Hataage! Kemono Michi

It feels like the anime gods just spin a wheel to decide what becomes an Isekai. We’ve had Isekai where the protagonist is an evil Overlord, a Hitler Loli, an Otaku, another Otaku, yet another Otaku, an Otaku who is overpowered, another Otaku who is overpowered, a Daemon Lord, a book worm, a slime, a certain blue hedgehog, you get the god-damn point. So this time, wheel has decided to land on, “Wrestler, in another world.” No doubt about it, this sounds stupid but considering that the show we are talking about today was originally created by the same author who worked on Konosuba, I was intrigued. So lets talk about it shall we? Sit back, relax as I present to you THE REIGNING! DEFENDING! UNDISPUTED, ISEKAI CHAMPION! HATAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGE, KEMONO MICHI!!!!!! Story: 6.5/10 The story begins with our protagonist and professional wrestler, Genzo Shibata and he is about to complete his final match as a wrestler. Before he finishes the final blow in the match, he is suddenly transported to a fantasy world and is requested by Princess Altena to be the hero they need and slay all of the daemon beasts threatening the kingdom. However, Genzo is a lover of all animals, he could never harm them. So what does he do? He decides to go Brock Lesnar on her ass and takes her to suplex city...b**ch. Fleeing the castle and having nowhere to go, he meets a wolf-girl by the name of Shigure and together, they work on Genzo’s lifelong dream, opening a pet shop. It’s a unique premise in terms of Isekai plots go and the way it goes about it is well done. It establishes early on that we are in for different kind of Isekai with Genzo basically going “You want me to kill animals? F**k that.” And then goes off to do his own thing. In terms of setting the scene, this show does it very well and we see how the pet shop unfolds over time with the animals Genzo captures and how to get the funding. But throughout the show, we never get to see payoff to all of the tasks Genzo, Shigure as well as two other characters that join him later on, Carmilla and Hanako. It’s all building up to it yet there no ounce of payoff to convince the people that these beasts that threaten the kingdom could be adopted as pets. It’s kind of disappointing. Of course, being a pet shop Isekai isn’t the only thing that makes this show unique, as it also part wrestling and this is where most of the comedy is with all of the German suplexes you desire. The show is definitely more physical humour than witty humour with Genzo and other characters laying the smack down on anyone that provokes them, friend or foe, male or female (yes, we have another true advocate of gender equality here). So it’s definitely got a certain taste but what makes it work is the timing of it considering that the characters were asking for it. It has plenty of running gags in this show as well that, even though you can see them coming, are well executed every time. It’s well done and definitely is humorous. That’s not to say that the dialogue doesn’t have some funny moments because it truly does so it isn’t all physical humour as the writing does add to the humour. Characters: 8/10 As a protagonist, Genzo isn’t exactly relatable. He’s loud, brash, doesn’t think outside the box and his only interests are for himself with no consideration for other people. As a wrestling protagonist though, he fits that mould well. Now, I have watched wrestling for several years before finally getting bored with it earlier this year (Thank you Vince McMahon), so I have a good idea of how a good wrestler should act and he definitely does that. He exaggerates everything in every situation for the sake of entertaining the viewer even though he doesn’t realise it. For example, when someone calls him the Daemon Beast Killer, he doesn’t try to reiterate that he doesn’t want to be called that. Instead, he either makes the person go through a table or chucks that person into the ceiling. He dramatise more than he should and makes it work. This makes him a funny protagonist because again, these characters are asking for it and he is just replying how he sees fit, even if it is a bit ridiculous. Now the characters that join Genzo in his quest to open a pet shop are rather basic in terms of how unique these characters are. Shigure is obviously the level headed one in order to see what genzo does is quite ridiculous. While she is a “good” person, she sees this pet shop as way to get rich fast. Hanako, who is a young dragon-girl, is just obsessed with food and that’s pretty much it (although she is smarter than she comes across). Carmilla is a vampire who is obsessed with serving Hanako. The all have simple desires and character depth but they all share a similar mindset which is there obsession over something. Genzo being animals, Shigure being money, Hanako being food and Carmilla being Hanako herself. They aren’t complex because they don’t need to be. They all fill their roles well and their single obsessions is all you need to for them to stick together and to have chemistry with one another. As well as Carmilla getting her ass kicked by Genzo for being a sarcastic b**ch is always funny. There is even a dog that accompanies Genzo by the name of Hiroyuki and he is just adorable. The supporting cast as well has its niches that they definitely fulfil. They all add something to either the plot, to the comedy, or both. Where it can be simply be Celes wanting to be Genzo’s apprentice, a group of thieves where the wolf-man gets traumatised because Genzo loves animals a bit too much. Even a simple anthropomorphic ant that is somehow part of the pet shop idea and we have no reason why. It’s something stupid like that makes the cast as a whole, enjoyable and there isn’t a character I hate in bad way. It’s rare that I find a cast of characters where I don’t like at least one character but I don’t, they all fulfil there role well and I can’t complain too much besides a couple of gripes. Animation: 6/10 The animation for Hataage isn’t exactly impressive but it is also not bad either. But it is weird saying that because at one point, it can look uninspired. But other times, like when Genzo fights an Orc Chieftain, it looks really good. It lead me to the assumption that it was used for more comedic effect that when it gets down to it, it is impressive; something I think this show has an edge over the manga. That being said, art style isn’t exactly impressive and leans to the more generic side with no signature features to make it stand out. The character designs though is good because they each stand out in there own way can be easily identifiable from one another. So it has that going for it. Sound: 5.5/10 The soundtrack is a mixed bag. Half of the soundtrack is more or less generic fantasy music like flute instrumentals or a more light hearted ost for the show’s comedic moments. It sounds like a standard ost that you would hear in other shows. It doesn’t sound bad but it doesn’t stand out. Then there is the other half, where it sounds energetic, intense and adds to the atmosphere. This is normally played during the wrestling scenes or when Genzo is laying the smackdown on people. It definitely is more noticeable than the other half of the ost and adds to the scene of this fight that you would be watching. I also like in significant moments when Genzo german suplexes someone, you can hear someone counting “One...Two...Threeee!” It’s a nice touch for a show that is part wrestling. The opening is alright in my opinion. "Fight! Kemoner Mask" by NoB is definitely energetic, paced well and matches the tone of the show pretty well. It’s one of openings that can get you hyped for the show but didn’t exactly wow me and I wanted to go back and listen to it again. Good openings do that. But this opening lacks that itch that makes you want to do that. It is most likely down tot the visuals being okay. But the opening is solid overall. The ending sequence is v…

