Shadows House 2nd Season

After the resolution of the debut, Kate and her Doll Emilico have officially become residents of the Shadows House. However, they are under constant vigilance by the Star Bearers—an elite group in charge of the children's wing. In order to escape from their surveillance and the morbid methods they use to keep everyone's loyalty in check, Kate and Emilico must be wary of who to trust and aim to become Star Bearers themselves.

Meanwhile, the Star Bearers have encountered their own problems. A mysterious robed figure dubbed "Master Robe" has trespassed and roams around the children's wing. At first, Master Robe is deemed harmless, but more incidents start occurring that endanger the Dolls' lives—all of them pointing to the suspicious individual.

To improve her reputation, Kate decides to solve the mystery herself. Yet, with so few clues and so many suspects, searching for Master Robe and their motive for attacking the mansion proves more challenging than she imagined.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kate Main

Kitou, Akari Japanese

Emilico Main

Sasahara, Yuu Japanese

John Supporting

Sakai, Koudai Japanese

Shaun Supporting

Sakai, Koudai Japanese

Barbie Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Patrick Supporting

Kawashima, Reiji Japanese

Lou Supporting

Sakura, Ayane Japanese

Maryrose Supporting

Nakahara, Mai Japanese

Ricky Supporting

Kawashima, Reiji Japanese

Oliver Supporting

Enoki, Junya Japanese

Matsui, Yuuko Producer

Kitazawa, Shiryuu Producer

Nemoto, Aina Producer

Furuhashi, Souta Producer

Reviews

Sep 23, 2022

KANLen09

Recommended

The anime continuation of the duo mangaka Soumatou's Shadows House, and the single-handed question that's popping up on everybody's minds is that: "Where do we go with that supposed mixed reception of the anime-original finale of the prequel?" And I would say: "Please be patient, the production staff know what they are doing with the author's supervision."

To ace the progression of the manga into anime form, what we started off with Season 1 sets out the beginning that the entire Shadows House was made for commune between humans being bought off to this big and huge house and their Shadow masters vying for the top ... spot of their own ranking, thus labelling the Shadow-Living Doll master-servant relationship where the Living Doll acts like his/her Shadow master would. Overtime we get to see more characters and who's boss in the House that would create its own rank-and-file system of the Adults and most especially the Star Bearers, guarding the House close like a nice wineskin that's wrapped in elegance. And it's not until Season 2 now that we also find out that this Shadows House is not what it seems, full of tension, mysteries and downright horrifying situations that would cast a dark light over what truly is the will of submission in the conquest for young Shadows to be accepted into the family, and most certainly it did for the most part.

Manga readers especially, complained at the prequel missing out one of the key characters that would come to redefine what Shadows House is truly all along, and due to time constraints, it was left out and uncertain if a sequel would be in production to bring back this character. And now everyone can rejoice, because Season 2 focuses a lot on the entity that everyone has come to know now as Master Robe, the one who's orchestrating the behind-the-scenes notion on showcasing the deft hand of the House and its true infamy of the whole Shadow-Living Doll relationship, that is only privately known to those who went through this egregious process. And most certainly what was presented here labels Season 1 as the cake's base foundation while the sequel here is the icing on the cake where all hell broke loose, and everyone (or most of them) in this juncture is aware of the effects of what's about to come. The coffee soot mind manipulation of the Living Dolls in perfect consignment to the Shadows House is also a distinct feature of the sequel here, and like the Shadow-Living Doll relationship, is also part of that involvement into the lore of what the House buys for in terms of forced and filtered loyalty. And if you see it from an overall perspective, Season 2 here really shines upon the hidden darkness of the Shadows House, which is basically an exposé of how the entire Shadows family operates with Lord Grandfather, that churns down to a "dead or alive" decision for all. Either you live with it, or willingly die against its terms and conditions.

Otherwise, Emilico, Kate and their group of Shadows and Living Dolls are pretty much consistent as per Season 1's standards, with more characters to boot now considering that the route to the House's exposé has the gang inquire more pairs to figure out their roles in this entire endeavour, which helps fill in the intel that had missing puzzle pieces since the very beginning of the story. It certainly is not pretty knowing more about the House and having speculations across the board and being the most viable targets from the Adults and the Star Bearers' point of view is just as lucid as it was like in the prequel, so the lore of mystery never gets old with more answers to fill up the questions raised as they go.

