In/Spectre is a 2011 Japanese novel published by Kodansha and written by Kyo Shirodaira (Blast of Tempest), with illustrations made by Hiro Kyohara and by Chasiba Katase. A manga adaptation with art by Chasiba Katase has been serialized since April, an anime television series adaptation by Brain's Base premiered on January 11, 2020. The anime focuses on Kotoko, when she was still just a girl, Kotoko was kidnapped by the spirits that asked her to become a mediator between the two worlds, as well as the Goddess of Wisdom for these spirits. However, great power always comes with a price: an eye and a leg.Now, years later, watching out for dangerous spirits, helping the good spirits, Kotoko meets a mysterious young man named Kurou and immediately takes an interest in him. How can spirits be afraid of a single human and what secrets does Kurou hide?
Once again I assure myself that the Japanese mythology is one of the richest, which also has many dark sides about it. And In/Spectre is dark and I would even add that it is quite a 'disturbing' series to watch sometimes. However, the only problem I find Important to mention is that In/Spectre also uses humor to balance tragedy and make it less disturbing. The problem is that this balance between tragedy and humor is somewhat bad, one interferes with another and because of that the series is somewhat unbalanced. Indeed, that is not much of a problem to address, but it would have made In/Spectre much more enjoyable to watch.
Although the backgrounds are nothing special, the viewer can really see the attention paid to the various protagonists; for example, Kotoko is the one with the most attention paid to her character, very dynamic animated, and cute, but never crosses over to the 'moe' side of cuteness, and you never lose the impression that she is most definitely far wiser than her years. Also, it is worth mentioning the animators paid enough attention to the supporting characters. Indeed, not something you would easily call an eye candy, but still the animation is good.
In/Spectre focuses on Iwanaga Kotoko and Sakuragawa Kurou. When she was still just a girl, Kotoko was kidnapped by the spirits that asked her to become a mediator between the two worlds, as well as the Goddess of Wisdom for these spirits. However, power always comes with a price: an eye and a leg. Now, years later, watching out for dangerous spirits, helping the good spirits, Kotoko meets a mysterious young man named Sakuragawa Kurou. Even though she is something more than a normal 17-year-old girl, she still lives an absolutely normal life. She falls in love with Kurou, whom she meets at the hospital and after some time becomes his girlfriend. Iwanaga Kotoko tells Kurou about her situation and even recruits him as her assistant, however, it turns out that Kurou has a secret of his own. Now the duo will solve many mysteries and serve as the mediators between the human and youkai worlds.
All in all, it looks somewhat average and there is hardly anything, which makes this series good. Yet, after some episodes, you will appreciate the good writing, as well as how the two worlds are depicted. It might scream average, when you start watching it. But do give it some time, after a slow start it becomes quite interesting show to watch.