The golden age of isekai anime continues and there doesn’t seem to be any signs of it slowing down. Anime fans in 2019 should just accept that we’re going to get even more of these in the future from now on. And joining the expansive lineup, Kemono Michi marks its terrority with an animal lover and professional wrestler named Genzo Shibata. Before actually watching this show, one should take notice the author of the series. Natsume Akatsuki, known for their work with the Konosuba franchise, created this anime and to no one’s surprise, his stylish humor also gets a similar treatment. Does that mean the anime itself is entirely made of parody? The answer is yes and no. Kemono Michi plays on its isekai tropes by introducing some of its standard running gags but also leans more into selling its humor with everything else when it has the chance to. Taking place in a fantasy world, Genzo enters the anime as a professional wrestler. As a fan of professional wrestling myself, I was rather ecstatic to see some classic wrestling moves being used such as the German Suplex and Sharpshooter. While the anime itself doesn’t sell itself as a WWE drama story, it does put Genzo into a peculiar position. After he gets transported into this fantasy world, he gets tasked with defeating demonic beasts by a princess named Altena Elgard Ratis. The catch is that Genzo loves animals. In fact, the first few episodes easily gives away his love for animals that some may even describe him of having an animal fetish. Furthermore, Genzo has an ambition to open his own pet shop one day and being in a fantasy world opens up such a possibility. Looking at the show this way, the audience should probably not expect a serious tone of storytelling. Watching Kemono Michi does feel like a parody at times. Genzo’s role as after meeting the wolf-girl Shigure transforms him into a dedicated beastmaster. The anime makes it clear that he wants to make friends with the monsters rather than killing them, no matter how difficult the challenge may be. His determined attitude and chivalrous personality earns him many friends throughout the story including the dragon girl Hanako, vampire maid Carmilla Vanstein, and among others. But sometimes, he has to resort to force in order to make his point. When fighting, Genzo uses a mix of his wrestling skills and brawler tactics while taking aggressive risks. The anime often oversell his fights by making them as over exaggerated as possible. The early episodes makes some evident examples such as when he puts down Altena with a German suplex. However, the audience may wonder if there’s any sort of character development for Genzo at all. The truth is, the show doesn’t dedicate on developing him as a person but rather how he builds relationships with others. The most prominent example is with Shigure. In the early parts of the show, she mostly helps him in his goal to further her own ambitions; that is trying to become wealthy. She handles his finance problems while Genzo does the dirty work. Later on in the show, she seems to genuinely care about his well-being. Other characters he meets also begins to understand him more such as Hanako and Carmilla. The one character that seems to despise Genzo is Altena, especially after being embarrassed and not helping with her goals. However, this becomes more of a running gag than a moody revenge sub-plot. She even becomes a source of butt monkey jokes. In fact, several characters in the show carries a degree of comedy gags thanks to the brainchild of Konosuba, Natsume Akatsuki. If you’re familiar with the Konosuba franchise, you may be able to draw similarities with Genzo to Kazuma, Hanako to Megumi, Carmilla to Darkness, and in some ways, Shigure to Aqua. Someday, it would be entertaining to see the two anime get a crossover. Combined with the sarcastic humor and running gags, it’s easy to label Kemono Michi at times as an isekai parody. Some characters such as Genzo are portrayed as powerful humans while ironically, supernatural beings such as Carmilla becomes a jobber in hilarious ways. Character personalities is amplified with some of their habits such as Hanako’s big appetite. And of course, some fans will call this an “isekai furry” anime. After all, some of the more prominent characters display animalistic instincts such as Shigure. And while not being an actual animal, Hanako’s dragon transformation shows her true instincts when she’s angered in one particular episode. In many ways, the anime loves to play itself and that can either be something fans will enjoy or mock for it absurd humor. With such a peculiar premise, Kemono Michi’s artwork isn’t actually strange and actually less visually noticeable compared to Konosuba. Studio ENGi was established in 2018 and this is their first take on an anime project. However, the anime itself delivers an adequate portrayal of the manga. The character designs are also made with fantasy elements and in some cases, animalistic traits. Being a professional wrestler, Genzo is portrayed as a muscular man with masculine features. Even his voice delivers a commanding tone at times when dealing with monsters he encounters. The show itself contains fan service although most of it is portrayed as cheeky humor similar to the Konosuba series. And while I can’t say the battles may suit everyone’s tastes, it definitely look catchy to the eye. You’re probably going to look back and remember some of the hilarious moments in Kemono Michi. With the author of Konosuba helming the show, it won’t be hard to notice the similar style of its humor. I can watch Kemono Michi and say the anime is an enjoyable at best when you embrace its humor. If you looking deeper into the show, there’s not much more you’ll find within.

