Metallic Rouge – 09 – Making Up In Space

Turns out Aes isn’t on Rouge’s side, but Silvia’s. Grauphon knocks Gene out and offers him to Rouge in exchange for her id. Eden sacrifices his id to save Rouge. Giallon arrives in a Usurper landing ship to pick up Silvia, Graupon, Aes, and the unconscious Gene. Rouge prepares to chase after them, but is kicked by her counterpart Cyan, who is itching for a fight.

She gets one, and she and Rouge soon learn they’re equally matched in Gladiator mode. Naomi reaches out to Rouge and tells her to trust her and invert her output phase, deforming as if she were in human form. Rouge puts her faith in Naomi once more, and it works: she and Cyan cancel each other’s power out and revert to human form, with Cyan passing out.

Rouge and Naomi agree that they need to talk, and Naomi chooses a rather extraordinary location to do so: the orbiting space station of the Visitors, the first aliens to make contact with humans. After docking and walking through a corridor devoid of air, Naomi suddenly takes her helmet of, shocking a still-very-mad Rouge. Turns out Naomi is a Nean too, one created by the Visitors to serve as a go-between with humans.

Naomi takes Rouge to meet three of the X Noah—the Visitors—who look like a possible design for the spice-transfigured Navigators in Dune, but Rouge first mistakes for merfolk, which is cute. They call Naomi “First”, since she’s the first Nean ever created. She’s brought her here because it’s the safest place to be, both for her, the humans, and the Visitors.

Within her id is the key to decoding Code Eve, which will free all of the Neans from the Asimov Code. However, the Usurpers, the evil aliens who started a war, are trying to start a new one, using the Immortal Nine with their mutual enemy as their vanguard. If Code Eve were executed, all the freed Neans would end up assisting the Usurpers in their conquest of Earth.

With all that in mind, this space station is the safest place for Rouge to be. But it is not the only logical place for her to be. After Rouge learns that the Nine and Gene are now on Venus, she wants to go there to fight them and get her brother back, and Naomi manages to convince the Visitors that Rouge’s wish to go is logical, because she trusts Rouge’s potential to defeat the enemy with her own power.

After Naomi kinda-sorta apologizes for putting Rouge through so much and making her think she betrayed her when she was only doing what she thought would keep her safest, Rouge insists on punching Naomi once. After that, the Visitors allow Rouge to head to Venus to try to resolve things, but order Naomi to stay put. In response, Naomi asks for her first-ever PTO day for self-care, which the Visitors grant.

When they reach the airlock to their ship, they encounter Ash and Eden, who flew up to orbit after learning Earth is on DEFCON-1 due to simultaneous Usurper attacks on and around Venus and Jupiter. Shit is starting to go down, and I couldn’t be happier Rouge and Naomi are back together to save the day, and then hopefully go to a nice beach somewhere and relax.

Metallic Rouge – 08 – Between Freedom and Order

Rouge arrives at the Junghardt mansion with Ash and Noid just as her brother Gene discovered a secret passage. They discover a vast repository of Roy’s memories, most of which come off as cold and analytical where both Gene and especially Rouge are concerned. She wonders if he only ever thought of her as some kind of experiment or test subject.

Gene, who spent more time with Roy as his adopted son, can’t say for sure, only that Roy was “a complicated man.” But the memories also include those of one Eva Kristella, who was the genius behind Code Eve, an protocol that would free Neans from the Asimov Code that made them subservient. The Immortal Nine are part of Code Eve, as is Rouge. She has to choose whether to free all Neans now and risk the chaos and harm that is likely to follow, or try to maintain order until the time is right.

Their little confab outside the house is interrupted not by Naomi’s Ochrona soldiers, who stand by in the trees, but Cyan, the self-proclaimed little sister of Rouge. She immediately deforms into a blue version of Rouge’s battle mode and attacks Rouge, but Rouge won’t deform and doesn’t want to fight. Honestly Cyan is pretty one-note, interested only in fighting and killing Rouge. The question is, why?

When Gene’s assistant reports that Aletheia HQ is under attack by Jill and an army of bots, he picks Gene, Rouge, Ash and Noid up in a copter to take them there. Deciding she’s not going to allow Jill to slaughter humans and make things worse for humans and Neans, she leaps out of the copter and into a fight against Jill, who is keen on destroying anyone who stands in her way of punishing humans and needs Rouge’s id to execute Code Eve.

