Episode 6 of Kemono Jihen picks up right where last week left off. Shiki is frozen with fear in the face of a kanonba, a mosquito Kemono. His next actions will define his character. This week, we will take a look at how Shiki reacts to the situation, and what this might mean for him in the future. As always, spoilers below!
Shiki’s Past
At the beginning of the episode, Shiki reveals a bit about his past. He clearly experienced some type of terrifying trauma, and he believes that trauma may have to do with his separation from his mother. He holds on to only bits and pieces of memories. The strongest one he talks about is his awareness that there was a happy time where he lived with his mother. But now, he believes whatever happened to instill this fear in him was enough to blot out many other moments of his past.
As we come back into the present, Shiki is still frozen in fear, unable to move in the face of such a disturbing and scary creature. His anger at himself is obvious through his internal monologue. He essentially screams at himself to just move, to just run away. But he can’t. He tries to use his fear to motivate himself into action but ends up more afraid instead. Finally, he closes his eyes and begs for someone to come and help him.
At that moment, Kabane comes in over the radio and expresses his faith in Shiki’s abilities and strength. That encouragement from Kabane, combined with some shameful goading from Mihai, is enough to bring Shiki into action.
Shiki then proceeds to use the knowledge he obtained from online searches about spiders and mosquitoes to thwart the kanonba. By believing in himself as his friends do, Shiki is able to overcome a foe that he was unable to even face mere moments ago. However, his cool exterior returns as soon as Kabane and Akira arrive.
Beyond winning the fight, Shiki has also grown as a person. In a flashback, we see Inugami offer to give him information regarding his parents, but Shiki doesn’t care to hear it. Now that he’s proven himself, Shiki is ready to find out what Inugami had to say. We, however, won’t find out what that information is until at least next week.
Just like the previous episodes, Kemono Jihen Episode 6 has developed the main cast of characters even further. We can be certain that the Kemonoists are nowhere near done growing, changing, and getting into trouble.
Catch up on Kemono Jihen on Funimation before next Sunday’s episode!
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Images taken from Funimation stream.
