In honour of the return of Shadows House, I made myself a little Shadow Rini! I hope you like her as it took me a surprisingly long time to do. I even mirrored her. It’s impressive how easily I can be amused!
I have been looking forward to this. I think it’s safe to say that I enjoyed season 1 of Shadows House more than most and I couldn’t wait to share another season with you guys. I’m happy to announce that I got right back into it like no time had passed.
Shadows House has a wonderful unsettling atmosphere and it transported me right back to the heart of the story. It also helps that John is still John. I suspect John will always be John. Some things can be counted on!
I can’t explain it in any satisfying way but I always found Shadows House to be cool. I love the designs, I love the music, I think the universe of Shadows House is mesmerizing. I fear there may be no way to actually create a satisfying explanation for everything but I still find myself desperate to know exactly what is happening. This is neither here nor there but I tried to read the mange between seasons because I was so engrossed in the story. I couldn’t make it passed the first volume. I guess this one just speaks to me more in adaptation.
I have been noticing this more frequently in anime. There was almost no background music for the entire episode. On the one hand, this is a little disappointing because I think the Shadows House soundtrack is one of the best out there. I am not sure who picks and arranges the music for the show but kudos. On the other hand, this show, with the unsettling and mysterious atmosphere it cultivates, is probably one of the best shows for eerie silence. It just made everything so ominous even though nothing bad happened.
I am looking forward to seeing what the OP is next week. I remember that both the OP and ED of season one were some of my favourites. I quite liked the song they played at the end of this episode, I’m not sure if it will become the OP theme next week but it needs some animation to go with it. I have great expectations!
I was a little amazed by how well I remembered the first season and all the characters. Not just the main cast. I know that Mary Rose has some skeletons in her closet but I can’t help to love her screen presence. I remembered Barbara and I’m intrigued that she seems to have an important arc this season. I also remembered Rum with a little bang of sadness and it dawned on me that the kids we knew are no longer quite themselves. Except for John of course. There’s no stopping someone like John.
I actually have some hope that Patrick and Ricky have broken the spell. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking. Still, those two are never quite what you expect and I think it might play in their favour this time.
This is a side note but I really liked when Kate had to gently scold Emilico because she was doing a very inappropriate facial expression. I have always really liked the idea of becoming someone’s expression. It’s very odd as a concept but I find it enticing. However, I still can’t bring myself to see the shadows and the dolls as one and the same. That actually makes the scenes where they perfectly mirror each other even more uncanny which is a good thing. But I think it may be just a bit too out there for some viewers.
In any case, this was a great first episode. It properly reminded us of the mysteries of Shadows House, reintroduced us to the cast and universe, and set up some new puzzles and conflicts for the season. I am looking forward to sinking my teeth into it!
Previous Posts
Season 1
- Shadows House episode 1 – Emilico
- Shadows House episode 2 – Impure
- Shadows House episode 3 – Broken
- Shadows House episode 4 – Murder
- Shadows House episode 5 – Bearer
- Shadows House episode 6 – Proposal
- Shadows House episode 7 – Sunshine
- Shadows House episode 8 – Revelation
- Shadows House episode 9 – Reunion
- Shadows House episode 10 – Fairies
- Shadows House episode 11 – Human
- Shadows House episode 12 – Escape?
- Shadows House episode 13 – Caesura
That last scene… How strange to see Barbie without the shark teeth, or mean eyes. Almost looking like Ms Sunshine herself. No wonder Luluco rubs her the wrong way.
Does anyone remember if we saw Holy Grandpa in season 1? I vaguely feel like we did, maybe when Edward got punished? But I’m not 100% sure.
Did your shadow avatar take that much time? Time well spent, if you ask me. Really like the touch, but you’re concealing its soot powers.
Wew saw a shape with ahuge hat. But not enough to even see if he’s a shadow himself. Which I assume he is.
Yaya someone noticed my avatar! It did. i thought I could just paint bucket it but the original has too much colour variation so I ended up having to pain over it free hand. I’m not great at free hand.
I tried watching this last season and lost interest after one episode. I’ll probably try it again. If you like it, it has to have some goodness to be found. May turn out to be one of those I DNF’d but on revisiting the show decided it was a masterpiece.
I really loved it but with so much anime to watch in the world, There’s no reason to sit through anything that isn’t captivating you
There are several anime that I lost interest in after an episode ot two but when I went back to them later I fell in love with them. Kids on the Slope, 3-Gatsu no Lion, Natsume, and Mushishi, are all examples. Shadow House could be another when I look at it again. Blogs like yours are part of how I decide which ones to try again.
Well then, by all means!
Yay, I’m so glad this is back! I loved the first season!
Really!? Awesome. I felt like the first season got a little ignored
So glad it’s back. I’ll probably always think of Shadows House as anime Gormenghast, even though it’s clearly its own show. Also, Barbara’s shadow producing 60 % of the houses soot is… amazing. I mean, imagine a herd of sheep, and then imagine a sheep that would be responsible for 60% of the wool. That would be one fluffy sheep…
They wasted no time on recaps; jump straight back in. If you watched both seasons back to back, you mightn’t even notice where one season ends and the other starts (apart from the ending; that’s a giveaway).
Shadows House really is good with atmosphere, isn’t it? Can’t wait for next week.
Lol! Super fluffy sheep!
Fluffy sheep probably incapable of doing much at all. This explains why Babie is alone so often, I think Barbara probably doesn’t go out much.
Now that you mention it, this season really takes it for granted that the viewers know what’s going on. If anyone tries to start at season 2, they are going to be very confused. They might not even know who the man character is…