be a horror - action and love story, and it's called
Kemonozume
The actual show will look nicer than this. This's something that was drawn during planning.
Whaddaya think? [I think that's what he mans by "Donna no?", rather than "Which?" >_>]

Part 2 (26 May)
The Heroine is a Cannibal?

Yuasa the animator here~

Right now I am making a TV anime at this company called Madhouse.
The title is 'Kemonozume'

It's set in modern-day Japan, but the idea is that a race from the past called "Shokujinshu" (食人鬼 - Cannibals) comes over.
As their name implies, normally they look like people, but they can suddenly morph into monsters and end up eating people.
This actually happens whether they like it or not so it's a bit of a problem for them.

In the story, the lead male is taken up with a slender beauty at first sight of her. He ends up liking her very much and can't do anything about it. So what if he's suddenly told that she's really a cannibal...???

The large feet [of the monster in the picture], are a nostalgic throwback to those vinyl toy monsters they used to make back then, I guess?
So much so that I almost want to put in a "Bullmark" under its feet.

[Note: Wikipedia entry on Bullmark toys]

Part 3 (2nd June)
Kifuuken

Hello again.
I am the main character of "Kemonozume", Toshihiko Momota, and you can see me drawn on the animation-use paper up there. [See picture.]
I'm not exactly drawn with the most precision so I seem a bit unsettled.

In the daytime I teach martial arts at the local dojo, but in reality I am a swordsman from the "Kifuuken" (Demon-sealing Blade) who secretly goes out every night to defeat cannibals.
It's a little embarassing going around wearing a mask like a ninja, but nobody sees me so that's OK.

The source of the cannibals' regenerative ability lies in their arms, so unless you chop off both arms and end off with a fatal stab, they won't die. That sounds kind of difficult but because I have trained, I can do it.
But I do suffer from a bit of funny trauma sometimes though, and it does pose a bit of a problem, but....

Well, moving on, since I've become eligible I've finally found someone I'm blindly devoted to.
It is a dangerous love.
Because, you see, she might be a cannibal who I must eventually kill...

ON AIR in Summer

Part 4 (9th June)
The Heroine is OO years old


Hi~, I'm the heroine from "Kemonozume", Yuka Kouzuki [?].
I'm a slender beauty, and in the show I am drawn very nicely by Nobutake Ito. My age is pretty high for an anime heroine, being OO years old (Officially maybe I am a little younger.) [OO here is not zero-zero, she just doesn't want to say what it is ]
This is a mature R-15 program, anyway.

Contrary to my kind of mature looks, she is rather innocent and simple and a bit too unsullied for her own good; that type of person you see who is almost painfully naive, perhaps. She usually has a cheerful demeanor, but because of the heavy fate she has to shoulder, she sometimes just bursts out in tears and so on. Her feelings aren't exactly what you'd call stable; like she would probably not be understood by her younger self.
Exactly what does the hero see in her?

Her hairstyle is simple, so even when she transforms she just needs to incline her head and it hangs down...
Kind of annoying??...
When you use watercolour on animation-use paper you get a lot of wrinkles.
Though she's blonde she's Japanese.

Part 5 (16 June)
What Story?


One week just flew past like that!
The first round of dubbing for "Kemonozume" finished fine.
More and more things are going to be done from now...
It's really exciting...
But then again I should be doing this anyway, right.

This time the planning was original [done by himself?] because well, I was thinking I'd like to make a tight story myself.
Love story, eroguro, blood relationships, robots...
While being rather artistic [oshare/osare], it is unwholesome, and use a kind of common world, very "adult".

In the first place when nobody [the production staff] is really understanding the story, it's no wonder they've all got a troubled look on their faces. This is a lesson for me.
Things are getting done steadily with the involvement of many different kinds of people, HORROR.

*Note: The last "HORROR" ... was actually really in there. In English. Don't ask me why!

Part 6 (23 June)
Just meee?


I've been thinking for a looong time that Japan's national footballer Ooguro [Masashi] looked like a certain something; I finally realised it was "Osaru" (Monkikki) just this morning.

Yesterday we had the first round of music recording.
This becomes another animal when you've got the music, really. It's very large-scale music. [lit: the music is big]

The picture shows some of the men and women that the hero and heroine are surrounded by.
The drama is stronger on this end of things.
It takes all sorts to make a world? Triangle triangle.

