English Dub Review: In/Spectre “She Who Spins Fiction”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After taking a nice long nap, Kotoko awakens to find Kuro and Saki acting awkwardly around each other. She’s a little worried at first, but it quickly becomes clear than the only reason for the weird aura is that Saki has figured out that Kuro’s cousin and first love Rikka-san is behind Steel Lady Nanase.

Kotoko explains her history with Rikka, and how she and Kuro arrived at the Steel Lady Nanase mystery for different reasons. Saki learns that Rikka has powers just like Kuro, but unlike him, she seems to be using her powers to cause chaos. When the spectre appears later that night, Kuro goes out to fight a physical battle while Kotoko prepares to fight an online wiki battle against Rikka.
Our Take:

Hot off the heels of a long break due to COVID-19, the English dub of In/Spectre is back on as Crunchyroll resumes their dubbing from home with the eigth episode, She Who Spins Fiction. It’s a very solid episode despite being another entry in an already overly-long arc. We learn a lot more about Rikka, as well as some interesting tidbits about Kotoko and Kuro. It’s kind of neat seeing into their personal worlds in different ways, like Kuro being so flustered by Rikka, or Kotoko being doted on by her personal maids.

Rikka is definitely what makes this episode so engaging. She’s been a shadowy figure on the show from the premiere, when she was just a name tied to a hospital. But last episode we got a tease of her potential, and today, we learn just how strange her backstory really is. Much like Kuro, she was experimented on and survived to gain otherworldly powers such as being able to change the future. Unlike her cousin, however, she’s been cooped up in a hospital under constant observation and lockdown for years of her life. This has made her eager to try out her powers and their limits on her own, and when she gets the chance, that’s exactly what she tries to do, conjuring up Steel Lady Nanase with the power of online wikis.

Kotoko, of course, has known Rikka was behind the Steel Lady from the start. Or at least that’s what she claims; it’s hard to tell when she’s just spewing smoke to make herself seem smarter. She does have experience with Rikka and her oddball persona though, maybe even more than Kuro thanks to her offering to take the beautiful woman in after the hospital released her due to changing political priorities from the top. They’ve celebrated birthdays together for goodness sake, so if anyone can stop her, Kotoko can.

She Who Spins Fiction presents a fascinating new twist to the Steel Lady Nanase arc that connects everything that’s been happening back to Kuro and Kotoko in a way that’s deeply personal. I’m beginning to see In/Spectre as less of show with multiple arcs and more like a show with one big arc that has a lot of detours. I’m still not totally convinced that sticking with the Steel Lady for this long was the right move (I think the beginning and this ending are nice, but a little less filler in the middle would’ve been great.) But if the series continues to put out episodes like this that add new wrinkles and give our heroes more to talk about, I won’t complain.