Shadows House

I'm very excited for the anime adaptation! I was lucky enough to stumble upon the manga and I look foward to see the interesting and unique storyline animated. Everyone sounds exactly like how I imagined they would, can't wait!
 
Really looking forward to watching this, I found the manga a while ago and I was surprised how much I liked it!
 
The first episode was pretty interesting, but I didn’t really sense any horror elements. Can someone who has read the manga, without spoilers, tell me if this is actually supposed to be horror or if it’s mislabeled? It just comes off as a slightly eerie slice of life
 
I would say from my impression of episode 1:
That this is going to be a Gothic-horror anime, though it will be a slow-burner. From what I've seen, there's a lot going under the surface that we don't know about. Regarding the Shadows family and their relationship to their dolls. And Emilyko was given her name towards the end by Kate too. So far I'm interested in the story, and that's a good thing.
 
twiddledeevgc said:
The first episode was pretty interesting, but I didn’t really sense any horror elements. Can someone who has read the manga, without spoilers, tell me if this is actually supposed to be horror or if it’s mislabeled? It just comes off as a slightly eerie slice of life
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no, eerie slice of life is best way to describe it. There will be drama and conflict later, but it won't be scary or meant to scare the audience.

I can only speculate that the mistagging of this series as "horror" probably comes from how this franchise is often tagged as "denpa" in japanese places. Denpa is defined as "familiar characters acting in unfamiliar ways". This term is often mistakenly translated as "horror" to english language, because denpa is often a key element in japanese horror shows.
Or maybe, you know, it's just mods or whoever is in charge here being stupid and tagging it as horror because they saw some literally dark people in the pv.

Btw made this account just to answer your question while browsing the internet for people's first time impressions of this show.
 
twiddledeevgc said:
The first episode was pretty interesting, but I didn’t really sense any horror elements. Can someone who has read the manga, without spoilers, tell me if this is actually supposed to be horror or if it’s mislabeled? It just comes off as a slightly eerie slice of life
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It's more of a mystery than horror tbh. But the SoL themes will die down as the series progresses.
 
ShubhamJ44 said:
But the SoL themes will die down as the series progresses.
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shame to hear... i liked the SoL stuff!

I actually don't really get what this was about, it is what it is. I can't say i disliked something i barely understood but i guess Emily (i liked emily over emiliko or whatever they went with!) was cute, she reminded me of Alice from Kiniro Mosaic in a weird way....
I will continue to watch this, I'm curious what it is even about to be honest but if nothing else, the SoL stuff was fun which will keep me busy until it explains the story.
 
Uh...I liked it? Somehow?

No, I did, I'm just not confident I can explain why. Well, not more than saying that I think it's just mysterious enough in its weirdness that it has my curiosity piqued. The juxtaposition of the strange situation with the absolute mundanity of cleaning rooms in a manor produces a very pleasant eeriness--especially with this episode being kept mostly to just a couple of rooms.

I'm not immediately thrilled at the prospect of shifting who we follow, every episode, which the cast of "dolls" immediately makes me think we're going to. I'm already very attached to Kate and Emilyko (is that...really how they spell it?), and I'd rather not Gunslinger Girl my way through laborious episodes of ever-changing cast before things kick off.

Crazy theory: the dolls aren't creations.

neocow said:
neat themes of the rich being unable to be themselves while also the dolls being actually even more human than anyone with power, while society traps the upper class into the hellscpae that they are born into
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Oh, yeah, I, um...I definitely noticed all of this stuff, too. I just didn't say, 'cus I thought it was so, um, obvious. With hindsight. And you pointing it out to me for the first time.
 
1

This show sure balances out the diversity quota of every other anime. Good to have real black representation in this.
I don't wanna say outright what I think is going on, but Kate definitely did deflect when emily asked if she was human. I mean you would think that would be obvious that she isn't. Why would she deflect like that?

Either way this is very interesting. I like the OP a lot. A LOT a lot.
 
Episode 2
interregnum said:
Crazy theory: the dolls aren't creations.
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Wait i missed this last week - my thoughts was the opening scene implied it was children who are dolls... not sure how they make them identical to their shadow but i will stick to this theory all the same, maybe i took the opening wrong but the scene made out they wasn't just dolls, they got the train... i could be wrong though, could be dolls returning from somewhere.
We will see.

Anyways, Emily reminds me more and more of Alice, but i got it wrong, She looks like Alice but it Shiobu in personality, basically she is those two fused (much to Shinobu's delight)... I'm talking about Kiniro mosaic...

