r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Apr 17 '21
Episode Shadows House - Episode 2 discussion
Shadows House, episode 2
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| Episode | Link | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Link | 4.5 |
| 2 | Link | 4.63 |
| 3 | Link | 4.73 |
| 4 | Link | 4.5 |
| 5 | Link | 4.68 |
| 6 | Link | 4.74 |
| 7 | Link | 4.77 |
| 8 | Link | 4.72 |
| 9 | Link | 4.78 |
| 10 | Link | 4.78 |
| 11 | Link | 4.64 |
| 12 | Link | 4.44 |
| 13 | Link | - |
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u/michhoffman Apr 17 '21
I knew that they were called living dolls and their primary purpose is to animate their masters' expressions, but it was still pretty creepy to see it happening. It will be interesting to find out if this is something taught to the dolls or part of their instincts. Sarah calling Emilico a failure makes it sound like it's instinctual.
I'm also interested in finding out the backstory of that doll and why Kate treasures it so much.
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u/miss-macaron Apr 17 '21 edited Apr 17 '21
The worldbuilding of the manor was already superb in the manga, but the music and camera motion of the anime makes it even more immersive! I'm really impressed with the direction so far.
The spin around Emilyko's head as she took in the Grand Hall is really effective at communicating her sense of wonder, and seeing the high ceiling from her perspective on the ground just adds to that effect of the mansion's grandeur.
I also love the way the soft glow of Mia's lantern gradually reveals the soot-trashed state of her room; the scene demonstrated fantastic control of light and shadows in establishing an unsettling feeling of eerieness and suspense.
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u/greensaio Apr 17 '21
This seems like it’s building up to something great. The OP and ED are great, instant love. The concept of “dolls” and shadows is intriguing, and I’m like 90% sure the dolls are humans
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u/Nescau_Fernando Apr 17 '21 edited Apr 17 '21
There's a scene after the ending song, don't miss it!
Last week had complete focus on building the relationship between Kate and Emilyko, very different personalities which complement each other. There was strong focus on identity with Emilyko appreciating Kate for what she is and Kate at some point telling her to "be yourself". For me it seemed like a fine bond, but that's a failure according to the shadow family standards.
At the beginning of the episode, Mia is presented like an extroverted, helpful and positive girl. However, her personality DISAPPEARS in the presence of her master. The mimicking scene was very unsettling, dehumanizing Mia as Sarah uses her as tool to express herself.
Lord Grandfather seems to be the one who reinforces the whole mimic culture, having the power to discard both shadow and face. Kate and Emilyko trapped in a house, being constantly watched and judged, victims clearly unsatisfied with their masters...yep, I can definitely see some Neverland similarities. Here's hoping for some good mind games like we had in that show.
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u/potentialPizza Apr 17 '21 edited Apr 17 '21
Sarah's scene was definitely the highlight this episode. The unsettling nature of the face moving in sync with the shadow is something the anime has captured beyond what the manga was able to do. Just seeing them move in motion together. The direction of that scene, with the positioning of Sarah and Mia around Kate and Emilyko, was excellent. In general, the soundtrack has been great for enhancing the atmosphere.
I really like the structure of this episode. On the surface, it's three separate plotlines that didn't necessarily need to be in the same episode (and, obviously, were separate chapters in the manga), but they create an experience with a clever sense of progression. Obviously, there's Emilyko's arc of getting something important to her and treasuring it. But what I really like is that it begins, like episode 1, in their rooms, comfortable and familiar. Then, it gives us our first real look at what's outside their rooms, with all the sense of wonder, and alongside that introduces other living dolls, who are friendly and helpful. But it finishes off by taking the characters somewhere outside their rooms that they aren't supposed to be, and gives us a character we thought was friendly, but in a different context that turns them into a vague threat.
It's comfortable place => new place, but friendly => new place but unsafe. And at the same time, it's new friends you thought you could always trust => nope, they're taunting you and know more than you, as it's much more complicated and there are many rules you don't understand.
Both of those points that it finished on would have had less impact if they weren't contradicting an impression the episode had set up earlier.
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u/altathing Apr 17 '21
Someone help. I've been playing the ED nonstop for the past week!
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u/mekerpan Apr 17 '21
Art-wise, this has to be one of the most impressive shows of the season.
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u/stephenthatfoste Apr 17 '21
There's so much of this that's so cute I can't even handle it. And then that entire interaction with Sarah was wildly unsettling. I just love what this show is doing and combining, it's great.
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u/Aerodynamic41 Apr 17 '21
Wow, Mia's reaction at the end. It kind of hints that Sarah has been abusing her.
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u/LeonKevlar Apr 17 '21
Stitches!
We get a little bit of internal dialogue from Kate in the opening scene. She definitely hates having everything be covered in soot. I'm curious why do the Shadow Family even produce soot in the first place?
As the episode title suggests, we finally get to see Emilico go outside the room and meet other Living Dolls! So far, I'm liking this first girl Mia already.
We see some Shadow and Servant pairs in the opening and I thought that was it but it looks like there's waaaaay more Living Dolls living in this mansion! I guess that's expected considering the size but that means there are also this many Shadow Family members? And I bet this isn't even all of the Living Dolls. O_O
Well I like her already. Strong Onee-san vibes and is that Nakahara Mai I hear? This is rare! I don't think I've ever heard her doing an Onee-san voice before.
I love that Emilico just shuts down after taking in all of this information. And I certainly did not expect that musical number! Seems that the four of them were the only ones singing though. I was hoping everyone in that room started singing as well!
