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EP. REVIEW: In/Spectre Season 2


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b-dragon



Joined: 21 Apr 2021
Posts: 430
PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2023 1:59 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, for all the faults this show has- pacing, wordiness, etc.- I find the dialogue and chemistry amazingly done. I thought similar of Blast of Tempest too, so I have to assume that Kyo Shirodaira is just that damn good at dialogue.
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2165
PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2023 2:15 pm Reply with quote
It's amazing how Kuro literally worked hard labor over spending time with his cute girlfriend. Kotoko's as much of a joy as ever, and Yuki-Onna's no slouch herself, to put it lightly. It's good to have In/Spectre back.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10946
PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2023 6:55 pm Reply with quote
It's great to have the show back, watching Kotoko back being Kotoko, and I am already super invested in the relationship between Masayuki and Yuki-Onna.

Kotoko turning everything on its head and making us doubt Masayuki and the relationship we'd come to know with just a speech was incredible...and she did it just so these two could finally get busy!
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Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 982
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2023 12:32 am Reply with quote
I like Kotoko and Kuro just like the next guy, but I need to know:

Do we ever get a flashback explaining how they got together?
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Thesarum



Joined: 25 Mar 2022
Posts: 391
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2023 3:59 am Reply with quote
The concept for this show is great. It sometimes falls a little short on execution (especially pacing), but it's a good start to S2 so far. The chemistry between Masayuki and Yuki-Onna is great, and Kuro and Kotoko are as fun and idiosyncratic as ever.

Minos_Kurumada wrote:
I like Kotoko and Kuro just like the next guy, but I need to know:

Do we ever get a flashback explaining how they got together?


As in met, or became an official couple? The former is covered right at the start of s1, they meet at the hospital they're both at, and Kotoko basically just attaches herself to him (recognising he's not exactly human). He never exactly pushes her away, so that's just that. There's no big anime confession, but there's no "oh my god a girl is touching my hand! What do I do? " either. I'm not quite sure when she moved in, but I'd guess she just turned up and refused to leave. Seems her style.
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DarkAudit



Joined: 17 Oct 2020
Posts: 32
PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:08 am Reply with quote
Some say they did not use protection, and their son has his own show streaming on Tuesdays this season. Cool
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10946
PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:32 pm Reply with quote
For a murderer, Iizuka was quite the looker. Just a shame she channeled her feelings for Masayuki into killing instead of in a more healthy fashion. Love and murder is always a deadly combination...

It's funny how Kotoko just had ghosts tell her everything and all she really accomplished was pushing for Masayuki and Yuki-Onna to be more honest with their feelings, but I guess that's all the audience cared about.

Even if their future is uncertain, I'm rooting for these two!
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Thesarum



Joined: 25 Mar 2022
Posts: 391
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 4:41 am Reply with quote
MFrontier wrote:
It's funny how Kotoko just had ghosts tell her everything and all she really accomplished was pushing for Masayuki and Yuki-Onna to be more honest with their feelings


She wouldn't be the goddess of wisdom if she didn't use all the tools available to her!

I kinda like how characters, especially the yokai, build her myth and feel like she's arrived at some conclusion by unreachable powers of intellect because that's what we also expect from the mystery/detective genre, and then the reality is always that Kotoko either just asked someone or simply made it up. But that doesn't make her a fraud, we're just looking for the magic in the wrong places. As Steve says in the reviews, her real power comes from how she manipulates and wields truth, deception and myth to achieve her aims.

And sometimes the aim is helping a hot snow spirit get together with the guy she likes. And I'm all for that.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:10 am Reply with quote
My only serious complaint with this season is that the OP/ED numbers are much less compelling than the originals. Miyano's performance of "Last Dance" was at the top of my list for 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP9CKvQLbMc
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b-dragon



Joined: 21 Apr 2021
Posts: 430
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:59 am Reply with quote
Thank you for the refresher on Rikka's goals- I had honestly forgotten (it's been a bit since S1,) and her possessiveness was the most villainous thing on display this episode ("He was supposed to be mine.")

I find it interesting that we have another episode with someone remarking on the inherent impermanence of a relationship. Even if it is not a hint of what to come, I still find it a refreshing bit of real world honesty in a supernatural setting.

I definitely chuckled at the "blunt side of the truck" explanation. Who knew that Truck-kun had a non-lethal/isekai setting?
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blahmoomoo



Joined: 27 Jan 2020
Posts: 457
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2023 10:06 am Reply with quote
This second season is jumping around the source material, but I think it is doing fine since these stories aren't very interconnected. I wouldn't be able to tell if I didn't have the manga on hand.

Season 1 was the original light novel, or the first six volumes of the manga, plus a detour to one chapter in volume 7 of the manga for the part where Kotoko answers the snake yokai's questions about a woman who dumped a body into the nearby lake.

Season 2:
As far as I can tell, the first episode was original.
The Yuki-Onna story was 4 chapters in volumes 12 and 13 of the manga.
Rikka Returns was one chapter in volume 10 of the manga.
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njprogfan
Collector Extraordinaire



Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Posts: 1155
Location: A River Named Toms
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2023 2:00 pm Reply with quote
Because of the dialogue heaviness of this series, it needs the occasional little animation moments like Kuro lifting Kotoko to watch the fireworks or her cupping of Kuro to plant her lips on his. Without these tender occasions it would suffer greatly. It's what keeps me watching, for the most part...
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2023 3:49 pm Reply with quote
I coulda done without Kotoko mentioning that Kuro lamented the fact he couldn't even enjoy drinking wakamezake from her crotch...

...

Aw, who am I kidding? Of course I laughed at that.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10946
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2023 6:32 pm Reply with quote
Some cute side-ships this season with the manage and his girlfriend. I'm glad nothing bad happened to them in this episode.

Also nice to see Rikka again and develop her character more, with her rivalry with Kotoko, and obsession with Kuro.

And, while not on-screen, a fireworks kiss!
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:40 pm Reply with quote
njprogfan wrote:
...it needs the occasional little animation moments like Kuro lifting Kotoko to watch the fireworks or her cupping of Kuro to plant her lips on his. Without these tender occasions it would suffer greatly.

Yeah, despite all their verbal sparring, I like these because it makes it clear that they do care for each other.

Iirc, for most of the first season, Kuro kept complaining that he wasn't her boyfriend, didn't want to be her boyfriend, and that she'd just basically hijacked his life for her own ends with no concern for if that's what he wanted or not. (maybe I'm misremembering or that's grown larger in my memory than it was? Let me know!) But it occurs to me that if a relationship with her was truly not what he wanted, he could've picked a future where it didn't happen. So he must be right where he wants to be. Which is nice. Smile

So far I'm really liking this season more than the first one, and I liked the first one a lot! Loved the Yuki-Onna story and how it all worked out.
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