Housing Complex C – Season 1 Episode 1 “Optical Illusion” Recap & Review

Optical Illusion

Episode one of Housing Complex C begins with two kids called Kimi and Yuri fleeing from a mysterious person who pursues them to the storeroom. As soon as he is able to reach their destination, Yuri bashes him on the head with a piece of wood. The man is thrown down.

He is looking down at a puddle of water, which was due to the vase having shattered. A rainbow-colored image is projected onto the man’s cheeks.

There was a time when we have samurai-like men on a nearby island, and entered a cave. They appear like they’re part of an adversary nation since they’re killing the island’s soldiers as well as its inhabitants. The samurai take two women inside the cave, and kill one maiden, leaving the second maiden terrified and confused.

The maiden who survived screams, creating ultrasonic waves that kill the samurai who murdered her friend. After the defeat the maiden comforts her lost friend, resulting in the disappearance of the man who is mysterious in the present. The man shouts Kimi’s name but is killed by Yuri’s father and his wife. The man utters a frightening call to arms, leading into the show’s opening scene.

We get a quick overview of the setting of Kurosaki town, the inhabitants, and the customs. While on the way to visit, a villager named Taka observes something unusual peeking out from Kurosaki’s caves. As one person asks about what’s going on, Taka informs them it was nothing. He continues to observe with his binoculars.

A few seconds later, Taka walks over to his group of friends to talk about Kimi in addition to ways of getting cool from the scorching heat. A woman known as Wada is stumbling around complaining she feels Taka and his buddies should be helping out with the funeral procession rather than sitting back and relaxing. While she hopes that the Kurosaki funeral tradition will end someday, Taka hopes it will keep on growing.

He provides a brief explanation of the history to demonstrate how the tradition is still alive in Kurosaki. He glances through his binoculars once more and is awed by Kimi. Kimi is friendly with everybody and complains about the hot temperatures. Even though Wada suggests cooling down with an outdoor shower, Kimi complains that the water temperature is way too high. After sweltering in the scorching heat, Kimi gets the craving for shaved Ice, which gives people with a disability the opportunity to go to the storeroom.

In the storeroom, We learn via one of Taka’s acquaintances that Kurosaki’s family built this house as a secure home to shield their family from the ravages of war that occurred in the past. When they last visited the region they were looking for a missing person known as Kojima. Taka says they discovered Kojima frozen solid, scaring Kimi. Kojima had been storing things they found in Kurosaki and that’s the reason they located him in this location.

One of Taka’s buddies is able to find the shave-ice maker in the storage room, and Kimi is delighted. Even though it’s a little beat up the friend who Taka is with promises to repair the machine. The other two leave to leave Taka and Kimi on their own to wander around the storeroom. Despite the worn-out look of the storeroom, Taka asks Kimi not to mess up the place. Kimi discovers a few treasures and is delighted to show them to Taka.

Then, Kimi stumbles upon an old Zoetrope. Taka describes the mechanism of the zoetrope to Kimi. He informs her about the ability of the device of creating illusions. He explains the concept to her by drawing two lines on the paper. He informs her that human eyes are deceiving and there are a variety of options to convince them. The lies it detects contain the truth, making an optical illusion.

In the meantime, Taka recalls the creature that he observed through his binoculars but thinks the sight was an illusion. Kimi goes through the shelves of the storeroom and comes across the body of a puppy. She throws it away and screams, waking Taka. Taka is awestruck by the creature. He’s not sure what the reason is for Kojima will store the corpse of a dead animal in the room. He comes across a stone with a mark on it. He exclaims that the storeroom is valuable.

In Kurosaki, Taka informs Momo (Wada’s friend) that Kojima’s storage room was constructed in an old cave. He scours the rock and claims it could be a part of people from the Kurokado group (former people of Kurosaki’s time). Taka insists that they begin excavation on a massive scale immediately to discover more details about the ruined sites. Wada arrives, telling everyone that Kimi appears less pale than usual.

In Kimi’s honor, Momo asks Koba to secure the storeroom to stop others from entering. Koba says he’ll secure it by using a padlock when repairs to his bike. Wada advises Taka that the new residents plan to move into Kurosaki village. Taka is surprised because the structures here are old and worn out. Wada speculates that an establishment named Tsurie Fisheries representative Koshide is responsible for convincing residents to move in the area for work reasons. Also, there is a girl called Yuri along with her parents the head of Kurosaki.

In the meantime, Kimi shares her experience in the storeroom along with Taka and her mother. Kimi is awed by the discovery and says she enjoys finding treasures and delights. Kimi modifies her calendar and repeats it the next day, following her departure. We see a small group of men standing at Wada’s house, who surprise her. The leader of this group happens to be Yuri’s father Seichi Koshide. We find out that Wada is the complex’s manager.

He says that he’s a member of Suriei Fisheries. He states that the gentlemen in his vicinity are technical interns and it’s his responsibility to serve as an expert in their troubleshooting. The interns are foreigners who’ve traveled to Kurosaki to learn about Japan’s latest technology. A fellow intern named Rubel is the one who introduces himself as Wada and gives the girl some treats. Wada shuts the door to Seichi abruptly. They’re not exactly thrilled to be foreigners.

In the meantime, Keiko Yoshida (Seichi’s wife) and her daughter Yuri introduce themselves to Momo. Keiko apologizes for having created Momo and her crew any inconvenience. She explains that Seichi’s role is to connect technical interns from abroad with companies, and fears that miscommunications could have caused some controversy. She is requesting Momo to bring any concerns to her if any come up in the future, and Momo responds with the same response.

