Is To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts Good?

Hello everyone, and welcome to our shelter! 🙂 The summer Anime season brought us some excellent Animes, and To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts surely provides with an exciting and unique plot. However, Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e needs to offer more than an interesting concept to be good. So, let’s find out if this Anime is your cup of tea, shall we?

PTSD On Steroids

One hundred years after immigrants from the old continent established a new democratic nation in Patria, the discovery of a new energy ore caused a conflict that erupted into civil war. To win the war, the Northern Union of Patria started experimenting with DNA mutation, enabling people into transforming into beasts. However, things went wrong when the beasts began to overcome the humans’ mind. Now, after the war is over, these soldiers do not fit society anymore. Moreover, without an antidote for the powers they got, the soldiers are losing their minds one by one, leaving destruction wherever they are.

To stop this, Hank, the captain of the Incarnates’ squad, passes his days hunting down his fellow companions to bring true peace to Patria, as also to his soldiers’ souls.

I have to say that, from almost everything is coming out this Summer, To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts shows one of the most serious and substantial concepts available. Not only Sacred Beasts was able to show the terror of war during its introduction, but it also presented very well how soldiers feel when the war is over in the following episodes. Especially when you are not even human anymore. While on episode 2 I ended up feeling pretty bad for John William who was an honest and kind man who had to be put down because of his powers, on episode 3 I was intrigued in how the centaur presented a severe case of PTSD. Honestly, if you like to watch stories that will make you cry, this Anime is for you.

Excellent Delivery

Sacred Beasts shines the most when it comes to delivering its story, being it specific scenes, or episodes as an all. I think the trick is that Sacred Beasts is always able to put us in the shoes of the character in the scene, even if it’s a random soldier with a 2 minutes’ screen-time.

Moreover, the buildup for each one of the episodes was great, making the sad scenes feel heavier than usual. For example, episode 2 is entirely centered on Nancy, the girl who later joins Hank’s party. In 20 minutes worth of Anime, Sacred Beasts was able to make me love not only the character but her relationship with the father as well. The Anime was perfectly paced to show us how she lost everything because of the war, even after the achieved piece. Essentially, by the end of the episode, I knew both characters well, and I ache when I saw Johny being executed. Honestly, some Animes were not able to make me feel that way, even after watching a full season.

However, I’m sure John’s story is not going to hit me as much as the MCs’ narrative. Hank is a soldier, and he knows what he has to do, save his country people from any harm, even if that harm comes from his war buddies. Nevertheless, it’s palpable how much sorrow this quest is bringing to him. On the other hand, Nancy always tries to see the soldiers’ perspectives and wants to save them. Although from what I’ve watched so far, saving was never a possibility, Nancy’s perspective creates the needed empathy to put ourselves on the enemy’s shoes. In the end, Hank is not killing monsters, but good humans who got tainted by war.

Final Thoughts

To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts is a great Anime to watch, especially if you are into more adult themes. Not only it’s able to create empathy with all the characters that the Anime focus on, but it also brilliantly paces itself. This makes each episode I’ve watched so far exciting and makes me want to view the next ones as soon as possible. Unfortunately, though, popular Animes of the season are overshadowing Sacred Beasts, and, although those deserve their popularity, it would be great to see more love given to this one as well.

What about you? Have you watched To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts? What are your thoughts about it? Tell me all in the comments below! 🙂