Unsurprisingly, CloverWorks's production also keeps it consistent with the visually dark undertones, something that's especially way more excessive here due to the story plot that encroaches disagreements to plain-out action with much soot. This is par for the course that the anime has took on with the manga's progression, and to see it animated in its sheer horror is absolute bliss. On the music side of things, ReoNa's OP is good, but comparing with her Season 1 juggernaut of an ED, it's night and day. But what I'm most excited about is ClariS (with a new member) finally coming back to produce more songs, and "Masquerade" is a return to form in regard to the duo's signature rhythms (though that LycoReco's OP is pure masterclass).

Above all, Season 2 improved on the one sole key difference with the story linkage from Season 1, and they couldn't have done it without the author's help. That said, both seasons are just as engaging, and the sequel easily edges out the prequel in terms of unwrapping its overall mystery with the tone of its storytelling. That's not to say that what we got with 2 seasons of Shadows House ain't bad, but we just want more, and that's where I'll lead you to continue reading the manga from where the anime left off, because it's that engrossing for a rare, full-colour manga.

Take the advice: watch the anime, then continue the manga. The interest never wanes in the exciting deliration that is Soumatou's Shadows House.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 23, 2022

Strikeca

Mixed Feelings

Despite really enjoying Shadows House season 1, I left season 2 feeling much more mixed about the series overall.

The Good:

I really enjoyed 3 of the 4 main characters (Kate, Emilico, and Shaun). They were entertaining and helped progress the story in meaningful ways.

The world that was built also has a lot of potential left. Exploring the mysteries of the shadow house is the best part of the series and this season doled out enough information to keep the mystery entertaining.

Most of the star-bearer and adult side characters are also strong. Some were more mediocre but for the most part they brought maturity which this series ... desperately lacked. The ending also helped flesh out these characters a lot.

I also think that the ending was very strong (spoilers about the ending in this paragraph). The last 2 episodes were definitely my favorite of the season. It deeply explored some of the side characters, taught us a lot more about the house and its past, and also set up the future of some main characters nicely with promotions. They were also the most entertaining episodes of the season. However, arguably the best thing gained from the ending was the introduction of Anthony. He is already one of my favorite characters with only a few appearances and will undoubtedly make season 3 a much better show.

The Ok:

The animation and soundtrack are both just ok. They get the job done, and aren’t very bad, but they don’t stand out compared to other shows.

Most of the child side characters and some star-bearers like Oliver are just ok. They aren’t objectively bad but are EXTREMELY one-dimensional. Personally, I don’t really enjoy them that much, but they don’t make the show worse.

The Bad:

Despite this show being listed as a senien, the writing felt like it was meant for 5-year-olds. Characters frequently need to state out loud what they are thinking or planning, even if it can be easily inferred by the audience. Character growth is arguably worse, with characters doing something wrong, thinking out loud what they are doing wrong, and what they need to fix before slowly fixing it over the course of an episode. This incredibly streamlined character growth was extremely boring, felt very unnatural, and really hurt my enjoyment.

There is also John (the 4th main character) and his changed usage. They decided to pin him on the comic relief role, which he really sucks at. He is loud = funny. He feels incredibly out of place around the other characters and actively makes the show worse during almost all of his appearances.

In fact, the show has a humor problem as a whole. The humor almost always falls incredibly flat, and they desperately tried to fit it in every crack far too often. It even interrupts more serious moments far too often which was extremely annoying.

Overall, the show is still ok, but much weaker writing hurt my enjoyment a lot.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Aug 26, 2022

Gsarthotegga

Not Recommended

Preliminary (8/12 eps)

Shadows House had an okay, somewhat compelling first season, with many thinking it was marred by the final few (non-canon) episodes, but the unique premise, the gothic or victorian atmosphere, the nature of the shadows and their "living dolls," and the world building and plot elements were interesting. Characters and writing were decent enough relative to most seasonal anime. Nothing was especially bad. It could get a little tiresome to look at, despite a decent aesthetic to build upon, as the budget was clearly not high, and the animation was mediocre at best (Clover Works had to save that budget for animating feet in Akebi). ... Animation saving techniques and tedious shots of people talking and the camera panning over everything is a near constant.

Season 2 possesses most of what made season 1 worth watching, but it's generally worse in most ways, and the plot is much clunkier. There's a bit of factional intrigue and further exploration of how the soot powers work, and the mains become more ingratiated with the elite of the house and the star bearers. Oddly enough, while the "living dolls" act as the "face" for the shadows, mimicking them, it kind of feels like the staff forgot about this element, and it's actually very rare that the "faces" do their job at all. I guess the lower level children/shadows are just lazy and get a free pass? I know there is a difference in perspective and experience for the younger children/shadows, but the series tends to be pretty inconsistent with this element all around, though devotion to the concept would be tedious to depict and observe, in all fairness.

