The following contains spoilers for Episode 4 of Housing Complex C, “The End of the Line,” now streaming onAdult Swim.
When [adult swim] and Toonami began its event miniseriesHousing Complex C, it had only four episodes to tell a story interweaving multiple genres and influences. Over the course of those four episodes, several plot points layered upon themselves, perhaps not unlike the floors of the series' decrepit titular setting. What is on the surface a late-summer mystery with two young girl protagonists spiraled outward into an unnerving web of Lovecraft-esque terrors, psychological horror, a race of monsters, decades-spanning cosmic time loops, and the lost rituals of the ancient indigenous peoples of Japan.
With the final episode having released on Toonami this past Saturday, these multiple elements have finally played everything they have. The final result is a work of horror that, while demanding multivalent attention from its audience, fulfills its goals and rounds out a potential Halloween season cult classic.
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The Secrets Revealed
The first ten or so minutes of the series finale episode is primarily shown from the point of view of Taka, an anthropologist working to peel back the historical and archaeological secrets of the grounds on which the Housing Complex C building was erected.
This opening connects back to several of the previous mysteries surrounding the complex’s residentsin previous episodes, as well as finally giving more info on the strange, fish-like monsters that have been hinted at since the very opening of the first episode. The information given in this episode is delivered with the sense that the show knows it needs to get that plot out there while it can. That said, the revelations are delivered with a brisk pace and a sense of action that’s engaging.
A Major Twist
For as much as Taka has deduced in the beginning of the finale, it couldn’t prepare for the major twist delivered further into the finale episode. That said, these developments get cut short with some very intense, shocking revelations about the residents of the complex. This development turns back towards the two main protagonists, Yuri and Kimi, who find themselves ina shocking new dynamic.
While Kimi is revealed to have some pretty major abilities and status as revealed in the third episode, Yuri is revealed in the finale to have been planning some pretty shocking actions with what she understood about the housing complex. The dynamics of this new reveal with Yuri, and their further exponential change once Kimi makes her true status known to her, are pretty clearly whenHousing Complex Creaches the heights of its horror aspect.
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There is some subtle buildup to these dynamics throughout the first three episodes, but it makes one question the characterization of both of these characters up to this point. Is the previous characterization of Kimi and especially Yuri undercut in this finale? Somewhat, yes, but it would be hard to deny the surprise value of what gets revealed and the interest of how it, quite shockingly, wraps up.
Story and Themes
The reveals of the finale episode play into and wrap up all of the mysteries of the previous three episodes, but many of the most important moments are retrospectively revealed to be among the characterizations and dynamics that extend beyond just time loops or gods or monsters. The plot of the foreign work team staying at the housing complex proved to be one of the most interesting subplots of the series, and the main intern, Kan, was given the most of those dynamics for how they play into Kimi’s story (going back to some subtle foreshadowingin the first episodewhen Kan rescues a falling Kimi). The subplot with the foreign workers is interesting throughout the series, but it feels like it would have been stronger if it had more heavily leaned into more explicit rumination on themes of foreign experience and subtle discrimination. These deeper themes are very obviously meant to be there, but they feel perpetually hidden behind the immediate layers of the plot and mystery, just like the plot itself has its true secrets hidden beneath layers of moss and rock.
In a way,Housing Complex Cfeels not entirely unalike a sort of puzzle box, where different aspects of the mystery are interlocked in a way where deciphering them is one of the biggest attractions. However, unlike other examples of this mystery style, likeKnives OutorTenet,Housing Complex Cfeels like the fragmented mysteries are a result of time and episode constraints as much as they are the deliberate choice. It is a story that is engaging when taken as a whole, yet that whole is composed of several plot points and editing/localization that ask for attention in ways that pull in different directions, sometimes intentionally, sometimes less so.
Given its succinct runtime and its horror theming, it’s fitting to seeHousing Complex Cevolve into something ofa yearly Halloween traditionnot unlike the role thatOver the Garden Wallplays (or at least, was originally envisioned to play) for Cartoon Network. This short runtime also gives it a high rewatchability that will inevitably reward audiences with greater details and foreshadowing about the curious horrors of the show’s world. This is most definitely not the last horror series Toonami has on the close horizon, andHousing Complex Cis a series that gives a sense of optimism for whatever terrors are next to come.
