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Season 1 - Shadows House (TV)
Season 2 - Shadows House (TV2)

Genres: slice of life, supernatural
Themes:

Plot Summary: In a Western-style mansion on a cliff lives the aristocratic, faceless Shadow family. They live together with lifelike doll attendants who serve as their faces.

Season 1 - Crunchyroll, FUNimation
Season 2 - July 8, 2022 (Fridays; Crunchyroll, FUNimation)

#1

A very unusual concept for this story. An early Victorian setting featuring a family with no discernible face. To top it off, they require dolls designed as close to mimic actual humans as possible to serve as their "faces" in public. It's not an original work, but the source material strikes me as very unique as this clearly wealthy family does not live under one roof; instead having their attendants serve their daily needs in separate residences.

The OP and ED suggest there are five pairings, the first one for the pilot being Katie and her newly assigned "doll" later named Emilico. The dolls apparently have a shelf life and Emilico knows this; however her mistress Katie seems quite tolerant of her new assignee and hasn't really mistreated her. The shadow family seem to emit a lot of soot when they are experiencing negative feelings, which in Katie's case can turn an enclosed room into a coal mine if left unchecked for too long.

There are many questions raised after this episode which I'm curious to see answered as the series goes on. Who's the person feeing Emilico the poor-quality bread every morning? What about the other four pairings and their relationship with the pilot pair? How do the dolls come about and what sort of "conditioning" do they undergo before they are assigned? What about the Shadow family itself and its relationship with the wider world?

You are right, the setting and art is very interesting and leaves many questions open.
I appreciate when they try hard and come up with new things outside the canonical plots.

1:

Hmm, interesting.

I dig the Rozen Maiden-like early Victorian setting and overall presentation. The premise too. A house made of Shadows with living dolls to serve as their "faces", literally. To be honest, I'm not a fan of Emilico and Kate's interaction; if the whole show is about them, then I wouldn't be interested. I am interested in the origins of the Shadows, the what and the why.

I'm on the fence for this one. I'll see where it goes for the next few episodes, and see if I wanna stick around.

There is a lot to read into the story. Considering Kate and Emilico's interactions, there is a lot to read into what exactly they are. Is Kate really a human? Is Emilico really just a doll? Kate was kind of surprisingly understanding of Emilico having her clumsy moments, of which Kate was surprisingly able to commit despite apparently being a doll built for the job, but Emilico did not even understand that she was required to eat, but knew that people do eat. Before getting explained, I was wondering if there was some element of perspective shift, like the dolls only saw things that way, but the soot is a tangible thing.

The idea of what is human I think is a clear undercurrent, we are meant to visually find it difficult to see Kate as human, since we cannot see any features beyond a profile. On the other end Emilico is really easy to see as human, but at the same time wonder if there is meant to be some element of uncanny valley if her visage of a human is only so deep. One of my current theories are that the dolls are low born humans chosen and maybe altered to resemble their master, and then conditioned to think that they are just dolls and follow their masters. It would almost feel comfortable at this point to think it might be true that Emilico is the real human and shadowy Kate is not.

There are other interesting details too, like it seems that Emilico's room is behind a secret passageway. She does go through the elevator, but when she says that she is going back to her room to clean up we see go through such a secret passageway built into the wall, which begs the question of why. There are also a bunch of what looks like newspaper clippings all over her room, that she cannot even read, so why did the previous occupant of the room do such? How much are the dolls meant to be servants as being pretty faces for their master to push to others?

I am certainly curious.

#2

The series is making a habit of throwing out more interesting crumbs to lead viewers down an increasingly intriguing rabbit hole. The first episode is literally a keyhole for an expansive warren of mysteries. This is more than just the relationship between a new doll and her shadow mistress.

