Shadows Houseis a spectacular anime series for fans of the dark fantasy, mystery, and supernatural genres. From the cast of creepy characters tothe style of Gothic Europe, the show envisions a world where the line between Living Dolls and Shadow Masters is merged. All seems well in the story until several secrets are revealed that shed light on the true purpose of the Living Doll system in theShadows House.
With collaboration between the duo So-ma-to and the animation studio, CloverWorks, theShadows Houseanime series produced two seasons. Season 1 aired from April to July 2021, and Season 2 aired from July to September 2022. While the third season has yet to be confirmed by CloverWorks or any other affiliated company, the second season boasted such a high rating that it would be unlikely for an abrupt cancelation.
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The Story of Shadows House
Shadows Housefollows Emilico, who is the main character of the anime series and the Living Doll assigned to Kate. Emilico’s character is clumsy and curious which causesa lot of comical sceneswith Kate and the other Living Dolls such as Shaun and Ricky. While at first Emilico is content with her life as a Living Doll, she slowly starts to realize with the assistance of Kate, her shadow master, that everything is not what it seems in the mansion.
The Uncanny Valley
In 1970, the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori proposed a theory titled, The Uncanny Valley.
As human likeness increases in an object’s design, so does one’s affinity for the object—but only to a certain point. When the likeness nears total accuracy, affinity drops dramatically and is replaced by a feeling of eeriness or uncanniness. Affinity then rises again when true human likeness—indicating a living person—is reached. This sudden decrease and increase caused by the feeling of uncanniness creates a “valley” in the level of affinity.
Mori’s research skyrocketed outside of Japan in 2005 when the theory was translated into English and spawned a series of related studies. Even today, the theory of The Uncanny Valley is used by American scientists and referenced in their research regarding this phenomenon. This theory can also be applied to the story ofShadows House.
The Living Doll and Shadow Master system represents the uncanniness between real-life humans and humanoid robots. By highlighting the relationships between Shadow Masters and Living Dolls, the audience is forced to constantly compare them with each other and determine which one is closest to a real-life human being. This line of thinking createsa layer of uncertainty and a feeling of creepinessthat extends to the characters.
The Living Dolls
Briefly covered in the anime series, the Living Dolls are humanoid replicas of real humans. For the sake of theShadows House, they are creations who are meant to clean the soot from their assigned rooms and to serve their Shadow Masters. Aside from their visible faces and their separate personalities, the Living Dolls do not look that much different from their Shadow Masters. The underlying premise is that the Living Dolls were created in the image of their Shadow Masters to serve as their faces to the public.
What makes themcreepy as charactersare the fact that they are indistinguishable from humans. In comparison to the Shadow Masters, who are covered in soot, the Living Dolls play the part of humans much more convincingly, as they look like humans, eat like humans, and express their emotions like humans. Although Living Dolls are meant to mimic their Shadow Masters, Emilico is a glaring exception to the system. She has formed her own personality without regard to Kate, her shadow master, who she is supposed to copy.
The Shadow Masters
The Shadow Masters are soot creatures who look exactly like their Living Doll counterparts. Trained to be the perfect noble, these Shadows must go through the grueling process of debuting and training. One of the features that the Shadow Masters possess that their Living Doll counterparts do not is their soot-related powers. For example, Kate is able to release and control her soot from a considerable distance with finesse and precision. While they are depicted as being more human than the Living Dolls,something throughout the show seems off about them.
While the Shadow Masters are shown to eat, sleep, and bathe like humans, they only fulfill the basic functions of humans at best. Shadows seem to lack several social skills and are unable to express themselves without their Living Doll counterparts. Kate, on several occasions, can’t seem to control her emotions and finds her Living Doll, Emilico, more fascinating than any of the other Shadows in the mansion. She also allows Emilico to retain a separate self.
The Secrets of the Shadows
Later in the series, it is revealed thatthe Shadow Masters are parasitic creatureswhose primary purpose is to fuse with their Living Doll counterparts and take control of their physical bodies. to become fully-fledged humans, they must go through multiple phases in order to create a convincing personality. If they fail, they are disposed of. If they succeed, they become adults who kill their counterparts and steal their faces.
An example of a failed Shadow Master would be Shirley who couldn’t properly mimic human behavior due to Rum’s timid personality and physically fell apart after the debut. An example of a successful Shadow Master would be Edward who went through the fusion process and became an adult. Another example of a failed Shadow Master would be the unnamed shadow who failed the fusion process later in the series.
The Loyalty of the Living Dolls
Another surprising revelation is that the Living Dolls are actually humans who were sourced from nearby villages. Infusing Great Grandfather’s soot intothe coffee that they were forced to drink, the Living Dolls lose their memories and gain their loyalty to the Shadows House. After Emilico stops drinking the coffee, she starts to regain her human memories and helps the other Living Dolls break their brainwashing too.
During the climax of the first two seasons ofShadows House, where the positions of the Shadow Masters and the Living Dolls are reversed, is the time the audience will feelthe greatest discomfort with the characters. Since the story set up the Shadow Masters to be humans and the Living Dolls to not be humans, this shift is as startling as it is scary. While the Shadow Masters are set up to be creepy, this reversal solidifies their inhuman natures.
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