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Reply to off-season
This reminds me quite a bit of Sankaku no Mado no Sotogawa wa Yoru. But I don't get how the MC is acting so calmly when his friend has been killed.
off-season said: But I don't get how the MC is acting so calmly when his friend has been killed. I wouldn't say he was acting calmly, when he was literally in panic when that monster revealed Hikaru, was indeed dead, but he shouldn't tell others, or he would have to kill Yoshiki. And then we see the Main Protagonist have at least 3 mental breakdowns in the episode, and the anime also made it clear he is taking some kinds of drugs (my guess would be for the clear mental distress, but it might be for another reason). So I think the anime portrayed his reaction well. In a way, he's in a negation phase, accepting that monster as it would give him Hikaru back in some kind of way. |
| Super interesting and the off-putting feeling is done really well. Also great directions and each shot is done really well. Excited to see more! |
| Hikaru is really scary with is fake smile i enjoyed the first episode |
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| THE HORROR HITS!!!! I'M HOOKEDD. i was terrified when Yoshiki was hugged by "Hikaru" what terrified me was the amazing Voice Acting of Kobayashi Chiaki, Seiyuu Kobayashi Chiaki really shines in this episode. that last sequence went CRAZY. the animation, visuals, OSTs, SOUND DESIGNS, ALL PERFECT. i love CYGAMES man, it just so peak. perfect introduction to the show. |
NezuSwallowtail_Jul 5, 2025 5:57 PM
| My most awaited premiere for the season. I always keep my expectations low but here's hoping for the best for this one. The manga has a lot of emphasis on sound effects and I think they got the weird atmosphere and sound down so far. |
| good visuals but that's about it. |
| The horror got shown really early but it's still very good. They managed to make daily stuff seem creepy, it's extremely atmospheric, used the sound and OST to good effect. |
| Promising start. Premise sounds really interesting and I particularly like how both atmosphere and creepiness are being handled so far. Scenes with Yoshiki dealing with his inner thoughts about "Hikaru" and that old hag's introduction (and departure) were nicely executed in my opinion. |
| Very interesting start, I think its really nailing the horror atmosphere so far, definitely looking forward to this! |
| Wonder if the original Hikaru had the power to summon dramatic speedline backgrounds at will too. Unsettling but gripping. |
| This is probably the most beautifully animated anime this season. |
| You know I couldn’t miss the spooky anime, this and Hell Teacher are very nice to have this summer as a big horror fan. First off, I love the style and the vibes here, they got it pretty down-pat, and it looks quite unique too, I think it really adds to the spookiness. And the setup is quite promising, Yoshiki figured out this Hikaru isn’t the one he’s known all of his life pretty quickly, but the fact this new “Hikaru” wants to stick around and continue living as Hikaru makes it all the more weird, and you also have the aspect that Yoshiki wants to go along with it even knowing it isn’t right, I really like what they have going on here. And overall this Hikaru has seemed pretty chill, like he genuinely wants to enjoy life, but then you have those scenes of the cat and that old lady being afraid of him, as well as that lady that got a bad feeling as they rode by on bikes, it sure didn’t take long for Not Hikaru’s presence to have a weird affect on the town lol. And man that poor old lady didn’t last long, quite the spooky scene to end on, and they also teased us on some ritual that was done and now they got what I’m guessing is basically a spook specialist coming to deal with it, certainly a lot to be intrigued about in this first episode. And with that, hell yeah man, I love having what could possibly be a great horror anime on our hands here after a hot minute! There really isn’t enough of them. |
| Yoshiki sounds exactly the way I heard him in my head while reading manga, and I'm so so so happy they are talking with an accent, I was worried they would "standardize" the language for anime. They introduced a lot of important characters at the start, I was quiet surprised seeing Tanaka so early on. And it's interesting to see how that older lady (forgot her name) and Asako but it's still interesting to see in the first episode. I have to say, as I'm worried the visual horror won't be as good as in the manga, the sound caught me so off guard! I'm not sure I like what they did with the old granny, it's much more in your face than in the manga. All in all anime is much more in your face, I guess they wanted people to be sure what they are getting into and that's why we got a glimpse of important characters in the first ep. It was an alright episode, nothing too crazy, I wonder how far they will adapt and what will they do about the ending, since the main mystery is not over yet. |
| this feels and looks like a Chainsaw Man spinoff |
| That was a really good first episode! its slightly different from the manga, but I really like the changes that were made! it has done an amazing job of maintaining the level of suspense i felt when I first read the manga! |
Reply to monkseal
Felt miffed by the fact that they had to force some scenes into episode 1 that should not really be relevant until later, as well as moving the opening point to Hikaru's death instead of the scene at the shop. I really enjoyed the slow buildup of wrongness in the manga, as opposed to immediately jumping off the deep end, and this has somewhat disrupted it for me. Hopefully this won't become a habit, as the scenes that were actually supposed to be here were, for the most part, done well.
| @monkseal I totally get where you're coming from, and honestly, I can sort of imagine the anime taking a different angle from the manga. I really liked this first episode, though, because it built suspense in a different manner than the manga, so I enjoyed it because it pieced the story together from a completely different perspective. Granted, I do see where your wariness is coming from, as I do not want the story to get ruined through a bad adaptation, but I'm hoping the rest of the season will be just as good and maintain the original manga's plot. |
| OMG this looks so fricking good so far??? |
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| Welp, they changed/ rearrange a lot of stuffs from the manga. As source reader i feel they dump way too many characters/info into that first episode. They put most of the characters/ scenario from the later part of the manga into this first episode which is a strange decision if you ask me. Why not try to highlight the 5 main high school casts like in the manga , focusing on drama /dynamic first instead of dive deep into the whole village incident in the spam of one episode. Even a key part of the manga which is a heart to heart conversation between Yoshiki and Hikaru is moved to an earlier part which kinda kills the dynamic of that part from source. This adapatation kinda kills the suspense by dumping everything to your face ep 1. Tbh I have mixed feeling about this adaptation. The original manga has better pacing / horror/ artstyle . |
Ventus_SJul 5, 2025 11:40 PM
| Wait, what is Shizuo Heiwajima doing here? As for this first episode, I liked it. |
| WOW! This is beyond my expectations. I love everything about this. It's gave me the willies. I'm super excited, thank you (⌒‿⌒) |
| I have nothing but love for this first episode. What an awesome start. |
Reply to notthatjesus
This show & Takopii no Genzai had the best debut episode this season IMO
| @notthatjesus 100% agree |
| I'm so hyped for this. They brought about the eerie feeling quite well but the manga still did it better obv. Nonetheless i liked what they did with the light and sound effects. Hyped for hyper attached Hikaru !! |
| wow what a first episode. Crazy good animation style! |
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| Aitakatta by AKB48 was played at the end |
| Woah, that was a atmospheric experience, mostly came from the great animation and directing. I rarely could get absorb especially in a horror anime, but I think it was a good start so far |
YN_ONJul 6, 2025 7:44 AM
| It's twisted, creepy and a little sad. And I love it. 🔥 |
| This is certainly interesting. The horror vibes were strong this episode. The animation style is unpolished but that just adds to the feeling. I am going to keep watching for now and continue to get creeped out. |
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