Questions and miscellany I observed from this episode:
1. I was wrong about Kate living separately from everyone else. It's actually a huge compound with each shadow living in a sequestered room in a large block. Why is this the case? Also, Kate is not allowed to leave her room as she hasn't "debuted". Sarah has, so she's having a laugh at Kate's expense as she could ruin Kate at any time by reporting her.
2. Sarah's shadow Mia is very nice to Emilico when they first meet and the team goes with the family line of the joy of service. However it is Mia who first gives a glimpse of what the dolls are actually supposed to do when out with their masters/mistresses. Emilico and Kate have to reach that minimum standard, most certainly by the time of the "debut". Also, that last scene with Mia. Someone has intruded into her private quarters and left soot all over. If it's her mistress, that's extreme intrusion of privacy and a glimpse into the different relationships between shadows and dolls depending on the pairs.
3. How many shadows are there?! The number of dolls in the great hall doing cleaning indicates there's a veritable horde of them. Two of the male dolls we see in the OP are in different cleaning teams, while the other shadow with brown hair is briefly seen when Emilico waves to her. Perhaps we'll see more of them in the future?
4. When shadows get angry, it seems the soot they emit can calcify into stalactites which cannot be cleaned easily. However, once they calm down or forgive the object of their anger the stalactites disintegrate into ordinary soot. Kate has not taught Emilico about this, which feels it might be important as the series goes on.
5. It seems the dolls have been "conditioned" in a way which prevents them from thinking critically beyond the family line of the "joy of service". Before Emilico realises it, she has written down a line which if revealed would get her into trouble. Probably the same question viewers not familiar with the source material have as well.

Off-series: There are different VAs for Emilico and Kate respectively. However, Mia and Sarah are voiced by the same person. It's tougher on the latter since it's two distinct roles which must be executed without confusion, but on an artistic level it's a nod to how distinct Kate and Emilico will be as a pair compared to their peers.

2:

I will drop this show. It's not bad, but I'm having a bit too much on my plate for now.

I was confused over the mess in Mia's room, but thinking about it it would make sense that the culprit could likely be Sarah, who stripped Mia of all personal possessions as to minimise any characteristics of her own to better act as her face. Like a dark side of how effectively in synch Mia and Sarah can be, Mia herself appears to be very different from Sarah, but well acted as expected around her master. Also looked like Sarah was quick to name Emilico a failure for not acting as she should with Kate.

I accidentally watched the beginning of the first episode again, and it does look like there is a society of shadows, so why might the Shadows family be different. There seems to be the concept of human, Sarah specifically called Kate a Shadow. It is a really weird idea, as the general concept that the shadow copy, not the shadow be copied. Are they like some sort of shadow world, where they might be the shadow to a human, and shadows of specific nature are taken to the house? Maybe the fact that the soot create spikes when Kate got particularly upset, tied to her emotions.

There were a lot of living dolls, makes me wonder if all of them are faces to masters and mistresses of the house. But Mia was the oldest or something among the cleaners? Also, there were mundane doll in the previous episode, so the human form is something, while Kate's plush doll that would resemble a shadow, held some sort of strong sentimental purpose. Do dolls or shadows age?

I am still enjoying the show a lot.

#3

The isolated mansion is a mini-society in its own right. It's almost feudal in its makeup, since the living dolls (serving class) are given time-off for lessons and little perks like the occasional full-body shower and bath. It's not a matter of largesse, since the soot their masters emit is much more sinister than it was first made out to be. Come to think of it, way back in the first episode viewers were given a small hint that soot could move on its own. It's only in this episode that the phenomenon was confirmed.

Rosemary put herself on the line so that Emilico wouldn't be the one strung up by a soot spider. If the living dolls really are ordinary brainwashed humans, the amount of time she was suffocated by the soot would have been enough to kill her. So are they brainwashed? Or is the soot unusual when it tries to attach itself to dolls? Rosemary seemed to make a full recovery, but who knows what after-effects there might be?

