English Dub Review: Housing Complex C “The Wheel Comes Full Circle”

Overview:

Kimi is despondent after her shaved ice party, her attempt to unite everyone in the housing complex, backfired spectacularly after a human heart was found in the sauce. As the death toll rises and the newcomers and old-timers continue to bicker and fight with one another, Taka takes it upon himself to try and solve the mystery once and for all, making some unsettling discoveries about Housing Complex C in the process.

Our Take:

There’s a lot to unpack in this episode but safe to say, my complaints about the pacing from previous episodes go right out the window. It’s a gripping episode from start to end, with stunning revelations and a calculated tempo that makes it a thrill to watch. It really manages to sell the growing sense of loneliness and hostility between the complex’s residents, particularly demonstrated in a scene where some of the older residents attack Kan, beating the crap out of him. This growing sense of bitterness and isolation among the residents is quickly becoming one of the core conflicts of the series, and I wonder how this will develop in the end.

The mythology of the show, and how it’s implemented, is great. It’s legitimately interesting to hear, and it’s told in such a way that it doesn’t come off as exposition dumpy as it might have in the previous episodes. Taka seems to be the show’s dedicated character for this sort of thing, and while he does spend much of his time spewing exposition, he’s now more actively involved in the plot, a change I very much appreciate. It helps that Yuri now delivers a lot of it as well, adding some much-needed variation in terms of voice, and the natural difference in how an innocent child perceives these horrific events.

One of the most interesting things the episode does is how it develops Kimi herself. There’s none of her cute antics in this episode, for one. The episode is devoted almost entirely to the mystery of Housing Complex C, and Kimi dives headfirst into it, even if the discoveries shock her to her core. One scene that strikes me, in particular, is Kimi and Yuri finding an underground cavern with paintings of the complex’s distant past, one of violence and needless death, and the revelation brings Kimi to tears. Or does it?

The episode’s ending is definitely the most striking of all thus far. Beautifully resolving a plot point that particularly attentive audience members might have caught onto, the episode ends on the reveal that Kimi, despite her childlike demeanor and cute cat dress, is not as innocent as she might appear. It’s leading up to a fascinating and mind-blowing final episode, one that I’m now legitimately excited for. This is building up to a great mystery, one that I can’t wait for the resolution to.