SPOILER-FREE!
This review was originally written in July 2021, published as a YouTube video on my channel.

If there was one lesson to take away from the Winter 2021 anime season, it was that CloverWorks seemed to be the studio that desperately needed a re-evaluation. Wonder Egg Priority was saddled with a terrible production schedule and required an additional special to give the series a proper finale, which it didn’t do, and The Promised Neverland season two suffered from such atrocious pacing problems and lack of tension that it somehow got progressively worse beyond episode three…but at least Horimiya was decent. When a studio has a particularly bad season, it would be wisest to stop taking on so many projects at once and focus your energies on a good, single show.

In that sense, Shadows House could be thought of as the potential start to CloverWorks’s redemption arc. As the only anime the studio produced in Spring 2021, it was a good choice to pick something off the beaten path. Rather than assume a standard isekai or slice-of-life fair, it stands as an example of something I love about anime and manga – being able to take a concept that sounds completely odd on paper, but managing to make it come alive. But a good idea does not a good show make; you actually have to follow through on the premise’s potential.
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The story takes place in a mysterious mansion. Emilico, a blonde-haired, happy-go-lucky and clumsy girl, is actually a living doll in the service of her mistress named Kate. A distant figure without any distinguishable facial features, Kate emits soot around the room as she begins to get stressed, angry, or anxious. Emilico’s job to is to attend to Kate, cleaning up the soot that she leaves behind, as well as joining some other living dolls to clean the rest of the mansion. As the weeks roll by and Emilico and Kate spend more time together, they prepare for the mysterious “debut” with other living dolls, masters, and mistresses who also live in the mansion. If Emilico and Kate’s debut fails, Emilico will be discarded.

Such a dark and slightly-creepy premise makes its presence known immediately. A wash of dismal, murky colors characterizes the first impression, and the presence of the mansion and its high-class interior paints an aristocratic tableau. The opening scenes with the masters in their fancy garments interacting silently complement this, and the soundtrack provides further support. The music has a lush sophistication, able to walk the line between gothic and aristocratic, with the strings being noteworthy. The first two minutes asserts who is really in charge here, especially given the uncomfortable chant that the dolls themselves actually say. With the stage set, we get an immediate juxtaposition when our main character Emilico stumbles about trying to get herself oriented, and the music adopts a more comedic, spritely timbre. Before the OP has been played for the first time, Shadows House excellently demonstrates a show getting all the necessary information fed to the viewer without trampling them.

Emilico’s personality and mannerisms contrast with Kate, who carries herself with an air of properness and pride. Her colder exterior hides a shy but gifted personality. By this point, we know that it is only a matter of time before Emilico and Kate begin to get along well with one another, and their interactions fill a sizable portion of the show’s content for the first several episodes. While things slow down for a while after the introduction, and even though very few things “happen” in terms of plot progression in the beginning, Emilico’s cheery personality and the growing dynamic between herself and Kate manages to make up for this. Shadows House’s overall structure caters more to conveying moods as opposed to having a series of individualized plot points. As such, the transition from master and servant to cordial to trusting friendship becomes integral to the show’s experience throughout. Plot points do exist down the road, but they mostly appear to be in service to the show’s ambiance, or after the ambiance has been more-firmly established.

And that ambiance is ever-looming. Despite the happy disposition that Emilico radiates and the occasional comedic time-out, the mansion itself always maintains a sense of mystery. The aristocratic architecture and shadowy corridors give an uneasy impression, as though going down the wrong corridor leads to a dungeon with shackled skeletons. The debut for the dolls and masters always hangs over the heads of the characters, as even they don’t know what to expect when the day arrives. One other question that also lurks in the viewer’s mind is what precisely is the relationship between the mansion and the outside world? It’s explained that dolls are supposed to function as the face for the masters, but how does that factor into life outside the mansion? Shadows House keeps most of its cards up its sleeve, but shows just enough to keep the intrigue going. Because the show’s foreboding, mysterious atmosphere is its strongest asset, it allows for more visceral moments to leave a bigger impact. Though it does not rely on blood or gore, one sequence in the last few episodes managed to make my stomach lurch. At times, THAT’S how invested I got.

A factor in that investment is the disparity between the dolls and the masters. The dolls are a collection of various expressive moods, even though there isn’t necessarily anything too unique compared to other shows with large ensembles. A few prickly personalities are among them, but overall, the dolls are a perfectly charming little bunch. They adopt a mantra of “don’t fret” over details that shouldn’t concern them, which is part of what makes Emilico work as an endearing character. Due to her inherently inquisitive nature, she can’t help herself but ask questions about both the doll’s work and other things about the mansion. In a certain way, seeing Emilico interact with the other dolls and Kate is akin to watching a child displaying that wide-eyed curiosity about the world around them.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the masters themselves. In keeping with the show’s foreboding tone, there is a clear hierarchy for masters who already had their successful debuts versus those for whom their debuts are coming soon. The debuted ones cryptically comment on the goings-on throughout the series, expressing both amusement and ire as things take their course, along with some allusions to the “Lord Grandfather.” The ones waiting for their debuts also have their own thoughts that they share with their own dolls. Nevertheless, some of the masters feel less like actual characters and more like archetype stand-ins, a vague threat rather than something defined and able to be differentiated from one another. It’s one of the few times that the show’s mysterious fun doesn’t quite translate as well.

The fun also does occasionally run into the problem of poor pacing. The debut itself is a long arc, involving one portion in the mansion’s gardens. Even though various dolls and masters get the chance to have character-building and have some notable moments, this portion as a whole overstays its welcome. It’s similarly during this stretched-out period I realized that while the show looks and sounds lovely, the animation itself isn’t anything to write home about. It’s good, but not great. However, the pace picks back up in the push to the end of the series, managing to keep new mysteries, tensions, and revelations coming out.
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Shadows House’s slow burn in the beginning makes the ensuing middle and ending of the show an interesting ride, and the world-building and mystery it manages to pull off through Emilico and Kate’s relationship and the other dolls and masters kept my interest. Though the show as a whole is slightly uneven and not everything was resolved at the end, I was never bored. Its overall presentation won me over and it became another highly-anticipated show during my Spring 2021 viewing. With the announcement of a second season now confirmed for later in 2022, I will happily step back into the dark mansion if it means I get to be engrossed by its atmosphere once again.