It’s Time for Shiki to Confront His Past in Kemeno Jihen Episode 7
Here we have another Shiki-centered Kemeno Jihen episode and another layer is added to Shiki’s character. Shiki finally opens up about wanting to learn about his parents. Shiki knows that he must have some trauma surrounding them, he most likely blocked them out because it was too hard for him to handle. Facing your trauma is hard for anyone, especially a fourteen-year-old so it’s hard watching Shiki relive his trauma. Inugami takes them to the village that Shiki lived in with his uncle after leaving his mother. His uncle seems like a pretty caring person but there was just something a bit off.
We learn that his uncle was using his mother to create a being that would be able to make “golden thread” a substance that could heal any wound. The twist is a bit predictable in the sense that the uncle is actually the bad guy but that weaker point is overshadowed by Shiki’s revelation of this fact and what his mother went through.
This is the first time we really get a look at Shiki’s mother and it’s obvious that she loved him a lot but was subjected to awful experiments done on her by a person she thought she could trust. It seems like soon this character arc for Shiki will end as he decides on whether or not he actually wants to kill his uncle.
Kabane takes a back seat in this episode and acts as a support for Shiki. Kabane is clearly developing more emotions while still remaining mostly clueless. He doesn’t understand why it would be morally wrong to help kill Shiki’s uncle, he just sees it as a way to support him. I don’t think Shiki thought Kabane would back him up so easily since he’s not used to asking for help.
Nobimaru is seeming more like a bad guy especially with some of his seemingly innocuous comments meant to throw Kabane off. Kabane still doesn’t understand certain things so he remains unbothered. The horror elements are once again wonderful as the warp effect really cements how much seeing his mother in the situation that she was in traumatized Shiki. The pacing was good and kept up the momentum and suspense leading up to the reveal. His uncle did do a stereotypical villain speech but the anime makes up for it. Overall another good Shiki-centric episode as the anime delves into more mature content.
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