Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
BunniestAC
I really like stories that start out beautiful, and then as they progress, we discover a truly disgusting undercurrent.
The concept is a major standout for this story. Normally, we talk about light and shadow, as if without light, there would be no shadow, highlighting the importance of the light. This story, however, makes the shadow the one holding the reins.
The plot isn't dramatic; it progresses slowly and steadily. There isn't a shocking twist that gives you goosebumps, but rather a slow, deliberate, and stable pace.
The story has some loose ends. Since it has a bit of a political theme, I was hoping for more detail and nuance, but what's there is just okay.
There are still many plot points waiting to be explored, but to be honest, I'm a little scared. Stories in this genre often…
Read at the sourcebergars
You know the mystery is good when an annoying protagonist can't push me away from the story.
Supernatural mysteries aren't easy to pull off. I, for one, need a strong realism, with a proper acknowledgement of the unreal, and an incorporation of it with how real humans react to it. I hate it when a story can't truly react to its own rules properly. Either it's too normal, or too exaggerated for my own good, but when the characters are born into this thing, the concept moves by itself. It's one of those stories which I'm jealous of the writer for.
Emilico, a girl, is seemingly born as a doll in a house with shadow people. She's instructed to learn to clean, wash clothes, and be a servant to a twin-like shadow girl. Slowly instructed to connect with her.
Of course, the first question of…
Read at the sourceMidniteAndBeyond
This is a review of seasons 1 and 2
I'm sure a lot of people will be immediately drawn into the aesthetic of this show, myself included. I had a lot of ideas flowing through my head of what I was hoping this show would be like, which perhaps is what led to me feeling a little let down in the end. It's ok. But it doesn't lean as far into the macabre as I would've liked. And the interesting visuals kinda end with the shadow characters. Everything else is just sorta standard. I know this story is still ongoing, so perhaps its a bit too soon for me to judge the parts that didn't make sense to me. But it was a recurring issue throughout both seasons, especially throughout season 2, where it would bring up one storyline or one really big revelation involving a specific character and then just c…
Read at the sourcevulcavtuber
This anime did take time to grow on me, I persisted because I really liked the world building and overall mysterious vibes from the show. I cannot in good faith recommend this to anyone who does not like naïve main characters. If that's you, it will probably take a lot to get through the first few episodes (5, for myself) as the main character is the absolute worst at taking hints.
The show itself has an interesting premise but the way big mysteries are revealed tend to feel lackluster, if more time was spent with the relevant characters revealing the secrets themselves and actually responding to it, it would have felt less... out of the blue and unimportant to the main characters at the time.
Read at the sourceRebelPanda
There is a misconception that Shadows House is a slice-of-life, but that's not the case. It is a mystery through and through, with elements of horror. By combining clever visual storytelling, a mesmerizing aesthetic, a touch of philosophy, engaging characters, and on-the-nose class criticism it crafts one excellent show.
Shadows House takes place in a mansion reminiscent of gothic horror meshed with steampunk aesthetics. The manor itself is a Victorian-era stone castle shrouded by fog high on a hill. Its imposing architecture with spiked fences resembles a prison. Inside, it is a dimly lit maze bearing heavy curtains, red rugs, drab wallpaper, finely ornamented rooms, and expensive wood furniture. Oil lamps light each room, and coal provides the heating. Soot coats the walls, but not from…
Read at the sourcenostalgiaas
When I read Shadows House's synopsis I thought, oh wow, what a unique and interesting plot. And don't get me wrong, it is, but it's a pity this was the result when it had the potential to be something so great.
My biggest problem with the show are its plot holes and its MASSIVE plot conveniences. The writing is just lazy and all over the place. It was frustrating to watch in a show that's supposed to be so dark have no consequences for the characters' actions and having them be happy go lucky for 90% of the time in dangerous situations.
As for the artstyle, it's gorgerous looking but nothing special at the same time, the design of the characters are cookie cutter, basically looking like all the other shows next to it, so to speak.
Speaking of the characters, most of them are honestly unbe…
Read at the sourcelamaraptor
Right out of the gate this series grips you with it's atmosphere and mystery. It does a fantastic job slowly revealing answers to the questions it's constantly raising, and crafting a dark narrative where everything is obviously not as it seems. But above all I think the characters are what make the show so compelling to watch, Ms Sunshine Emilico being the obvious standout. Her bubbly personality shines so brightly to contrast to dark setting, and her innocent curiosity is what grounds the audience so firmly in the story. You want to know more about how the Shadows House works because she does, and it's a brilliant way to exposit information without it feeling like exposition.
