October 2022 started with a bang for horror anime lovers! Housing Complex C episode 1: Optical Illusion has set a fantastic tone, but are we being misled?
We’ve taken some cracks at deciphering the lore in the trailers, and mistakes were made, but more questions remain unanswered. Hopefully, Housing Complex C will give us a satisfying conclusion.
We have the English and Japanese cast revealed, the names of the following two episodes, and a sneak peek at Housing Complex C Episode 2, courtesy of Adult Swim.
If you haven’t seen episode 1, you can watch it on the Adult Swim website, app, and YouTube! HBOMax will play the episode the next day, in case you missed it on Adult Swim’s Toonami Block on Saturdays.
How to start a short anime properly!
With only four episodes, Housing Complex C begins with our main characters, Kimi and Yuri, running from Kan. There’s chanting that every Cthulhu fan will recognize, and it’s unclear if Kan is chasing the girls of his own volition.
Especially after he sees a rainbow reflecting in a puddle, he gets a flashback that expands on what we see in the trailers. Kimi and Yuri bear a strong resemblance to two girls in ancient times.
We don’t know how far back this is, but we see the Ancient Kimi reveal she can force the human body to decay with her voice. The anime calls them the Kurakado, but why they’re being attacked, and what the monsters have to do with this, is unclear.
The episode shifts timeframes again after the flashback ends, but we’re at the story’s start this time. Housing Complex C is a low-rise apartment building that’s set apart from the rest of the community.
The tenants are primarily elderly, except Momo and her son, a Hikikomori, and Kimi. And it’s here where the anime hints that things are already off.
A Funeral Procession under several Tori gates, for an unnamed person, is happening, and this particular practice appears unique to Kurosaki. Wada, the manager of the housing complex, and several men discuss the traditions behind the procession.
This is where we hear about the Kurakado people, the original inhabitants of Kurosaki, and the tenants mentioning “their gods.” But, unfortunately, not even “their gods” know when the traditions will dry out.
But, which gods are they talking about? Does Kurosaki have its religion, or do the people living in Housing Complex C have a different faith?
Kimi complains about being too hot, so everyone heads to a storage room to find a shaved ice machine.
The plot thickens!
The men tell Kimi the underground area was originally a bomb shelter, and they haven’t been down there since before Kimi was born. Since Kimi is nine, this would have been at least a decade ago.
An old man, Kojima, disappeared during the winter, but while the residents searched for him, they found a storage room hidden in the bomb shelter. Kojima had taken many things from all over Kurosaki and hidden them there, including a shaved ice machine, some old toys, a mummified dog, and a rock with a strange star-eye shape.
Taka and Kimi also discover a new chamber that appears to be in ruins. Could this be the place where the flashback happened?
But more exploring will have to wait because Wada received a phone call. Housing Complex C is about to get a lot of tenants.
This is where we meet Yuri and her parents. It turns out that Yuri’s father, Seichi, works with foreign interns and helps them settle in.
Although their country hasn’t been named, and we only have two of their names, it’s clear they’re from Europe. This is our first glimpse of Kan, and we learn that most of the residents have never left Kurosaki.
But the interns are learning Japanese, and they appear to be nice. Kan even saves Kimi’s life when she decides to stand on a ledge and practice some optical illusions.
Optical illusions play a significant role in episode 1, but given how odd the monsters look, and how quickly they crop up, I question Kimi’s and Taka’s common sense.
And then, we have the piles of dead fish on the grounds, and Kimi finding Hideo, Momo’s son, in an odd position at the end of the episode. Is he dead or worse?
There’s also the mystery surrounding Kimi’s parents. We hear Kimi talking to her mother, but we don’t see or hear her.
Kimi repeats her mother’s question and replies, “It’s an optical illusion!” Are her parents dead, or is Kimi a supernatural being?
All hail Cthulhu and respect Obon!
Cthulhu is H. P. Lovecraft’s most famous creation, and the mythos is vast! He’s known as The Eternal Dreamer and is said to contact or influence humans through their dreams.
Namely, those who come into contact with an artifact or art depicting his form or call those seeking him out to release him from prison, be sacrificed to him, or join one of his cults.
And it seems Hideo is fascinated by Cthulhu and likes to draw pictures of him and other beings from the Lovecraft universe. Housing Complex C takes place in August 2000, the month Obon is celebrated in Japan.
Obon is a three-day holiday where the spirits of your ancestors are said to return home. Although the practice differs throughout Japan, the final day is celebrated with small boats filled with food and a candle to guide the dead back home.
If the Kurakado worshipped Cthulhu, are the monsters the current resident’s ancestors?
Who are the voice actors?
- Xanythe Huynh and Ayahi Takagaki voice Kimi Shirokado
- Kayli Mills and Haruka Tomatsu are Yuri Koshide
- Sean Chiplock and Wataru Hatano are Seichi Koshide, Yuri’s Father
- Suzie Yeung and Sayaka Ohara are Keiko Koshide, Yuri’s Mother
- Jack Eberle and Kazuhiro Yamaji are Takashi Takamura, Kimi calls him Taka
- Doug Stone and Yusaku Yara are Kisou Kobayashi
- Michael Sorich and Nobuo Tobita are Kentaro Yoshii
- Caitlin Glass and Ai Orikasa are Mitsuko Momochi; everyone calls her Momo
- Janis Carroll and Kujira are Toshi Wada
- Bob Carter and Takaya Kuroda voice Kanchan Mia; he introduces himself as Kan
- Ryan Colt Levy and Takeshi Nishimura voice Rubel Hossen
The opening song is Make Believe by Ivan Kwong (AG), and the ending theme is Secret of the Day by De Tesla. It’s unknown when Housing Complex C will air in Japan and Canada.
But I’m looking forward to the next episodes, Mismatched Buttons and The Wheel Comes Full Circle.