Momo is happy to see more young people live at the complex as the majority of residents are old. Yuri is at Momo’s door and inquires whether Hideo was her husband. Momo tells the girl the truth that Hideo was her son who is experiencing some difficulties. Momo tells Yuri that if she happens to run across Hideo to say hello he is a good boy.

In Kurosaki, Taka and his buddies discuss their issues with new interns and residents. While discussing their issues they notice one of the huge massive interns, seated by an adjacent tree. Taka advises the other interns to keep their first impressions of the man to themselves. Before Taka could even introduce himself, he saw bubbles floating around him, and Kimi stood outside a fence.

Kimi says good morning to them Kimi wishes them good morning, and Taka and her friends are happy to greet her. Taka’s friend realizes that Kimi’s on the outside of the fence. They tell Kimi to remain in the area but Kimi slips and falls. Luckily, the foreigner stops her from the tumble as the other passengers hurry by to correct Kimi for her conduct. When Taka presents himself as well as Kimi to him and the man with the muscle tells Taka his name, Kan. Koba, and the other guys present themselves in front of Kan as they have a laugh and quip.

In the evening, Kimi is standing atop the building and is frightened by Yuri. They are introduced to one another, and Yuri is happy to have someone within her age. Yuri is adamant about asking Kimi to become her friend and Yuri captures the moment with the help of a selfie. Kimi is shocked by Yuri’s cell phone and tries to ask her questions about the process. Kimi tells Yuri that she is a fan of the people and places in Kurosaki in addition to Yuri hopes that she will experience the same pleasure.

Kimi brings Yuri into the storage area and Yuri discovers the padlock Koba was using to secure the space. Yuri is a bit anxious and believes that they shouldn’t be there, however, Kimi is determined to show Yuri some interesting things. Kimi is a bit agitated and surprises Yuri with the corpse of a dead puppy she found earlier, and smiles. Yuri laughs about not being Kimi’s friend at all times when they hear a strange sound.

The two girls glance at each other and notice an unidentified person walking toward them. Yuri questions Kimi about who the person is however Kimi is unsure. She suggests that they investigate the area to find out what the person was doing. They investigate and discover an entrance that is mysterious and leads to a strange room filled with drawings. They are awestruck by the art and decide to explore Momo.

Momo is greeting the guests and informs them that she is planning to prepare the shaved ice to be used for the day’s activities. Kimi hands Momo a pen that Momo remembers having in her previous business. Momo is curious about where they’ve found the item and when Kimi introduces Hideo Momo is shocked. Kimi wants to know if they could return the item to him and Momo lets them do it. But she says they’ll need to return it to him by herself as she and Hideo have a bad relationship.

Kimi arrives at Hideo’s house and apologizes to her as well as Yuri looks into the activities of Hideo. They vow not to reveal the drawings even though they believe the drawings suggest that Hideo is suffering. Hideo walks in a creepy manner and looks at the girls with a terrifying look. He takes the pen from Kimi’s hands and then swiftly shuts the door. Hideo puts a sketch that he made of them beneath the door, to ensure that the girls are at relaxed.

It’s the 18th of November and we focus our attention on Koba as well as Taka. They come across a variety of fish laying around in an adjacent park. There are chants of people while Wada notices a lot of dirty clothes that are scattered throughout in the complex. Wada is a ferocious knocker on an intern’s door before rushing into their home and demanding to know the reason for their actions.

The employee apologizes for the inconvenience by saying that it’s a component of morning prayer. But, Wada stops him mid-sentence and complains that they’ve damaged the wash area. Taka and his companions are able to hear the noise and attempt to bring Wada down. But Wada isn’t having the noise and isn’t thrilled with the fact that their routine gives off the impression of a cult.

Taka apologizes to the man for his behavior, explaining that the inhabitants here aren’t accustomed to the way they conduct themselves. Wada’s behavior has everyone staring at her in a funny way, even Kimi. Kimi is planning to return to Momo to get some shaved Ice since she thinks everyone is screaming because of the heat.

When she arrives at Momo’s home, Kimi notices something strange. There is no one responding to her calls, which leads to an investigation into Momo’s house. Kimi smashes one of Hideo’s figurines from anime and then is slowly looking into Hideo’s bedroom because his door is open.

The show ends with Kimi finding Hideo’s body lying on his desk at work. Kimi denounces the incident before her eyes as an optical illusion.

The Episode Review

As the Halloween season is in full swing, it’s exciting to see new horror-related anime pop up. The episode that aired on Housing Complex C did a great job of establishing the show’s settings, characters, and style. However, I have to be concerned that the show is taking too much of a stance towards its lighthearted tone. The show is expected to run four episodes, each of which will run around 24-25 minutes.

While I found the show’s mildly humorous and jolly scenes enjoyable, there had to be more focus on the show’s terror. The male-like fish and Hideo’s eyes and the puppy’s corpse sent chills up my spine. The images did not leave a lasting impression because the show would take us into a more relaxed situation.

Hopefully, the next episodes will increase the tension and terror in Kurosaki. But the pace of this episode was a bit slow and could’ve been faster. It’s understandable that we need to build our list of characters with a lot of personalities however, with only the four seasons, I’m not sure whether this was a good decision.

With the pace and the horror’s implementation issues apart, the episode has an array of interesting details worth thinking about, discussing, and recollecting. Kimi is a dazzling child of joy and has the potential to become an eternal fan favorite due to her character and the potential for mishaps involving her mother. There are a few important elements that I didn’t notice when I first watched the show that could benefit from repeat viewing.

Overall, the episode was a slow-burner, with much important information. While I did have some issues, however, I’m eager to see the way this mystery surrounding Kojima’s shop and Kurosaki unfolds. We can only hope that the next episode will be dark and less fun.