The OP/ED are okay (although the OP sounds like gothic lolita pop for kindergarten), but the music in the show is painful. It's flooded with stock music: faux-intense battle music for the scorch encounter, hahaha this is soooooo funny comedy music for parts that are largely not funny, and suspense music from some boomer show like Matlock. This is kind of a show that should be relying on building atmosphere, but it's hard to craft it with music this lackluster.

Unfortunately, the budget seems even smaller now or the staff were forced to make choices that go far beyond the minimal budget available. Episode 3 was especially boring. The soot fight is badly animated and looks like a how-to-vacuum tutorial presented as a dramatic battle scene with soot monsters, so a five-year-old will stay interested; it seriously has an edutainment feel like watching Blue's Clues or Teletubbies or something. The characters just sit around and chill and explain how the vacuum works and the monsters politely wait for them.

I don't care what happened in the manga. That's no excuse after the studio just made up the last few episodes of season 1. Be faithful to the manga when it's good, but it's absolutely necessary to present scenes like this in a manner that is palatable to the medium. And do not tell me how a vacuum cleaner works—cut the dialogue out, please. The vacuum cleaner was unwieldy and difficult to use due to how heavy and powerful it was, so there was a balance issue. It would make sense to get a strong character to use it, like the body builder. No, no, instead let's hand it to the series' tiniest moe kawaii desu ni sugoi lolimaid. It's played for laughs, but she realistically could have died very easily at various points.

There is also a mystery concerning the elusive "robe-sama," which is so painful to type, I have to put it in quotes so as not to feel like I'm a 4-year-old. Kate spends time pondering deeply about whom it might be, and our cast of ace detectives start snooping around for clues like this is Scooby Doo for several episodes. However, it's painfully obvious who "robe-sama" is. The mystery element is poorly written, and they could have easily built a lot of suspense around this with numerous characters eliciting greater suspicion. Not to spoil anything, but I've noticed plenty of people were reasonably getting this one wrong at first because they're jumping the gun with an appeal to Chekhov's gun (fallacy); it's still really obvious who it is, and it's very easily narrowed down, but it's a challenge to pay attention after the 1,457th slow panning shot over faces and random interiors, so maybe some people missed it, but the hints are in plain sight.

Episode 5 finally has the shadows working together more and bonding, and Episode 6 has surprisingly decent character interaction and speculation from the humans, considering this is a show that tends to be way too plot-driven or, in the case of season 1, devolved into plenty of desultory slime of life bits. Most of the revelations and theories discussed by the characters are very obvious, even before season 1 ended (like everything about Rum/Shirley, for example). I mean, I get that the characters sometimes have to come to terms with what is happening at a different pace than the viewer, but it appears to me that the writing is not tight enough, lacks subtlety, or the characters need to be quicker on the uptake, lest they end up handholding an audience that doesn't need handholding with sluggish scenes.

The series is already far too slow to begin with. The slow-pacing is very artificial as well—I never get the sense that the slow-pace is a deliberate choice because this is a slow-burn mystery—no, I get the sense that it's only as slow as it is because of required budget saving techniques. There's scene after scene of slow pans over the faces of characters as they snoop around and gossip—even worse, half of the faces they pan over are FREAKING silhouettes; it's amazing how low-budget this is when they have plot-motivated usage of silhouettes. The direction is mostly poor and plot points are seldom worked into episodes in ways that promote engagement. Comedy is sprinkled in to lighten the mood, often tarnishing the atmosphere, but also providing long, awkward stretches of unfunny bits about John wanting to marry Kate or whatever other shenanigans.

About the only compliment I can give, beyond whatever slight approval I gave above, is that it's interesting to see how the shadows and "living dolls" differentiate—as they're clearly meant to become monotonously in-tune with one another, but the differences are obvious, if sometimes subtle with certain pairs. Patrick and Ricky are probably the most interesting in this regard, especially with their romantic proclivities. I'm sure there's a lot of great potential to be tapped here, but I'm not convinced it's worth enduring the series' shortcomings to experience these developments in future installments.

The series works for one season because the idea is a semi-fresh dark fantasy interestingly tackling class structures in a kind of Victorian/gothic atmosphere, and we're just learning the rules of the world and the house. There's plenty of world building and mystery, but once we've gotten the hang of things and have a decent grasp of how the world works and we move away from acculturation and to unraveling mysteries and playing detective instead, then it's clear the writing is simply not up to snuff for such a slow, uneventful, and low-budget series, and I never want to see another camera pan over anything ever again after having watched it. The manga is probably a lot better, and would have the advantages of focusing on art and composition over camera pans and stiff animation, and the atmosphere would be better preserved without the poor music.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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