Housing Complex C: A Year in Retrospect Review

I’m normally the kind of person who shies away from the horror genre for the sake of my sanity. I prefer going to sleep every night without worrying about nightmares. However, around Halloween, I’m willing to throw caution to the wind and delve into the depths of things that go bump in the night. Last year, a horror-based miniseries aired on Toonami that caught my eye, and I enjoyed reviewing it on my own blog. With Halloween upon us, bow would be the perfect time to look back reflect on this Lovecraftian-inspired anime, Housing Complex C.

Once upon a time, in the seaside town of Kurosaki, in a low-cost housing unit called Housing Complex C, there lived a little girl named Kimi and a bunch of elderly people. Kimi was well-loved by the residents of the Housing Complex, and doted on her as they lived happy and peaceful lives. Then one day, a family moved from Tokyo along with a bunch of interns from the Middle East.

After that, everything goes downhill. The corpses of mutilated animals are found lying around in the open. People start disappearing, and getting angry at each other. And piles of moss in the eerie shape of humans start popping up. Something foul and evil is at work at Housing Complex C, and at the center of it all is Kimi, who just wants everyone to be happy and get along.

That’s the basic premise of Housing Complex C. At first glance, it sounds like something similar to a game of Among Us. Someone or something is killing people and inciting chaos. That alone is scary enough. However, it soon becomes apparent that this isn’t a slasher/murder-mystery story. It’s a Lovecraftian horror story. Or a subversion of one.

HP Lovecraft Was Totally Wrong

Exhibit A, we have the foreign interns. H.P. Lovecraft’s stories were filled with allegories about other races and the “threat” they posed. The man was notoriously paranoid of anything perceived as different from his norm, and this was reflected in his writings. In this case, the interns and the residents reactions to them are meant to reflect that fear of the unknown. And from the outset, it looks like the interns are meant to be stand-ins for the fishpeople from Lovecraft’s stories. 

However, as the story progresses, the story subverts expectations and essentially proves that Lovecraft’s fears are wrong. By worrying so much about the ones who look and act different from them, people forget the fact that those who look the same might be the bigger threat. It’s like an optical illusion. Something might look innocent and normal at first glance. Instead, though, it can be a trick meant to lull people into a false sense of security.

In other words, Lovecraft failed to understand that you don’t have to look different to be monstrous. Some of the biggest monsters are the ones that look just like you and me. 

Once you understand that notion, it’s pretty easy to understand Housing Complex C. It’s a subversion of the usual Lovecraft story, while still retaining elements of it. It’s not the scariest of horror stories, but I like it. It’s a good watch around this time of year.