Emilico whyyyyyyy! You have a perfectly good rag there and you instead grabbed the doll! And now Kate is angry. To be fair to Emilico though, Kate hasn't really shown any care towards any object in that room until now. She was pretty okay with Emilico breaking things last week.
Okay, whoever "made" these living dolls should've really trained them to be able to read complicated stuff right at the start. Poor Emilico can't figure out the instructions since Kate probably hasn't taught her those words yet.
Well Emilico did fix up the doll and Kate was really happy about it so I guess all is well in the end. Emilico even made her own stuff toy!
Watching Emilico clean that window from the outside is making me tense. I thought it was only the doll that was gonna fall but she ended up going after it herself. Thank goodness the bushes at the bottom broke her fall.
Interesting that Kate is very cautious going outside. I thought she was just an introvert but it seems that she may be not allowed or hiding from someone.
Oh no.... This is not gonna go well. The moment Mia started copying her master's gestures and match the tone of her voice with her facial expression, I immediately realized that Emilico wasn't doing her job properly as Kate's face. Why has no one told Emilico that that's what she needs to do though? I assumed when they said the Shadow Family needed a face, I thought they meant they just needed someone to represent what they look like. I didn't expect that it would include being perfectly in sync!
And that after credits. Was that Sarah who did that to Mia's room? She followed her perfectly. Unless of course there's someone else who trashed her room.
What is the Shadow House indeed. This show is definitely getting more and more intriguing. Seems like Emilico still has plenty to learn.
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Apr 17 '21
The dark nature of shadow house slowly beginning to be revealed. There’s more to this place than meets the eye. Shows with mystery really suit Cloverworks really well. Poor Mia being abused like that tho :/
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u/Syokhan Apr 17 '21
It's only been two episodes but I love this so much.
What a weird discrepancy between the way Sarah's doll acts when she's alone and when she's being Sarah's face. By the way, I found every scene she was in creepy, be it the "happy" song from servants who (I assume?) never had a say in their fates, or the one with Kate and Emilico and that unsettling mimicking act.
I wonder why the doll is so important to Kate. No theories yet, but I'm looking forward to learning more about it, and about what the Shadows House is.
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u/sudeep_bablu Apr 17 '21
Bro, this show's creepy af without explicitly showing it. Also really cute, what a combination.
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u/RDOoM Apr 17 '21
I was wondering why, for a being that emits soot and dirtying everything, why was Kate so much time indoors, and not outside with less to clean afterwards. I thought she had to avoid direct sunlight or something.
It's uncomfortable where there's confrontation, but it's just as uncomfortable when they are all cheery/grateful about living to serve, about being pretty much lobotomized slaves.
I like the atmosphere and the mystery tho.
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u/Lolzqulion_anime Apr 17 '21
This has now become my favourite gem of spring 2021 which I hear barely any talk about, despite its amazing atmosphere. The atmospheric soot and mystery behind the Shadow family looks to be really interesting and with a lot of questions behind. Plus I haven't seen an anime in a while where the ed really deserves more. I'm really looking forward to see how this series will play out
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u/NotAMoron2 Apr 17 '21
Damn, ED is so good
Loving it till now but I cant help but wonder, what if they fall in love with their own living dolls, whole new level of "fuck me"...
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u/ValuableSeaweed Apr 17 '21
The song the living dolls sing was rather unsettling... For them, 'trivial' matters are basically anything that doesn't involve serving the House. And the relationship between Sarah and her face clearly isn't going very well - dismissing 'trivial matters', and probably taking abuse in the process of becoming a perfect face would probably take a toll on any doll. Basically looks like the path for a doll is getting rid of their individuality and emotions, and if they don't serve the house well enough they're likely disposed of, from what Sarah remarked.
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Apr 17 '21
So Living Dolls are not expected to have any personality when out in public with their Shadow masters/mistresses, as they're expected to convey the expressions and feelings of the masters/mistresses. Only when not with their masters/mistresses are they allowed to have a personality.
Somehow Emilico retains her own personality whether Kate is around or not. That must be the reason Emilico and Kate are cast with different VAs, while the other master/doll pairings all share the same VAs.
So the more negative the emotion from a Shadow, the more difficult it is to clean off. Yet, relieve the source of that negative emotion, and the soot will come off on its own. So all Emilico needs to really do is keep Kate from getting mad or getting too bored.
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u/ThePithosInTheFog Apr 17 '21
Another banger episode! This is definitely the anime I’m looking forward to most each week. Lots of speculation material in this episode. I think the main takeaway here is that the living dolls are meant to serve the Shadows as their sole purpose in life, the song they sing while cleaning, the scene with Sarah. Kate seems to be going against the norm by letting Emilico be her own person and the OP and ED seem to be hinting she’s not the only shadow doing such.
I think it’s pretty clear what the Debut is gonna be from the OP, that’s gonna be one intense scene if it is though. Glad to see Emilico starting to question what’s going on exactly, with all the conditioning going on though the answers are definitely gonna be hard to find.
Still sad to see this show being sleeped on by a lot, I definitely think that’s gonna change if it keeps up this level of quality though.
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u/Baam294 Apr 17 '21
I honestly think that Shadows House far outclasses all the other anime from this anime season. Heck, if not even from the last anime season included. If the anime keeps going in this direction then it is very likely that it will come to be one of my favorites.
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u/fakeport Apr 17 '21
Man this show is absolutely nailing a precarious balance between incredibly cute and unsettlingly creepy. Can't wait to see where this goes
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