*Osaru - now known as Monkikki - is a Japanese comedian born in 1968 (real name Akira Oomori). Japanese wikipedia entry
Also, he really ended saying Triangle triangle (in katakana ...) Why? Don't ask :x

Part 7 (30 June)
The Colourful Subcharacters (orig. Sub-chara iroero, a pun on "iroiro", literally meaning "many colours" but really meaning "all kinds of", "various" and "ero" being short for erotic)

It's summer! And the subcharacters here show a glimpse of erotic flavour.
These are various perspectives showing features of some rather unusual faces.
Even if they do end up looking slightly different [in the show], I hope you all will still be able to tell who's who.

For 2 weeks starting from the 1st of July, the Q-AX Theatre at Shibuya will be screening a subtitled version of "Mind Game" as well as Nobutake Ito's short. Please take this opportunity to experience them on the big screen!

[Note: Nobutake Ito's short is called Junk Town (Garakuta no Machi) and is also produced by Studio 4C]

Part 8 (12 July)
Pictures~

It's summer. It's SUMMER. But of course.

This time we're busily taking photographs and movies for "Kemonozume". [Note: I assume he takes these for reference.]

For example we asked for some photographs from the professional photographer Hiraga, receiving some that could just bring out tears; and there's stuff that we took as well, like video clips shot by the staff.

Because we normally do almost all our work on flat drawing surfaces, going out and referring to real things was quite enjoyable. But yeah, I guess you could call it a big deal?

We'd go to the sea every week, and find out that some things we thought would be everywhere were in fact nowhere to be found; being unable to shoot certain things because of some assumptions, the capricious weather and so on... Well, guess that's what they call "flavour (aji)".

Seabaths, vacations, tropical drinks...
All that's left is going to see Jakuchuu, eh. Different kanji of course.*

*: I assume he is talking about the Japanese artist/printmaker Jakuchuu Itou (伊藤若冲) who lived in Kyoto from 1795 to 1800. Quite a number of his works are still hanging in galleries, I think. However, his name often gets misspelt as 伊藤若沖, which is how Yuasa spelt it here (hence the different kanji remark). Why he did that, I do not know.

In Short!

---
Synopsis:
A story about a couple who are in love, but one literally turns into a monster while the other is an expert monster hunter. The show might be about how they compromise each other, or how they solve the situation they're in - who knows for sure. Slated genres are romance, horror and action. For mature audiences. Unusual but stylish visual style. Expect it to make fun of itself. Serious and yet with truly bizarre wackiness. With eroguro. Just maybe a little Tarantino-esque?

Airs:
Will air on WOWOW Scramble (premium cable channel) on Saturdays, time unconfirmed (late-night), first broadcast date 5th August 2006.
There will be a preview of it on 2nd July 2006 called Kemonozume Sakaba (Kemonozume Bar) which will air at 4:50 pm on WOWOW. I presume it will be a preview-version of episode 1 ala Ergo Proxy as it's roughly a month before the real broadcast. Actually this might just take over Ergo Proxy's timeslot. Will it?

Episodes: 13

Main Staff:

Original Work : Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game, Cat Soup OVA, Noiseman Soudn Insect, Vampaiyan Kids pilot, animator of Shin-chan and Maruko-chan eps/movies and some of its OPs) (1, 2)

Director : Masaaki Yuasa

Character Designer : Nobutake Ito (Animation director in Samurai Champloo, Generator Gawl, 4C stuff, and key animation in lots of things including that Cat Soup OVA and Mind Game.) (1, 2)

Art Director : Rei Kawano (Art director in Paranoia Agent, background art in Paradise Kiss, Beck)

Sound Director : Toshihiko Nakajima (First sound director role, I think. Is an actor/seiyuu: Hirukawa in Paranoia Agent, Sakon Suzuki in Moeyo Ken, Kojiro Murdock in GS/GSD.) [Seiyuu have become audio directors before and even now, e.g. Hozumi Gouda]

Music : Kei Wakakusa (Hikaru no Go, Moldiver, Romeo's Blue Skies, etc.)

