(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj where we’re entering the second half of the Furry arc. This next anime comes from our good friends at Studio Trigger-
*Shizuku comes crashing through the ceiling and lands in a seat next to Nitsuj*
(Nitsuj): Well I call that.
(Shizuku): Yo boss. So, we looking at Brand New Animal this week?
(Nitsuj): Also known as BNA. This would be the second anime directed by Yoh Yoshinari, the same guy who directed Little Witch Academia.
(Shizuku): Released in 2020 on Netflix, this was mark Studio Trigger’s 8th full-length anime and in my opinion probably their safest anime yet.
(Nitsuj): Oh wow, that bad?
(Shizuku): I never it was bad. Don’t try to twist my words.
(Nitsuj): You’re right, sorry.
(Shizuku): What I’m saying is that when compared to the other works of Studio Trigger this is the one anime that does everything by the book. Despite this however, it did receive a warm reception from everyone who watched it and was even nominated for a few awards.
(Nitsuj): Well let’s see what fun and crazy antics Trigger can do with animals. This is BNA.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Nitsuj): Our opening is “Ready to” by Sumire Morohoshi. This was considered one of the best openings of 2020 and can you see why? The song is a bop. It’s unbelievably addicting to listen to. There’s so much energy in this song that makes you want to get up and dance. The opening animation does a good job matching up with the song and showing off the character and their anime forms. The only downside to this is that it ends way to soon each time.
(Shizuku): The ending is “Night Running” by Shin Sakiura feat. AAAMYYY. If you liked the opening then you’ll love the ending. The beat, the lyrics, the overall atmosphere of this song is just perfect to me. This was favorite ending from 2020 and as much as Jujustu Kaisan’s first ending gets praised a lot, this is my opinion matched up much better with the anime and conveyed the story and the characters perfectly.
Episodes 1-4
(Nitsuj): The anime starts with our main character Michiru voiced by Sumire Morohoshi (Emma from The Promised Neverland), a girl who was once human but one day just turned into a raccoon girl (Shizuku: Don’t you just hate when that happens?). We quickly find out that in this world there are other people out there who have turned into beastmen as well and there are ignorant dumbasses out there who hate them for it and try to kill them (why? Having animal senses sounds cool. Imagine a blind person being able to see by having a bat’s sonar abilities or having the eyesight of a mantis shrimp. You mean to tell me you’re ignorant of these people just because they look like animals? I swear there are more idiots than smart people in the human race). A city called Animacity was created as a safe haven for beastmen and that’s where Michiru is heading to. On her way there she gets attacked by beastmen hunters but saved by other beastmen who act as her bodyguards to the city (scene here: https://youtu.be/m0HDCyPIERo). She arrives in the city just in time for a festival celebrating the city’s 10th anniversary (Shizuku: With the way it started off I thought they were going to attack her. Scene here: https://youtu.be/IO3gG7H3kIw). As she enjoys the festival she gets pickpocketed by a monkey (https://youtu.be/3_8QaWWzL3k) and chases after him where she spots a wolf tempering with the titantron. The structure holding up the titantron explodes and just as it’s about to crush Michiru she gets saved by a white wolf named Shirou voiced by Yoshimasa Hosoya (Reiner from Attack on Titan). At first Shirou accuses her of setting the bomb but he uses his sense of smell and realizes that it was the other wolf who was there. Shirou manages to track down the wolf and his associates a lion and deer (almost reminds me of another anime I was watching not too long ago) who were hired by humans to plant the bomb. Shirou tries to kill them, but Michiru comes in to stop him saying that not all humans are bad as she was one of them.
In episode 2 Shirou and Michiru leave the terrorists and get to a safe location where we see that the beastmen can change back into their human forms (Shizuku: Wait, they can change back into humans? What’s the point of all the prejudice? (Nitsuj): Like I said, there’s more dumbasses than smart people in the world). Michiru on the other hand can’t change back into a human and everyone says she’s a natural beastmen which she refuses to accept this believing that this is all a disease and nothing else (scene here: https://youtu.be/Cy2CL0BQn1s). The next day, she finds the monkey who stole her wallet, but he escapes and runs into Maria the mink who saved her in episode 1 (or she says she’s a mink. Personally, I think she’s a weasel which suits her profession more). Maria tells her to go to Rabbit Town if she wants to get her wallet back, so Michiru heads to Rabbit Town which is not what you would expect. The place is run down, scary, and filled with mobsters (Shizuku: This is what I was expecting). Michiru gets an audience with Gran Grandma the leader of Rabbit Town who has her wallet and says that if she wants it back she’ll have to work for it by teaching children how to read and write. Little does she know that this was actually a front to sell the kids into slavery. When Michiru and the kids are about to be shipped off she tries to save them herself as she has a few powers such as making her tail bigger and using that to protect others and can even stretch out her arms like Luffy from One Piece (scene here: https://youtu.be/fmk6w2M3ocw. Man, tanukis are amazing). They get saved by Shirou who was investigating their operation earlier in the episode but didn’t make a move due to a lack of evidence. Even though Shirou saved Michiru and the others she’s pissed that he waited so long to do it. She shows her student ID proving that she was once human and vows to heal from her beastman disease and leave the city which she has now come to hate.