Many of the other living dolls introduced all serve to make Emilico more unique by being more brash and arrogant…
Read at the sourceGR0K
Shadow's House is frustrating for me.
I am utterly in love with the concept
This sort of obscure noble family living deep in the mountains, incapable of expression and constantly emiting soot from their bodies, "create" these living dolls that serve both as their live in maids/butlers and their "faces," emoting and expressing for them in the ways they cannot.
I also like(not love) the aesthtic choices made for this show--minus the art style; the music along with the designs of the creatures and characters give me a Don't Starve meets Studio Ghibli vibe that I really love. I would have liked a darker color pallete and low key lighting to give more of that creepy vibe, but it still works.
I love the world building the most. The setting is compleling, and everything from the origins of t…
Read at the sourceLllama1
***REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***
I absolutely loved the whole aesthetic of this anime. The sound, the vide and basically the visual aspect of this anime.
STORY 7/10
The story is also quite interesting as it the premise is quite different and new. It seems like everything is normal and everyone is happy but there's a lot of things happening underneath. I do think there were a lot of unanswered questions and as the story progressed I was just left with a lot of them. There also wasn't much happening in the story in the beginning and the only thing that was really interesting was the debut. I do hope they answer more questions about the world and stuff in S2.
Art 9/10
Everything was just drawn so well and the aesthetic was unmatched. The whole vibe just adds to the tension as well. The…
Read at the sourceShyzore
translated from Portuguese-Brazilian in google translator because of MAL rules.
I was very disappointed at the end, the series has different and interesting ideas, concepts but for me the other points of it such as characters, story, script and developments are very weak and that's why for the work it only has its ideas as good parts.
Characters like the mc and the secondary ones aren't nice or charismatic to the point that you're always kind of annoyed by most of them, their interaction for me is the most tiring and stressful part, since the naturalness of the dialogues goes a long way, and mixing the lack of charisma of the characters with the superficial plots, and clichés being used in a very obvious way, the anime is very tiring.
The story itself doesn't have anything very relevant…
Read at the sourceJoexySun
Short Review (Spoiler-free):
Shadow House, in a nutshell, is a quality production with commendable attention to details, likeable characters, fluid animations, consistent art, great songs, etc.. However, if you have seen Cloud Atlas or any similar stories before, the core mystery of Shadow House would be too predictable. To add salt to the wound, Shadow House revealed its core twist in the hammiest way possible.
Baseline quality: 7/10.
Recommended to: fans of "Imperial-harem in-fight drama". Fans of dark and morbid shoujo anime. Fans of Victorian-era aesthetics.
Pros:
++ A quality production with detailed facial arts, character designs and great attention to details. You could feel the textures of the Victorian-era costumes, decorations, etc. as well as the omnipresence of black…
Read at the sourceAbhiCh123
The show had potential but the way in which characters played out ruined the show for me.
The story with its gothic touch certainly has unique flair to it. The story is consistent as well with everything carefully thought out as well.
Art is another good thing about the show. Vibrant character designs with greyish background gets you interested from the beginning.
But it is characters where the author dropped the balls. They are so mediocre that rather than feeling connected with them, you will be annoyed by them especially the main doll character. In certain scenes chaacterrs are made to act stupid just to carry out the plot which sucks enjoyment out of the show for me.
All in all, it is a good one time watch with good art and story but the characters will annoy you.
Read at the sourceMrResidentFox
This review is coming from someone who hasn't read the manga and watched the anime with completely no expectations, only going in out of curiosity. Let me start off by saying that this show started airing at the worse possible time as Spring 2021 was one of the most stacked seasons in anime on the same level of that of the previous Winter season. Because of this, Shadow's House ended up being one of the most underrated anime of the season with it getting not enough attention that it honestly really deserves.
The story takes a fairly slow start and really takes it time to immerse you into the world. It may seem really boring at first but eventually it will start making sense that this show is a bit more unsettling and overall mysteriousness the more you watch, keeping your interest with l…
Read at the sourceEdenharley
Shadows House is by far one of the most unique and interesting anime I've seen thus far, the world is so immersive and the plot really is just so unheard of in the best way possible. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this and really don't have much I disliked, the main cast were really good and so was the soundtrack.