Terrible fanfiction based on a great source material. This is the kind of adaptation that I never expected to experience again - because it’s not the early 00s anymore and Studio Gonzo (of that era) is, thankfully, dead. If you’ve had the misfortune of watching Hellsing TV, Rosario + Vampire or FMA 2003 I can just go ahead and say this show is one of those. If not - well, this is a manga “adaptation” that starts by following the manga plot, switches to the completely original material halfway, and the twist is that the anime-original parts are garbage. Here’s a bunch of ways in which this anime fails: 1) Trying to fit square pegs in round holes. So, the manga is written by Akatsuki Natsume of Konosuba fame, and it basically is a Konosuba re-skin. Meaning, a gut-busting situational comedy in an isekai setting about a bunch of dysfunctional losers who somehow found a family in each other and are now busy grinding through monsters-of-the-week of their particular isekai (Demon King’s generals in case of Konosuba, demonic beasts in case of Kemono Michi). Seriously, go read it, it’s 10/10. And what do you think the anime does with these building blocks? First, it tries to do a plot-focused “serious” arc, which of course fails because the very premise of the world absolutely excludes any possibility of having serious stakes or grand narratives. And second, it does entire episodes without a single joke, supposedly dedicated to developing the characters - except “the characters” were envisioned as the plot-devices for sitcom humor and there is nothing to develop. It’s like the production team completely failed to understand the whole appeal of the source material and had no clue what they were doing. Which brings me to the next point. 2) The production team completely failed to understand the whole appeal of the source material and had no clue what they were doing. Couple of times they run into a situation where they have square pegs and square holes. Do you think they manage to fit them in? Nope. Here’s an example: The beginning of both the manga and the anime has the MC deciding to run a pet shop. In the source he actually runs a pet shop. In the anime this premise is abandoned, which is bad, but not terrible. But then they make an anime original episode where literally the best solution for the conflict would by selling a pet to a person - and that still doesn’t happen. Despite the very same episode confirming that yes, they have the actual pets to sell. Another baffling example: A manga chapter dedicated to a single gag. 17 pages of the setup, 3 pages of the punchline - the most basic structure of a joke. The anime adapts the 17 pages of the setup… and stops. The scene ends without a punchline and the character literally turns to the camera and says “well, what I just did turned out to be a waste of time.” What. The. Fuck. 3) The devil is in the details. One of the strongest points of the manga is its amazing attention to detail. The female deuteragonist wears what is essentially a pair of assless chaps - because she’s a kemonomimi girl with a huge tail - it’s an article of clothing that makes sense for her. The chairs in the main cast’s home are also designed in a way that accommodates having a tail. Mind, those things are never highlighted, it just something you notice accidentally, have a lightbulb moment, and then feel good that the artist actually put some thought into his work. Which is why it’s such an eyesore when the anime-original scenes have the tails just phase through clothing or straight-up disappear. A different detail: one of the characters is a vampire, meaning the sunlight harms her. In the manga every time she goes outside during the daytime she carries a parasol (it’s a farcical sitcom, after all). Apparently, not a single person on the anime production team had a clue about what they were doing because in the original scenes the parasol is missing. I mean, it would’ve been perfectly fine to just retcon the thing away if it was too inconvenient, but that would require having a single clue about what they were doing. So the parasol is present in the scenes copypasted from the manga and absent in the original ones, because what is consistency. 4) The humor. The jokes from the source material are funny. The anime original jokes are not. All of them. No exceptions. Without ever reading the manga, you can tell which scenes come from where by whether you laughed or not. They also manage to ruin some of the manga jokes by either repeating them ad nauseum or by pushing things way past their limit. Akatsuki Natsume’s trademark humor involves a lot of comedic bullying, and the screenwriters try to imitate it - but somehow come up with the scenes of the actual abuse that can make you feel either uncomfortable or sad, but definitely not entertained. I’m baffled how anyone, never mind the professional writers, could fail at humor so hard. It’s on the level of not understanding the line between cats being scared by a cucumber and cats getting physically hurt. 5) It. Just. Sucks. Forget the source material. You can look at this anime completely on its own merits, and it’s just objectively bad on the artistic level. Garbage dialogues: “Hey, ojousan. Your servant is shit, let’s make her duel my, apriori stronger servant, and if she loses, then I, random nobody with no relation to you, will appoint you a different servant (secretly my spy, *Dr. Evil’s laugh*), and also this whole sentence isn’t retarded on five different levels.” Garbage writing: A wrestling tournament is under way, there is an ominous hooded figure watching it from the shadows, he steps into the ring a second before the hero is pronounced the champion. Is it the main antagonist (also a wrestler) who was teased for the last 4 episodes? No, it’s a local Team Rocket guy who has no reason to be there (actually has a reason to avoid the place at any cost) and just gets pointlessly humiliated in ten seconds (see the abuse point above), because that’s how you do a culmination of a tournament. Garbage directing: An episode-long flashback that ends on a cliff-hanger, the antagonist plans to go for the main hero. Guess what the next episode is about? Another episode-long flashback, completely unrelated to anything. Comparing this shitty fanfiction to the manga (which I only ever picked up after liking the first and only two good episodes of the adaptation) reminded me of another thing I’d rather forget - Psycho Pass Season 2 - in a “so that’s how talent versus no talent looks like” way. 2/10 for “that’s not how ‘go read the manga’ works, you incompetent hacks.”

