Forum

Season 1: In/Spectre (TV)
Season 2: In/Spectre (TV 2)

Source: Novels (ongoing @ 6 volumes, written by Kyo Shirodaira, illustrated by Hiro Kiyohara [Kodansha Novels], Chasiba Katase [Kodansha Taiga])

Demographic: Shounen

Animation Studio: Brain's Base

Genres: comedy, drama, mystery, romance, supernatural, thriller

Themes: demons, youkai

Plot Summary: When she was still just a girl, Kotoko was kidnapped by yokai. These spirits made her into a powerful intermediary between the spirit and human worlds, but this power came at a price: an eye and a leg.

Now, years later, she watches out for dangerous yokai while developing feelings for a young man named Kuro, who is also special: an incident with a yokai has given him healing powers. He's surprised when Kotoko asks him to team up to handle renegade yokai, preserving the thin line between reality and the supernatural.

Air Date & Platform:
Season 1: January 11, 2020 (Saturday)
Available on: Crunchryroll

Season 2: January 8, 2023 (Sunday)
Available on: Crunchyroll

Episode Count / Runtime:
Season 1: 12 episodes
Season 2: 12 episodes

Maybe the constant big boob focus (seen in the PV and the visual art) will save this series from going completely under radar, but I don't see it.

It sounds like a poor imitation of Natsume Yuujinchou, except with a female. Yeah, no.

Into the trash it goes.

I thought it was ok, although the female lead was a bit talky in a halting, jerky way. I totally didn't see any boob emphasis. Science fell in love was a way more sensual show, and even that was pretty intermittent.

Nom De Plume De Fanboy wrote:

I totally didn't see any boob emphasis.

Well yeah, since so far only the small main girl was featured, of course we didn't get any fanservice. But the big boob girl will appear soon, and I think with her comes the fanservice.

Episode 1

My yokai knowledge is limited, but my guess of yokai he ate the flesh of, one of them may be a ningyo (mermaid), which I think are often shown having immortality giving aspects, but also cursing the one who eats its flesh.

Interesting to have a main female character that both has a prosthetic leg and false eye.

1:

Pretty sure it's unethical for hospital staff to divulge a patient's info, not to mention unprofessional.

Intriguing. Not the world of yokai; that's done to death. Not fighting demons; that's done to death too. The most intriguing aspect is the one-two dynamics of Kotoko and Kuro. Kotoko doesn't act like your typical high schooler; she's too precocious to be one. She kinda reminds me of one of those snarky SHAFT female characters. And then you have Kuro. An man of indifference, probably as a result of his unpleasant experiences in life since the day he had two kinds of demon meats. Also, he kinda reminds me of Shinichi from Parasyte, especially the one after being infused with Migi.

Two different types of characters working together? Yeah, an odd couple. Not really original, but the chemistry is always the most interesting part. How they will work together, given their special abilities (or curses, depending on how you look at it), is going to be the highlight of the show.

Yes, I get how the show resembles Natsume Yuujinchou a bit, but just thematically. But this show's probably more character-driven, and I'm keeping an eye (pun intended) on the two. This is going to be fun.

2:

I thought this would be a typical youkai show, where the Kuro and Kotoko face malicious demons. Indeed it's not entirely wrong to say so, but I didn't expect the whole detective part. The whole episode reminds me of Blast of Tempest i.e. a battle of deduction.

I wholly enjoyed this, no doubt... but man, these are the most dispassionate people I've ever seen. I feel like I'm watching two diplomats engaging in civilized conversation, with Kotoko's occasional childish reactions being the only thing to remind me that, well, she's just human.

I get it: this is a cerebral show. More accurately, this is the cerebral counterpart to the otherwise sentimental Natsume Yuujinchou. I like cerebral shows, so I can't complain. Kotoko and Kuro's dry humor interaction is a delight to watch. If they keep this up, I'm going to continue enjoying it.

Hidden gem of the season so far for me. I like how directly Kotoko expresses her feelings when it comes to Kurou. She's a breath of fresh air in an anime world where girls try to act demure and rarely acknowledge sexuality. "He's hot" probably doesn't completely summarize Kotoko's feelings, but she acknowledges it plays a role. (I'm a 70-yo guy, and I think Kurou is hot, too.)

The ED, sung by lead seiyuu Miyano Mamoru, just reeks of sex. (For the record, Kotoko is seventeen. Kurou is in college so maybe twenty.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6BXm1vRkAM

You have to like talky shows to like In/Spectre so far. My guess is it will continue in this vein and cover a new case every week or two. Does the English pun for "inspector" have a referent in the Japanese?

yuna49 wrote:

You have to like talky shows to like In/Spectre so far. My guess is it will continue in this vein and cover a new case every week or two. Does the English pun for "inspector" have a referent in the Japanese?

...how come this never occurred to me earlier. This is no different from Psycho-Pass's 'psychopath' word play :/

3:

I thought the time skip is a bit abrupt, but I guess not. I suppose the show's suggesting that Kotoko and Kuro decided to work together after the meetup with the serpent, so if nothing remarkable happened for the next two years, it might as well skip to the present.