Animation Studio : Madhouse (ANN entry, official site)

Opening song : "Orvell Blue" (?) by Katteni Shiyagare from their album Sure Blue (シュール・ブルー) (Have done the first OP for Gallery Fake)
Ending song : "Suki" by Santara (Have done the first ED song for Gallery Fake)

Cast and Characters:

TOSHIHIKO MOMOTA (桃田俊彦) | Voice: Hidenobu Kikuchi 木内秀信 [Kenzou Tenma, Jose]
The lead male. An instructor at a dojo by day, but a member of the secretive beast-slaying organisation Kifuuken by night. He happens to be a pretty good killer of monsters.

YUKA KAMIZUKI (上月由香) | Voice: Hekiru Shiina 椎名へきる [Alpha, Hikaru(Rayearth)]
A somewhat naive but svelte woman. Is prone to mood swings... and happens to be a mutating cannibal. Oops.

KAZUMA MOMOTA (桃田一馬) | Voice: Hiroyuki Yoshino 吉野裕行 [Kai Miyagusuku, Hibiki(Vandread)]
Toshihiko's younger brother. Is trying to bring in modern technology to Kifuuken.

RIE KAKINOKI (柿の木利江) | Voice: Shino Kakinuma 柿沼紫乃 [Naru (Sailor Moon)]

JUUZOU MOMOTA (桃田十蔵) | Voice: Jun Hazumi 筈見純

KYUUTAROU OOBA (大葉久太郎) | Voice: Kenji Utsumi 内海賢二 [Senbei in Dr. Slump, Armstrong in FMA, Shenlong in DBZ, Col. Johnson in Macross Plus]

GAKUTO HOOBARI (頬張岳人) | Voice: Kiyoyuki Yanada 梁田清之 [777 in Dead Leaves, Drum (the dog dude) in Hameln, Tamiya in AMG!]
Note: Hoobari is a funny name because the verb hoobaru (頬張る) means to stuff one's cheeks. Is it a coincidence that Gakuto sounds just like how Japanese pronounce "Gackt"?

Licensed: Not as far as I know

More information will be added when it comes! Or something like that.

Last note - Kemonozume would typically be taken to mean "claws of a monster" - kemono being 獣 (beast or monster) and zume being an emphatic change of tsume 爪 (claws).

Disclaimer: I am a sucky translator so don't blast me if this isn't translated as accurately as it should be. Go learn Japanese yourself!

[physics223]

I think I'll put this on my 'to-watch' list. Thanks for the translations, wao.

[wao]

Recently got some new info.

At a recent event held for Kemonozume, which is reported here

-...鬼封剣 is pronoucned Kifuuken.

-Main character Toshihiko Momota will be voiced by 木内秀信 (Hidenobu Kiuchi) -Kenzou Tenma's seiyuu!!! (As in, the main character of Monster). He has also done Jose in Gunslinger Girls, Eiichi in Aishiteruze Baby and Nero in One Piece. The tone of his voice would go very well with what I can make of the character.

-Lead female Yuka Kouzuki will be voiced by 椎名へきる (Hekiru Shiina) - famous for doing Alpha in the Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou anime OVAs. If you've watched Rayearth, she played the role of Hikaru. She also is a great singer and has released more than a few albums. She'd be 32 now... I admit to never actually hearnig her voice yet, I've just heard of her a lot. I doubt the director would choose anyone with a disgusting voice, anyway - he wouldn't really go for the moemoe act-cute-but-can't-act-well type of voice.

She hasn't done anything for a loooong time...

-Another character was mentioned, Kazuma Momota. He's Toshihiko's younger brother and is trying to introduce (sell??) some modern hi-tech equipment to Kifuuken. He will be voied by 吉野裕行 (Hiroyuki Yoshino), who is doing Kai in Blood+, as well as Kawaguchi in Zegapain and Zedd in Kiba. He was the lead character Hibiki in Vandread.

-Coincidentially their first names all start with H. Ooh.

-Other seiyuu's names were mentioned, but it's unclear as to what character they're voicing yet. (Not like we've seen anything aside from the 2 main characters anyway.)
---Shino Kakinuma (Naru in Sailor Moon)
---Jun Hazumi (He's 76 years old :O)
---Kenji Utsumi (Senbei in Dr. Slump... Armstrong in FMA, Shirow in RahXephon)
---Kiyoyuki Yanada (777 in Dead Leaves, Drum in Violinist of Hameln)


-I read this before but apparently there was a guy who ran up on stage and started saying things during the event.