This episode is more focused on Emilico and her fellow dolls, but Kate isn't out of the spotlight entirely. Turns out she's capable of manipulating her own soot to move from a distance, but it's something she accidentally learns thanks to Emilico's doll. Fortunately for Emilico, the truth she was telling wouldn't have been permanently misconstrued as an excuse had the doll not suddenly moved of its own accord. It would have been a shame to see the pair's relationship damaged by something out of Emilico's control.

A sign of how good the relationship is between Kate and Emilico is shown in the bath scene. Mia is subject to physical beatings from her shadow mistress, in addition to the occasional invasion of privacy. The way soot is portrayed in this series indicates her mistress being the likely culprit for last week, since servant quarters are supposed to soot-free by definition of their separation from the soot-emitting Shadows.

That post-credits scene again has the show throwing out more breadcrumbs for the interested viewer to think about. Is that the Grandfather of the mansion in the centre? Also, the man with the face is shown in the OP and it appears he's going to be an arbitrator for the debut. There'll hopefully be answers to these questions revealed as the show goes on.

The weird thing about the thing after the OP is that they appear to be living dolls (or human), and refer to the grandfather in terms that dolls are not allowed to. We also know now that the soot has strange properties. A shadow could theoretically control things made of soot that can also gain their own sentience. Might the Grandfather creating dolls be backwards, and he creates the shadows to the dolls, with perhaps using the soot to brainwash the original humans? Emilico might not realise that she was the one that was created.

#4

Aftermath of the phantom from #3. The star-bearer Barbie is a nasty piece of work, so a typical reaction to failings from the top is to get the ranks below to clean up after the mess. It's also an opportunity for Emilico and the viewers to learn more about the other dolls and their relationships.

It appears Rum and Shaun are in the same batch as Emilico. Emilico IS weird in that she shows care and concern for her fellow dolls, whereas the more typical reaction is that of Shaun's (only think about the master's needs) or Ricky's (set a good example as the master's face and kick everyone else who's down to climb the ladder).

I got my answer to the first episode regarding the bread. So the "veiled dolls" are the ones responsible for feeding the living variants. Interesting attire they have, in addition to not being able to speak.

Interesting that Shaun has terrible myopia, it appears the "dolls" are made differently instead of as a standardised batch. Otherwise it implies a motley collection of children is gathered at the Shadows House and then brainwashed to serve as dolls. With this episode, all 5 pairings featured in the ED (Emilico, Shaun, Lou, Ricky and Rum) have made their appearance. Rum appears to have issues, so the knot on her finger serves as her imaginary friend to allow her to talk to something or someone.

Now that the phantom menace is solved, Kate and Emilico can go back to preparing for the debut. Kate will get her wish; Emilico will have learned so much from the night patrol experience she will be bursting to tell her mistress everything when they next meet. The three newbies will also get credit for solving the case, albeit with no shortage of scares along the way.

#5

This episode merely confirms what was hinted at in previous episodes: Mia is subject to physical abuse by her mistress and her private quarters are invaded by a vengeful mistress who is putting pressure on her to advance the House social ladder. It's unfortunate, since Mia really felt happy for Emilico when the team got to the bottom of the phantom phenomenon.

It's brief, but viewers also get to see what kind of relationship the other pairings have with each other prior to the debut. Kate and Emilico are easily the closest; Shaun and John are third with the latter exasperated by the former's pig-headedness but trusts him enough to try to help overcome the former's visual handicap. The arrogant pairing of Patrick and Ricky obviously get along well, the latter helping out his Master when required without prompting. They're better than Emilico and Kate in this regard, but I still think the main pair would die for each other whereas Patrick would discard Ricky if he was forced.

One way of telling the story would be to draw out the debut until towards the end of the series, instead we're seeing it unfold this week and it's almost a disaster for Emilico and Kate since their preparation time was non-existent because of Barbie's interference. Regardless, it appears Emilico and Kate did just enough to avoid getting ejected at the first hurdle.

