Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi

Mysterious Disappearances - It's not Dark Gathering levels of scary, but it ain't a noteworthy one either. Some of you would know that I'm an aficionado for horror shows (a la Dark Gathering style), even going so far as to proclaim (in the review) that future follow-up works will have a high ground to try and beat the gory supernatural series. And as much as I've tried to sustain through the newest supernatural anime this season, which would be mangaka Nujima's Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi a.k.a Mysterious Disappearances, it's definitely a case of Mysterious Disappearances, involving Maidens with a sense of mystery for some popcorncomedy drama that's aimed at the Seinen (young adult men) market, This show should be a suitable demographic for people my age. But I come out just feeling so underwhelmed, that's a simple fact. Let me ask you a question: What kind of characters will you expect to be in a show like this? The stereotypical male and female lead, of which one of them has a depth of knowledge about the occult, and knows how to deal with them whilst having the other lead be a victim of unfortunate circumstances...that was actually part of a blessing of their lives? This is the result of Sumireko Ogawa, a busty young woman who lives her life on a tangent, being surrounded by books and working as a bookstore clerk. She is assisted by Ren Adashino, a somewhat dark-looking, mysterious young man that's about at least 10 years younger than her, who can't help but stare at her voluptuous and massive boobs for unintended sexual jokes. And once the mystery gets going, the latter takes charge in trying to seek out the supernatural phenomena happening around them, luring Sumireko, his sister Oto, and other characters into the lurch of the unknown. Despite the manga being serialised in October 2019, Nujima opted to go for the "monster of the week" format where each oddity, known as a Curiosity and is Marked by the yellow exclamation mark traffic signs, is delved upon, describing and explaining the various types of phenomena that are happening right under their noses. In the "people be cursed, figure out what's affecting the curse, and resolve the curse" story arcs that are based off of real-life urban and/or historical legends, I'll admit that it's nice having some infotainment on top of the relevant mysteries that are analyzed. But it's also that same mystery that, ironically, detracts all of the suspension that the manga-turned-anime is supposed to do, offering solutions that, while making a wee bit of sense to deal with, just come off as just asspull solutions like a rabbit from a magician's hat, making this more of a supernatural thriller, cashing the stakes just for reactions, and not a mystery as it proclaims to be. Stories that are just made up for the fact to lead you into a corner, which doesn't also help you understand how and why, ultimately just leave you in the lurch, like a dark hole that sucks you in and leaves you with no exit sign, you don't call these mysteries to begin with. As with every studio Zero-G work, the production may be all over the place, but I'll give the compliment to the hugely-miss director Tomomi Mochizuki, having to handle directorial and series composition for the show, despite his rather bad track record of shows, of which this show is unfortunately yet another +1 to his rollercoaster of a work biography. Otherwise, this show is akin to yet another Zero-G work: Fall 2021's Sankaku Mado no Sotogawa wa Yoru a.k.a The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, both in its mystery and supernatural elements, that had good rhetoric going for it, only to squander with some questionable writing choices. I don't really care for the OST here, which, for mystery and/or supernatural series, is pretty much needed to help elevate the dangers of the oddities happening around the show. With that said, as mildly impressive as Yuyu's OP (composed by Mafumafu) can be, Nonoka Obuchi's ED is just mid, almost as if like the song didn't fit the aesthetics of the show (well, apart from the sand art visuals, which was nice to see). It irks me to say that you're better off watching Dark Gathering, because it really is a tall order going from said series to this show, which is a complete night and day comparison of the obvious kind, despite having the Ecchi side of Sumireko being one of the show's main appeals. But fanservice is no consolation for mediocre mysteries, and Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi a.k.a Mysterious Disappearances, is one such show that has "all bark, but no bite," and that's a shame, because this could be so much better, all things considered.

