Shabake – Episode 1

Content Warning: brief gore

What’s it about? Ichitaro is the heir to his family’s business, but his fragile health has left those around him extremely overprotective. Fortunately, Ichitaro is never alone. He can see spirits, and his grandfather contracted a powerful pair—Nikichi and Sasuke—to protect the young man.

I’m not 100% clear what Shabake has going on yet. For the most part, it’s a quiet historical fantasy with a slice-of-life vibe, following Ichitaro about his day and illustrating the little ways in which the spirit world and the mundane one intersect. But the last minutes of the episode end with the discovery of a murder, which provokes the question: is this a series of short stories, of which this ghastly event is one, or a single overarching mystery?

I could easily see either, but it speaks well to the episode that both approaches feel very workable within the tone and framework the show’s established. There’s a pleasantness that threatens to slide off the brain, admittedly, and the secondary cast isn’t yet very well established. But Ichitaro is a surprisingly robust protagonist despite seeming at first glance to be generically pleasant. He’s pleasant and liked by everyone, but clearly chafes at being infantilized because of his illness (something I dearly hope will remain a strong theme a la Ascendance of a Bookworm rather than a small establishing detail). He also lies without missing a beat or showing it on his face, even if his spirit companions are able to suss him out. It’s an archetype I’m more used to seeing as a supporting cast member, and there’s a lot of potential to seeing it play out in a story about community.

And look, I simply have to respect a show that looks its audience dead in the eye and says, “these men are all wearing chonmage. Cope.” There is one more traditional tossled-haired pretty boy in the bunch (who, maybe just by virtue of that visual difference, sure sets off my queercoding senses), but other than that it’s pure historical accuracy in my show about spirit murders. It’s a silly little touch, but it’s a nice distillation of the odd-but-engaging decisions that kept catching me off guard during the episode.

I do feel the need to temper my enthusiasm a little based on the production staff, partly because Okawa Takahiro is pretty new to directing and partly because the series composer is Machida Touko. On the one hand, it is wonderful to see a woman work so consistently, and My Master Has No Tail was a perfectly serviceable adaptation of a very charming historical fantasy manga. On the other hand, it takes a lot of something to be responsible for the adaptations of both 7 Seeds and Dramatical Murder.

Still, if you’re into stories of spirits and like quieter character dramas, I think this is well worth giving the three-episode try to see if it keeps its feet or stumbles its way home.