This is actually the first time the batch of shadows have met each other in the flesh. Kate and Sarah was not supposed to happen, but the experience wasn't in vain since Emilico eventually realised all of the other pairings were acting in the same way. She's really bad if she's appraised in the conventional sense, but Kate really treasures her for who she is which is definitely the biggest difference between her and the rest of the shadows in this debut.

Kate has not been idle; although Emilico wasn't around she used the time to practise her powers. None of her peers appear to have powers like her, so it's a secret trump card which might come in useful since next week appears to be a continuation of the debut. Because Emilico has absolute faith in her mistress, the soot manipulation went off smoothly enough to enable a complete beginner at dancing to bluff her way through. Interestingly, Kate's observation regarding the Patrick/Ricky pairing was spot on. The overseer Edward apparently came to the same conclusion as Kate and brought the arrogant pair down one notch since Shadows are never supposed to be lead by their Faces, even if the Face is exceptional and tries to prop up the Shadow where possible.

Next week should be interesting. I'm not sure what kind of trial the pairs will be put through, but one thing the Ricky and Patrick pair don't have is teamwork. Because the two of them are so arrogant, they will have to face the trial alone (unless Emilico is nice and tries to help them if she can). Lou, Rum, Shaun and Emilico one way or another know each other and have a minimum sense of camaderie which might prove to be pivotal next week.

Considering the title of the next episode, my current theory is that the shadows will be put into a maze and their faces will have to find them, of which Kate's special power with the soot in Emilico's plush might help.

Curious detail, one of the Shadows said she had not seen another Shadow before, so they are not common on the outside, or a birth of a shadow is different. Shadows also seem to all talk about themselves in the 3rd person, I thought that it might just be Kate, but the others do it too.

Rum and her Shadow are also kind of odd ducks, said mistress almost comes across as no personality at all. I do wonder what the connections are, where some of the Shadows match their faces really well in personality, with Kate and Emilico being very different.

#6

The debut continues. No matter how much Ricky and the senior shadows belittle and dismiss Emilico for her boundless optimism, the five dolls would never have left the room if she hadn't started eating the confectionary and discovered the first piece. Her eyes are indeed sharp; she was the only one to make the connection between the shape of the connected pieces and the door lock. I suspected she would get help from one of her peers, turns out it was Rum. Lou and Ricky appear to have met entirely by chance, with the former's propensity not to think things over allowing her to brute-force her way through the maze in a way completely unintended by the supervisor. Ricky should be wary; if his face is cut by her scissors he's failed automatically.

Looking at the array of items on offer, ALL of them are useful one way or another. The only question is where each item is applied. Emilico's choice of a wheelbarrow turns out to be prescient: Kate as the last-placed shadow has the hardest obstacle to overcome for her to be freed. The wheelbarrow ironically serves as a way to stop her from falling onto the dirty ground which would ruin her clothes and fail the pair. Since Kate has the ability to manipulate soot, if Emilico or Kate can somehow find a way to get her out of the cage she'll probably find a way to make a soft landing onto the wheelbarrow.

Shaun needed the magnifying glass because of his poor eyesight, but it might be useful in another situation. Ricky's equipment is general purpose, but it's good to see him realise how he shouldn't have laughed at Rum when she picked the lantern.

What is Edward anyway? The senior shadows (Ryan, Dorothy, Joseph and Sophie according to the credits) speak about him as an equal rather than a doll, yet he has a regular human face. He's obviously treating the pairs as expendable pawns, but they're giving him grief by not acting conventionally. The senior shadows know Edward is doing his damnedest to get Kate's pairing failed, but this story would end too quickly if he got his way and I really want to see how Kate and Emilico are going to get through this.

Next week continues the debut. This has been the best episode by far this series and I'm curious to see how next week will top this.

Does he have some grudge over Kate in particular, or was it just because she is last place and the one he could easier eliminate as to gain credit?

In terms of a mystery series, it is kind of nice to have a isolated mystery just for these puzzles. I seemed to remember the different shadows having different ways their soot came off of them when emotional, so wonder if Kate could create a soot signal to inform Emilico to her location.

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