[adult swim] and Toonami’s event miniseries Housing Complex C has released the third of its four episodes, and the mysteries surrounding the forlorn seaside town of Kurosaki are finally beginning to unfold.
The first episode of the series introduced the setting and characters, and the second episode offered some unique theming and tone, while allowing some of the mysteries from earlier to sit out a bit. This third episode begins to tie some of the previous plot points together in exciting ways, while still leaving some things ambiguous and hinting and some major surprises going into the miniseries finale.
Character-Driven Conflict
Immediately, the episode establishes its tone with a sense of unease regarding what was revealed near the end of episode 2—an animal corpse being found within the syrup of a shaved ice party for the residents of Kurosaki’s housing project. While that shocking discovery is connected to the larger mysteries of dead animals and scattered seafood found along the premises of the housing complex, it’s used in the plot to stoke up tensions between the long-time residents of the village and the group of foreign interned workers.
The dynamics of the foreign workers was previously established as a big plot point, and the contempt they face from some of the other residents raises interesting themes of identity and prejudice that are often underexplored in a lot of mainstream anime and manga projects. These themes are very apparent, but the story has only partially committed to displaying their longer-term implications. In the course of the episode, we see that main characters Kimi and Yuri spend an entire day talking to one of the foreign workers, Kan, but this is shown through a timelapse when it would have felt much more impactful to learn more about their actual customs. These themes of identity and belonging are some of the most interesting parts of the show, and hopefully the finale episode will follow through on them.
Connecting the Mysteries
With the character-based progression in the episode warranting this much discussion, it shouldn’t be overlooked that episode 3 has done a much stronger job of connecting and expanding upon the various different plot points of Housing Complex C’s overall mystery. The first and second episodes more or less felt like a series of interconnected “strange happenings,” but episode three felt much more like the different mysteries were starting to contextualize and form broader patterns.
The song that Kimi and Yuri sing in episode two is brought up again with surprising new meanings, although the way the new information is revealed can at times feel like exposition from Taka, one of the complex’s elders, rather than information that could be guessed at or induced by the audience. The motifs of seafood and animal sacrifice feel more contextualized with the revelations of the episode, if only after a week of the audience presumably mulling over the cryptic meanings of why a scene of old men eating shrimp in episode two would be edited to ominous and foreboding music. It makes a bit more sense now, though such things highlight the important pacing differences between a feature film and a weekly miniseries.
Some Questions Answered, A Big One Introduced
As themes of identity between the old villagers and the foreign workers are foregrounded amongst the broader mystery, this episode ends with some very surprising details about one of the main characters. While supernatural elements are hinted at, especially in episode one, the dry and gritty feel of the mystery and horror takes a pretty speculative turn near the end of the episode. Without giving too much away, there’s a form of unexpected life emanating beneath and around the housing complex, and the episode ends with it having a surprising relationship to the main character Kimi.
The new angle introduced at the end of episode three raises some pretty unique questions about Kimi and the larger mysteries of the setting. How these new elements are introduced, how they connect to the points left hanging from episodes one and two, and how all of this gels with the weighty, though yet fully unexplored themes will prove a fascinating juggling act for the final episode. Balancing all of these plot points will prove a challenge, but if done right, the finale of Housing Complex C could prove to be something very special.