English Dub Review: In/Spectre “That God’s Name Is”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

A bound spirit asks Kotoko (Lizzie Freeman) for some advice about a mysterious supernatural presence that showed up at its apartment complex. Every night, strange sounds can be heard from an empty apartment, and a doll with four arms is found in the room. In order to find out what’s behind this, Kotoko and Kuro (Brandon Winckler) go to investigate. Kotoko begins her inference yet again so she can protect the order among the supernatural beings!

Our Take:

The series involving the Goddess of Wisdom and her regenerating “boyfriend” returned with its long-awaited second season that ended its Japanese run last month. This week sees the season releasing an English dub for several fans to experience without the distracting subtitles. Fortunately, that includes me, as I was able to binge-watch the first season of In/Spectre before jumping into season two. Despite the overabundance of exposition moments being a turn-off, I enjoyed the series for its intriguing combination of action, romance, yokai, and mystery. So I hoped its second season would deliver the same amount of yokai goodness while balancing the exposition with its yokai action.

The first episode of season two sees Kotoko and Kuro on another case involving a new yokai. This time, they’re tasked by a bound spirit to investigate the apartment he’s haunting, which is disturbed by a loud thumping noise in the room above. Kotoko and Kuro found a doll with four arms lying around in the vacated room. But it turns out that it is no ordinary doll. It is a cursed voodoo doll crafted years ago to ward off spirits and demons, so Kotoko and Kuro must get rid of it in the woods.

“That God’s Name Is” delivers what you expect from the show’s first season, resulting in a solid start to its second season. One of which is the exposition. While the episode offers more exposition than action, like in the previous episodes, it didn’t reach the point where I immediately became confused. There are many dialogue-driven scenes, including Kotoko lying to the spirits about the noise being the manager’s pet reptile. Still, it keeps things simple and engaging enough for me to follow along without putting me to sleep.

I also enjoyed the episode for its recap of the first season. The episode sees the spirits talking about Kotoko and Kuro, their backgrounds, and the events in season one. It sets up the tone introduced in season one while giving newcomers a brief crash course on the concept and characters. It saves them the trouble of watching the entire first season, although it’s still recommended to get the whole experience.

Overall, this episode got off to a good start in season two, which may have a chance to be an improvement over season one. Lizzie Freeman and Brandon Winckler continue to do solid work as Kotoko and Kuro, and the chemistry between them was pretty entertaining for their partnership amid their “budding romance”. With their first mission of the season completed, what other dangers await the goddess and her immortal partner/boyfriend?