English Dub Review: Kemono Michi-Rise Up “Runaway Girl × Attack”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Genzo’s pet shop is open for business, but feeding the animals is expensive enough to make them homeless again, so Shigure goes into town to check out more quests. As he takes care of the house, Genzo spots Lindabulea, the half-dragon girl from last week, passed out in the bushes. He nurses her back to health and tells her of his dream, which she immediately takes too…and then takes her leave. But coincidentally, people start getting attacked later that night, though Genzo has a hunch that this likely isn’t Lindabulea, which she confirms by getting captured by his makeshit cage.

The REAL culprit is Lindabulea’s guardian, Carmilla, who Genzo easily overpowers. Once things have died down, Lindabulea (who Genzo has now named Hanako) explains her situation. She’s part of the Fafnir family, one of the more powerful families that works under the Demon King. Carmilla arrives soon after to silence Genzo and Shigure before they learn too much, but Hanako calls her off. Genzo’s still interested in WHY Hanako left at all, which turns out to be looking for more varieties of food! And so she decides to stay with Genzo.

OUR TAKE

Two new mains join the cast this week, Lindabulea/Hanako and Carmilla, who round out the group and help to solidify the dynamics that we’ll likely see develop over the course of the season. Hanako will act as our token loli to act adorable but also to scheme and to think about food, while Carmilla’s strength and formalness likely make her the second strongest next to Genzo. It’ll be interesting seeing someone be able to fight others off like he is while also being not quite up to the challenge. Although, even after all that, we still seem to know very little about Shigure. For being the second (or third?) one to join the group, I figured she would have gotten her plans by now, but she’s hung around this long with very little info.

Just like last week, we see major evidence for why both Genzo’s arms and heart are super effective in his journey to meet every animal in person! Sometimes being well natured and kind is enough to win people over like it was for Hanako. It seems simply being able to extend generosity and a spare meal can do wonders with people’s opinion of you. But then sometimes brute force is necessary to calm people down who might otherwise not. Carmilla seemed ready to kill in her pursuit of her princess, which is where Genzo’s amazing wrestling moves came in. Not only does it pacify Carmilla for awhile but it also cements the power dynamic of having Genzo as the strongest main character. This will still likely be challenged, but I wouldn’t expect any major fights until close to the end of the season.

Overall, glad to see the show is building its cast and expanding its world! The addition of two royals likely means the expansion of stories to tell for future episodes, on top of making the aforementioned power structure which helps make things feel more real in their own way. There’s still three quarters of the season to go, which means we have officially moved onto a new status quo that I look forward to seeing built upon for the remainder. Kemono Michi is certainly not the deepest show Funimation is dubbing at the moment, but has proven to have a lot of soul and heart within its comedy, which I think will be enough to make it a real contender for one of the best anime of the year.