First Impression: In/Spectre

At the age of eleven, Kotoko Iwanaga was kidnapped by youkai so that they could ask her to become their Goddess of Wisdom. She happily accepts the request, at the cost of her right eye and left leg, and acts as the mediator between the human and spirit worlds. Now at seventeen, in the midst of her duties, she finds herself falling in love with Kuro Sakuragawa, a young man who had just recently broken up with his girlfriend. However, his mere presence strikes fear in the hearts of every supernatural creature. With that knowledge in mind, Kotoko approaches Kuro for his assistance in solving supernatural cases, with the hope that he’ll reciprocate her feelings soon.

It takes a really captivating story to get me to buy the manga after finishing its first episode, and In/Spectre does exactly that. The characters, and how they interact with each other, is one of the biggest strengths to this anime. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the same kind of direct and assertive personality that Kotoko has in other shows, which meshes well with Kuro’s more calm one, and their conversations have a charming wittiness to them. The way it handles the supernatural is also somewhat unique, as its execution is combined with the flair of a mystery or a detective story, which can seen in how the author for the original novel/manga chose its Japanese title, Kyokou Suiri (Invented Inference in English). On my last note, that jazzy ending song is definitely going to be one of my favorites for this season.

You can watch In/Spectre on Crunchyroll.

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