Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to announce we’re returning to the dazzling Kemonozume, the first TV production by the remarkable Masaaki Yuasa. Set in a modern world where brave Kifuuken warriors face off with shape-shifting Flesh Eaters, the show has swiftly established a Romeo and Juliet-esque pairing of Kifuuken heir Toshihiko and Flesh Eater Yuka, whose whirlwind romance culminated in a confrontation at the funeral of Toshihiko’s father, resulting in the two of them fleeing from Toshihiko’s vengeance-minded compatriots.

It was an unexpectedly sudden detonation of the narrative’s central powder keg, but Yuasa has never been one to linger in narrative stasis. From Mind Game to Kaiba to Inu-Oh, his originals move quickly and with great dynamism, balancing their speed of transformation with the acuity and intensity he brings to each stage of their development. In this case, the ethereal beauty of sequences like Toshihiko and Yuka’s embrace in a fountain have already done an excellent job of selling their love, while the boiling rage of Toshihiko’s half-brother Kazuma is clear in his every delightfully rendered facial contortion. With both sides of this conflict hot on our lovers’ trails, let’s see what fresh wonders await!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to report our return to Kemonozume, Masaaki Yuasa’s bloody and enthralling full-series debut. The series has wasted no time in introducing us to a series of generational, political, and emotional conflicts, as we were introduced to the proud warriors of the “Kifuuken,” a clan dedicated to destroying Flesh Eaters that hide in human skins. While our protagonist Toshihiko seeks to overcome his fears and carry on the family traditions, his half-brother Kazuma sees this battle as an opportunity, a chance to introduce his mechanical warriors to the world at large.

The clan’s drama is already providing us a hearty stew of thematic variables, from questions of inheritance and familial duty to the relationship between war and technological progress. And that’s before we add in this narrative’s actual thrust – the burgeoning relationship between Toshihiko and one of the Flesh Eaters, a woman who seems determined to constrain her violent nature. Then of course, there’s the contrast of the opening sequence’s conflation of flesh eating and misogyny with the reversed power structure of this new bond. Yuasa’s works generally delight on both a visual and thematic level, and between Kemonozume’s wild aesthetic flourishes and layered conflicts, I’m eager to see how this story unfolds. Let’s get to it!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m thrilled to announce we’re embarking on a new adventure, as we explore the first episode of the ‘06 production Kemonozume. This series was actually the first TV production written and directed by Masaaki Yuasa, who has at this point proven himself not just anime royalty in his own right, but also one of the most important figures in the medium’s development across the 21st century.

Yuasa’s freewheeling visual style and piercing narratives have brought him international acclaim and legions of devotees, and his cofounding of Science SARU with Eunyong Choi resulted in a near-decade of legendary features, including series like Ping Pong the Animation and films like The Night is Short, Walk On Girl. From his directorial debut Mind Game through his Golden Globe-nominated Inu-Oh, Yuasa has built a canon that would be the envy of any director, and undoubtedly inspired a generation of similarly restless artists, people who wish to bring something genuinely new into the world.

I know little about Kemonozume specifically beyond the broad strokes of its premise: a violent love story in a world with shape-shifting carnivorous monsters. The fact that Yuasa both wrote and directed this one is pitch enough for me, particularly when he’s collaborating with regular character artist/animation director Nobutake Ito (Kaiba, The Tatami Galaxy, etc). After spending so much time appreciating Yuasa’s later work, I’m eager to see the distinct quirks of his first TV production, the apparent link between the ecstatic creativity of Mind Game and the honed thrust of Kaiba. Let’s get to it!

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