Shadows House

Episode 13

For what I am assured is an anime-only ending, albeit with ties to the manga to allow for a second season, Shadows House finishes on a decent note. A good one, even, if we make allowances for a lot implied but unexplained. It's not entirely satisfactory (no John Punch to Edward's face, for one), but it definitely gets the job done and stays true to the characters as we know them.

One of the highlights of this is the little soot sprite who helps the protagonists as they try to first find Emilico and later escape from an increasingly crazed Edward. Not only is she absolutely adorable (that curtsey!), but she also adds a little something to both Shirley and Rum's characterization. Because she is Shirley, who finally began to awaken just before she was eliminated in the debut. She's regressed to her non-humanoid form, but that perhaps helps her to better manifest her burgeoning personality; she doesn't have to maintain her body or her soot powers or any of that, and can just focus on Rum and what she, or possibly they, want to do. That she hides herself in the form of Rummy, the ribbon tied around one of Rum's fingers, perhaps implies that Rummy was always Shirley; if not literally, then in the sense that she was the one Rum talked to and taught how to be human. Rum did fulfil her duty as a living doll, just not in the way she was meant to. And now their positions are reversed: Shirley is the one who moves around and does what needs doing while Rum is the silent partner trapped inside herself. We don't know how brainwashed she is, or if something more sinister was done to make her silent, but the girls' partnership is stronger than ever.

“Partnership” becomes the watchword of the series' finale. As we know from the adult Shadows, the fey is meant to consume the human in the Shadow/doll pairs, making the human completely subservient to their fairy lords. But Kate and Emilico have always had a partnership, with the two girls maintaining distinct, separate personalities. Shaun and John are similar, as are Patrick and Ricky – each half has its own thoughts and way of doing things and isn't afraid to show it. Lou and Louise are much more entwined, but Shaun, for example, doesn't hesitate to disagree with John, while Patrick clearly has different concerns than Ricky. They're more partners than servant and master, and it's that which ultimately enables them to escape Edward. Kate and Emilico especially showcase this, with back-to-back images of first Kate saving Emilico with her wings (and a John Punch) and then Emilico holding Kate as they skid down the roof. It challenges the Shadows House philosophy (or “philosophy”) that shadow and doll are two halves of a whole; both Kate and Emilico are whole all by themselves.

The boys are getting there, but the fact that they're both still singing the cleaning song in the end as they tidy up for their Shadow masters indicates that they have a ways to go. The song shatters with the sound of breaking porcelain when we get to Emilico, who is last seen interacting with Kate, not serving her. Changes have been set in motion, and no matter what Edward vows to himself, they aren't likely to be undone.

Could this have ended more solidly? Yes, of course. Edward's reprimand is negligible, given the number of rules he broke in what can only be termed as a selfish pursuit of power. Jer and Allie are just sort of there at the end, and we still don't have much of an understanding of Lord Grandfather. But rather than being irritants, perhaps we should see these as hope that we'll eventually get a second season. Kate hasn't given up her goal, either, after all. There's still plenty of story waiting to be told.

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Shadows House is currently streaming on Funimation.