Everyone: "Please, for the love of God, are we done with Isekai shows?" Japan: "What's that you say? You need MORE Isekai shows? Here you go..." *pulls another one* Everyone: OH LOOK! Another Isekai! By the author of one of the best Isekai comedies of recent years (KonoSuba)? Oh boy, this sure looks interesting! Me after 12 episodes: OK...meh it's fine.... Honestly, the wraith of Isekai shows is becoming even a cliche at this point, just look at this season's offerings as a whole and tell me if the ever popular Isekai trope is gonna be away at any point in time. For this show, while the concept was somewhat unique with forging pretty much a "WWE Wrestlemania" environment, hammering such mindset is the world's greatest pro wrestler by the name of Genzo Shibata, it sure looks like a recipe for success. Alas, while in a modern world match, the "another world's" summoners' requiem for a hero (being Genzo) was done as means to justify that both axes of the world can be covered a.k.a Demon Lord vs. Hero stance. Just imagine that once he is summoned, instead of being that conventional hero, he just walks right to the princess which summoned him, and delivers a German Suplex onto her for giving him THAT much trouble, hence, the nickname Princess Buttocks (if you've watched the show). And of course, seemingly rightfully so that being the furry lover that he is, he begins to instil his presence onto the Isekai world with his furry prized possession of a dog Hiroyuki, by fledgling his "Demon Beast Killer" status along with pettying the usual neighbours that he runs into, and building his very own pet shop in another world for both humans and demihumans to co-exist together, but not without his supporters on the side: the seemingly sweet but cunning money-loving wolf-girl Shigure and master-servant "sidekicks" Hanako and Carmilla. Oh, and not to forget, that while the Hero side is assembled, it's nothing until the Demon Lord's side is fulfilled in the same fashion with Genzo's opponent MAO taking him on just to see the postponed "World Champion" wrestling match plot being fulfilled to its potential to close with a bang. Quite honestly, while the hints of KonoSuba stray within this show, I do admit that it has its moments of being funny (for the 1st quarter alone). However, it quickly becomes apparent that like said show, Kemono Michi a.k.a Animal Mask relies heavily on the comedy to compensate for any lack of depth on all fronts, and yes, I do mean in terms of the lesser story and bigger character development, of which I wouldn't say there were none, but it just barely stands out literally like its predecessor by a wide margin. While Genzo's humour relies on him being both the target and the targeted for other people, there is a heck lot of banter within the wide cast of characters that are being encountered to do their bidding. Pretty much everything is a copy-paste action that once done, is repeated endlessly towards the same old jokes and all, making it predictable and less enjoyable. Boring... Art and animation wise, it's Kadokawa taking the reins for this show, the surprise being that I did not expect that they'd have their own in-house outsourced studio to handle this project. A subsidary of the Kadokawa Coporation, ENGI (not that DAL Engi) was tasked from this joint venture as the studio's very first project, and I'd have to say that it stands out in quite a fair bit. Other than the unique character designs which all have quite the look, the art itself isn't too drab, but it supposedly has that "shining" effect placed all around, as if there were torchlights to make the overall aesthetics look brighter to hide the low budget effects of the show. The same is applied to the animation aspects, while it certainly looks fine to the average watcher, the incorporation of the comedy scenes were mundane to say the least, and while there's a decent amount of action for the most part, it overall still feels like nothing. If the art and animation itself were a bogey, the music itself was on par, not great, but not bad either. Most particularly, the sound designs were mostly and clearly inspired from KonoSuba, and while we got that here, it wasn't as appealing the way that it was supposed to be. Same goes to the OST for both the OP and ED, it was also fine. At first, I'd thought the OP was very appealing from the get-go signifying the countdowns of wrestling matches with its full-on rockability, and it still is acceptable (don't get me wrong, it's a good song), but that is where the only good parts lie at. All in all, if you were expecting another outing from KonoSuba author Natsume Akatsuki, this show just isn't as glamourous and being all that stupid for the predecessor that made us be that "laughter is the best medicine" and "comedy is subjective" anthropologies. As if the overall score isn't very generous enough, the manga itself is paced differently, and even a bore to read after just a few chapters. But regardless, manga or anime, this show is another good stress reliever, but other than that, pass it up.

Out of the door Kemono Michi was one hell of a romp to go through on a weekly basis. While it seemed like it had little going for it due to its use of a tiresome isekai gimmick, sub-par production value, and barely anything plot and characters. What it did have however is a great use of comedy that made the show an enjoyable ride due to how easily funny it was. The comedy that Kemono Michi uses isn’t really anything exceptional, in fact I would consider it downright predictable. A sort of predictable-ness where you sort of already know what’s going to be the punchline halfway through the set-up. Nevertheless the pay-off for the punchline are handled really well by going full throttle with the delivery and timing. After a while however the jokes begin to run a bit dry due to how repetitive they become. The show is aware of this, and does try to make fun of how they do the same jokes and bits over and over. An example would be the wolf girl, Shigure, “finding” special expensive weapons that an adventurer dropped due to being knocked out by the main protagonist. As the show continues on with each episode, Shigure ends up getting tired of the bit as well. It gets to a point where they just end up cutting it out with only a few signifiers implying that she’s still stealing the weapons. But it’s self awareness is only a small band aid as even those get tiring as well due to it’s still incessant repeativness. I still think it’s still an ok show, but it had a small good idea that couldn’t be stretched out into a standard 12 episode format.

Ok, as one reviewer said that this has "Horrible Fan-fiction" wlep, he's absolutely right,cu'z it does it was indeed studio ENGI's first ever production and I can already tell you the they made a bad start of even thinking about making something that combines the usual isekai themed anime with something from WWE. though casting a wrestler in a isekai themed anime would be unique, unfortunately was just horrible when they adapted such character in a retard kind of way especially when the original creator Natsuki Akatsuki who thinks after his success with Konosuba would end up with another amazing isekai themed anime, well, he just fucked it, cu'z this one had the character, Genzo, be this zoophiliic Son of a Gun, so how do I rate this????: Story- Dreadful 2: Cu'z it simple combines that of the usual isekai themed anime with the flashiness of WWE and not to mentioned a main character who was just too stupid to even think about earn a living. Plus not to mention that this anime's story plot simply revolves around a certain fetish called "Zoophilia." Art- Good 7: Cu'z therea couple of fanservice around here and not to mention a Shigure being this hot half human, half wolf beastman smart ass bitch. Sound- Good 7: That's for the ending theme "Anegdot" by Momosu Momosu. Character: Pathetic 1: Cu'z what this shit has: A Pro wrestler,Shibata, Genzou.that has paraphilia with animal or should I say beast, who was just too much of a liability for the cute half human, half wolf beastman like Shigure. Shigure a half human, half wolf beastman, was definitely a double standard , cu'z at one point she would be this smart ass girl who was basically an opportunist and in another she can be sooo dumb that she should have just pocked some money from the swords she pawn and just leaved that parasitic bum, Genzo. Haakoa a half human, half dragon who belongs to the nobility, was another dichotomy where she was suppose to be rich aand powerful and yet she's penniless and in a company of a vampire that was just too much of a weakling and a drunk. Carmilla Vanstein another character that was simply useless, where one would be annoyed by her incompetence. MAO, basically an obnoxious antagonist where despite of being this tough muscle bound guy would be scared shit of animals. Enjoyment Pathetic 1: basically this was just anime where one would be annoyed with the main character , Genzo, that one would simply like to kick him out of Shigure life if one can. Overall Pathetic 1: basically it was a waste of time and one can simpy afford to miss an episode or two, in fact whoever dropped this was some whom I can't blame.

