To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts Episode 1 [First Impression]

Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi eh, or, to the Abandoned Sacred Beasts is a show premiering this season that focuses on warfare with the addition of inhuman monsters. With war shows like Katsute it is not uncommon to begin with a strong narrative explanation and fascinating animation to display the kind of adventure you’re getting into. Of course this meant that Katsute began by introducing the concept of ‘Incarnates’ to us, meaning that our introduction to the show was to learn about the tides of war and how one side had employed black magical means to create hideous monsters that could turn the tide of war in their favor. Of course none of the women in the army turn into anything gross, just a hot lamia bird and a lady with spider legs behind her, but they’re hideous I tells you!

Of course this first episode is more or less just setting the stage. I’m pleased with that because otherwise, I would be uninterested in watching it at all. It definitely feels obvious where the plot is going from the beginning and we watch the decline of the main characters friends and loved ones right in front of us. As good as the animation in the PV looked like it would be, it sort of ends up being uninteresting to watch. I think this is because they’re low budget backstory telling, but the first episode is an important thing to use to showcase really cool stuff: and I don’t feel like they did. So the animation rang in to me as a normal show with normal tier fight scenes.

So far Sacred Beasts isn’t impressive. Most of the plot elements you’ll see coming from miles away and won’t feel much engagement with. A character with a biblically evil name, Cain, turns out to be evil! I’m sorry to spoil such a well thought out plot point for you, but as an anime reviewer I have to let people know when truly good things happen in shows that just rivet the imagination and fulfill the most ingenious of plot hooks. It’s not that these elements needed to be very original in order to engage us, its that the show starts off weak by trying to attach us to people we can see predictably falling to their dooms and corruption. A lot of what will potentially make the show truly interesting, the dialogue between the two protagonists, won’t even begin until next episode.

The protagonist, Hank, ends the prologue story by becoming a hunter of Incarnates. The summary of the show doesn’t quite do justice as to why: He promised, before being shot by the love of his life, in front of all Incarnates that they would end each other when the time came. So even after he lost everything, he is motivated by three things: Kill his predictably evil childhood friend Cain, find his missing lover, and stop the other Incarnates from causing massive harm to people in the aftermath of their crazy. Meanwhile the protagonist that will oppose him will have a simple goal: kill him for killing her incarnate father. Well gosh darn, hilarity ensues!

So for the summary so far, my feelings on Sacred Beasts is as follows:

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

Art: Above average, but nothing special. All the monsters seem to follow a generic pattern and the protagonists who are meant to stick around have better animation. Also, shout out to my new waifu just by design. (I literally only wanted to watch this because of her design) Gonna give them an extra point for all the top tier single eye crying shots they managed to stuff into one episode, though! 6/10

Story: Very generic, nothing new. Reminds me of Black Bullet in that I’m interested by some things but don’t feel a real pull to be invested. 5/10

Characters: I don’t know! They showed me like two important people and tried to make me care! ???/10

Overall, if the story picks up next episode I’ll consider picking this up. Until then, my feelings are that it’s a little too generic to waste my time on.

Oki