Earlier today, I met up with my anime buddy for some diner grub nearby and then we had a short and sweet reprise of our old biweekly anime-and-food Sundays. I got to see his whole set of photos from his recent Japan trip and then we watched the first episode from one of the crop of the Spring 2024 season of anime.
"Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi"（怪異と乙女と神隠し）literally means "Mysteries, Maidens and Mysterious Disappearances" but the official title has gone with "Mysterious Disappearances". It's a manga adapted into anime about a couple of young folks committing themselves to investigations of supernatural phenomena. The first few minutes of the pilot definitely had that horror anime feeling but then the rest of the episode had its first supernatural phenomenon affect one of the two main characters right off the bat which sets off the overarching story.
What struck me about Episode 1 of "Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi" is that in its urban setting, it wasn't particularly frightening and it didn't have any particularly goofy comedic moments but it still made itself very clear about what it's supposed to be, and the characters and the overall story, even within the 24 minutes, were quite engaging. As well, it was a chance to be reacquainted with seiyuu Ai Farouz（ファイルーズあい） who plays the bookstore employee Sumireko Ogawa (緒川菫子) since I first got to know her from the 2019 series "Danberu Nan-Kiro Moteru?"（ダンベル何キロ持てる?...How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?）.
The ending theme started out like something from "Rozen Maiden" but then it leapt into dance-worthy ska and rock. "Akaku Somete Shinzou" (Scarlet-Dyed Heart) is performed by seiyuu, actress and singer Nonoka Obuchi（大渕野々花）who apparently has had a role to play in the anime. Written and composed by singer-songwriter Neru, it's been provided as a happy-go-lucky tonic to cut through the heaviness of the stories to come in the show. Obuchi hails from Saitama Prefecture and it turns out that "Akaku Somete Shinzou" is her first single which was released a few weeks ago in May.
Looks like I am going to have to check 怪異と乙女と神隠し out soon. I have been looking for some thing new to watch and this looks interesting! Thanks for writing a post about this.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I probably won't be seeing the 2nd episode until the show ends its first season but I'm intrigued by the possibilities here.
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