-The ending song will apparently be "Suki", the 7th song on Santara's second album Wait, Catch and Run. According to this report.

-Also, the show will have a "love hotel like no other Japanese anime" ... EROTIC. (As if there weren't enough erotic hints ) The director isn't scared to depict sexual themes - there's a whole bit of it in Mind Game...

-According to 2ch-ers, it's going to be on scramble rather than non-scramble: not eggs, but the signal. So I guess it's cable.

EDIT: How nice, Anime Style's Yuasa column updated yesterday.
You can see more pictures there.
It's quite short. Translation goes in first post.

Rather lonely here... I guess I'm the only one interested in this show :#

EDIT2: The Kemonozume Sakaba preview show aired not too long ago. I don't know much about it, nobody seems to have cared about it on 2chan so I have no caps Meanwhile the Yuasa column updated again.

[neilworms]

Rather lonely here... I guess I'm the only one interested in this show :#


Your not the only one who is interested in this show, Yuasa has a very small but very rabid following. Hopefully someone will care enough to subtitle this show, but it seems as usual moe will take precidence over the work of the most brilliant animator alive today...

sigh... fandom :P

As for the show:

I WANT TO SEE IT SO BAD!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE SUB IT!!!! (Ah the irony, I just depreciated fandom, and yet I'm a big fanboy of this guy's stuff )

[MrProphet]

Can't say I am extatic about Yuasa's work (especially Nekojirou Sou), but I think I'll give it a try.

Unless it's horribly freaky and disturbing. Otherwise, the plot sounds like something interesting.

Originally Posted by neilworms

but it seems as usual moe will take precidence over the work of the most brilliant animator alive today...

It's not about moe, or anything like that. It's not even about the drawing style. I liked Mind Game, after all.

The problem is that some "modernist" directors like disturbing stuff just for the disturbing factor alone. Not because it's somehow part of the plot, or it is necessary to show characters and events in a specific light, but just to freak out the viewer.

I am not much into the whole "freaking out" part of the deal. I just don't like horror, that's it. So, if Kemonozume can emphasize the relationship part instead of simply trying to make the viewer feel like he is losing his mind, then I won't mind it.

[wao]

I get what you mean, but I get what neilworms means too. Most otaku are so much more concerned about moe and criticize everything else for being oshare or pretentious or "badly animated' (right.), without realising how sucky a lot of the shows they watch are. Well, that's probably why there are such a ton of shows out their either with moe or with a blatant moe-factor to draw in otaku (and make money off it0.

Certainly, I don't think there's anything to rave about directors who put 'freaky' stuff just for the heck of it. But some directors/animators do it because they're so terribly sick of everything else, they're willing to purposely shock and disturb the viewer in contempt of the whole culture of selling and making money from characters, I guess...

I dunno. But anyway, I really want to see this... no point mumbling about that while I'm in school though, guess I'll have to wait until the end of the day .

[wao]

Pardon me for the double post, but...


*AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*!!!! *fangirl scream*


You can find the short 30 second promotion clip on the main site. ZOMG, that little monkey is so out of place and hilariously cute. The mood is indeedvery stylish - and they're getting Katteni Shiyagare to do the OP!!!!! It soudns very nice in the short promotion clip - coincidentially, they did the Gallery Fake OP (while the ED group Santana also did a Gallery Fake ED)! And I loved that song, it was a very catchy and enjoyable jazz piece with vocals. This one fits my expectations pretty well.

I can't say much about teh animation, but it looks very Yuasa-ish of course - maybe not so much colour as Mind Game, but the typical style of drawing with no shading and expressive lines. Very un-anime .

Also they're having people sign up to be one of 100 lucky winners to watch the first episode, "Hajimete no Aji" (The First Taste) on broadband for free. BluWacky was lucky the last time with Noein, but that was Bandai Channel.. Here there are two partners owrking with WOWOW here, ISP (?) BIGLOBE and Hitpops. You have to go to either site and apply, and from each site 50 winners will be chosen, giving a total of 100 viewers...