Episode 3 starts off with Shirou seeing Michiru’s past just by sniffing her student ID (Shizuku: I am calling so much BS). In the past Michiru lived a normal high school life. She was part of the basketball team (that’s new. Usually it’s soccer or volleyball) and had a friend who just landed an acting role until she transformed into a beastman out of nowhere and she got taken away. The same thing happened to Michiru days later and she hid herself from society afraid of what would happen to her. When she found out about Animacity she decided to run away. After this, Shirou locks up Michiru as a way to protect her, but she cries out for help which gets heard by the mayor who knows about Michiru’s situation (the walls have ears) and was there asking for Shirou’s help (scene here: https://youtu.be/3Q7wn89xNpw). Someone has planted bombs all around the city as a threat to Animacity’s medical center. Michiru wants to help as destroying the medical center will destroy her chances at finding a cure for herself. Shirou manages to sniff out the bombs while Michiru sneaks into the medical center where we see some doctors are handing documents and data over to a gang of beastmen (embezzlement). She gets discovered and cornered by them but gets saved by Shirou who just got done disarming all the bombs with the police. Just when it seems like everything’s okay a bomb explodes at the medical center destroying a data lab. Shirou sniffs the scene and can find no scent of the culprit at all. He comes to the conclusion that the culprit was the beastmen scientists and sure enough he’s right. One of the scientists turns into a rhino and attacks Shirou while the other one is a chameleon and takes Michiru hostage. Shirou manages to take down the rhino by breaking his horn (Shizuku: Ohhhh~) and Michiru saves herself from the chameleon. The scientists get arrested and the mayor promises to find a way to turn Michiru back into a human.
(Shizuku): We start episode 4 with us learning some interesting facts about the beastmen. For starters, the reason why they can change their forms so freely is thanks to a special gene called beast factor. Beast forms are usually decided by one’s ancestry and when two different species breed the child will only inherit one of their parent’s attributes. Humans without beast factor can’t change into beastmen which brings us to Michiru’s case. She didn’t have a beast factor, so the question now is how is she able to do the impossible (Nitsuj: The answer, nobody knows)? Anyway, the episode focuses on Nina a beastman who Michiru befriends. Nina is the daughter of Flip a mob boss, who dreams about going to the world of humans (getting The Little Mermaid vibes from this girl). While hanging out with Nina, Michiru somehow reverts back into her human form (scene here: https://youtu.be/A6tMK4olpCI) and the two sneak off to a human city for a party. When Flip finds out about this, he’s prepared to go to war to get her back until Shirou stops him saying he’ll get his daughter back by midnight (Nitsuj: If she’s not home by that time, he’s gonna show up and it’s gonna be Jaws all over again). Back at the party, Nina seems to be fitting in just fine. Even when people find out she’s a beastman they’re totally fine with it. However, Michiru can’t help but feel something is off about this party. Her suspicions come true when she sees Nina trapped in a tank of water gasping for air because they all thought she’d be fine since she’s a dolphin (dolphins are mammals you dumbasses, they need air). Michiru reverts back to her beastman form and saves Nina by punching the glass with her powers (just how many powers does this tanuki girl have?). They take their leave and get picked up by Shirou where despite the horrible ending Nina still had fun and is still interested in seeing more of the human world (scene here: https://youtu.be/Faiu2uHvACQ). Michiru also decides to return to Animacity as she wants to learn more about beastmen (this coming from the girl who said she hated beastmen not too long ago).
