English Dub Review: In/Spectre “A Lucky Day at the Unagi Restaurant”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Two friends meet for dinner in a classy unagi restaurant and get distracted by an apparently young girl who is confidently dining there alone. Somehow, this leads to talk of murder…

Our Take: 

There’s nothing like concluding another season than a day at a fancy restaurant. However, this special day is far from relaxing since this is In/Spectre we’re talking about. We got one last mystery to solve before we part ways with the Goddess of Wisdom. Luckily, we don’t have to spend more than one episode to find the solution to this supernatural case.

“A Lucky Day at the Unagi Restaurant” offers a similar structure to the first chapter of season two, “That God’s Name Is”, in which Kotoko’s case only lasts the length of a single episode. The season two finale involves two friends, Kajio and Jujuge, hanging out at the unagi restaurant, where they talk about different types of omens, preparing unagi, and the mysterious appearance of Kotoko. This is all while Kotoko enjoys a fresh dish of unagi. Considering how many mysteries she solved, she deserves that lunch break.

It seemed like a pointless way to close the second season at first regarding its first few minutes of dialogue-heavy elements. However, the episode takes a hard left turn when Jujuge suspects Kajio is responsible for killing his wife, Yukia. That turns out to be true in the episode’s second half. Kajio pretended to be the mysterious mugger to murder Yukia, so he could have her all to himself, which is just as disturbing as you think. Unfortunately for him, Kajio got more than he bargained for, with Yukia’s ghost possessing him and making him ill.

In other words, “A Lucky Day at the Unagi Restaurant” showcases Kajio being an unlucky son of a gun who paid the price worse than death due to his obsessive nature. While the finale may not be as exciting as the season two premiere, it suitably displays the disturbing nature and compelling dialogue-driven moments we expect from the series. Not only that, but it also continues the season’s trend of providing shorter arcs compared to the show’s first impressions. It’s one of the reasons season two is a solid improvement over season one, which I’ll explain further in my upcoming season review.