In the resulting melee, Noid is mortally wounded, and his last words are that he always felt human when he was with Ash, and urging him to take better care of himself. Distraught by his partner’s sudden demise, Ash pulls a gun on the humans who killed Noid and basically tells them to fuck off. No detective wants to outlive their young assistant.

When Eden “Who Are you?” Varock, AKA Jet Black Noir, shows up, Jill assumes he’s on her side, but he blows up all of her bots and sides with Rouge instead. Aes also shows up with their ice attacks, presumably on Rouge’s side, while Cyan lurks overhead like a bird of prey ready to strike when the time is right. I’d advise Rouge to look up now and then to avoid an untimely death.

While I remain frustrated that we’ve been deprived of the best thing about the show—i.e. the relationship between Rouge and Naomi—and that Naomi herself has had shockingly little to do but sit around observing, I decided to follow the advice of my Anime News Network counterpart and simply go with the flow and not think about stuff too much.

As a result, I was able to enjoy this episode more on its own terms rather than my preconceived notions. It’s really never been all that clear where Metallic Rouge is heading, or what exactly Naomi’s endgame might be. But the fact Rouge has chosen to protect humans as well as Neans probably bodes well for their ending up back on the same side eventually, assuming they both survive the remaining robot battles to come.

Metallic Rouge – 07 – Grinding Gears

After six episodes of both showing and telling us that Naomi and Rouge were buddies, now we’re supposed to accept that Naomi is actually the “Divine Facilitator” of Ochrona, who informs former vice-director Gene Jundhardt that she’ll be “dealt with appropriately”, which I can only imagine means “disposed of”. That’s bleak, I tellya.

I’m just glad I didn’t play a drinking game in which I take a shot every time someone mentions gears, or I wouldn’t be alive to type this. Suffice it to say, the metaphor is used so often by everyone in this episode it becomes comical. Except that everything about this episode is dour and bland; people sitting and standing in rooms blathering on about authority and procedure.

The episode’s primary sin is never having Naomi and Rouge in the same room together or saying so much as a word to each other. Way to ruin the best part of the show, show. We’re also made to believe that half the passenger manifest on that transport to Wellstown was composed of Alters. There was Rouge, and Eden Varock, and now we learn Jill the photographer is also one of the Immortal Nine.

Naomi is content to keep Rouge locked up naked in a tube, but Jill is kind enough to free her and give her nectar and clothes. Unfortunately, she’s only doing this because she wants Rouge to fight by her side in her struggle to free all Neans of the Asimov Code preventing most of them from harming humans. Jill, AKA Silvia, isn’t subject to that code, and her violence and brutality scare Rouge off.

She ends up rescued by Aes and Alice, who as it happens are two personalities within one body and also a member of the Immortal Nine. They and Rouge hide out at Ash’s cigarette butt-filled apartment. Aes wants to give Rouge a chance, but Alice doesn’t see her as anything but a mindless assassin who thinks she’s the “good guy”, and leaves. At least Ash doesn’t think Rouge is the one who killed Jung anymore.

That blue-haired variant of Rouge the Puppetmaster extracted a couple episodes back? She’s out and about, humming Clair de Lune, which is becoming almost as overused as the misaligned gears metaphors.

And as I suspected, Giallon did not die, but simply fell through the atmosphere and was lucky enough to land on dry land. He’s found by a guy named Grauphon, who I have to assume is one of the Immortal Nine, because everyone kinda is, apparently?

I dunno … this was simply not a particularly enjoyable episode. I constantly felt like I was being jerked around. Despite the generous volume of dialogue this week, shockingly little actually meant anything to me. Rouge seems to be listlessly going with the flow, and for the life of me I simply do not get Naomi’s whole deal. Make it make sense, Metallic Rouge.

Metallic Rouge – 02 – The Stairs to Adulthood

Metallic Rouge swaps the Blade Runner aesthetic for the sparser, dustier Mad Max as Naomi and Rouge book a commercial transport across the Martian wastes to Welltown. Among the other passengers is a wealthy couple with a Nean servant, a journalist named Jill with an optical camera, and a granny with two bickering young siblings.