Burn Brain cells the anime This was so terrible that I think this entire plot and concept was written by a monkey or by one year old you know what it would be insulting to the monkey and the baby because I’m sure that even they could come up with a better plot and characters then this shit show in fact the scene where the main character sniff the ass of The werewolf man describe The feeling of watching this where I begin with this one so I will say the story is practically nonexistent the art was even basic for this genre the sound was terrible the characters Are so pathetic and one dimensional and doesn’t have fucking character development at all and they act like they have a fucking brain damage and most of them all they do is to be horny as hell for the main character that this is even an embarrassment to call them characters and there are two so-called character thet were so completely humiliated throughout the course of this dumpster fire the princess and the werewolf man that I’m not gonna even bother search for their names because they’re both so stupid The this hurt and watching this is like watching a dumpster going on fire overall this is an embarrassment even for this genre and that include also the milf Isekai for the same reasons they are on the same level both of those shows are embarrassment to entertainment as whole

I came into this anime expecting it to be the first anime I've ever dropped due to some of the clips I'd seen in some other reviews but even though those scenes were still weird the comedy kept me watching, the questionable scenes stopped after the first couple of episodes though. The best way I could describe this would be Konosuba with a wrestler for a main character. I didn't feel like any of the main characters weren't fleshed out enough and the side characters who didn't get expanded on much were mainly there for comedic purposes but they didn't affect the story too much. The fact that it's an isekai isn't being shoved down your throat all the time but just enough to remind you that there are major differences between our world and the one in the show. Overall by the end the show left me wanting at least another 12 episodes and I would say that if you like isekais or light hearted shows then you'd enjoy this one too. -Just This Weeb

I laughed so hard on this😆.Hataage is extremely hilarious. The action scene are awesome & funny just like KONOSUBA! It has a good plot but not so intriguing.SO,if someone love thriller, this is not for you but if someone looking for comedy&isekai😉 Hataage is a perfect choice! As,there are not so much comedy isekai anime! Here, One get to see an oversmart villain & a stupid hero who is fond of animals. Don’t worry!There is harem too. Let me tell you why Hataage is a bit of unique and hilarious isekai anime! The anime starts with the hero summoning as usual. But unlike other isekai heros who get surprised or happy by summoning, this MC got snapped and did a German Suplex to the princess.Well, I would have done the same, if I were summuned suddenly! 😆 That's just the 1st part of the 1st episode! Rest of them are super hilarious. You'er gonna love the action the oversmart villain takes! At last, I would recommend you to give it a try to watch at least episode 1&2.I am sure you won't be disappointed😉! This is one of the best isekai, comedy genre.

Isekai has been done to death by now. So in 2019, what could a studio possible pass off as a unique product? Well, at this point, it takes the transportation of a pet-loving professional wrestler to another world. And yeah, I would imagine that we still haven't hit the peak of isekai absurdity. This show gets no points from me in any category other than its concept. The idea of a wrestler being sent to another world as a hero is pretty hilarious, and attention grabbing no doubt. If it wasn't for the ridiculousness of the concept, I would have never stuck around. So, into the nitty gritty. The writing was unimpressive. On episode 4, when I was considering dropping the show, the writers decided to change the pace. This was a good move and kept the show interesting, so props to them for that. Other than that one instance, though, the writing is just average. The art was below average. The wobbly cutesy artstyle does not lend itself well to an anime that is half about chiseled beefcakes beating each other up. Most of the characters looked ugly, stupid, or both. Facial animations were extremely lazy, and often times the expressions of characters didn't match their voices. The sound was forgettable. I think the King Orc might have been Jotaro, but other than that everything else is unremarkable. The characters were flat and boring. I'm amazed that I didn't notice this until later in the show, because it should have been made obvious even before the halfway point. Every character- including and especially the main ones- can be entirely defined by one trait. For example: likes animals likes money likes food likes the mistress doesn't like the mistress doesn't like genzo doesn't like animals isekai protagonist spoof character (gotta have one of those in every self-aware isekai now) etc. etc... There are few, if any exceptions to this rule. Don't go into this anime looking for character depth, because you won't find it. Overall, I wouldn't really recommend watching Kemono Michi: Rise Up, because you can gather everything you need to know from its MAL page. There is not more than what meets the eye. 4/10

To preface, I am more of a wrestling fan than anything else. The thought of how Japanese wrestling being represented in an anime, like Tiger Mask W, but written as an isekai comedy by the author of Konosuba was almost too good to be true. And after watching all of the series, I went from being invested in a world with a funny wrestler that fights all the monsters in an entertaining, abstract way to being just fed up with the series as it comes to an end. Basically, I came into this thinking, "Oh, a wrestling anime, oh boi" and came out being reminded that the "golden age of isekai" is more dominant and some people might actually enjoy parts I just couldn't. If I can say anything positive, I liked the MC's rival and I liked a single fight.

