Not much info was given to us this episode compared to last episode, in fact it just added to the mystery of the whole island as well as the existence of Shadows. I’m happy to see that my predictions about the Hishigata family seems to be right as they definitely have a connection with the Shadows now. Sou seems to genuinely be completely clueless to everything so I think he’s in the clear, but Tokiko is very much on my radar of suspicion, along with their father.
After the terrifying end to that flashback, the group decide to check out the old clinic to find any clues. They end up finding a lot of old things like old medicine that should never be in use anymore, patient records, a family album, etc. There’s doesn’t seem to be anything super obvious, but the group stumble upon a creepy statue. Upon some research, they think it to be representing Hiruko. The statue being feminine and appearing pregnant I feel has a connection with the red-haired girl, seeing as how they called her “Mother”. Considering there were Shadow babies underneath the clinic means that just may be true and there’s definitely more to it. Sou’s family has a connection, that Hiruko statue does as well, all pointing to the Shadows and the girl. This may be the birthplace of all Shadows, and if it’s all connected then the Hishigata family must have awakened this god or manifested it somehow. There’s still so much that we don’t know but this episode proved that there are connections here and there.
Tokiko has had very little time on screen, as well as Mr. Hishigata. Tokiko has been setting some weird vibes, very much so in the beginning of the episode when she was with Mio. And a part of me is sensing some yandere vibes and now I’m wondering if this is going to turn not from a love triangle or square, but a love pentagon. Maybe it’s simply Tokiko caring for Mio as a friend and wanting Mio to not get involved with the festival, since we can deduce that Tokiko for sure knows what’s going to happen. Though the way it was framed, you can even see it as romantic. I don’t even know anymore, I don’t care for the romance in this show so I’d rather it not be that and for the relationships to get even more messy than they need to be. But still, I’d love to get an episode with Tokiko because she knows what’s up and she’s absolutely involved. But we left on a really big cliffhanger so we’ll have to see. Again I also keep worrying about the time looping. Shinpei says not to worry about him if he dies since he can loop and we’re not sure if Ushio can, but Shinpei really can’t be taking his time loop ability lightly as he’ll move a little more in the future when he resets. We’ve gotten so many revelations and answers from this one time loop that if we lose it all when it comes to the other characters, what’ll happen?
So while I liked this episode, it was a little off again. Not as bad as episode 8, but again I felt like certain scenes didn’t mesh well together. The balance with the dark themes and the comedy I felt like wasn’t done as well again. I don’t mind having some comedy here and there but I felt like it took away from the dark atmosphere a couple times, and it didn’t necessarily make me laugh either. It wasn’t as terrible as episode 8 thankfully, as that was a mess with how ABUNDANT the comedy was. I do like seeing Shinpei, Sou, and Ushio as a group but the balancing needs work. Some of the editing was weird, where some scenes jumped into action too quickly and weren’t as smooth as previous episodes. I liked that we got to learn how the Shadow copy ability works, but one thing that I thought was super odd was Ushio using her powers to basically x-ray the statue, which I don’t think is an ability we’ve ever seen or heard about. Having that kind of ability isn’t too strange considering what Shadows can do, especially since she can use it to look at organs and bones to make a copy. But for a new ability to pop up out of nowhere with only a short explanation, only to VERY conveniently find the key to the door was really jarring and kind of ridiculous. Maybe it’s not too big a deal but it happened in less than a minute. These issues haven’t been a big problem in the anime but lately it’s been happening a lot and it makes me worried for the rest of the show. Because of these issues it’s kind of lessened my enjoyment of the anime a little, even though I’m still very intrigued by the story. The execution is getting a little faulty and I hope it doesn’t continue on this road.