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 is a good and fun episode (it’s easily the best episode in the series. (Nitsuj): Yeah, this is the one episode where Trigger really shows off). In the episode Michiru becomes the star player for a baseball team called the Bears (https://youtu.be/kONmDCla6Nc). In Amimacity baseball is played differently. Teams are allowed to use underhanded tactics to win, but Michiru convinces her team to play fair and square (scene here: https://youtu.be/-oVGhluMxxg). Through teamwork and Michiru’s leadership the team starts winning and keeps winning which upsets the bosses of underground baseball gambling. The coach of the Bears is actually in on the gambling and actually has a tragic backstory. He was the first beastman to play for a professional baseball team where he was discriminated against by everyone. Fans, reporters, and even his own teammates treated him horridly. One day, he finally snapped and attacked other players which resulted in him getting blacklisted from the baseball league (Nitsuj: Who could blame him for acting out?). He gets told to throw the championship game, but he instead decides to skip out on the game and steal everyone’s gambling money. Just when the crowd is about to riot Michiru calms them down by reminding them what baseball is all about and Shirou also stops the coach and has him remember the joy and passion he had for the sport. The coach returns to the team, Shirou returns the money, and the final match ends with the Bears losing but not regretting any of their choices. On top of having a good story, the animation is really spot on in this episode particularly on Michiru using her powers. Even the various beastmen that they play against look awesome here. Plus, it’s nice to see Michiru enjoy herself for the first time since she’s been in the city (Nitsuj: Although I do find it strange that they didn’t make this a basketball episode when they established earlier that she’s a basketball player).
In episode 6 we learn about the silver wolf Ginrou the deity of beastmen who protects them from harm. Some say he’s a myth while others believe he still exists watching over and protecting beastmen. While in the slums, Michiru comes across Ginrou’s cult led by a beastman named Boris who seek residency in Animacity. They have a silver wolf themselves named Death Rube who can transform into Ginrou and just so happens to be Nazuna, Michiru’s best friend who got abducted (no offense to Michiru, but I feel like her friend got the better deal in the beastman department. (Nitsuj): I’ll say, look at her, she’s majestic). Nazuna and Michiru talk in private where we find out that Nazuna is actually a silver fox instead of a wolf. After she was abducted she met Boris who taught her how to transform and has since then been his right hand in the cult. Michiru warns Nazuna about how shady all of this is, but Nazuna doesn’t listen as she clearly knows what she’s doing and has no problem with it. Nazuna manipulates Michiru into giving her an audience with mayor Rose who agrees to give them residency in the city despite the fact that she herself has suspicions about this cult (scene here: https://youtu.be/_493Dk_SvFg). After their meeting Nazuna pretty much just roasts Michiru by pointing out how everything that happened was on Michiru who basically did all of this because she jumped to her own conclusions (Nitsuj: Which is true) and to stroke her own ego (Nitsuj: This is also true. I like her and all, but Nazuna nailed it on the head. While Michiru had the best of intentions to help her friend she failed to grasp what and how Nazuna felt about this situation. She just assumed she was in trouble and jumped in to help her without knowing the full situation just to make herself feel good). Nazuna reveals that she has no intention of leaving the cult as she enjoys being treated like a guru. Michiru says alright, but she has no intention of being friends with Death Rube (such a lame name. Scene here: https://youtu.be/ouSoy03MIH4).
In episode 7 we finally get to meet our first bird beastman named Pinga an albatross who crash lands in Michiru’s room and gives her a flight around the city (scene here: https://youtu.be/dBkHgDdG7RY, not a very comfy ride but the view is great). Shirou and Rose believe that Pinga is a terrorist so Shirou goes to bring him down with the help of Michiru who can grow wings and fly (Nitsuj: Is this girl taking the piss? I know tanukis are said to use magic, but this is getting ridiculous). They bring Pinga down where he confesses that in the past he and his air buddies were beastmen activists who spoke out for the rights of beastmen everywhere not knowing that by doing this they were limiting themselves in the sky as they weren’t allowed to fly around freely due to international air laws (I feel his pain. International Internet Laws are the same). He and his friends wanted to be allowed to fly around freely and when his friends refused to comply with air laws they were shot down. Shirou allows him to leave as he hasn’t done anything illegal yet and he gives his friend’s dogtags to Michiru so they can have a proper burial. Before flying off he warns them that there was another bird beastman in the city named Meteor who will do anything for money. We then cut to Meteor who was trying to kill Alan the head of the pharmaceutical company that finances the city (Nitsuj: And may or may not have his own agenda). Pinga comes in to take down Meteor and Alan gets saved by Nazuna (Nitsuj: She can fly too? They are taking the piss) to increase the approval of her cult.
