The Wheel Comes Full Circle
Episode 3 of Housing Complex C season 1 begins with everyone reacting to a dead dog’s head inside the fruit sauce container. Some of Kurosaki’s residents decide to blame the foreigners and Kan for the mishaps, but Taka tells them that they’re not to blame. Suddenly, the foreigners jump on the bandwagon and start blaming the residents for the act. Rubel assumes Taka is responsible for the matter, but Taka states he didn’t do it. Rubel assumes Taka’s to blame because he is obsessed with the stone with the marking on it. He argues Taka is a member of some cult that sacrifices animals. Taka tells Rubel that he isn’t into things like he found the stone inside the storeroom. He informs Rubel that everyone is as shocked by the dog’s head ending up in the fruit sauce just as they are. This leads to more back-and-forth arguments between foreigners and the residents. Kimi yells for everyone to stop fighting as she wants everyone to be friends. Eventually, everyone leaves the scene, and we transition to Taka taking notes in his journal. He recalls explaining the phrase “The Wheel Comes Full Circle” to Kimi. In his explanation, it means when things start to improve, but then something interrupts the change, and everything returns to its previous state. Suddenly, Koba arrives and wonders why Taka’s more invested in his research and not aiming to help the others look for the culprit. Taka places his journal on the table and tells Koba they have enough people on the search mission, and he doesn’t need to get involved. He informs Koba that the police aren’t taking this situation as seriously as they are, writing it off as some tasteless pranks done by children. They argue the four missing people don’t want to be found. Taka breaks down the situation to Koba in more detail regarding the dead fish, animal corpses, missing people, and piles of moss. He argues the fish could be dismissed as a random occurrence, but the animal carcasses have a direct connection to Kimi. Koba gets passionate, thinking it was one of the interns who wanted to ruin Kimi’s act of goodwill. Taka suggests the perpetrator could be someone who opposes the interns and wants them gone. Koba asks Taka if it’s possible since they’ve known everyone who lived in Kurosaki for a long time. However, Taka refutes Koba’s claim, saying that even Wada has shown a side of herself they’ve never seen before. We get a brief instance of Wada walking up to one of the intern’s apartments, handing them a container full of her cherished curry. She mentions that she did some research and made sure it was a perfect meal for them to eat. While Koba’s taken aback by Wada’s change of heart, Taka argues that she’s a kind and the decent individual who likes to put up a tough front. Taka informs Koba about the stories Wada’s grandmother told her about the “sharing of mementos.” He said it’s a sign of good fortune and an omen of an impending rebirth. He says that Kurosaki’s mythos lives on in the few remaining people that remember it. Taka compares Yoshiken’s words about returning dead loved ones and how it fits wonderfully with the rebirth concept. Koba finds it ridiculous that Taka thinks everything happening has close ties with the lyrics of the ancient Kurosaki song. Taka argues his point by telling Koba that the moss and the mementos are parts of the Kurosaki funeral song. He says someone may be basing their pranks on the lore from the song’s lyrics. Koba suggests that Taka get some shut-eye as he’ll handle the search efforts in his stead. Meanwhile, we flashback to the shaved ice event where Mr. Koshide suggests that everyone stop fighting and act more like a good-natured community. In the present, Koba tells Taka that everyone started getting along, and they decided to assign watch captain roles to certain people. He hopes they’ll be able to capture the prankster. Unfortunately, Taka feels like everything will backfire because he doesn’t trust some police organizations. Koba departs, leaving Taka to stare into the sky, noticing another sun shower is about to occur soon. At the same time, some foreigners and residents get into more arguments and gossip over petty matters. Despite their differing opinions, the residents and foreigners plan to keep their distance from each other. In the morning, Wada visits Mrs. Koshide’s apartment to return the recipe book she borrowed from them. Wada notices Mrs. Koshide’s poor health and reassures her that she has their back and will keep track of the daily reports from the watch captains. Yuri visits Kimi and suggests that they do some investigating of their own. Kimi agrees to accompany Yuri and leaves her complex. Yuri asks Kimi why she hasn’t introduced her to her mother yet, but Kimi says it’s because she’s not feeling well. We receive a brief montage of the girls asking the residents and foreigners about the situation. At night, Yuri reports the residents didn’t offer any clues but were more cheerful when talking to Kimi. The girls stumble upon some chicken feathers and blood at Kimi’s apartment. Kimi and Yuri overhear a group of watch captains beating Kan up. Kimi and Yuri rush to Kan’s aid as she tells them to stop hurting him. Kimi informs the gentlemen that Kan was removing the animals outside her door as Koba arrives shocked. He didn’t know Kimi knew about Kan’s daily actions. The watch captains inform them that the interns ratted Kan out as a suspicious individual. Rubel and the interns arrive. Rubel asks one of them to confirm the watch captain’s words, and the interns tell Rubel that they felt Kan was the criminal. Rubel says he’ll speak with Mr. Koshide about the incident while approaching Kan. Kan apologizes to Rubel for not telling him about his dead animal shenanigans. He asks Rubel to blame him and not the others so the others and Rubel won’t lose their jobs. Rubel and the other interns depart while Koba shouts for them to return. Koba comforts Kan and orders, Kimi, to tell Taka