Review of Shadows House

You know the mystery is good when an annoying protagonist can't push me away from the story. Supernatural mysteries aren't easy to pull off. I, for one, need a strong realism, with a proper acknowledgement of the unreal, and an incorporation of it with how real humans react to it. I hate it when a story can't truly react to its own rules properly. Either it's too normal, or too exaggerated for my own good, but when the characters are born into this thing, the concept moves by itself. It's one of those stories which I'm jealous of the writer for. Emilico, a girl, isseemingly born as a doll in a house with shadow people. She's instructed to learn to clean, wash clothes, and be a servant to a twin-like shadow girl. Slowly instructed to connect with her.

Of course, the first question of it all is, “why?” It doesn't instantly give us the answer, it instead wishes to expand on its world by starting slow and steady. It expands as naturally as it started, it introduces characters living in the same situation, it adds to the concept with such a suave pace to it which feels elegant, with intent, and never misses its mark. And, after all that, only when it's necessary, does it start responding to the “why”, but not the “when”. We gotta earn each of those first, one by one, beat by beat.

There's such an intricate beginning of the story which, instead of trying to solve a mystery, instead of attempting to move the world forward, is stands on its own. The story stays with the people we've met, as their goals, their contexts, their lives become interesting for the audience. Not just for the sake of knowing them, but the anime gives them agency, choices, interactions, and it manages to overcome my grievances with other stories. Every voice is well-defined without exaggeration of character, every plot-beat is set in motion by subtleties, and a forward motion to what each person needs for the story.

There's a little arc, which puts all of them in a perilous situation, given constant choices, which always says more about them. You come to love terrible people, due to their complex choices, and desperate situations. We hate those which seemed alright due to their mentalities, and how that changes their interactions with others. Each scene, I was begging to see the ensuing conversation, and how that mentality might clash with what I know about them. Man, I started to love the “little rascal” kid, due to its constant changes as the story progresses. His opinions, and actions, his fears, and loves. His convictions. He's only one of the side characters.

Not to mention the unique setting, the art direction, stylized, and not needing nearly as much “pants-rocking” animation to land. Akin to those 2000s anime, which loved strange faces, weird body proportions, used textures to convey clothing, instead of a focus on realistic movement, and directing styles. This one goes more for simplicity, and doesn't need anything more than that.

However, the weak link about all of this is an overly explaining, annoying-ass protagonist which can't stop talking. I know what kind of protagonist she is; bubbly, super optimistic, too emotionally positive for her own good, and that's entirely fine. It's great, even. In such a world you require a positive energy to go by, but for it to be incessantly obvious how she feels, devoid of subtlety, and the author does that so well with everybody else. Each character makes faces which reveal their feelings. A person looks down when told something positive, “something's wrong for them”, “maybe they're hiding something”, things like that, and boom, we change scenes. We don't know what that is, but it plants a seed in our heads. With the main character, she voices how she feels, and in the same monologue finds resolve to do something she was scared of. Simple, quiet, let her make the expressions, look around at certain people, their feet, and have her copy the dance steps. She found a solution, without needing to tell the audience. We know she can be smart, instead of annoying us by laying out the whole spiel.

I don't hate the protagonist, but this comes from how much I know she had wasted potential to be great. An incredible character, which just couldn't hit the mark due to the way she tells her story.

The shonen superpowered nature does take me out of the interest quite a bit, but it isn't absolutely terrible. There's potential here, and it's the ONLY little element which just doesn't fit the story in the slightest.

I still love the mystery, and as the season ended, the stakes ramped up so much to the point I gotta watch what's next. It intrigued me, I adored every other character, and their dynamics. The questions and the reason for their being. I'm excited, and I haven't been like that for a while.

7.4/10. The next season might correct the first one's mistakes, and/or incorporate the loose elements, but that's to be seen.