OP: ホロー・シャドー (A Hollow Shadow) by 末廣健一郎 (Suehiro Kenichirou)

It’s entirely possible that Shadows House was the premiere I was most looking forward to this season.  Not because I expected it to be the best, of a certainty – and it isn’t.  Rather, because it was the show about which I was most intensely curious.  The art style is striking, the premise is intriguingly weird, and the manga seems generally to be well-liked.  I’ve intentionally kept myself in the dark about the details of the source material to preserve the mystique, and that stokes the fire all the more.  This was my top sleeper pick of the season and the series which seemed to have the widest potential range in terms of quality.

The fact that CloverWorks – with a little-known director – is behind Shadows House just adds to that mystery, because like their parent A-1 they’re a studio that can fall almost anywhere on the quality scale, production-wise.  The previews looked great, but who knows?  They also have a recent track record of royally screwing up and rushing adaptations, but though this series is only going to run 13 episodes the fact that the manga is just three years old makes me think that won’t be a huge problem.

My verdict is a bit mixed, but mostly positive.  I did think the premiere looked fantastic, including the OP and ED.  The art is gorgeous, there’s a real sense of style, and the animation (including the CGI) is very fluid.  It’s a classic “anime gothic” motif, but well-executed and with a few twists.  In terms of story this first episode was pretty cagey about that weird premise, though there were a couple moments of clumsy exposition-by-explanation that I could have lived without.  The music was a bit obtrusive, but generally suited the mood.

The story?  As in the synopsis, we have a mansion full of shadows, and the “living dolls” who represent their faces to the world (though we only meet one of each).  Why are these shadows, well- shadows?  Why do they emit soot when they’re stressed out?  Who makes these living dolls that act as their avatars – and servants?  The answers to that aren’t forthcoming of course, but I was getting a vibe that the dolls might just be real human beings.  Time will tell on that score I suppose.

Kate (Kitou Akari) is the first member of the Shadow family we meet.  Her doll (Sasahara Yuu) is new on the job and seems to lack self-awareness – unaware, for example, that she needs to eat or that she should wash more than just her face.  Kate seems kindly enough – she informs the doll that she needs a name (Emilyko), teaches her to read, plays makeover and offers to play cards.  She also tells Emilyko that the members of the family all receive a doll when they come of age, though just what that age is she doesn’t specify apart from noting that it’s not the same with every member.

As for Emilyko, she was the weakest part of the premiere for me.  The moeblob/dojikko act at the heart of her character is about as generic as anime in 2021 gets.  Apart from her quite lovely character design (all of the character designs by Kusakabe Chizuko are stunning, though we don’t see most of them here) Emilyko really offers nothing to the mix – she’s a walking (and falling) cliche.  There are two paths out of this trap, potentially – the rest of the cast is introduced and she falls into a much smaller role, or her character evolves substantially.  Both are of course possible, neither are a lock, and if they both happen we could be looking at something really special here.

I’m still pretty hopeful, because my sense of this premiere is that it holds its cards very close to the vest.  I suspect Shadows House is much darker (no pun intended) than the premiere lets on, it looks fantastic, and apart from the protagonist the first episode was quite interesting and entertaining.  If I was looking to have the mystery around this series resolved after one ep that certainly didn’t happen, but that’s not at all a bad thing – after all, it means I’m just as curious about this series now as I was before it started.

ED: “Nai Nai (ないない)” by ReoNa