Kemurikusa
Now and then, fans seek out an excellent Sci-Fi anime series to really mess around with their brains. It needs to keep up the suspense, get viewers thinking and boast an engaging setting. Even then, depending on the series and the fan’s taste in question, these can be a hit or a miss. There are the trendy ones, the brain-cell-killing ones, and the underrated ones too. In the latter’s case, whether they are underrated for a good reason or not can be a big question in viewers’ minds.
Kemurikusa is an anime series featuring both genres of Fantasy and Sci-Fi. It is a 12 episode TV series that began airing on January 9th and went up until March 27th as a Winter 2019 title. The anime was produced by flying DOG, BS Fuji, and Tokyo MX and brought to life by Studio Yaoyorozu.
The central staff behind the series include Director, Script and Original Creator Tatsuki, Art Director Shirouzu Yuuko, Theme Song Composition by WEST GROUND, and Theme Song Performer nano. The series is rated PG-13 for teenagers 13 years or older.
This Original series has a prequel series titled Kemurikusa (2018), a 7 episode ONA series. Each episode has a runtime of only 1 minute, and it aired from August 31st, 2018, until April 6th, 2019. An Alternative version also titled Kemurikusa ran as a 2 episode ONA series from May 1st, 2011 to March 1st, 2012. Another single episode ONA titled Donbei x Kemurikusa aired on February 27th, 2019.
The story is centered around a few young girls possessing strange powers. In their desolate world, there lies a particular tree that has grown right through a railcar. As they cling to their complicated lives in this devastated land, they search endlessly for its last water reservoirs. But their fates are in for a twist as their everyday struggles to survive are interrupted by the sudden arrival of a peculiar boy named Wakaba, who, for some reason, has no other memory other than his name.
Together with their strange new companion, the girls decide to embark on a perilous and daunting journey across seas of burning red fog. They do so with the ultimate hope of finally finding what they need to sustain themselves on some distant and dangerous set of islands, which are filled to the brim with robotic bugs.
Their destiny is set to be interwoven through their own strength and Wakaba's unique ability to comprehend the “Kemurikusa,” which are mysterious glowing leaves boasting wondrous powers. The fate of this barren world lies dependent on these girls, Wakaba, the swarms of ravenous robotic bugs, and the Kemurikusa itself, which are the only sparks of life surviving upon it.
The pressing questions of why the world had ended up like this and why there are so many hollow buildings with no living soul inside them press the protagonists’ group forward. Together with the girls, Wakaba seeks out the answers to these daunting questions, and the truth may only be found within the Kemurikusa itself.
The Story of Kemurikusa is probably the best selling point of the series. This cruel and dreary world houses but one antagonist, a burning red fog that seizes control of robots and uses them to kill all living things. The Kemurikusa are the hearts and souls of almost all the characters, who fight endlessly to survive and seek to destroy the source of the burning red fog.
Everything about their world and its situation is explained clearly during the journey, though some of the reasoning comes across as stupid. But the story concept is really unique, making it pretty nice and enjoyable overall. It would have been better to explore it more in-depth, but only so much can be accomplished within 12 episodes. The ending comes across as extremely convenient and cliché, but it isn’t necessarily bad either. Another issue is the vast amount of plot holes that never get explained, so it's best just to keep watching without worrying about them too much.
The Characters of Kemurikusa are mostly over-used anime stereotypes, including a Tsundere, a catgirl, multiple lolis with high pitched voices, a cute robot sidekick, and a good-hearted boy who is kind of stupid. On the bright side, they are uncanny and don’t over-use their archetypes into the ground; it’s just that there is nothing fresh or astounding about them. The character development is entirely lacking as well. Even the few that occur are so lackluster and are difficult to even view as proper character developments.
The Art and Animation of Kemurikusa put bluntly, are pretty bad. It doesn't look like much of an anime, the characters are poorly drawn with little to no detail, and the animation is appalling. There is an occasional artistically cute factor thrown in randomly, but it's nothing above average. This aspect really screams “low-budget anime,” looking its best when everyone is still with minimal movement. It should come as no surprise that the action scenes are terrible, looking almost comedic, making it difficult to take the anime seriously.
The Sounds and Music of Kemurikusa are also disappointing. The voice acting is terrible, ranging from mediocre to irritating on the ears. Rin might as well be the least annoying in this regard, putting some life into her bland-looking character while conveying some amount of different emotions. The others just seem to go on speaking near-lifelessly with zero emotion. Wakaba, too shows near-zero emotion while talking, no matter what the situation.
The Sound design and mixing are poor too, where even loud sounds aren’t heard when they should be. Characters may even lose limbs, and there will be no sound signaling that…. The Opening theme is "KEMURIKUSA" by nano, and the Ending theme is “INDETERMINATE UNIVERSE" by Yuuyu feat. Kemurikusa, which along with the OSTs, is decent, but nothing special.
Overall Kemurikusa isn’t really that great a show. But most viewers will be able to enjoy it to an extent, and the exact reason for that can’t be pin-pointed. Kemurikusa won’t most likely be a total waste of your time, as it won’t drag out too long and knows its own limitations well.
The story is nice enough, with an eventful journey but an obvious ending. Give this anime a chance by watching the first 2 episodes, if you like what you’ve seen thus far, keep watching as you will most likely like it. If not, drop it right there as it probably isn’t your cup of tea. As mentioned at first, it can be a hit or miss depending on the viewer, so it deserves this much. You will either dislike it overall or find it to be a decent watch.
