Mysterious Disappearances

Episode 4

Who are Oto and Adashino? Where did they come from? Why are they living in the abandoned station? Oto doesn't want to answer those questions, and certainly not when Sumireko asks them, but we get some clues nevertheless this week. The most striking is Oto's dream of herself as a little girl; we see her walking along a rocky expanse with odd piles of stones dotting the grey landscape before her brother appears in a swirl of black vapor. It's by no means certain, but when paired with her upward gesture when Sumireko asks where she's from, it doesn't feel like a stretch to say that she and Adashino aren't human – or at least any longer. The rocky stretch feels like it could be the bank of the Sanzo River, the Shinto equivalent of the Styx (although that's not a perfect comparison), with the cairns indicating that Oto is dead since the ghosts of dead children are occasionally said to build such things. In that scenario, is Adashino dead, too, or is he some divine being trying to rescue Oto?

The answer to that question may also be found in his eyes. When Oto mentions the "injuries" he received from the ushi-oni incident (which is not over), it's easy to assume that she's talking about the obvious cuts and bruises. But when Asashino sets out to find "the old man" who can help him, it's revealed that the actual problem is with his eyes, which are red, raw, and gruesome. Cuts are superficial compared to that, and the old man reminds him that using his eyes will shorten his lifespan, meaning that he'll die before he can buy Oto a ticket "home," wherever that is. Did Adashino take Oto away from the natural cycle of death and rebirth? Are they both fallen gods? We know that Adashino can access the place where the old man is, something he's not supposed to do, which may suggest a fall from some grace, plus that black swirl in Oto's dream of the past was pretty ominous.

This episode demonstrates that Mysterious Disappearances can be fascinating when it wants to. Sumireko and her fanservice are moderately toned down this time, too, which helps; not a single piece of clothing bursts off of her. That makes space for us to get to know Oto a little bit. She's prickly but can be easily won over with food and kindness, and she really doesn't want to talk about herself or her brother. Or has she been told not to? Because Sumireko can catch her off guard a few times, Oto's main deflection tactic is to turn a question around on Sumireko…who answers and then asks again. The biggest surprise to me was that Oto was fifteen years old because she didn't really act like it; I had her pegged at twelve or so based on her looks and behavior. But it would make a little sense if she were a child who was never supposed to grow up (at least, on Earth). And even if that's not the case, she's led a very insular existence with only Adashino as her primary source of human interaction. He's a little odd, too, but more in a deliberate way, like he's playing a part. It almost feels like the old man calls him out when they meet up, but since Adashino is fully prepared for him with appropriate gifts, he lets it go. Everyone is playing their own game in this story; they just happen to be doing so on the same board.

Things are far from settled with the Curiosity that Adashino and Sumireko were dealing with at Oto's school. Uname still has horns on her head, and the question of that girl outside her hospital room remains unanswered. And now we've got someone with a very peculiar interest in women's underwear lurking in the shadows, so another Curiosity is looming. Adashino better get his eyes healed quickly, because as Alice once learned, curious things wait for no one.

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Mysterious Disappearances is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.