An Anime Review of 'In/Spectre'

Straight from the off, I can say that this show was not what I was expecting when I put it on my list to watch. I was expecting something that was action related that kept me occupied for twenty minutes, what I got was something far more interesting. The show has action, though what we see of it is hardly anything worth mentioning as the way this show goes about solving problems is through intellect rather than brute force. In/Spectre is a twelve episode anime that is based off of a series of novels about two individuals that keep the peace among spirits.

The show starts in a manner that seemed to indicate that this would be an episodic show that revolves around the two leads. However, with every episode the length of the storylines increase. So much so to the point that most of the show is taken up by a single adventure. Through this we get to see the set up of the world, the characters that would be involved, and the type of show that this is going to be. We are drip fed information regarding the pasts of the characters throughout, and at times the story goes into some uncomfortable territory, even by my high tolerance level. These moments of being uncomfortable are rare, and the manner in which a problem is solved is interesting to watch.

The characters are fascinating in their own right. Kuro feels like a typical shonen character that is overpowered and has the abilities that make him naturally feared by others as a result of his family heritage. Meanwhile Kotoko is very different from Kuro, in many ways she is the complete opposite. What is also very interesting is that she is a character with a disability at the very centre of the show, which is a rarity in anime. She is a fun character that is full of energy, while Kuro is far more reserved. Finally the third character is Saki, Kuro's former girlfriend who is a police officer and who helps them during the course of the show to varying degrees. Something that I really admire the show for is that all three characters are all university students or older for a majority of the show. Something not set in high school is a welcome change.

From a visual standpoint, the show has a fantastic colour palette, the difference in colour to accentuate the two worlds are brilliant to look at. One of the prominent colours in the show is purple, which is my favourite colour and so was very pleasing to look at. As a result of the type of show this is, there is not a lot of complex movement involved. Many of the episodes are of characters sitting down in one spot talking, and even when it comes to the fight scenes, there is not a lot of movement involved. Even though there is a lack of movement in the fight scenes, they do not hold back at all when blood and gore is involved. There are many instances in the show where there is an excess of blood and gore to the point that much of the frame is censored in the streaming site.

The soundtrack to the show does it's job very well. So much so to the point that while the final three episodes had me hooked by the interesting way in which the protagonists choose to defeat the opponent, the feeling of excitement and tension was elevated that much more by the fantastic use of the soundtrack.

This is a very interesting show that kept me interested throughout. The dialogue is fantastic and I was gripped by the way the mysteries and the solutions were slowly revealed and presented allowing us as the viewer to try and speculate on the solutions ourselves as they are being revealed. A show I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. In/Spectre is available to watch on Crunchyroll.