The following contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Housing Complex C, which aired on Adult Swim.
Housing Complex C is definitely one of the more nuanced stories in the new Fall Anime season. While many horrors are focusing on body gore, this show is more psychological. With young Kimi at the core, an ancient evil is following her around at Kurosaki while haunting others in the apartment complex.
The thing is, no one suspects anything supernatural, ascribing the bad juju to pranks -- and sadly, to Middle-Eastern immigrants who moved in. The latter part has actually become quite a focal point just two episodes in, with one resident, Wada, chiding them in a very xenophobic arc. The unfortunate thing is, this hateful thread won't end well, leaving the victims with no justice at all whatsoever in what might end up being a tone-deaf arc.
Wada Hates Housing Complex C's Immigrants For No Reason
The immigrants have been brought to town by Yuri's father, Seichi, so they can work at the nearby fishery. It's part of assimilating refugees into Japan, but Wada loses it when she sees them praying in the laundry room. They didn't want to disturb anyone, so they thought practicing their Islamic faith here would be okay. Wada, however, calls it "chanting noisily" and goes off on a tirade. It happens a couple of times in the two episodes, which show Yuri's dad trying hard to calm Wada down.
Even though no one else around displays that initial hate, it's terrible that Wada acts out like this. Kimi and Yuri are too young to process the ignorance -- which does work in their favor, though, as they show nothing but love to the men, especially Kan and Rubel. It's admittedly an interesting take, reminding Housing Complex C fans about that stigma of how immigrants come to countries and insecure people run on the false narrative they're taking their jobs.
Housing Complex C's Immigrants Are Getting a Raw Deal
The problem is that Housing Complex C keeps putting the guys, especially Kan, in a dark spot when the natives could be used. Firstly, Kan is caught on camera moving dead animals, which leaves the residents suspicious. It turns out he's only moving them to the bushes, as they were found at Kimi's door. He considers her a little sister and tried to help, building on when he caught her after she fell off her balcony. As a result, some residents -- namely Taka -- do offer up sympathy, but quite a few remain cynical of the "foreigners."
The way Kan is left under house arrest, with Rubel having to babysit further, feels Islamophobic. To make it worse, when Rubel and Kan do make a syrup for a party to liven up the mood days later, a dog's head is found in it. It riles everyone, once more having them think Kan is up to no good. The icing on the cake, however, is what's been seen in the first episode's ("Optical Illusion") flash-forward. There, Kan is spotted attacking Kimi and Yuri, only for Yuri's father to knock him out. It does feel like he was chasing Kimi specifically, thinking she was the one responsible for all the shady events occurring.
It makes sense as many supernatural occurrences have plagued her, even before Kan arrived. Thus, it could be the show making Kan a scapegoat or worse, a villain for something that predates everyone's history there. With this spirit Taka teased Kimi about lurking in the shadows, Kan might end up possessed, with his mind vulnerable after all the racism. A lot might be connected to Episode 2, "Mismatched Buttons" and the dog incident, where everyone throws his credibility out the window. Ultimately, this informs Kan reaching a breaking point, but his arc is feeling like a massive injustice, as someone else could have been used as a pawn in a sinister game.
Housing Complex C airs Sundays on Adult Swim.