Take Konosuba, swap out Kazuma with a Pro-Wrestling furry lover, make the comedy about half as funny, and sprinkle a bunch of animals and beastmen in and you pretty much have Hataage! Kemono Michi. Fortunately for this anime, being half as funny as Konosuba means you're still pretty funny. And that's what saved this from being a total waste of time. Outside of the funny moments, which were plentiful, literally everything about this anime is the definition of mediocre. The plot is mediocre. The characters are mediocre. (Although I did like Shigure), The animation style is mediocre and looks low budget. The ending is mediocre. Just everything about the anime screams mediocrity. But, it keeps you laughing, so you keep going. Hataage Kemono Michi is as thin of a story as it gets. A princess summons a hero from another world to battle monsters attacking her people. The hero, Genzou, turns out to be a pro-wrestler who loves animals and gets violently angry whenever anyone even talks about threatening them. Instead of killing the beasts, he decides to pursue his dream of opening a pet shop where he can teach people to love the monsters that attack them. Through this, he meets Shigure, who is clearly a riff on Aqua. She hates being poor, loves chasing money, and has questionable morals. (She was also my favorite character.), Carmilla (Who is the Dustiness of the group, but instead of her gag being a masochist, she's an alcoholic. She even has the same habit of being beaten up and nearly eaten by monsters just like Dustiness) and Hanako (Who I guess would be the Megumin of the group in that she's a royal loli who is actually the most powerful of the quartet but can't show it. Megumin can't because she can't control her power, and Hanako can't because she's trying to hide her identity.). The only one that isn't the same as a Konosuba character is Genzou himself, because he's nothing like Kazuma. (And seeing how awesome Kazuma is, that's a loss for this anime. If you were going to rip off the cast of Konosuba, you should've just gone all the way.) But, even though the majority of these characters are similar to Konosuba, they are far less intelligent and far more one-dimensional than the cast of Konosuba. The Konosuba ripoff doesn't stop there, however. Of course they join a guild, and just like in Konosuba, they cause more trouble for the members of it than they help. They spend their time doing quests and chasing money to get out of debt, but end up broke, anyway, just like Konosuba. There's also a lot of ecchi-based jokes and humor, just like Konosuba. It's kind of shameless really, that they just so blatantly lifted so much from Konosuba and then tried to smother it in a bunch of furry jokes and pro-wrestling, so you think that its different. The two things that they use to try and differentiate themselves from Konosuba and Isekai in general were both a blessing and curse for the anime. The Furry angle produced a lot of funny moments. But, the gag of Genzou's overabundant love for animals ran thin towards the end of the anime. The Pro-Wrestling angle was never funny. I don't even know why they made this guy a pro-wrestler, but it hurt the anime more than helped it. Outside of a few funny suplexes, it was just kind of silly and really limited the combat of the anime to just pro-wrestling style fights for the most part. And what was bizarre, is that they decided to go the route of pro-wrestling style fighting, but the animation was too mediocre to make it exciting. And it's like they knew they weren't good at it, because almost all the fights were like 20 seconds long. I'm savaging this anime, but truth be told, I was entertained by it. But, I was entertained in the way you're entertained by any gag anime; you're just waiting for the next joke. You're not waiting to see some mystery solved, or any kind of credible plot development, or what ultimately happens between characters, because you can figure that all out before it even happens. You're just waiting for the next time someone punches Dustine--I mean Carmilla in the gut, or waiting for Genzou to do something weird like sniff a dog's butt. It's the most basic and simple of entertainment, but it's entertaining, nonetheless. And that's what Hataage! Kemono Michi is. Just a basic isekai anime. If you didn't watch this and you watched something else, you wouldn't miss out on anything special. If you did watch this, you wouldn't feel like you were completely cheated. It's a "take it or leave it" kind of anime experience.

Hilarious premise for an isekai that sort of flubs the landing I'll keep this short. This is a weird anime. It's not really about wrestling until the end. More so, it's about how the main LOVES animals. Like really loves them. Even when the love is unwanted.. For example, early on he sees a wolf man who is an evil criminal type. He basically rapes him (implied, not shown) and then a recurring joke is the wolf guy has PTSD attacks about it. I found that HILARIOUS. you might not. The story sort of makes no sense either and thats kind of it's charm in a way. I was going to give it a 7 but the last episode is such a let down and very anti-climatic. There is also too many characters that seem pointless or have no real use and you wonder why they are around. Actually that's almost every character.. Still worth a shot if you are an isekai or weird anime fan!

Don't call him the demon beast slayer. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT CALL HIM THE DEMON BEAST SLAYER. If you want a nice German Suplex, along with his cat-girl side kick Shigure stealing your priceless weapon, than by all means, go right ahead. This has to be, one of the absolutely most bizarre ass animes I've ever seen, and I was captivated from the get go. You wanna talk about a unique isekai? This is it. Picture this. Genzo gets transported to this foreign world, teeming with demon beasts, and a guild house, where people generally go to accept quests to kill such beasts. Lucky for the world, the man they summoned, is absolutely infatuated with any animal/beast/demi-human/etc. It takes the characters in this world, no time at all, to learn that any speak of hurting creatures, will incur Genzos wrath. Minor spoilers here. In Genzos first day in this world. He German Suplexes the princess, who happened to summon him, and his little dog Hiroyuki, to this world, and takes off in nothing but a speedo. He's mercilessly chased through town, being called a pervert, because of his attire. He runs into Wolfgang and Misha, his first encounter with beastmen, to which he can't contain himself, and he gives wolfgang full body scritches, which puts him mentally out of commission for most of the series. Oh, and he happens to tame a giant ant man, to be his maid, yea, that too. He befriends a cat-girl Shigure, who is basically his sidekick throughout. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Genzo spends most of his days in this world, befriending various demon beasts, and raising them in his "pet shop" which is nothing more than a small house with some cages. They get paid by the guild as such, for accomplishing the task, although, he isn't truly killing any of the beasts. Everything about this anime was a blast. I found myself thrusting my arrms in the air like a madman several different times, because of the insanity that was breaking out, and rarely found myself with a dull moment throughout this one. This was one of my gems of the season, and as long as you don't take the anime, or yourself, too seriously, this is one that should be on your watchlist. It's a damn good time.