Guilty pleasure. These two words are the best definition I can give "Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi". This is an anime that is not great, hell, it's probably not even good by most standards, it surfs the waves of mediocrity quite well, but it's washed away whenever it tries to be properly good, and even then, I can't help but to think of this anime as an enjoyable piece of media. Let's be honest here, likely all of us, at one point of our lives, got a bit of an interest for urban legends, myths and the paranormal. The number of views on YouTube videos aboutsuch topics don't lie, these legends and myths are definitely a huge interest for many people because they allow us to think of reality as more than just what we can regularly perceive, and because practically everyone likes as a bit of a morbid curiosity for the unknown and the occult. Japanese mythology and pop culture are filled to the brim with such stories and legends: from ancient tales of evil spirits seeking revenge to a non-existent train station that travels between dimensions: "Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi" decides to capitalize on these fables, old and new, and build its world and plot around them. What this anime presents before us is a plot that mixes many of the aforementioned urban legends and myths, both Japanese, Chinese and other foreign supernatural stories, and mashes them together in an attempt to create a cohesive story in which two protagonists who possess supernatural powers try to hunt down and eradicate "rarities", legends which come to existence in the human world to cause trouble. Although the plot isn't necessarily too different to your average youkai exorcizer anime, the main point of interest is the relative fidelity with which the anime tries to adapt myths and legends and present them in an audiovisual form to the viewer. When we read about something like the Kisaragi Station urban legend, all we can do is get a mental image of it, so having a piece of media that gives it a shape and even an atmosphere makes it considerably enjoyable, since it almost is as if said myths were brought out of the confines of our imaginations into real life. One thing truly worth nothing about "Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi" is that, unlike your average horror top 15 YouTuber with the most monotonous voice imaginable (you know who I'm talking about), the writer decided to be way more liberal and recur to much lesser known legends, some of which are so obscure that one would think they were made up. For instance, one of the legends in the anime is roughly called "The tomb of the book princess", an obscure legend tied to a temple in Nagano about a princess who'd spend all of her time reading books and, after passing, kind of a curse was put on the books she used to read, by which you'd be able to borrow them, but upon returning them you'd also have to also put a new book in the shelves. One of the few sources you can find for this one legend is a 2012 Japanese article, which cites even more obscure sources. There are other legends dealt with across the plot of the anime which are also rather obscure or unknown to the average person, but from this example alone you can see how much thought the deeper end of this story's got. This is one show that feels exciting to watch, mostly due to the curiosity of whatever myth they'll deal with next, so it doesn't fail to be dull at that: it's an anime that pokes at your sense of wonder. However, truth is, that's as far as things can be truly praised for this particular piece of media, because most of its aspects are average at best. Its animation is pretty much average, the art for various scenarios can be atmospheric and fit the bill for whatever situation or legend is currently at hand, but this is nowhere near a P.A. or KyoAni work, and it's arguably, at times, on the lower end of quality in terms of animation. The sound design is not remarkable in any way, and while the OP and ED tracks are honestly catchy and enjoyable, the insert music isn't particularly memorable nor does it do a commendable job at intensifying the atmosphere of this anime's scenes. The cast in this anime is rather mixed, with some great voices and some young blood taking care of the most important characters, but the delivery tends to be quite average. Beyond the technical aspects, though, lies one of the actually big issues that "Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi" struggles with: it feels like a random, rushed mess of multiple ideas put together with glue. Besides the focus on the supernatural stuff, the anime also spends a portion of its running time with ecchi fan-service, with the struggles of the protagonist as a wannabe novelist, and with other somewhat menial aspects that, quite frankly, are not interesting if you're here for the mystery and paranormal. It starts off rather well and progressively trails off into more random stuff until it pretty much becomes unrecognizable and ends up feeling almost like some sort of parody at times. The plot fails to explain a lot of its aspects and lore, and leaves the viewer wondering how or why many of these things actually happen, just to end in a painfully abrupt and unclimatic way. There even are characters that appear like they might be important and might even be introduced rather early, just for them to end up being almost entirely inconsequential to the story. This all makes this anime feel rather incongruent between its more serious approach to its main plot point and its crappy carefree side-times. Finally, time for the one true question: "Should I watch this?". Well, the fuck do I know? I'm not you (thankfully?), I don't know your taste in anime. Now, my personal recommendation, however, would be that perhaps you should give this one a try: it's a 12-episode anime, and it's fairly entertaining, so getting through it shouldn't be too much of a pain, but just know that you won't leave here as satisfied as you possibly got to be during the earlier episodes, because if this anime is good at one thing is at getting crappier with each episode. Oh, and by the way, if oyu run one of those average top 15 horror YouTube channels like I mentioned above, it'd be cool if you make a series of videos focusing on the myths the anime deals with, it'd be entertaining.

According to my personal criteria, Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi is far from being a horror anime. I will use Mieruko-chan as a reference, which has supernatural elements appearing suddenly, a situation that does not happen in Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi. However, the anime is still interesting. It has a well-written mystery story, where the Adashino brothers want to go and where they came from, what the cursed objects really are, what the novel that Sumireko is writing will be like. These subjects make you interested in continuing to watch! Speaking of the characters, each of them has their own particularities. The Adashino brothers havethe ability to see signs where cursed situations are occurring. Sumireko is the bearer of youth and has the ability to change size and age by reciting a poem. They are not those characters copied from a standard primer, and each of them carries their own mysteries. Much of the story is linked to folklore and urban legends, especially from Japan. For those who came here for the ecchi, imagining it to be the same as the manga, unfortunately it is quite different. There are some fan service scenes, but there is no explicit nudity. As for the visuals of the animation, I found it excellent. The characters' features are well drawn and the scenes are rich in detail. For those looking for mystery, suspense and historical facts, I highly recommend the anime.

I'm a mystery junkie, so as soon as I found this anime, I had to give it a try. They really developed the characters in a way that I cared for them even though I watched the whole season in a week or so, which is something many other short anime have issues with. I actually cried in the last episode, which is pretty odd. I will not put any spoilers here, but Oto goes from a very unlikeable tsundere to a pretty decent character. It was a bit difficult to keep up with all the urban legends/old myths etc., but it was alsonice to learn some new things. One huge issue with this anime is the ecchi content as I hate it with a burning passion. The MC's boobs are often a focus in the scene along with some panty shots etc. It's made some serious scenes worse, so if you can look past that, give it a try. So if you like episodic mystery/thrillers with a main plotline through them all, I'd recommend this one.

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