Masaaki Yuasa's Kenomozume – I don't like it.

So my second foray into Masaaki Yuasa was Kenomozume. Where I entered Mind Game having no idea what I was about to see and was pleasantly surprised with how off-the-wall and unique it was, I can't say the same for this one. I made it to the eighth episode before I decided to tap out.

We have a forbidden love story where a warrior training to hunt flesh eaters, effectively humans who become monsters and devour the flesh of other humans, falls in love with a flesh eater. They go on the run, and not only do they need to worry about those hunting them, but if they become too... intimate her base desires take over and she becomes a monster. This is an interesting premise, but it doesn't take long before everything starts to fall apart.

The core issue is as a couple, Toshihiko and Yuka have no chemistry. The entire basis of the relationship is so sex-focused that it starts to feel shallow. This is something I feel can work a bit better in the short term, but after eight episodes it just becomes a drag to deal with. You can't go of for this long with the core of the show being that uninteresting.

And the whole show kind of suffers from lackluster characters. Scenes feel like they just come and go, and plot points are introduced and rushed through, I don't find myself caring about any of the characters. What's worse is I don't want to root for anybody involved. I don't think a story with no good guys is inherently bad, I mean I enjoyed Breaking Bad when I watched it, but it at least worked because the characters are engaging. Here, I see an ex of Yuka tell Toshihiko 'Well you may have her now, but I fucked her ass'. I feel like I'm listening to petty high school bullshit.

While I have been positive about the art style I've seen from Yuasa, and I certainly liked it at first here, there is no getting around the show looks kind of cheap. And it lacks the creativity and flair that Mind Game had, so after a few episodes things just stop looking good or interesting. And the thing is, I don't even know if the show was made on a tight budget considering Madhouse was behind the animation, and this isn't a studio known for slacking off.

At the end of the day, I still appreciate for looking and feeling very different from any other anime at the time, and even today, Yuasa has a very distinct style and I'm looking forward to more stuff from him. But at the same time, I really can't recommend this show because of its bad pacing, poor character development, and overall just not being very interesting.