In/Spectre Season 2 First Impressions

“My name is Iwanaga Kotoko. Yokai, ghosts, the supernatural, and demons… I protect the beings who go by those names, and the order in this world, as their Goddess of Wisdom.”

Hey, guys! Remember that low key anime In/Spectre from 3 years ago which featured investigations into supernatural phenomena? You don’t? Well, guess what? That’s okay, because In/Spectre doesn’t expect you to remember everything about it!!! I know I’m being a little salty, but having shows like Classroom of the Elite come back and expect me to remember every freaking element as though I’d watched the preceding episode last week has been grinding my gears for a few seasons now, so having a show actually sit down and cover the basics is oddly refreshing. In/Spectre’s first season had charming characters and engaging ideas, but was held back by mediocre production values and poor pacing and delivery. I’m legitimately pleased to see In/Spectre returning, and I hope Brain’s Base has learned from the missteps that occurred in the previous outing. Let’s just say that I hope this season doesn’t end with our cast sitting in a car for multiple episodes… again.

I rather love how the show chooses to reintroduce the plot of the show. It’s three entities (look, I don’t know my ayakashi from my yokai) sitting around talking about their Goddess over a game of cards. I think they’re playing Old Maid, but I’m not sure. I don’t know my Old Maid from my Gin Rummy either. It’s a cute framing device, and it leads directly into the plot of the episode, as one of these entities is a ghost who’s been hearing unsettling noises coming from the floor above the apartment he haunts. The idea of a ghost who’s afraid of unidentified noises is cute, even if it has been done elsewhere and the show feels the need to point out the irony. Through this, we are reintroduced to Kotoko Iwanaga, the young woman who gave up an eye and her leg to become the Goddess of Wisdom, who serves as the intermediary between spirits and humans. She and her immortal boyfriend, Kuro Sakuragawa, have a nice back and forth in this episode. In the first season, they sometimes veered into the clever-to-the-point-of-annoyance Bakemonogatari-style of dialogue. Here it feels more toned back, which is to the show’s benefit, even if the episode is still on the wordy side. The overall “mystery” is actually pretty straightforward, but much of the dialogue is devoted to misdirecting characters retroactively or providing exposition. Hopefully, the show doesn’t overindulge in this moving forward, as that was a bit of an issue in the past.

The production seems to have stepped up its game a bit since the first season. Initially, I assumed the series had been handed off to a new creative team or even a new studio, but evidently that’s not the case. Brain Base is still handling production, and most of the staff has returned as well. A difference can still be felt, as even the first episode of the preceding season incorporated stiffer animation and less detailed visuals. I shouldn’t oversell it, this is still firmly in the realm of average, but my expectations had been a bit low. The OP is fun. I’m probably going to skip it more often than not, but the off-kilter musical style does stand out. In all honesty, when I first started listening to it the best description I could come up with was, “What if Danny Elfman made J-pop Klezmer music?” All in all, the production is a nice improvement from the first season introduction. Originally, In/Spectre was set to resurface during the fall season, but it was delayed until this year. Hopefully, this additional time will enable the staff to maintain a consistent quality of animation throughout.

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• Brain’s Base is a production studio that I usually forget exists whenever they aren’t releasing something I’m watching. Their work on Baccano! and Natsume Yuujinchou have earned the studio a decent amount of goodwill from me, but they haven’t had much influence on the anime landscape in the past decade.
• I remember that one of my pet peeves from the first season of In/Spectre was that the show rarely paid attention to Kotoko’s disability. She would do things like ride bikes without securing her fake foot to the pedal, or walk up stairs easily. I hope this new season is more attentive to those details.
• I’ve never been too invested in Kotoko and Kuro’s relationship, but they have some decent banter in this episode. Seeing their connection develop could help to make both characters more engaging and relatable, which is otherwise a weak spot for the series.