Hey, it is wrestling. I try to keep this as much spoiler free as I can. So the story starts when our mc Genzo is in the middle of wwe game but gets summoned in the middle of it. He meets the summoner. He needs to take down the Demon King as usual and kill demon beasts, but since Genzo loves animals he gets angry and it is suplex time. His dream is to show the people that demon beasts can be tamed with love. He wants to make a pet shop. Characters: Genzo is a pro wrestler who loves animals and gets angry at anyone who hurts them. He also hates his nickname "Demon Beast Killer". Shigure is a wolf girl. She likes money. She works with Genzo but she honestly does most of the work to support Genzos Dream. Hanako is a half dragon I think. She loves eating and thats her whole character. Carmilla is a lower vampire who works for Hanako. She usually is just drunk or fights Genzo. Hiroyuki is Genzos dog. Altena is the princess of the country and also Genzos summoner. Then MAOU. He is the Demon King and Genzos rival. The opening is catchy and the background music pretty good. Art is simple yet good, in fight scenes it just gets better and the animation is nice as well. Do I recommend this? Yes, It is simple and entertaining also if you like WWE you'll probably enjoy this as well.

To be honest, I don’t expect much from isekai anime. I know this isn’t a hot take considering the genre is oversaturated as hell these days, but I thought Kemono Michi could be different. A pro-wrestler being isekai’d into a fantasy world? That’s a gimmick I never would’ve expected. Think of all the possibilities this could have been original. Maybe even good. Although it’d be unfair to say this is just another isekai, I wouldn’t say it succeeds at what it tried to do. I expected it to at least be weird, and it certainly is ridiculous. Other than weirdness, there’s not much else. It was funny at times, but mostly I was just bored. Between the motionless animation, repetitive comedy, and an average cast of characters, there’s not a whole lot left to enjoy. The main problem with the cast is their lack of purpose. There’s no reason for them to be together. They have no chemistry. The show begins with Genzo, the titular wrestler known as 'Animal Mask' getting summoned to fight monsters in a fantasy world. Soon after he meets Shigure, a mischievous wolf girl. She hangs around him for no reason other than her personal gain. She steals swords and armor from people Genzo beats up, then sells them at a pawn shop. As for her relationship with Genzo? She couldn’t care less about him. If he tries to start a conversation with her, she’ll say something like “not interested,” as if she read my mind. It’s funny how blunt she is, especially because she’s so relatable. She’s practically uninvolved with the action, she just does her own thing. It’s a shame the show does absolutely nothing with her (or any of the cast for that matter) because she was my favorite of the bunch. I wish she had been the protagonist, unfortunately, the one we got… kinda sucks. I couldn’t care less about Genzo. The guy is a box of rocks. He has one good personality trait, a nice animal lover. His dream is to open a pet shop, aww that’s cute—until you realize he likes animals a little too much. Recruited to slay monsters, he chooses to make friends with them instead. Rather than killing, he wrestles monsters, then forcibly pets them in a borderline fetishistic way. There’s even a side plot of wolfman who basically has PTSD from being molested by Genzo. He spends most of the show misunderstanding what people say, assaulting animals, missing social cues, and hitting people (usually his friends) rather than resolving things with words. Genzo's stupidity is played for humor, but it makes him look more like an asshole. We never hear what he’s thinking. Sometimes I wondered if Carmilla’s insult was true, that he “has a muscle where his brain should be.” Speaking of which, Carmilla has no connection to Genzo either. She sticks around for the little red-haired demon girl. I struggle to find much to say about this one. She hates demon food, so she runs away from home to eat human food. That’s about it. I don’t know why she chose to stay with Genzo. There’s not much else to add for the characters, which sucks considering they’re what the show’s about. Genzo is conceptually the glue that binds the group together. However, all he does is say/do stupid shit and the others call him an idiot. Without him, there’s nothing. They’re an awkward group of people who don’t give two shits about each other. In the first couple of episodes, the jokes are decent. Every character consistently has great overexaggerated voice acting. You can tell the actors are having fun with the script, even if the directing doesn't do them justice. Genzo’s a weird pervert, but because everyone else called him out, it was funny. This one prominent joke—and variations of it—make up the entire show. Rinse, repeat. Over time you start to wonder if there are more jokes in this show… Rinse repeat. Is there anything else? Rinse repeat. God, I’m bored. It’s hard to not compare Kemono Michi to Kononsuba. Written by the same author, there are many similarities. The cast is comprised of one dude and three girls, slapstick humor, subversion of standard isekai plots. There’s even a token ‘masochistic girl’ character, and strangely she’s blonde too. After the main characters got tiring, there wasn’t much else I cared about, aside from a few minor reoccurring characters. One of my favorites was the bear woman that crushes on Genzo because whenever he comes by he pats her fur and flatters her. She’s married too which makes it kinda scandalous in a goofy way. Eventually, it becomes a love triangle between the bear woman, her husband, and Genzo. Yes. That is the kind of show this is. Of course, it’s only a very minor long-running-joke in the show. Nothing becomes of it, but I always was happy when the show gave bear woman some screentime. Where the comedy fails the most isn’t the milquetoast, repetitive jokes. The comedic timing is almost non-existent. Most of the show is the main characters chatting it up, with jokes thrown in here or there. The mold for an average ‘joke’ in Kemono Michi goes as follows: Step 1: Girl calls Genzo an animal-loving-pervert. Step 2: Cue the default image of them arguing with some speed lines. Step 3: Cut back to whatever was happening. Step 4: (Repeat steps 1-3) If a joke fails to surprise and seemingly has no reason to be there, it’s not funny. Sad to say, the person in charge of Kemono Michi’s adaptation hasn’t heard of this basic rule of comedy. Whenever a joke is cued or a character reaction pops up, you get a lame sound effect, or sometimes nothing at all. The boring elevator background music sometimes plays straight through the jokes, nothing works right. I never expected a director to completely miss what’s supposed to make a joke funny in an anime. Even the most forgettable comedies these days don’t mess up this shit, it’s just the basics. I expected a mediocre production from this studio’s first show, and that’s what I got. Rewatching a few of the episodes dubbed (which is surprisingly pretty decent) I noticed how much art gets recycled. Watching Kemono Michi as a whole series rather than weekly is an absolute chore. They must have used the shot of the princess getting German Suplexed ten times throughout the show. If you're patient, Every two episodes there’s some nice looking sakuga. Other than that, there’s not much worth looking at. The character designs are good, but they’re simplified, and there’s not much animation at all. Even when there’s motion, it’s rarely animated with more than a series of still frames. It’s a shame because the characters would look pretty cool if they tried. They’re what you’d expect from a furry manga; the male characters are fully anthropomorphized animals, whereas the girls will just have cat ears and a tail. At best Kemono Michi is a decent time-waster. At worst it’s a tedious chore to watch. The art is average, the characters are average, the story is average, the music is average. There were a few jokes I enjoyed, until they were repeated a dozen times. If you’re looking for an over-the-top slapstick isekai comedy in the same vein as Konosuba, you could do way better than this.