Naomi kills two cyberbirds with one stone, providing exposition for us while entertaining the kids with knowledge about the hulking spaceships half-buried in the sands they pass by, which were part of a war between humanity and evil “Usurper” aliens, which are different from friendly “Visitor” aliens.

Apparently neither Naomi nor Rouge believed anyone would be hunting them after their hijinks last week, otherwise they would have traveled alone. Instead, when three mercenary tanks attack and board the truck, Rouge climbs out of her hiding spot to dispatch them before they hurt any innocent people.

No matter the situation, Naomi and Rouge have an MCU-like playful bonhomie about their banter. Rouge negotiates Naomi’s unrealistic estimate for taking care of the baddies down to 90 seconds, but does it in 120. Meanwhile, the kids’ granny shows off her skills as a retired driver.

They manage to lose the mercs in a forest, making for a sudden change of environment, atmosphere, and palette. While Naomi heads to a military site with the driver to find parts to repair the truck, Rouge stays behind with the others.

Seeing that the little sister Emily is told by her brother she’s too little to take good pics, Rouge helps her find something neat to photograph. Unfortunately in the process Emily accidentally activates a “Cylinderhead” giant alien killbot from the war. Whoops!

When the mercs show up and fire at the killbot, their shot bounces off its shields, and it returns fire with a hell-beam that cleaves their tanks in two. The bot apparently has a taste for blood, so it doesn’t stop its rampage once all of the mercs are destroyed. Instead, it targets the truck full of civilians.

Knowing she’s the only one who can save the passengers, Rouge transforms into her battle mode (a very cool sequence, btw) and engages the bot, which soon becomes more than one bot. No matter, she picks one up and throws it at the other, blowing them both up.

While the truck looks awfully close to the gigantic blast, it doesn’t seem to suffer any damage. I really dug the pulsing choral and breakbeat-studded music that accompanied this confidently storyboarded and animated battle. Also notable is that Rogue’s battle mode is not CGI but traditionally animated. The effort and artistry is appreciated.

All’s well that ends well, with Rouge independently choosing to save the day (no orders from Naomi), and even giving some of her precious chocolate to Emily as a reward for snapping some cool photos. It’s on to Wellstown, unless next week’s episode picks up somewhere else entirely, and Rouge (at least in her red battle mode) is still being pursued by an investigator named Ash. Whatever trouble she and Naomi end up in, I’m sure they’ll try to keep things light and breezy.

Jujutsu Kaisen – 47 (S2 Fin) – World of the Future

It seemed like Tsukumo Yuki had come to save the day, but she only buys a little bit of time, which turns out to be pointless, as “Getou” has already accomplished everything he needs to implement his grand scheme. Yuki still wants to rid the world of cursed energy, but “Getou” wishes to optimize it. That means changing the world into one big cursed energy laboratory.

Using the Idle Transformation he just gained by absorbing Mahito, “Getou” remotely changes two types of non-sorcerers (those with cursed techniques and those who have consumed cursed objects) into sorcerers, dramatically shifting and complicating the balance of power. He’ll have these two group kill each other so he can learn more about cursed energy.

“Getou” asks Yuki to consider that he just unleashed a thousand malevolent Itadori Yuujis. In any case, even he cannot predict the chaos that will ensue, which is the whole point. Even though Yuuji and the others are freed from Uraume’s ice thanks to Chousou’s poison blood, there’s nothing for them or Yuki to do.

“Getou” tells Yuuji, Sukuna’s vessel, he has high expectations for him; he then declares that the world of the future will turn back the clock to the Heian period, which in this universe was the golden age of jujutsu. After unleashing a horde of cursed spirits, he snatches up the Prison Realm with Gojou still inside, and slinks away.

What follows is a montage (or if I’m less charitable, a slideshow) documenting the non-sorcerer world’s reactions to the Shibuya incident. There’s a power vacuum in Japan, but those still ostensibly in charge are going to reveal the existence of cursed spirits.

Jujutsu sorcerers like Yuuji were trained and sworn to protect the ordinary people from cursed spirits, but now there aren’t enough sorcerers to go around. As such, ordinary individuals, groups, couples, and families going about their lives are now potential targets at any moment. It’s hunting season.

These developments really kick up the bleakness level of a season that was nothing but devastating losses for the “good guys.” When a little girl who is apparently on her own is chowing down in an evacuated store, she’s beckoned by a cursed spirit to run outside.

