Hello and welcome back to Otaku Thursday! So this month, everything is really out of whack and Star and I haven’t really been able to watch any of the anime from this season–everything except for one show. Yes, one of the ones I had no idea about until I saw it on MyAnimeList and then was super hyped for: Sankaku Mado no Sotogawa wa Yoru. So, today I’m going to tell you what my initial impressions of it are.
So. First off: It is labeled as a Boys Love on MyAnimeList–which, yes, I’m not going to lie–got me. You can call me fujoshi trash if you want but I really wanted to watch this the moment I saw it was both BL and a “horror”. Now, I was excited because I don’t often see BL that is anything but a slice-of-life or drama. So, naturally I was curious of such a genre–especially with the spooky season upon us. Now, as a BL–let’s just say that it REALLY felt like a BL. Like, this show is not shy about putting two males up close and personal and saying questionable…things. About souls–and touching souls.
Actually, let’s back up a bit to the premise of this show so I can touch more on that soul part. So, the premise is that homeboy Mikado (and just to say–every time they say his name I can’t help but think of the leader of the Dollars, Mikado) is a shy bookstore clerk who can see ghosts. And unfortunately for him, taking off his glasses only makes them clearer (as a glasses-wearing person I can relate–we all want vision but not like that). Anyway, very quickly he sees a ghost and then a mysterious blond (not so mysterious), Hiyakawa comes in and immediately targets Mikado–clearly able to tell that the book clerk can see the ghosts too. He touches Mikado–who weirdly thinks “that felt good” before he passes out. Very strange. The touch thingy was very erm–weirdly sensual? I don’t know. Anyway, so then when Mikado wakes up Hiyakawa introduces us to information about the paranormal and how Mikado’s sight is so good, and how he himself has the power to touch souls (again we’ll come back to this) and Hiyakawa asks Mikado to be his assistant. Which by a not-so-shocking turn of events, he ends up doing. There’s the premise. Pretty decent. A paranormal team, they only have room to grow on each other.
The animation is okay. It’s not amazing by a longshot but I also wouldn’t call it bad. The characters are…very distinct. Not saying that’s good or bad, but they seem very one-note right now (which makes complete sense as this is only the first episode). Music–I haven’t noticed that much in one episode (maybe it will be more noticeable later in the series). The story pacing so far is fast and fearless. Meaning, it jams a lot of information into the first 15 minutes of the show–noticeably so. It feels like it’s going at a furious pace. I’m sure this is just to get us started on the plot, so I hope it evens out eventually and becomes less crazy. I’s only episode one so there is still plenty of time.
Okay so now is the time. We will talk about the soul touching thing. So Hiyakawa has the power to touch people’s souls, and while they gave a short explanation, I still feel confused. Soul touching is a very (unnecessarily) sensual thing. In the first real scene we have of Hiyakawa touching Mikado’s soul as they face off against a ghost, there is a lot of questionable dialogue. A gratuitous amount of phrases like “it’s going on” “not all at one” “gentler”–and the likes. Honestly–they totally did that on purpose. It is 100% supposed to sound sexual but also confusing because what exactly is going on? Honestly kind of just like WTF. I get it’s a BL but damn you guys–shit like this is why Boys Love gets a bad rap. And by the end I’m STILL confused about soul touching. Plus that goes on for so long and has such…well let’s just say, typical, camera angles.
Anyway, the first episode was not at all what I was expecting. It wasn’t bad…but also it wasn’t like immediately good either. If anything, it felt kind of tropey to me, which is unfortunate, and it also felt like a strangely paced story–which isn’t great either. However, this was only one episode, which means there’s plenty of room for this show to grow. And I still want to optimistic that this will be good and not at all confusing (however I have been wrong before). So, I’m going to keep watching it but I’m not sure I’d recommend ya’ll to do the same unless you’re into it. Until next time~!
Stay Weebtastic
xoxo
Luna
We be bloggin' 