Without thinking twice ... When I saw a fragment of this work, I thought it would be interesting to see. When I started watching this anime, I saw that they were showing me something new. For a start, what can I say? Anime will not let you get bored. In each episode, you can smile or even laugh. For the Isekai genre, this is the first time that not a schoolboy, not an office worker, or even a hike was summoned to another world, but the wrestler. The hero's calling to the alternate world was almost standard, as was the case with most Isekai, which is not encouraging. It is also sad that the plot does not develop but stands still. The main characters roam in one place, and that's it. There are tons of soundtracks. In battle - dynamic music, in conversation - calm music, and in moments when funny moments should happen, it is accompanied by a soundtrack. There is practically no character disclosure. I didn’t expect much from everyday life. So you will not be able to sympathize or remember the key characters, and there are very few secondary characters. In conclusion, I will say that you can watch the anime once, laugh with friends or alone. In my subjective opinion, this anime does not give the impression that it would be revisited. I give a solid 5 points.

An animal-loving pro wrestler in a parallel world. Even in the current boom of isekai series that particular premise sounds somewhat original. Unfortunately that's all it has going for it. The story starts out like a typical isekai and immediately introduces us to several characters and the trouble they get themselves into. Their interactions and relationships with one another are established quickly and the basis for the series' enjoyment is the humor that develops from those characters and their personal quirks. These established running jokes are funny at first, but quickly become overdone. It's a good thing the series only has 12 episodes, because at the end you'll be sick and tired of the same jokes done over and over again. I will say that the plot at least develops quickly and it's wrapped up smoothly within the episodes it has, and there's even some minor character development going on near the end which was unexpected. Neither the main characters nor any of the supporting characters are memorable or particularly deep. The voice acting was solid enough, at least. Not that it has to be all that good if every character is a stereotype or caricature. The artwork really isn't all that great either, and the soundtrack is forgettable. I will admit that the opening was catchier than I had expected, but that's about it. I think the key here is not ot take the series too seriously. I sure didn't and I got my fair share of fun out of it. I'm happy I watched it, but I'm also glad it's over. If you're even remotely intrigued by the idea, I suggest you give it a try.

Watch (part of) the show, it's really funny! It starts off actually being better than the manga. Some say to stop watching after the fourth episode and that's fine. But you're going to regret it if you don't at least skip episodes 8, 9, 11, and 12. Once the competition starts, the show spends too much time repeating the gags you've already seen before. If you've seen a decent amount of anime, you should know that tournament episodes are lazy writing and a sign that they've ran out of ideas. And guess what? They don't have just one, but two of these brawls, not to mention the episodes spent setting up them up. The action's good, it's just you're going to get so sick of the repeated jokes, that I personally don't think it's worth it. Genzou is absolutely hilarious and entertaining in the beginning of the show, then he gets annoying and stale around the halfway mark. Hanako always has a bit of food on her face, which is super cute. The aftermath of Genzou's disappearance makes for nice comedy too. And then there's Carmilla. She's in a class of her own. Carmilla is like Aqua, only she isn't annoyingly mean and crybaby loud. She's just stupid and sometimes lazy and that's what makes her great. And don't forget the ant and the kobold's wife, who are amazing characters in their own special ways. In summary, a show that would have done amazingly if it were 7-8 or even 3-4 episodes instead of 12. And since you're probably watching this from a recommendation due to its mediocre scoring, you'll love what you do watch. I don't believe in rating an anime low just because it's brief, so I'm giving it a 9. Also, I recommend not worrying about plot holes in an absurd action comedy.

There are bunch of isekais released in the past decade some great some weak but there's this particular type of isekai which I like to call "light isekais". These type of isekai shows don't have really heavy plot and it doesn't really offer much on the story side of things. Though this may seem bad at first, these types are more associated with non-isekai shows that also doesn't really on heavy plot but instead on comedic values (e.g Azumanga Daioh, Nichijou). This is one example of a light isekai, it isn't reliant on it's plot progression but instead offers its comedic values. Though it does have plot progression, it's better to say that it's only part of the package. Now let's talk about what it's got. The comedy of the show is superb early on enhancing each and every episode though later on it falls off and just becomes repetitive, And that's where its plot progression clutches. It does this by rushing through the story steadily then plan its conclusion and this includes thing like build-up, anticipation, and a resolution arc. Though I don't think it's something amazing, I can say it's fairly decent though. So one thing I actually noticed on the show is that fight scenes have better animation than other scenes. The other scenes looks really sloppy and stiff tho going through thw fight scenes it's flow is really good. Actually not much to talk about this show so lets proceed to the conclusion. Do I recommend this show? Not really. This show offers a lot less than other shows of its genre. Though this one in particular is fairly decent, I still don't see myself thinking about this show whenever someone asks "hey recommend me some isekai". 7/10