English Dub Review: Housing Complex C “The End of the Line”

Overview: In this gripping finale, the source of all of the strange phenomena happening to Housing Complex C is revealed. The residents are picked off one by one as Kimi runs for her life, as friends become foes and the final secret of Housing Complex C turns out to be more terrifying than any human can comprehend.

Our Take: Wow! Just simply Wow. This is one of the most out-there finales I’ve seen in a long time. So impossibly, monstrously dense that, if the short overview is any indication, it’s difficult to describe without spoilers, but I will do the best I can.

Sad to say, it would appear that my initial prediction for how this finale would be structured is correct, but I could not in my wildest nightmares have predicted the actual contents of this episode. It’s stacking five or so different dramatic reveals on top of one another, at such an insane pace that I broke out laughing during one of the climactic scenes, one which was absolutely not intended to be comedic.

This show in general, and especially this final episode, just needed more room to breathe. Many of these massive reveals come out of nowhere with little or no foreshadowing. I think if Housing Complex C were a more traditional 13-episode season, or even six episodes, or even making “The End of the Line” a double-length final episode, then it would have had time to more organically space out, develop, and properly foreshadow all of its grand ideas, making it a much greater show overall.

And I think this absolutely was intended to be a much larger show at one point. I distinctly recall those two girls seen in the flashback right at the beginning of the very first episode, seen slaughtering a group of soldiers with their magic. It’s such a striking scene, and those two girls prominently feature in the show’s opening, which should lead viewers to believe that they will be important in the future. But they never come into play past that first episode, and this final episode just forgets that they existed. Perhaps if this show had been longer, they’d be able to properly integrate them into the larger narrative, but with how crunched the creators were for time, I’m not at all surprised that they were axed.

It’s a damn shame that this series didn’t get more screen time because the actual content of this final episode is amazing. It’s gory and disgusting, the lore is fascinating, and however rushed this finale might have been, the ending is something truly insane, and I mean that in the best way possible. The performances from the actors are all amazing, particularly Yuri, with the audience able to feel her shaking in terror as she realizes just who, or what, the cause of all the supernatural phenomena is.

I leave this series conflicted. It has everything it needs to be an unforgettable experience. The world is richly detailed and legitimately interesting. The characters are relatable and have a lot of depth to them. The art direction is very imaginative, as gore-filled as it may be. It’s just that there needs to be more. There should have been more, it was probably intended for there to be more, and most importantly of all, I want more. I’m now very curious about what director Yuji Nara has cooking next, and you should be too.