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| The Complex is not what it seems... |
Housing Complex C (Japanese: Cๅฃๅฐ, Hepburn: C Danchi) is a Japanese horror anime television four-episode mini-series that aired in the United States and Canada on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block in October 2022. The series was directed by Yลซji Nara, with the script and original concept by amphibian, and animated by Akatsuki. The series was produced by Adult Swim with Jason DeMarco serving as executive producer. It is a co-production with Adult Swim, Production I.G., and Williams Street.
This is a non-spoiler review.
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| The Complex |
The story involves around at a low-cost housing complex called "Housing Complex C" in the seaside town of Kurosaki. Kimi Shirokado is an eccentric girl who lives in the complex, and during the summer, she befriends a city girl named Yuri Koshide when her family moves in from Tokyo along with foreign Bangladeshi fishing interns. Then a series of strange events soon occur, from dead animals appearing on the property to tenants mysteriously disappearing with moss growing inside their apartments. Everyone within the complex is pointing fingers at each other as tensions start to arise in a "Who Done It" situation.
The show's themes deal with human nature in general, especially logical reasons for conflict and dealing with conflict. It's all-natural, and nothing is forced.
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| Kimi & Yuri |
Character development is slow, but most of the characters are likable. The story is interesting with mysterious Lovecraftian-influenced lore, but it can sometimes be a little clichรฉ. The series has some foreshadowing and interesting "show, don't tell" details that's relevant to the story that requires you to pay attention, which adds a nice touch.
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| Yuri's dad with the alien interns |
I'm just gonna say this, this mini-series was unexpectedly WAY too short, with just 4 episodes. The show has great ideas, but squeezing it all into four episodes was stupid and poorly executed. If they stretched this to 12 episodes, they could've actually built up to the reveal and added way more horror elements to it, rather than cram it all into the last episode.
The four episodes use this traditional East Asian storytelling technique called Kishotenketsu (่ตทๆฟ่ปข็ต), it's called kishลtengล (่ตทๆฟ่ปขๅ) in Japanese. A Kishotenketsu story is formed in 4 parts, Ki, Shล, Ten, and Ketsu meaning the story starts with the Introduction, Development, then the Twist, and finally the Conclusion.
Chinese, Koreans and especially the Japanese, use this technique often with video games, movies, and other forms of storytelling. It may sound good on paper for a horror story like Housing Complex C, but it was executed very poorly, each episode has a short time length of 24 minutes while it should've been at least 48 minutes.
- The first episode start's out with a slow introduction but becomes interesting and a little spooky at first, however, the scares wind up feeling more humorous than actually scary, and some of the dialogue feels a little off and out of place, that I'm not sure if that's intentional or not.
- The second episode is where things start to feel more serious (and a little clichรฉ) and character-plot development continues to grow, metaphorically, like a rolling snowball.
- The third episode is where the snowball almost reaches downhill to meet its climax.
- The final episode is where the snowball crashes and everything is escalated quickly with 10 minutes of an exposition dump.
Another criticism I have is that it had way too much lore for a mini-series. The lore is interesting, but it could've been simplified to make it easier to digest. I kinda like that it has as much detail as it does, but I just wish more of it was actually shown and not told to the viewer in cheap exposition dumps. There was too much telling and not enough showing, especially in the last episode. All the lore admittedly did help set the tone, keep things on the eerie side. But still, it felt rushed and cramped on the last minute.
Speaking of exposition, there's alot of it. That's because the show's writer, pen named, amphibian, is a visual novel writer, so he's used to of doing "tell, don't show" when it comes to visual novels since it's a different medium. Visual novels are known for alot of verbal expositions since it has alot of dialogue in regard to storytelling. An animated television show is a different medium, and this was amphibian's first TV show to write for. That is why there was barely any "show, don't tell" in the show because of amphibian's visual novel influence. I really think he's a great writer, but he needs more showing than telling in stories in TV shows.
Why is it important to show instead of tell?
Showing, rather than telling, allows the viewer to experience the story through actions, senses, feelings, and body language rather than through the character's interference in the narrative via exposition ('info dumps'), narrational commenting, or a character explaining stuff. Showing is a method of trusting the viewer to decipher visually for the ‘right’ information that will lead them to an understanding of character, setting, narrative developments, important historical elements etc.