This girl’s reaction is almost serene as the immense monster that nearly swallows her whole is killed by a sorcerer with a katana. That sorcerer is Okkotsu Yuta, and while he’s not precisely the cavalry, he’s not about to let a little girl die on his watch.

Title cards lists five new declarations from Jujutsu HQ: Getou’s death sentence is reinstated, Principal Yaga is sentenced to death, Gojou is exiled from jujutsu society, Yuuji’s death sentence is reinstated, and Yuta is dispatched as Yuuji’s executioner.

These announcements could have been made with visuals, but weren’t; I can’t tell you if this was an intentional creative choice or made out of necessity due to the tight studio deadlines that have plagued the whole season. All I know is it feels like the latter, and that’s not great.

In fact, from the moment “Getou” leaves Yuki, Yuuji and the others in the lurch, this entire episode felt like an extended preview for a confirmed sequel. My three and a half star rating is a product of my mixed feelings about this episode. It was wonderfully bleak, unrelenting, and at times downright creepy. But it was also little more than an ellipsis when I was hoping for more closure after twenty-three weeks.

Mushoku Tensei II – 10 – Putting Two and Two Together

A year has passed since Rudy enrolled at Ranoa. As Sylphie wallows in her cowardice for being unable to tell him who she really is, he continues to carry out his daily routine and interact with Zanoba and Julie, Rinia and Pursena, and the gregarious Badigadi. He even has a meal with his old buddy Soldat, who is briefly in town.

Despite being there a year, Rudy is no closer to finding a cure for his ED, though Nanahoshi Shizuka does at least lend him some literature on teleporting. With all the time he’s spending helping Shizuka with her experiments, he realizes he’s seen less of Fitz lately.

When he spots him seemingly alone with Luke he says Hi, but Fitz avoids him, which wounds Rudy deeply. But when he spots Fitz in the library he’s back to his friendly self. When Rudy says he was worried Fitz hated him, Fitz giggles and tells him there’s no way he’d ever hate him.

Those words and that smile are living rent-free in Rudy’s head. Considering how much Fitz is on his mind, Rudy can’t deny that he’s fallen in love with him. This in turn makes Rudy ponder if he really swings both ways, or…perhaps Fitz might not be a guy after all?

After asking the vice principal proves futile (Rudy suspects he’s under pressure from higher-ups), Rudy returns to the library, more confused and frustrated than ever. Then Fitz suddenly touches him on the shoulder, startling him and causing him to fall backwards.

Fitz instinctively reaches out to arrest his fall, but ends up on the floor, on top of Rudy with his arms around her. Feeling Fitz’s feminine hips (and lack of male anatomy down below) seals it for Rudy: Fitz might run away insisting otherwise, but now Rudy is convinced she’s a woman.

Not only that, she’s the first one to make his little guy move. But Rudy isn’t going to rush matters. He owes it to Fitz, who’s helped him innumerable times, to honor her wishes if Fitz cannot reveal her true gender in public. But he’s now closer to ever to the revelation that Fitz isn’t just a woman, but his beloved childhood friend from back home.

Mushoku Tensei II – 09 – Another Stranger in a Strange Land

Fitz is walking down the hall with Princess Ariel and Luke when she spots Rudy flirting with Pursena. Fitz stops in her tracks, stares, sighs, and then walks straight into the wall. It’s clear to both Ariel and Luke that Sylphie likes Rudy, but are surprised to learn she hasn’t told him her true identity.

Her worst fear is that she tells him and he doesn’t remember her, but Ariel gives her leave to deal with the situation as she sees fit, so there’s nothing stopping Sylphie from telling Rudy…except herself.

Just when I thought this was the direction the episode was going—with Slyphie telling Rudy who she is—it takes a hard left to something else entirely. When Rudy asks Fitz about someone who knows summoning magic, she says a special student called Silent Sevenstar is a specialist.

Rudy knows her as the person who improved the school’s menus and invented uniforms and blackboards, and thus suspected she might be someone from his world. But when he meets her, she’s wearing the same white mask worn by the woman who was with Orstead when Rudy was nearly killed.

Rudy quite naturally wigs the fuck out and even loses consciousness, coming to in Fitz’s lap. Sevenstar removes the mask and speaks Japanese as she reveals her true name: Nanahoshi Shizuka. She was the last person Rudy saw before he was killed and reincarnated in this world.

