In this Kemono Jihen Episode 12 “Kemono Incidents” recap, we look at the final episode of the first season of the sleeper hit anime of 2021. (And yep, let’s hope we quickly get a season 2 as this series has been awesome).
The episode begins with Akira worried about his brother acting strange and that, if he doesn’t intervene himself, all the Kemonoists may be killed. The problem is, while Akira wants a happy ending, Yui and Nobimaru are in a deadly fight.
Kemono Jihen Episode 12, “Kemono Incidents“
Nobimaru tries to snatch the Nullstone from Yui’s chest, but his hand immediately freezes. It is then Nobimaru realizes Imari doesn’t care about him at all, as long as she gets the Nullstone.
As Yui sends ice shards to kill Nobimaru, Kabane arrives at the last minute and deflects them. Nobimaru then tells him they need to knock Yui out so they can capture him.
Kabane has Nobimaru set his body on fire and Kabane hits Yui with his flaming body. This is safe for Kabane, as his body regenerates, so he can withstand the flames for a limited period of time. But the Nullstone immediately turns Yui’s body into ice so he can retaliate.
As they fight, and the fire and ice creates fog, Akira uses the water in the fog to create an ice bomb that destroys the ice cage he is locked in.
Kabane asks Nobimaru to increase his flame power so he can defeat Yui. Nobimaru warns him he can only withstand those flames for a short period of time, or his body will not regenerate and Kabane will die.
But, as Kabane goes in for the third blow that will knock Yui out, Akira jumps in front of Yui and tells Kabane to stop.
Yui grabs Akira but, before he can do anything, Yui turns into ice. Nobimaru then tells Akira it was Yui’s own fault he is now dying, as he decided to use the Nullstone for his own purposes.
Akira grabs the Nullstone and tries to pull it out of his brother’s chest but, as he does, he sees a flashback of Yui escaping the snowy village.
In the flashback, he sees Yui grabbing the Nullstone because he wants to destroy the village as the Nullstone has deceived him and taken Akira away from him. The Nullstone then destroys the village and everyone in it.
As the flashback ends, Akira is still trying to remove the Nullstone from Yui’s chest but cannot. Kabane is beginning to regenerate though, and he tells Akira he will help. He then spits his lifestone onto the Nullstone, which fuses with the Nullstone causing it to fall out of Yui’s chest, and Yui begins to revive.
Inari appears and grabs the Nullstone/lifestone but, as she plans to take it away, Inugami arrives and tells her the stone belongs to Kabane and not to her.
Inari then says “But is it the Nullstone or the lifestone?”. Inugami responds, if it’s the Nullstone then it belongs to the village’s survivors — Akira and Yui.
Inari throws the stone at Kabane and leaves. Kabane then tells Nobimaru he should stay with them as Aya can heal his hand, but Nobimaru says the injury occurred due to his own gullibility and he will accept it as a punishment.
Back at the clinic, Yui is recovering.
As Kabane is pacing outside Yui’s room, Akira opens the door and tells Kabane he was lying when he said he hated him and that he only did it to save him and the others.
In Yui’s room, Inugami asks him if the village was destroyed and he says it was as the women had deceived him.
Kabane asks what Yui knows about the Nullstone, as he wants to find his parents and he thinks the Nullstone/lifestone may be able to give him a lead.
Yui asks Kabane if he has heard of the “Kemono Incidents” — the war between Kemonoists and humans around 1,000 years ago. It was a terrible war and, because of it, the Kemonoists removed the memory of it from humans’ minds and vowed to get along with humans from then on.
The Kemono stones were created because of the war, and were given to the most powerful Kemonoists that then handed them down to their ancestors. This allowed them to restrain Kemonoists so there would never be another war.
Yui tells Kabane, if his parents had a lifestone, they must have been powerful Kemono chiefs. Either that or they picked it up somewhere.
Inugami explains there are Kemono stones all over Japan, and they should go and find them, as there could be clues to how Kabane’s parents ended up with his lifestone.
Back at Inari’s, she tells Nobimaru she has not given up on the Nullstone and lifestone, only that she needs to get them in a way that the tanuki (Inugami) cannot argue with.
Meanwhile, Yui gives the two fused stones to Kabane, and says it’s the least he can do as he almost killed all of them.
Akira tells him not to take the blame on himself, as half of what he did was because of him. Yui says it is his fault and he will take the blame, so Akira slaps him shouting “You don’t know me, and preventing me from doing what makes me happy just makes me sad”.
Kabane then says “I think you’re a good person, Yui”, and Yui asks if he is forgiving him. Shiki jumps in and says “Akira’s clumsiness is far more trouble than you have been”, which makes Akira angry.
Akira reminds Yui they are brothers, and from now on they will always be together doing things to make each other happy. The group then vows to always support each other.
Meanwhile, Nobimaru is at the park delivering a message to Kon from Inari. A mission from Inari for Kon to win Kabane over and get the Kemono stone from him, but that she must not take it by force.
Akira packs his bags and sets off on a journey with Yui, while Inugami and Kabane decide to go to Shikoku, where someone Inugami knows has a Kemono stone.
Shiki decides to stay in Tokyo.
As Inugami and Kabane are locking the office, Kon arrives and tells them she will go with them to Shikoku as there is delicious fish there.
Kabane then asks, “How did you know we were going to Shikoku?” and Inugami says “Inari asked you to go with us, didn’t she?”.
Kon denies it, and Inugami tells her she can go with them. But…he will be billing Inari for her expenses! He then tells Kabane he can finally fulfill his promise to him — helping him find his parents!
Read recaps for every episode of Kemono Jihen Season 1 here on Leo Sigh, and watch this superb anime series on Crunchyroll.