The story is definitely one I won't forget anytime soon, the world is set up so well and everything feels almost scarily real within it - I don't think I've ever seen an anime as immersive as this was, it really feels like you're right there with the characters. This is heavily reflected with the art and soundtrack but I'll get into that later. I loved the plot development throughout the show, the characters also grew along with it.
Speaking of the characters, I absolutely loved…
Read at the sourcePyraXadon
“I am a Shadow, the true se-“. Wait, this isn’t Persona? But they look exactly like each other, just like a darker reflection of themselves. How is this not Persona?!
Story:
In the Shadows House lies many Shadow nobles, each of whom are tended by a living doll that’s made in the likeness to their Shadow master. The living doll has the responsibility of tending to their Shadow master, doing everything from cleaning the mountains of soot that piles up in their room to acting as their face for expression purposes since Shadows do not have an obvious face for those to see. It is here where a new, unnamed living doll (later renamed Emilico) tends to her Mistress Kate, as the two become more acquainted and gradually unearth more about the Shadows House that they live in.
Credit where credit i…
Read at the sourceLordReno
Every Season there are various anime that instantly become popular, but then there are also anime like "Shadow's House" which are unfortunately not so popular, despite being AMAZING gems!
Before starting this review, I would like to point out that my review might contain minor spoilers of the first episode of shadow's house.
In my option Shadow's House is a major masterpiece, it finds the perfect balance between mystery, horror and light hearted scenes. Each scene for me was memorable, and from the start of the anime, there were always hints of a much darker plot being slowly approached with every passing episode. I am happy to say it did not disappoint, furthermore, with the absolutely stunning visuals, amazing animation and some of my favorite music scores this Season, there wasn't a s…
Read at the sourceren0080
This anime is such a shame. Because if I were to rate the first 10 episodes, I'd have rated it 9 or 10/10 easily. While the animation is pretty lackluster and unimaginative, it is faithful and had a nice pacing. But there's the remaining 3 episodes... how did it go from being a masterpiece to a disappointing forgettable animes season.
Just what did go wrong indeed...
The story is great, at least in the first 10 episodes. It is faithful (with a few changes but understandable) to the manga, and the pacing is really well. The story builds up a great mystery story with a lot of interesting unanswered questions that would make anyone wanna watch just to answer those questions.
It's all great stuff... until cloverworks said "nah".
Like I said, the last 3 episodes were a complete disaster. Compl…
Read at the sourceElpsycongroo__
I maybe just a salty manga reader.
Shadows House is easily one of my most favorite series of all time. But I think it just works better as a manga than an anime.
The anime at first felt extremely slow-paced but at the end they completely hastened the whole plot, revealing things that showed up much more later in the manga. During the final episodes, they also sort of killed all the nuances a certain characters and just fastened their whole development as a character.
The great things about this adaption is- the animation, music and voice acting.
Basically production-wise, it's great.
I probably would've rated it higher if it weren't for those horrible final 3 episodes.
Small story short, just just read the manga if you wanna experience the full potential of this series.
Read at the sourceMarinate1016
After the disaster that was Yakuneba s2, Cloverworks needed a bounce back series. Many people thought that would be Shadow’s House. While it’s an improvement, it looks like Cloverworks have still not learnt their lesson, and continue to alter established stories and characters.
Shadow’s House on its own merits is a solid show. It has a lot of the same mystery and intrigue that the first season of Yakuneba had. Beneath the facade of cute character designs, lies some dark secrets. However, knowing that entire arcs and characters were removed and or changed completely for this really made it difficult to enjoy the second half of the show. Cloverworks again went anime original and again I’m left disappointed. Now, the good thing here is that the anime oriignal content in Shadow’s House is not…
Read at the sourcenightshadekait
Shadows House is what you get when you mix the fun vibes of a middle grade mystery with the relevant messages of critiques on classism. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, but the unique aesthetic, engaging premise, solid writing, and good audiovisuals bring everything together to create a well-formulated anime that anyone can find enjoyable.
Our story begins in a small room with a coffin-like bed. Papers of instructions and details plaster dirty walls while a small door allows access to a chunk of stale bread placed upon the dusty wooden floor. Cramped, ill-fed, and forced to work. These are the harsh living conditions of a Living Doll—the living conditions of our main character Emilico.
From the start, Emilico’s personality shines through the screen. She is a bright and cheerful young gi…
Read at the source