The application period is from the 3rd of July (that's yesterday) until the 17th of July (2 weeks later). Winners will be notified on the 20th, and
be allowed to see it from the 22nd to the 23rd of July (Saturday and Sunday). THe actual show airs on the 5th of August (Saturday) so it's just a week ahead. An entire week ahead. Woot!

For both, however, you must sign up at the site to be able to apply. Subscription is free, but...

Hitpops requires an email address with ISP (e.g. ****@biglobe.ne.jp or whatever) Free email service addresses are not alloed (e.g. gmail, hotmail)

and Biglobe's requires a postal code and address (which can still be obtained) as well as credit card info (because typically that kind of accoutn is used for paying for Biglobe's content services, which has to be paid by credit card).

Somebody out there with a credit card, get lucky >_<

EDIT: Oh, and I really love the character designs more than anything, seriously - they look very Japanese but in a way that's not difficult for animators to draw (ala Otogizoushi).

[DaFool]

Cool, more superflat animation.

I don't see why it has to be against moe, they're just a different style for a different story and setting...this one's better for active violence, whereas the latter is better for cuteness.

[anime_layer]

I'm really looking forward to this. I hope some group is picking this up...

Mind Game is a terrific movie and I was lucky to see it in cinema at a local animated film festival. My experience with Mind Game has been that people will be at bit reluctant to watch it because of it's style but once you've got them to there's no way back. The last minutes of the movie is one of the greatest cinematic experiences I've had. ^^

I also very much like his other works as director (Vampiyan Kids Pilot, Slime Adventures) as well as animation director (Cat Soup, Noiseman). I'm looking forward to his first tv series and Studio 4°C's next shorts collection with Yuasa's contribution. \^^/

[wao]

I still haven't watched that preview segment... but at this rate, I highly doubt I'll be able to!

However, the main site was updated with much more info. Now you can see all the characters there as well as a short synopsis of the first episode, plus the titles of the first 4 episodes.

EDIT: Oh yeah, the Real Main Site, has opened. A lot of stuff is not there yet (like the !@#$ing cast list!) but hey, there's a 3D version of that cute monkey and it doesn't look stupid! The synopsis there... is different, again. But oh well.

They also started a staff blog but there isn't anything on it as of yet.

I added the extra information from the main site into the first post. It contains more details but maybe a bit too much, perhaps?

EDIT2: You can now see the staff list on the "Real Main Site" (kemonozume.net), here. Quite cool that a Madhouse staff is doing art direction. I like Madhouse's in-house art backgrounds especially in Paradise Kiss and Beck, and Paranoia Agent.
Music by Kei Wakakusa who did the Hikaru no Go music and, Moldiver music and others including older shows like Romeo's Blue Sky.

If you look at the imageboards on the site you can see the character design for Kazuma Momota: he has got white hair.

[eggplant]

Wow, just watched the first episode.

Spoiler for Episode 1:

This was really weird! The artwork was definitely something different from what one would be accustomed to, but more than that, the story was like, was the writer hallucinating on something? type of a trip. Reminded me somewhat of Pulp Fiction.

Being rated R-15, I expected some graphical violence, but the explicit sex scenes were quite unexpected (don't think screenshots are appropriate for this forum either).

Good things about Kemonozume: HDTV, 5.1 stereo broadcast; Shiina Hekiru voicing Yuka (I haven't heard her voice in years); a no holds barred approach.

The story is confusing, and I hope the subsequent episodes both clarify and build up Toshihiko and Yuka's relationship.

[MrProphet]

Interesting. It is indeed out in more ways that one (wink! wink!), but I think that I'll pass watching it for now.

I'd rather wait and see what wao makes of it...

EDIT: Took a look over at Futaba. Well, that's... interesting.

[CelesAurivern]

Hmmm it looks like this one might be yet another promising series.
That can only mean one thing; no one will sub it and the rest of you are stuck with just raws

[wao]

Woo, I just noticed it appeared on a particular place. Slow, I am. Well that'll mean another few hours of downloading... gotta love this download speed... 10 kb/s looks quite appealing!

In a number of cultures people would say I shouldn't be watching this sort of stuff I've heard about those... sexual scenes (looking at some of the production designs one should be able to guess...)

