I don’t exist when you don’t see me
I don’t exist when your not here
What the eye don’t see won’t break the heart
You can make believe when were apart
But when you leave I disappear
When you don’t see me…
What They Say:
Real estate agents Reiko Kujirai and Hajime Kudo work in the nostalgic Kowloon Walled City. As they spend more time together, Reiko’s feelings for Hajime grow. But when she finds a photo of him and his former fiancée, she’s shocked to see that the woman looks exactly like her. Reiko then realizes a chilling truth: she has no memory of her past.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
It’s a good time to be a fan of this manga as the Jun Mayuzaki work not only has this anime but a live-action feature film out this coming summer. The manga began in 2019 and has over ten volumes so far, with it also being picked up in English by Yen Press, making continuing on from the anime easy. The adaptation brought on Yoshiaki Iwsaki to direct it from the series composition by Jin Tanaka. Iwasaki has dozens of directing credits going back to Best Student Council to more recent works like Monster Girl Doctor, while Tanaka has interesting projects from Laikd-Back Camp to almost 160 One Piece episodes. Arvo Animation is on the production, which doesn’t have a lot of work so far, but some interesting projects such as Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut and two seasons of We Never Learn, among others.
With four episodes to go after this one, there’s a sense that things are starting to “get serious” after the recent revelations and confirmations that we’ve gotten about the city and some of its inhabitants. It still all just feels kind of weirdly ill-defined to me, but that leans into the kind of quasi-magical aspect of the atmosphere of this place. A lot of the early parts of this episode covers a lot of different little moments for the cast, but I do like that Yaomay is back and does basically tell Reiko that this place was supposedly destroyed three years ago, but others believe in its existence and are trying to prove it. It’s just a weird situation that people are kind of paying lip service to and otherwise ignoring it to go about their lives and do their things. The main thing that’s new here is a young man named Xiaohei that Yaomay is aware of that’s becoming a part of the fabric of the show. Especially when Reiko and Yaomay ask him about some dresses with which one he likes the most. His detailed thoughts are a delight.
An interesting area that does come up is a “top secret internal report” overview of the city that delves into some of what we’ve learned, but through an objective point of view. Some of its focus on Reiko and how she is full of inconsistencies that weren’t expected is interesting, but just covering aspects of all of what’s going on helps to flesh it out all the more, while also touching on what Miyuki is up to. The focus on what happens with the generic and the original exist helps to highlight some of what the whole thing is going on about, and you can suss out why easily enough, but it’s also no surprise that the addition of Xiaohei is the one behind this report. The idea that Reiko may be some sort of key figure in what’s going on and that the shadowy forces are watching all of it and waiting to see which one to operate themselves has its moments. But in a lot of ways, it feels like it comes from a different series and isn’t what I invested in early on, making it harder to connect with.
In Summary:
Realistically, my investment in the show is focused on Reiko and Hajime, and they don’t take up much time in this episode once again. Hajime even less so since Reiko gets some time with Yaomay or on her own, so that gives her a little more screen time. There are interesting ideas to be had in all of this, but it’s meandered away from what drew me to it, and those meanderings have taken me to areas that aren’t doing anything for me. There are some great shots in here and curious moments to keep me interested, but it’s already feeling like it’s going to be a tough four episodes ahead to get through.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
