English Dub Review: Shadows House “The Debut”

Overview: 

Mia wanted to be disciplined by her mistress Sarah and boy does she get her wish. For Emilico her long-awaited debut has arrived. How will she fare in the process of becoming Kate’s face? Will she succeed or get “thrown away”?

Our Take:

I’ll be honest… I don’t things could have gone much worse for Emilico and Kate. I figured there would be a struggle but there was only one other person who struggled worse. The interesting thing about the debut is that it is run by a doll. Also, there are no set instructions or grading criteria. He pretty much just lets them interact with each other and grades them using toy dolls representing each shadow.

One thing I haven’t touched on much is the way they animate the shadows. For the most part, we have been focusing on the dolls so I was waiting for a shadow-centric episode for this so here we go. What they do for the shadows is really interesting because since they don’t have a face you can’t tell they’re talking really. How they work around this problem is by showing a lot of shots from the side so you can see their mouth moving. Also, the way Kate has soot begin to simmer above her head when she gets frustrated is really well animated. Whoever did the soot effects for this show did a bang-up job.

One thing that has been kind of hinted at in the last couple of episodes is Kate’s “secret ability”. This makes me wonder if all shadows have an ability and if they do is it the same as hers? There was a point during the debut that everyone assumed they should dance. Well, Emilico can’t dance very well if at all, but luckily Kate can use her soot to move Emilico’s legs how she wants. How exactly the ability works is still a mystery but I can’t wait to see what else she does with it.

I’m thinking this episode is just the first half of the debut because we end without any real resolution. The shadows are separated from their human dolls so I am not sure how they can be tested without them. All I know is this show is the epitome of intriguing. I keep getting more and more questions with just enough answers to keep me coming back. I know this is based on a manga so I am worried this won’t have a satisfactory ending. So far though I am really enjoying Shadows House.