But even if the story is totally whacked up, I'm expecting some interesting animation. It's nice to see animation getting rough and dirty now and then: sometimes it really looks more realistic (especially Yuasa's characters' eyes, I find them very appealing)


It's 13 eps long so I hope someone subs it - I don't think I could, definitely
...Whatever.

Also, I guess half of the people who read here read Anipages, but from quite some time ago there was also news of Michio Mihara (a great Japanese animator) going to do a 1-man animated episode... episode 12, I think. It's been a long time since I've watched one of those, I think the last time was Honey and Clover 7. Really looking forward to it, but let's just see what we've got for now. Arg.

edit: and I can't find the thread on Futaba.

[MrProphet]

Originally Posted by wao

edit: and I can't find the thread on Futaba.

I found a couple of images somewhere in the back of the 2D - General board. And I am sure that someone will blog this soon. Even if just for one episode.

After all, Masaaki Yuasa is somewhat famous after Mind Game.

[wao]

I'm not so sure about that - I don't know how many anime fans (including the non-idiotic-moe-or-shounen-series fanboys) have really heard of it. It doesn't get mentioned enough among the anime circles, or so it seems. Oh whatever... I think BluWacky will watch it at least, even if not blog it - but it's scrwing up for me (latest post is still NHK 2): is it still not working properly or do I need to delete my cache...

I don't know if this is allowed but here's a (non-action) tidbit on Youtube for those who haven't watched it. Can't believe that's Kai from Blood+ voicing him.
38.8%... I'm seriously un-free on Monday so this'll have to wait until Tuesday. Suppose I'll go mope in a corner for a while.

edit: no, now that I hear it for... the 4th time... It does sound like Kai, but a much cooler and convincing Kai!

[MrProphet]

I know a lot of fansub watchers frequent AndrewLB's coming soon page, so they should have an idea that it's something that is new this season.

Of course, there's no hype for it, but think about it: last season I thought that Glass Fleet and Yumetsukai will be my favourite shows, and I haven't heard a sqeek about either of the Haruhi shows.

I am not saying Kemonozume will be a sleeping hit (let's face it, it just won't), but don't discount the fandom until you've seen the reaction to the fansub of the first episode.

[wao]

Yeah, I don't see this being a hit for sure, I'm quite sure many would say that the drawings are absolutely shit and I can't help that, really...　Cue the next bunch of people saying "was this drawn by kindergarteners?" or "god, did they produce this on $2 or something" or "this must've been done last night".... But I guess I can accept your point to wait until the first fansub is out. I just really do not think it'll be based on knowledge of the staff or of Mind Game, for most people.

That is, if this gets subbed! *COUGH* Though if this is anything like Mind Game I think it's compeltely understandable if it takes a looong time....


(P.S. Conversely I heard hardly anything about Yume Tsukai - except that it had a dangerously loli manga or something - and relatively little about Glass Fleet, compared to quite a bit about Ouran [BONES... Maaya Sakamoto... popular manga... even my CLASSMATES read it o_o;] and Haruhi [especially the excitement about it being KyoAni]. I guess we just frquent different communities or something.)

edit: Go here for a load of great screens from ep 1. I'm still waiting to watch the ep to make a proper judgement on the ep - I'm still kind of unsure about those sexual thingies because frankly speaking, they don't interest me at all (they're hte part I was most bored with during Mind Game) but... I can't help but say it looks really awesome and interesting anyway.

[BluWacky]

Originally Posted by wao

I'm not so sure about that - I don't know how many anime fans (including the non-idiotic-moe-or-shounen-series fanboys) have really heard of it. It doesn't get mentioned enough among the anime circles, or so it seems. Oh whatever... I think BluWacky will watch it at least, even if not blog it - but it's scrwing up for me (latest post is still NHK 2): is it still not working properly or do I need to delete my cache...

I just haven't blogged anything for weeks Couldn't get enthusiastic about anything anime-wise so retreated back into gaming.

I've just watched the first ep of Kemonozume, though - need to go through dictionary-ising, but I think it's exactly what I needed

[Aniki Meiski]

Actually the organization is called 愧封剣　not 鬼封剣 (Kifuuken) as Toshihiko explained. 鬼 (oni, ki) is demon), but 愧 (ki) is shame, or the oni 鬼 in 忄(りっしんべん立心ベンthe heart radical). So it means to banish the demon in you heart.