The director of Kemono Friends strikes again with more weird CGI anime! We have been blessed with more glorious days of wasting our lives on perfect girls that don’t exists! Human-like creatures that use energy leaves to survive in a world where there is no food, a severe lack or water, and roaming robots that kill on sight. That’s Kemurikusa. This show appears wonky for the sake of being unique, but I believe that this show has much more to offer than what meets the eye.
Kemurikusa literally means “smoke plant” which is mostly likely referencing the end of a life of a plant-user. When Red Bugs, the mysterious robotic enemies, die their red glow fades away along with a trail of red leaves. This applies not only to the Bugs, but the mysterious “humans” that contain leaves inside of their body. As far as mechanics go, Red Bugs are related to the “humans,” but are clearly operate under different conditions. Here’s my theory: Red Bugs were created to utilize the power of Leaves, but went rampant after the decline of humanity. The second generation of that are the “humans” who have adapted to take in the Leaves.
Leaves also need to be compatible with their user to be used. As far as powers go, Rina can multiply, Ritsu can control trees and convert vibration into sound as well as the reverse. Finally, there is Rin, who appears to be capable of using the tree’s leaves as energy for combat. Wakaba seems to be an ordinary human, but can use leaves under certain conditions like tapping the leaves or swinging it. Leaves also to appear to have a lifespan, which can be directly connected to their hosts. Removal of the leaves from the leaf-humans seems to be fatal, but not instant death. Assimilating new leaves like green ones can also create effects in the host. Leaves also targeted by Red Bugs for an unknown reason.
From what we know, the red hair Ri Family are known to be born from the “First Human,” to which I assume is the first leaf-human. The First Human is very intriguing. This individual seems to have possessed Rina and Rin’s leaf which could be her power to give birth to children or maybe even divide into multiple beings. Along with this assumption is that there were originally six children. While we can see three of the siblings in the show, we can see three more in the opening who are most likely dead. Their pink silhouettes can be seen in the ending credits—from left to right; oldest to youngest. This is based of the position of Ritsu, Rin, and Rina. The first one to die is the youngest sibling. A oldest girl on the left also dies soon after. This is followed by the sudden multiplication of Rina who has multiplied into seven and also seems to have shrunk in size. Soon after, one of the Rinas die and so does the bob-haired girl. We see the latest Rina die, who we saw on the first episode. God damn this is depressing. Here Wakaba is born. I say born because the animation is the opposite to the siblings. I am hesitant to believe that Wakaba is a true human being as he literally came out of nowhere, but his green color could mean something other than his shirt. As far as we know, the current group we follow are the only sentient beings in the world of Kemurikusa.
Like Wakaba, I am excited to learn about the origin of the leaves, other powers, and the third sibling that we have never heard from. My confidence on the little theory is close to none. Who knows what the origin of the Red Bugs and the Red People are. I am aware that two Youtube pilot episodes exist. That is most likely not canon as most of the siblings have a different design from the 2019 show.
Link to that ONA here: https://youtu.be/QyN_O55G5Ew
-MT
-MT