I really like where this is going. I got the hint that Kuro's ex will be back in the show; I just didn't know what kind of role she will play in all this. Now that she will be working with Kotoko, aka Kuro's 'girlfriend', this will get awkward. Deliciously awkward. And that revelation about Saki's aversion to eating meat? That's skillful writing, right there.

I think this is the sleeper hit of the season.

4:

You have no idea how brilliant that late-night show OP is.

5 - 7:

I'm still enjoying this show to bits. Right now Kotoko and Kuro are completing an impossible mission - simply put, making an fake but realistic story a reality (the show's putting in a lot of effort explaining how ridiculous this mission is) - and now, if it's not already impossible enough, they're throwing a monkey wrench into this by introducing Rikka out of nowhere.

Of course it's a classic plot twist. Is she a deus ex machina or not, we will only know in due time. Clearly she has something to do with the impossibility of this situation; I just can't imagine exactly what it is.

Episode 12 (finale)

I don't think too positively of the show, a simple part is that I just don't think it used its parts interestingly enough. The story of Steel Lady Nanase, a single arc that barely revolves around yokai or ghosts, which this show is built on, started in episode 3 and finished in the final episode, although that episode was also kind of split with the whole snake story, the only real other conflict like arc in the show other than the one in the first episode that is kind of barely got touched on. Kotoko's whole deal is that she meant to be an emissary like god for the yokai, but the majority of the show barely involves them, instead just an aberration built on human rumours. Granted I did just put a couple things together as interesting in that the villain the show was really trying to create a god, and that was essentially what the yokai did with Kotoko.

A story about trying to combat humans accidentally creating an aberration is not necessarily a bad one, but is just weird to take up the majority of a show that started in looking like the heroine job was mostly keeping yokai happy. I do think that Kotoko has some interesting traits in her only having one leg and eye, that is pretty much what one might call cripple and could be striking with how cute she is otherwise portrayed. But I do think it could be a little inconsistent at times, they usually remembered the leg, but for instance she woke up after 28 hours in this episode with her fake eye in her socket, and then had a bath with it in. Pretty sure earlier she was shown to have it removed when she slept.

But worst was probably the chemistry. There is only so much you can take of Kuro saying that he has little interest in her and everyone else saying that Kotoko is not his type, that you just feel this relationship between them is not really charming in the least. There really does not feel like some funny or tsundere level stuff here, just that Kotoko is way too one sided, and actually pretty unhealthy in trying to pursue him. Especially with some of these weird time things, where apparently the Steel Lady Nanase arc started shortly after the second one where she twisted his arm to say they are dating, but apparently Kotoko already has all this extended interaction with things like meeting his cousin, and she also got out of the hospital and stuff. Did we even get answers that the hospital must be aware the supernatural exists because the cousin would keep healing after any damage to her body?

Maybe a lot of how this show could work with how something like the Monogatari series works with different aberrations and the drama attached to people, so much drama, but I don't think it worked in the format this show took. Sure, there are probably people who would find this show their jam and not into Monogatari's more abstract and busy take, but it did not work for me. I am not saying it looked bad, in fact I think it looked pretty good and actually charming, that it was actually generally nice to look at. My rating is So-so (5/10), it is not really bad, nice to look at, just mostly not for me.

Also, why did he even have to fight the Steel Lady Nanase when they were trying to muddy the rumours of its existence? Couldn't things have been better served by him being able to die and give a hint to Kotoko in what she could do? How many of the people who were required to believe the rumours of the ghost were even on the wiki at that time to see the posts?

Final episode:

8/10.

Witty and charming. The show is smart - cerebral is the best word - but not overly intellectual (and zealous about it); that's what happened to ID: Invaded. Even when the cases (since they're 'inspectors', I'd regard the incidents as cases) are intricate, it's not convoluted and the show even explains it in plain terms so that the audience can follow.

The characters aren't the most original: Kuro reminds me a lot of Shinichi from Parasyte (which, given the circumstances, I can understand why), and Iwanaga... well, she's a tsundere. Not the Rie Kugimiya archetype of course, but a tsundere is a tsundere. She's just adequately pesky with the right amount of outbursts, and Kuro's deadpan, matter-of-fact demeanor makes them the perfect odd couple.

I genuinely enjoyed this show: the cases, the character interaction, even the humor. I actually want to see a second season for it, which I certainly think there will be. Probably the best show of the season for me. And I also gotta say: the ending/closure right there? About Rikka and Iwanaga chasing after the same goal, thus setting the stage for an eventual face-off? And the blossoming relationship between Kuro and Iwanaga? Amazing.

Forum - View topic
In/Spectre (TV) (all seasons).

Interview: Voice Actors Rika Hayashi and Hiroki Tōchi Talk About Their New Golf Anime, Tonbo!

Japanese TV Special Ranks Top Anime Songs, as Chosen by Foreign Fans

This Week in Anime - So, Is Sound Euphonium Queerbaiting or Not?

Wonderful Precure! Episodes 1-12 Anime Review

Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction Part 1 Anime Film Review

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Game Review

	Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Series Discussion	All times are GMT - 5 Hours Goto page 1, 2 Next
Page 1 of 2

Forum - View topicIn/Spectre (TV) (all seasons).

Forum

Forum - View topic
In/Spectre (TV) (all seasons).