In/Spectre – E1: One Eye, One Leg

When I made my list of anime to watch this Winter, In/Spectre was initially on the list based on the character designs alone, but for some reason I felt the initial description wasn’t enough to keep it there.

I’m definitely big enough to admit my mistake on that. It should’ve been!

What makes the shows first episode shine is the tight focus on the two mains, starting with Iwanaga Kotoko. A diminutive high schooler with the body of a 6th grader, but the mentality of someone well beyond her years. The thing about Kotoko that hooked me is this girl is blunt, and I mean BLUNT. She dispenses with any pretense and cuts straight to the point, which is pretty refreshing in the face of tsundere little girls or one’s who rely on their cuteness to endear them to viewers. That’s not the main thing about her though, she does all of it with a severe disability. When she was 11 years old, she was kidnapped by spirits and asked to become a sort of mediator between them and guide them to a more harmonious existence as their God of Wisdom. Naturally, it came at a cost…one eye and one leg. She has been doing so for 6 years, but at the time of this story, she met an important figure 2 years prior.

A mysterious figure in the form of a college student named Sakuragawa Kuro, whom she fell in love with at first site when “saving” his life from a fall in a hallway. Kuro’s story is mostly revealed in Motoko having to hear about his girlfriend and their relationship. See Kotoko has been waiting in the wings for her chance to make her move on him, and immediately asks him to go out with her “with the intent to marry.” I had to laugh at it, but it was somewhat charming. Imagine that. A girl just going out and getting after the guy she wants. Not in a creepy way, but straight to the point and direct. No mindgames or sly attempts to get him to figure out her interest in him. Yet there’s an ulterior motive behind it: all the spirits Kotoko is mediating for are deathly afraid of him, all but begging her to stay away from him.

The interactions between Kotoko and Kuro were the highlight for certain, and the hook of the episode of Kuro’s secret definitely makes me want to see more. The character designs are well done, but there’s nothing super flashy about the show at this stage. It was a slow paced episode with a few laughs, but not to the point of hijinks or overly silly moments one might expect. It’s a nice little romance x horror x mystery story at the beginning and I’m looking forward to more!