Shizuka is excited to meet someone else from her world, and has a lot of questions for Rudy, but more importantly, now she believes that since she’s met another person who was sent here, he’ll help her find a way to send them back. But while she doesn’t like this world and has people she wants to get back to, Rudy obviously doesn’t, and has no regrets.

There’s something else different about Shizuka: she wasn’t reincarnated here: she teleported into the middle of the Asura Kingdom with her body and identity intact. Furthermore, in the five years she’s been here, she hasn’t aged a day, and unlike Rudy has absolutely zero mana. While Orstead took her in, she doesn’t believe he summoned her.

Despite having different goals, they both have something the other wants: She’s willing to provide Rudy with information about the mass teleportation, if he’s willing to lend her his mana for her experiments in getting back home.

Throughout all of this, Fitz is listening but unable to understand, as they’re both speaking Japanese. But Rudy agrees in principle to their deal. Shizuka proceeds to tell him more about the mass teleportation incident, this time in the local tongue. But when she says that when she arrived five years ago, the disaster might’ve been the “backlash”, which is to say, her arrival caused it.

When Fitz hears this, he loses it and attacks Shizuka, who defends herself with the rings she’s wearing. Rudy holds her back and tells her she misunderstood: Shizuka was a victim, like them; she wasn’t trying to be teleported, nor did she want to be. Fitz apologizes, and cleans up the mess she made.

Having heard enough for now, Rudy takes his leave with Fitz, saying he’ll think about what Shizuka has said and offered. Shizuka presumes and looks forward to working with him. On their way home, Fitz walks a bit behind Rudy, catching up to his larger gait and asking if he trusts this person. Rudy says he mostly does, even though “parts” of what she said rubbed him the wrong way.

This probably isn’t the best time for Sylphie to reveal who she is, so she doesn’t, but is clearly frustrated about having the opportunity—and indeed this episode—snatched from her by a newcomer who is yet another young lady. Perhaps next week, an episode called “These Feelings,” some progress will be made.

Meanwhile, this was an extremely expository episode, but it dealt with some huge ideas, and Wakamiya Shion’s vocal performance gave Shizuka depth and gravitas. Now we know for certain there’s another Japanese person in this world, and while she’s been with Orsted this whole time, she doesn’t consider Rudy an enemy or a threat, and indeed needs his help. It’s certainly a lot to think about.

Undead Murder Farce – 09 – The Howling Village

In a flashback, a scared little girl is riding on the back of a werewolf fleeing an angry mob. The wolf and girl seek refuge in a watchtower but the mob burns it to the ground. Eight years later, Tsugaru, Aya, and Shizuku have arrived in Heulendorf, in the German Alps, seeking the Forest of Fangs.

They first encounter the village doctor, Heinemann. Apparently, even in this remote village he’s heard of the Cage User, and begs them to take on a troubling case of village girls being taken in the night and later found torn to bits. It’s been happening every four months.

The villagers are understandably uneasy, and Gustav, father of Louise, the latest girl to be taken, even shoves a shotgun in Aya’s face when he first sees her. Aya tells him she’ll leave if he wants, but she believes she can determine who is behind the abductions, and he lowers the gun.

Aya has a good look around the scene of the kidnapping, and determines that a werewolf entered down through the chimney in wolf form, turned into a werewolf and tossed the room to make it seem like it was insane, then wrapped Louise (who must use a wheelchair to get around) in a bag and escaped through the now-broken window.

Aya is able to also rule out a copycat, as the bite marks on items in the recent scene match those from other incidents. While Aya tells Gustav he’s unlikely to see Louise “alive” again, she is still going to do her utmost to discover her kidnapper.

Aya, Tsugaru, and Shizuku then pay a visit to the elderly, bedridden mayor, who fears the village is done for. When he learns that they’re looking for the Forest of Fangs, he says it’s a place “that doesn’t exist in this world”, but can only be accessed by finding the forbidden werewolf village.

The mayor is loath to tell Aya where the village is or how to use the diamond, but when she bets she’ll be able to name the culprit behind the kidnappings within two days, he agrees to tell her. No sooner is this deal struck than two new cowboy-themed Royce agents arrive on the train.