After the events of episode 7, the cult is allowed into the city and have the support of the people in episode 8 (this is gonna cost them in the long run). They build their headquarters right across from where Michiru lives (Nitsuj: Can’t help but feel shots being fired there). Shirou and Michiru go to interrogate Meteor at the holding cells but the rhino scientist from episode 3 has his beast factor go through a change and he transforms into a rampaging beast (Nitsuj: With Bane like qualities). Shirou and Michiru fight against him with Shirou getting a hole pierced through his stomach (I pierce the wolf) and just when Michiru is about to get crushed, Shirou unleashes his true power which is the power of Ginrou (the real one). He saves Michiru and kills the rhino scientist (scene here: https://youtu.be/nZ2nEAdQU9c). Now that Michiru knows Shirou is Ginrou (Nitsuj: I think I speak for all of us when I say duh), Rose tells her the true story behind Shirou. We find out that Shirou has lived for thousands of years, he was a normal beastman who lived in ancient Europe where humans and beastmen lived in peace. Until one day the humans attacked the beastmen and killed them all including Shirou (dicks). Somehow the blood of all the slain beastmen fused into Shirou (uh- (Nitsuj): Don’t you fucking dare. Those jokes are beneath us), made him immortal, and he became Ginrou the god of the beastmen. Shirou went on a rampage looking for the human general who killed his kind but when he found that vengeance left him empty he gave up his pursuit and instead decided to use his powers to protect beastmen (serving as both a protector and executioner). Shirou in truth is scared of his Ginrou powers, so he keeps them sealed and only uses them as a last resort. After hearing all of this Michiru decides to keep what she heard a secret from the city and keep treating Shirou as Shirou. However, she wants to tell Nazuna (so that she can rub it in her face) and Shirou lets her.
Episodes 9-12
In episode 9 Michiru learns the truth into why she can turn into a beastman. It turns out Michiru and Nazuna were both accidently transfused with a beast factor when they were both in the hospital. One of the scientists discovered this mistake, found out about Nazuna, and abducted her. They didn’t know about Michiru until she came to the city. Alan admits that this mistake was his company’s fault (Nitsuj: Yeah, and you can apologize in court when she sues you) and has been trying to find a cure to return them back to normal with the help of Nazuna. It also gets revealed that Alan was behind the cult of Ginrou in the hopes of making everyone calm in the city (why don’t I believe a word you just said?). Michiru believes their story and gets taken back home with Nazuna where she’s still being a bitch and tells Michiru not to interfere (scene here: https://youtu.be/onS1RFfAngY).
(Nitsuj): Shit hits the fan fast in episode 10 (Shizuku: We knew it was coming). While fighting with another berserk beastman, a bunch of medical drones show up to subdue and capture the beastman all while taking shots at Michiru. Shirou and Michiru follow the drones back to the medical center and find out Alan was the one who let them loose. Alan explains he did this because of the so called Nirvasyl Syndrome a result of stress caused by so many beastmen amassing together in one place (oh that’s just a college party). Alan says this is what destroyed Shirou’s village in the past and has been working on a vaccine to turn all beastmen into humans which Shirou doesn’t like and tries to destroy the machines but Michiru and the police stop him. He gets placed under arrest but goes on the run escaping police custody. Alan gives Michiru a job which is to put on a concert with Nazuna to keep everyone calm until the vaccine is finished. Rose goes to the Prime Minister to let him know that she’s dismantling Animacity in order to keep everyone safe, but he places her under house arrest as he’s working with Alan.
The set up for the finale begins. Rose manages to escape her house arrest and hitches a ride back to Animacity on the back of Pinga. Back in the city, Nazuna tells Michiru she’s going to tell everyone that she’s a human at the height of the concert but Michiru doesn’t think that’s a good idea (obviously, you’ve been telling everyone you’re the physical form of their god Ginrou. How do you think they’re going to respond when they find out a human has been impersonating their god?). Shirou teams up with the local mafia to stop the concert and when the concert does begin Michiru sees and finds Shirou who was actually going to shoot Nazuna (Shizuku: I say go ahead, she’s been acting like a real bitch these few episodes). Michiru stops him and begs him to tell her what’s going on. He complies and says he needs to stop that confession as it will make everyone go berserk. Michiru trusts Shirou and stops Nazuna from confessing but Boris reveals who she really is to everyone and they all start going berserk as the drones come in and start attacking everyone. Even the stress of not being able to protect the city causes Shirou to go berserk and he attacks Michiru to end the episode.