about what has happened. Meanwhile, Taka’s finding it difficult to sleep, so he heads outside to cool off. He notes everyone’s caution toward one another. Suddenly, Taka spots Rubel with his belongings. Rubel plans to abandon the other interns because he fears things will continue to get worse around here. Taka says he will cover for Rubel and to take care. Rubel points Taka in the direction of the rainbow and says to tell Kimi that he’s sorry that her shaved-ice party didn’t go swimmingly and that Wada’s curry was delicious. Rubel leaves as Taka continuously stares at the rainbow over Housing Complex C. Taka heads for the Torii gates to get a better look at the rainbow. He figures out the trail of the Torii may have led to the Kurokado, the black gate. He’s puzzled but figures out that the sacred site is at Housing Complex C. Taka rushes toward the area where he gave his lecture about Mismatched Buttons to Kan and Kimi. Taka heads toward one of the moss-covered stones and rubs off the moss, making a shocking discovery. Meanwhile, Yuri and her father arrive to greet Kimi. Yuri’s father departs, leaving Kimi and Yuri behind. Suddenly, Koba and Kan arrive and greet them. Koba leaves the girls with Kan, who decides to share his life story with Kimi and Yuri. At sunset, Kan asks Kimi to see if she can lead him to Taka’s apartment for advice. The gang finds out that Taka isn’t home as Yuri exclaims she didn’t see him once. Kimi gets a bad feeling about the situation and rushes toward the storeroom. In the storeroom, Yuri and Kan follow Kimi’s lead. She leads them to the room where they found Hideo’s numerous drawings. However, the drawings have been torn down this time for some reason. Kimi and others proceed and uncover a weird hole in the wall. Kan notices that the wall has the same mark as Taka’s rock. Kimi finds the rock on the ground and inspects the wall. To unlock this hidden entrance, Taka placed the rock on that section of the wall. Before Kimi and Yuri enter the hole, Kan tells them to be careful and that he’ll guard the entrance. Kimi enters and discovers something that starts bringing tears to her eyes. Yuri asks Kimi what’s wrong as we see another pile of moss on the floor with Taka’s journal next to it. We can assume that Taka is dead. Kimi asks Yuri if an ancient civilization left this stuff behind. Yuri finds some drawings on the wall. Although she doesn’t know the language, she can interpret it. After discovering the death of an octopus, Yuri says fish rise from the sea and sacrifice themselves to the mountain god. She assumes they’re throwing their lives away to resurrect the dead octopus. The next scene depicts a group of people arriving at the mountain god’s location and starts attacking. The fish people try to protect the mountain god but fail. Before Yuri could discuss it further, Kimi stops her because she doesn’t adore hearing about people fighting. She asks if that is what it means to be human as Yuri comforts her. Yuri promises that she’ll protect her like a big-sister figure, resulting in Kimi receiving a vision of the past involving one of the maiden sisters from episode one dying. Kimi clenches her fist and tells Yuri that they should return to Kan. She looks at the pile of moss and says her goodbyes to Taka. Meanwhile, Kan suspects the area and notices the different dates for the objects in the area. Kimi and Yuri bump into Kan. Kimi tells Kan that they didn’t find anything in there. Kimi arrives home and tells her mother she’s sorry for keeping her waiting. We see strange imagery and static fill the screen. Kimi continues talking in a strange vocal tone as we get swift flashes of her mother. The episode concludes with Kimi asking her mother what she thinks of the situation as we find out that her mother is nothing but a mere plant-like fetus.
The Episode Review
We’ve arrived at the third episode of Housing Complex C. Although the show hasn’t made me cry out in fear, this episode feels like a splendid step in the right direction. Unlike the previous episodes, this one maintained a creepy and secretive tone throughout its runtime. From Kimi to Kan, I’d argue everyone played their roles well in this chapter. I’m delighted that this episode excluded depicting our characters enjoying life with all the madness and suspicious activity around them. Scenes like the foreigners bickering with Kurosaki’s residents felt authentic, considering how well this show built the tense bridge between them. Although Kimi’s known for being a beacon of sunshine, it’s good to see her adorable charm wasn’t enough to stop the divide between both groups. Unfortunately, some things about this episode don’t quite sit right. For instance, I’m personally not a fan of Wada’s quick change of heart toward the interns. While the series tries to explain her reasons for acting kindly toward them, it would’ve been better if we got to see her opinions about the interns change over time. Otherwise, the whole instance feels out of character for her considering the many scenes we got of her ridiculing and belittling them. This episode’s lore-dumping and informational segments could be difficult to follow for some people. Understanding what our characters were talking about surrounding Kurosaki’s origin and lore took some time. It would’ve been great if this episode included some brief but critical snippets from prior episodes to help us stay in the know. Instead, it may require some rewatching to attain said information and how it applies to our character’s depressing predicament. Otherwise, this episode was everything we’ve been looking for with Housing Complex C. While the scares aren’t too effective, Housing Complex C delivers some impressive lore-building and shocking reveals. I certainly didn’t expect Taka to be this world’s next target, nor did I anticipate Kimi’s mother being a plant-like foetus! If the final episode can deliver more outcomes like this, it could become a fun and mildly spooky work of art.
