Review Disclaimer: This review will NOT contain spoilers and includes episodes 1-8.
The Lost Village is a series with an interesting premise: thirty men and women take a bus to go to Nanaki Village, where they can get away from their old lives and start new ones. However, this village is not on any map and is considered an urban legend. The stories regarding this mysterious location are usually full of supernatural phenomenon such as people being spirited away. Not surprisingly the group in search of the village does not find the new start they were wishing for.
The first episode of The Lost Village almost completely takes place on a tour bus with the group introducing themselves and explaining what motivates them to go to Nanaki Village. Some of the reasons why these characters want to go vary, from not wanting to deal with school life, to a couple trying to elope, or to prove that the story of the village is untrue. They seem to find the village and it appears to be empty. This raises many questions as it looks as if people had been living there until just the day before. As more time passes strange occurrences happen and things start to escalate: bizarre sounds emanate from the woods, characters start to disappear, the group is somehow unable to leave the village, and sightings of ghosts and monsters.
The show’s large cast is nice but it might be too big. With such a large number some characters get shoved to the side an add little to what is happening. Personally I had trouble remembering things about characters such as why they wanted to find the village or their names. Of the group Mitsumune is probably who you would most likely say is the main character. He’s a bit awkward and isn’t use to being around girls. Just a conversation with one makes him wonder if he’s falling in love. A few other characters who tend to stand out a bit more are Mitsumune’s friend Hayato, the hostile Valkana, the elitist Mikage, the quiet Lion, the mythology savvy Koharun, and Masaki who seems to have a connection with The Lost Village.
Even though I like the show’s premise, there are some issues found within. Things happen that are seemingly forgotten or cast off to the side. One such event is when one of the group turns out to have a violent past and tries killing another group member. After being locked up he escapes, gets spotted for a moment and then isn’t mentioned again. One character in particular says the word ‘execution’ more than anything and yet no one really seems to think that’s odd. There are a lot of questions raised and so far not a whole lot has been explained. There are also times when the characters are unlikable. There is not a lot of trust between members of the group and many of them keep things they know hidden from the rest. Concern for others doesn’t seem to be a priority, for example one character falls off of a cliff and most of the group seem to be indifferent. But, in their defense, he was kind of a prick.
One part of The Lost Village that I like is how the pasts of the characters affect the supernatural events that happen. You see this when the bus driver who took the group to the village sticks around because he saw his dead daughter. The monsters that the group sees are things from the lives that they’re trying to escape from. It’s interesting to see some of the flashbacks that deeply changed these runaways and motivated to them to try and start a new life. Characters who at the beginning seemed to join the group for petty reasons actually did it because of more traumatic or crushing experiences. It gives you insight into some of the strange quirks of certain members of the group. Unfortunately, they’ve only focused on just a few characters with these flashbacks.
That being said The Lost Village is a bit different than what I thought it was going to be like. I came in thinking that this show would be something along the lines of Another, Corpse Party, or Higurashi in that the characters would be meeting a bloody end from the supernatural or from each other. I’m surprised that at this point most of the cast is still alive, with only one character who might possibly be dead right now. This is a little bit disappointing, since there was one part where I was basically cheering for one of the monsters. Other things that I was not expecting was the random singing, dialogue that made me laugh at times, and a breast implant monster. The show definitely has its issues, but I do wanna see how it ends and see if they are going to explain just what’s going on in The Lost Village.