In the final episode Shirou regains his sanity by ingesting Michiru’s blood. Rose arrives and tells everyone to head towards city hall where it’s safe. Once there she reveals that Michiru’s blood can be used to create a serum to cure Nirvasyl Syndrome. They split up into teams to save the city. Michiru, Shirou, and Rose go to the medical center to create the serum which will take 8 hours while Nazuna goes to try and calm down the citizens where she runs into Boris who wanted to get inside her pants (Shizuku: Knew it) and transforms into this weird snake monster (I don’t know what the hell he’s supposed to be). Shirou and Michiru go to fight Alan who reveals that he’s also a beastman but unlike Shirou and the others he’s a “pure” beastman. He fights against Shirou and transforms into a golden Cerberus wolf where he wins and then unleashes his drones into the city to forcefully turn the beastmen into humans. His plan is to cleanse the world of all beastmen and. . .I have no idea why. As Michiru goes into the city to stop the drones she discovers that everyone calms down when they hear Shirou’s howl. After meeting up with Nazuna and a few of her friends they decide to use the concert hall to get everyone to hear the howl (scene here: https://youtu.be/pB4ACSwIIWo). As they get finished setting up, Alan shows up to stop them, but Shirou comes back ready for round 2 where this time he wins. Just when he’s about to finish Alan (do it! The smug bastard has lived long enough) he stops himself and instead just uses his blood to calm Alan down. Shirou howls throughout the city to calm everyone down and the next day everyone gets administered the serum to return to normal. Alan is forced to step down as president of his company (Shizuku: And hopefully thrown in jail), Rose decides she’s going to open the city up to humans so that beastmen can learn from them and vice versa, footage of Nazuna helping beastmen gets leaked and she becomes an idol among humans and beastmen (I feel like she planned this), and Michiru decides to remain in the city while keeping her beastman form as she feels there’s stuff that only she can do to make the city better (scene here: https://youtu.be/8mo_FqLp2bk).
Final Thoughts
(Shizuku): And that was Brand New Animal. This is probably Trigger’s safest anime to date. It doesn’t try to be, epic, or use hidden themes. The story is basic, the themes are basic, and nothing is really all that unique. I will say I did like the various characters and their forms. In fact, I wish the series was just about Michiru and Shirou doing odd jobs and meeting the various residents of the city. The characters are the only real unique things in this anime. Both Michiru and Shirou have differing views, but through their interactions with one another they learn to let go of their own prejudice for each other’s species and see things from the other’s perspective. Everyone has their own distinct look and character that makes them different from one another. Both their human forms and animal forms are great and match up perfectly with their personality.
(Nitsuj): I was personally disappointed in this anime. While I don’t think it’s bad the whole anime is very similar to their last project before this one, Promare. Two characters who are different from each other only to become good friends at the end, a villain in a suit, blatant prejudice against those who are different, and fun and interesting characters. While it’s not a bad story it’s one that everyone has seen before and instead of trying to change it up and do something new with it they choose to take the safe route and keep it basic which normally isn’t a bad thing, but when your previous project was similar to this one and similar to the themes and morals of other animes, it should raise a flag. The anime also leaves a lot of unanswered questions such as how are Michiru and Nazuna able to use various animal traits, what was Alan hoping to accomplish, and lot of other unanswered questions into how this world works and the practices within it.
Like Shizuku said the animation is great here. The character designs and their animal forms are all cool and look great. The music is also great with its upbeat sound and other soundtracks matching the tone and mood of the scene perfectly. The action scenes aren’t really special, so if you were hoping to get a cool fight scene like the ones in Kill la Kill I’m sorry to say you won’t be getting it here.
Final Score
(Shizuku): The final score for BNA from me is a 6.5/10. Despite the shortcomings I still like this anime for what it was and gave me.
(Nitsuj): My final score is a 4.5/10 which brings the average score to a 5.5/10. Despite my low score I did enjoy watching it, I just wish they did more with it. With the way it ended it seems like there’s room for a second season but I doubt it’s going to happen. If you’re looking for a fun and basic anime to watch, check this anime out. It’s not Trigger’s best work but you’ll still find it entertaining to watch.
(Shizuku): Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time as the Furry arc finishes with Nekopara.
(Nitsuj): Oh what, I was going to make that a surprise.
(Shizuku): We all knew it was coming.