So the cleaning thing feels weird now. Why constantly clean the house forever? Its a pointless task.
There is no way Kate could of taught Emily in a couple of days to reflect her face to the point of mimicking expression so well, Sarah speaks high of herself but Mia clearly isn't a few days new to the job like Alice Emily, heck she was the head of the team of cleaners, the comparison felt stupid. Can't tell me Kate could retort with even a single bit of this logic? She could of brought miss full of herself down a peg.

Anyway, my weird personal view aside, i liked it, so clear Sarah sees Kate in a negative light, sounds like Kate is probably one of them not-so-great shadow types (not sure how you be good though, If kate is anything to work with, you just sit around reading all day, which makes sense seeming how few shadows we see walking around), i totally called Mia would be a bitch too! Okay that's probably her just doing her job but oh well, i kind of hope Emily accidentally screws her up, for revenge on behalf of Kate because... shut up Sarah!!!

I maybe was wrong about dolls being humans indoctrinated and made into look-alikes, Emily fell from the ledge with only a minor bruise to her knee, no human taking that fall without some damage.

Kate likes dolls... good to know!
and baths...gotta was the soot away eh? Even if it is literally your very essence.

I do enjoy the eerie atmosphere it sets, it felt pretty good aside from the "dolls cleaning" scene, from Kate being angry to Mia's weird room.

On the topic, interesting, Mia's room is a mess, she looked pretty angry too so i am guessing this is either the work of Kate or another shadow/doll or maybe her master... not sure, i wonder if it is her shadow master though, whilst it is probable, seeming her angry is a expression i wouldn't expect her to make if so. She will probably blame Emily. Mia clearly isn't what she lets on.
Good stuff, i like it.
 
Madoka said:
Episode 2
So the cleaning thing feels weird now. Why constantly clean the house forever? Its a pointless task.
There is no way Kate could of taught Emily in a couple of days to reflect her face to the point of mimicking expression so well, Sarah speaks high of herself but Mia clearly isn't a few days new to the job like Alice Emily, heck she was the head of the team of cleaners, the comparison felt stupid. Can't tell me Kate could retort with even a single bit of this logic? She could of brought miss full of herself down a peg.
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Mia isn't the head of cleaners. Rosemary(the older brown haired girl who started singing) is.
 
Another good one. Color me shocked. I really didn't think I'd like this show, and yet...

I mean, the weird singing sequence nearly had me drifting off, but the rest of it was really solid. Just unsettling enough, just unknowable enough. We're both locked into Emilico's perspective to learn only as much of the world as she can see but also have experience enough to recognize incongruities with those same new looks at what's around her, the balance of which hooks you in as much as the very likeable Kate and Emilico do.

Now...what in the f*** happened to Mia's room?

Madoka said:
my thoughts was the opening scene implied it was children who are dolls
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Oh, yes, that's definitely one of the not-too-subtle things I'd point to. I didn't mean to imply I thought I'd hit upon some hidden code to formulate the theory, just that I didn't believe the episode's explanation of what we were seeing.

Mind-wiped kidnap victims. That's what it looks like.

Obviously, there's still a ton of questions this opens up, but I'd be surprised if it was anything else.
The Shadows are creations, designed to be doubles (of a sort) for the children. As such, they are secretly manipulatable by their creator, who then uses them to puppet the "faces" for...purposes.

Madoka said:
Kate likes dolls... good to know!
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Likes dolls you say...

Madoka said:
Mia's weird room.
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Dude, no joke, I let out a vocal "whaaaaaaat?" when I saw that.

That she was then angered upon seeing it was probably the creepiest thing in the two episodes, though, I gotta admit.
 
God I hope Emilico gets better really fast because I want to like the show but she's just insufferable. And no, I don't care how realistic it is that she would be bad at her new job.
By the way when that other girl was being the face of bitchy shadow girl, why didn't she move her mouth when talking but only when laughing? that was weird.
 
Nekus said:
insufferable
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Nekus said:
why didn't she move her mouth when talking but only when laughing? that was weird.
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Fair point. It's either a continuity error or falls under the "laughing isn't talking" clause--since the mean shadow girl was very particular about being able to have facial expressions come across, smiling or laughing or frowning or snarling would be of the utmost importance.
I was originally going to make (for some reason) a reference to blowing bubbles, as an example of the necessity of moving the mouth for non-speaking purposes, which just makes me wonder if the "faces" are meant to mimic physical interactions or just appearances.

Which then makes me ask: are these duos restricted just to the house, then? Like, do you maintain the ability to puppet them from a massive distance to act as your emissary in the outside world?

So, I guess, the question is: why doesn't the mouth move when talking? Is it to reinforce for the audience that the shadow is the one talking? Or do the "dolls" really just not move their mouths when being "faces"?
 
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