Review of To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts

So in the spring season this year, Fairy Gone was a thing and it kind of sucked. So much so that I decided to drop it halfway through. Its story was not gripping enough and its characters were so bland and stuck in mud in terms of their growth. It was not really a good show. So I bring Fairy Gone up because this show this season is rather similar in terms of its setting and certain plot elements (kind of) on paper. But MAAPA has been on a good roll in terms of quality anime they are animating lately so how does this entryin their catalogue hold up?

Sit back, relax and make sure that the inner beast inside you screams out as I present to you the anime review for To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts. Lets begin.

Story: 6.5/10

“WAR...is hell” - Ace Ventura, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

I will just leave that quote there. So the story begins with a civil war between the North and the South (they never say the country’s name so lets leave it at that). But the war swiftly favours the Northerners as they unleash a special unit of super soldiers called incarnates to fight on the battlefield. But there problems being developed as the incarnates start to lose their minds and become the savage beasts they are transforming in to. With the war over. Hank, the leader of the incarnates, must now hunt the other members of the incarnate squad and put them down before they cause any more harm. But when the daughter of one of the incarnates, Schaal Nancy Bancroft tags along with Hank, it may not be as clear cut as it seems.

I will say that the first episode of the show feels rather rushed. I think if the first episode was expanded to two episodes, or the episode was twice the length, then the narratives developed here would make me more emotionally invested into the story and our characters. But the way they did it, it made me struggle to get really invested into this show. Thankfully, the show’s story structure and pacing does get better as the show goes on as it follows a monster of the week type setup that helps establish that not everything is clearly black and white and there is some grey area in the middle of it all as some incarnates still have some humanity left in them. But the problem is that the majority of the members of the incarnates don’t get much development (except for a couple scattered here and there). We get one or two flashbacks as to what they were like but that is about it. Which is a shame because the ones that do get more development, especially the incarnate in episode eight, are well done and made me invested. So it is inconsistent in that regard.

Another thing this show likes to portray is that...well…war is hell. Not only for the citizens, but also for the incarnates themselves as they were tools for war and now have no purpose since the war is now over. It is shown here and there and expanded upon by the main antagonist of the series, Cain and gives context as to why he is doing the things he is doing. It is a subject that we have seen plenty of times and here, it is no different. It does though strike a balance between showing us and telling us which I think it did well so that it doesn’t bore the viewer. It is where the story is at its best as it explains to us why these incarnates should be put down to make sure that remnants from the war are removed and we can start moving forward. Because if these incarnates are still running around and are killing people, innocent or not, then is the war truly over?

Characters: 6/10

The main protagonist role is split between Hank and Schaal. We will start with Hank first. Being the former squad leader of the incarnates, it would make sense that he is not happy of putting down his former squad members. We see this in his expressions and tone of voice that he is not comfortable doing this and helps remind the viewer that, while he is an incarnate, he still has plenty of humanity left in him. His motivations though are not well developed. He fights because he swore an oath and as squad leader, he feels that this is his responsibility. That’s fine, but is other reason is that he wants to get revenge on Cain for betraying him and shooting someone Hank cared about. The main problem is here is that we don’t really see much of their relationship bloom enough to act as a good motivator. A told, not shown kind of situation that is rather lacklustre when you think about it.

Schaal acts as the reminder that killing the incarnates is not all black and white. Being the daughter of one of the incarnates. We see her full of rage and spite towards Hank for killing her father but eventually starts to understand why they need to be put down. Her growth and understanding of Hank’s circumstances is one of the best things about this show. She acts as the voice of reason at times but is not always stupid enough to get in the way; only doing it when needed. She is plenty capable with her rifle but also knows her limits as to what she can do. She is easily my favourite character in this show and adds complexity to the situation since it can easily be just him Hank going around the country, killing the incarnates and moving on to the next.

Cain though, the main antagonist in this series, could have been a lot better in my opinion. I understand his reasoning as he something more than human and doesn’t want to be cast aside now that the war is over. But the way he sees it is rather comical. He sees himself as a god and wants to rule the country because of his power. I think him rebelling because he doesn’t want to be a tool for war along with the rest of the incarnates. He does see that, don’t get me wrong, but the way he goes about doing it is rather stereotypically evil. I feel like he could have been a moral check and that would make him a more interesting antagonist. But he is just simply evil and that’s just it really.

The rest of the cast are pretty much just there to act as supporting characters and not much else. Whether it is just to fight alongside Hank and Schaal or provide them with information. Claude Withers, the brother to Cain, felt like he had his own arc but he is rather uninteresting and his arc as well is rather uninteresting. So when the second half of the show comes and more spotlight is on him, he just comes of as a rather boring character.

Animation: 5.5/10

The animation is fine but could have been better in my opinion. The fights are serviceable and the art style and character designs are alright, but I feel like they could have been better. Which is a shame. MAPPA have been on a great roll lately with producing quality animation. Starting from Banana Fish from the summer season of 2018, they have produced Zombieland Saga, Dororo, Kakegurui xx and Sarazanmai. So following on after those shows, Sacred Beasts’ animation quality is rather lacklustre. It’s not bad and the fact the show doesn’t resort to CGI is impressive. But I feel like it could have been better at displaying these monster on monster fight scenes and if more effort was put into it, it would have been rather cool.

Sound: 8/10

The soundtrack does its job of help setting an atmosphere or matching the tone of the scene. Whether it would be a more somber scene or a fight scene, there always seems to be a ost that matches it. My favourite is played when Hank transforms into his incarnate form for the first time. The use of the orchestral and the increased paced of the music did feel like s**t was going to go down. It was definitely my favourite from this show.

The opening “Sacrifice” by Mafumafu is paced good due to how it portrays both Hank and Schaal’s emotions through rather aggressive vocals and instruments, especially for Hank and his hatred towards Cain. It is also very well choreographed as well and the visuals manage to keep up with the pace of the song well. So I would say that this is a good opening when all things considered.

The ending sequence “HHOOWWLL” by Gere x ARAKI shows off the incarnates displayed tapestry kind of way to let us see these powerful soldiers. They are also displayed in order of appearance in the show so we get to see what incarnates Hank is going have to hunt down. It’s a nice sequence to get you to relaxed after you finished an episode.

Conclusion

Well its certainly better than Fairy Gone which isn’t saying much. But there are problems in this show that does prevent this anime down from being a really great show. What’s annoying about that is that they are simple problems that I think, if addressed, could have turned this show into a great show. If it added more context, expanded on the first episode and improved its animation quality that MAAPA has shown from their previous shows, then this would be a great show. There are still some parts of this show that I like and kept me watching like the main leads and how it portrays that “WAR...is hell.” But it is also a show that could have easily been better and that’s what stings me the most about it.

My Personal enjoyment: 6/10

Overall score: 6.4/10 Recommendation: Consider it