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| I'm scared, there's too many expositions! |
The production was co-produced by Production I.G. and Adult Swim, but the animation was done by Akatsuki, a lesser known studio known for doing second key animation and assistance with other anime projects. This is their second full anime production (their first was Irodorimidori). The animation itself is consistent, pretty, and each character is unique that each would pass the silhouette test. I like the attention to details with the characters and background art, such as details with objects. Still, animation wise, it could've been better.
I'm not a cat person, but I like Kimi's "cat" outfit because it's unique and really stands out for her chatacter. On the front it has a black cat and then the back has a tail to make it look like the girl has an actual cat tail. (They make these in real life). If you didn't notice, her eyes are amber "cat eyes", in real life it is rare for any Caucasian to have amber eyes.
No one talks about this, but the housing complex building itself is unique artistically that it feels like a character on its own with speaking a word.
According to Comicbook.com in discussing the origins of how the series was conceived from both Adult Swim and Studio Akatsuki, Terashima-Furuta said this to Comicbook.com:
"Jason DeMarco and I have been talking about starting a horror anime genre on Toonami and so with Uzumaki being delayed, we created Housing Complex C as a placeholder. I had worked with Studio Akatsuki before and they did such a brilliant job that I decided we could start something together. I was looking for an original idea that was inspired by H.P. Lovecraft as the author has so many fans worldwide, and let Akatsuki run wild with it. "
Respectfully, I like the horror theme and aesthetic they're going for in this show, the first episode gave me spooky chills of isolation and paranoia (I watch this at night), but until the third episode, it kind-of fades away.
For the music and sound, I have nothing really to say about the music because there is nothing noteworthy or memorable about it. However, it's atmospheric and keeps it right with the tone. The intro and outro songs are pretty catchy, and good luck finding 'em online because they are nowhere to be found except on the show.
The English dub is pretty good and nothing cringe, and the actors' performances are great.
Housing Complex C is Adult Swim's Uzumaki placeholder since that show was delayed multiple times. This original series had potential, but its short run time felt like it should've been a 12-episode series or a 2-part movie than a small mini-series because of its complex lore. The series' first three episodes were great, especially with the twists 'n turns, but the fourth episode was quickly rushed and ended way too quickly with an underwhelming, underdeveloped, and unsatisfying ending that could've been much better and made more sense if the series was longer.
Some viewers feel this was Adult Swim's fault for rushing the process and not giving a clear direction to the production crew since this is a Toonami original like they did with Fena: Pirate Princess, but who knows? This show is one of the "Toonami originals" Japanese-American co-produced anime you'll see on Adult Swim and HBO Max because Sony acquired Crunchyroll and Funimation and probably AMC's acquisition of Sentai Filmworks. They're doing this so AS won't have to pay expensive licensing fees. You won't get to see Crunchyroll shows or shows taken by Netflix, but more original shows funded directly by Adult Swim, exclusive partnerships from show creators (like Lupin the 3rd) and Jason DeMarco even stated (via Twitter), a strong possibility of adding older shows onto the block.
In seriousness, if Adult Swim wants Toonami to survive with "original anime," they must have a high-quality story, better flesh-out characters, memorable and atmospheric music, professional dubs, fluid animations, artistic artwork, and longer episodes. No rushed production or woke cult shit.
Housing Complex C was one of the strangest shows I've seen; it left more questions than answers about the lore.
Is this series horrible? No. I don't hate it; I love it. It's just that it's a flawed series that's too short with a great start but falls with a rushed ending. Should I buy this on Blu-ray? No, unless you're a fan of it. Give it a watch on HBO Max or Adult Swim's website (dub only).
6 out of 10 cat heads.
Pros
- Great pacing and build up
- Interesting lore
- Likeable characters
- Great animation and design
- Great sound FX and dubbing
Cons
- Too short, only 4 episodes
- Too much verbal exposition.
- Rushed ending
- Atmospheric, but forgettable soundtrack
In the next five years, in my opinion, they should start over with a reboot or make an extended version of the series.
Article: ร Firestone
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