Like the first episodes of the other arcs, this is mostly about setting the stage and introducing the players. Since I’m not the best detective I don’t have any ideas about who the culprit, other than perhaps the girl in the flashback. If she survived the fire, she may now be taking her revenge on the village that killed her mother and family.

Undead Murder Farce – 08 – Moonlit Banquet

I haven’t mentioned it yet, but in the parlence of our times, the music in Undead Murder Farce fuckin’ slaps. The music is by Yamaguchi Yuma, who has only done the music for a handful of anime, none of which I’ve seen other than this. But the mood for each of the many battles that takes place simultaneously this week is set perfectly by Yamaguchi’s punchy combination of orchestral, jazz, and electronic themes.

Lupin suggests a truce with Tsugaru so they can deal with the powerful Reynold, and end up dropping an organ on him. Fatima is wounded by Phantom, who has used his years underground to become the master of acoustics. Shizuku looks well matched against Carmilla, until she starts feeling the effects of the vampire’s aphrodisiac venom.

There’s a lot going on, and all of it is fun. Holmes and Watson’s fight with Aleister Crowley is interrupted by the arrival of Moriarty, whom Sherlock had presumed died eight years ago, and his attendant Victor. Even when Moriarty proceeds to provide an infodump of how he’s built a small army of monsters, it’s still kept visually interesting.

His crown jewel is Jack the Ripper, who like Tsugaru is an artificially created hybrid. Tsugaru is a human-oni hybrid, but Jack also has the offensive and defensive prowess of a vampire baked into his DNA. I’m not sure quite what you call what he does to poor doomed Fatima (scalloping? filleting?) but goddamn is it brutal.

Moriarty happens to be the person who stole Aya’s body, and he’s been using it for research; Jack also has a touch of her immortality baked in. He and his troupe of baddies, named Banquet, want Fogg’s diamond so they can locate the last missing piece for his chimeric masterpiece: werewolves. Needless to say, Moriarty is in no hurry to return Aya’s body to her. His research and the discoveries it will reveal have only just begun for him.

Tsugaru might be able to tell he’s got one tough opponent in Jack, who has a lot more going on in his bloodwork than just oni. Jack also recognizes him as the only test subject to escape Moriarty’s dungeon-lab. Tsugaru gives it the college try, but Jack bests him, then deems him unworthy of even being finished off. Jack then fires a flare to signal to the other Banquet members that the diamond has been secured.

He doesn’t know it, but in doing so, he saved Shizuku’s life. Under the woozy sexy spell of Carmilla’s venom, Carmilla is about to slowly have her way with her when Carmilla finds Lestrade’s silver cross and stabs the vampire in the hip. Carm is about to go medieval on Shizuku, but the flare stops her, and she withdraws along with Moriarty and the others.

Aya, Sherlock, Holmes, Fogg, and the other detectives gather back in Fogg’s study to commiserate being well and truly beaten this night, and are joined by a still…amorous Shizuku. While Tsugaru fought Jack, Lupin fled with Phantom, and they presume they took the silver safe with them, as with everything going on Aya completely forgot about it.

As for the Penultimate Night…well, Jack is about to show it to Moriarty and the others when he realizes the pocket he put it in has a hole in it—a hole made by the sticky-fingered Tsugaru while they were tussling. I got a big dopamine kick when Tsugaru cheekily produces the diamond, which he ultimately kept out of both Lupin and Banquet’s hands.

Aya has already translated the writing carved within the diamond, and suggests they hold it up to an arc streetlamp. The UV light emanating from the lamp turns the Europium within the diamond a glowing red, creating a theretofore hidden word: Fangzahnewald, or Forest of Fangs, the location of the werewolves everyone seems to be searching for.

Needless to say, and to quote Sherlock, the game is afoot. Aya isn’t just going to let Moriarty keep her body. She wants it back! Nor does she want him to gain the power to dominate the world. If he did that, she wouldn’t be able to solve fun mysteries with Tsugaru and Shizuku by her side! So Moriarty and his merry band of weirdoes are the logical next target. Until then, this was a superbly fun supernatural crowd-pleaser.

Undead Murder Farce – 03 – Trust the Process

Tsuguru and Aya join Lord Godard’s family for a meal. While Tsugaru, the human carriage driver, and the human butler Alfred have human food, Godard and his children drink animal blood in bowls like tomato soup.

His son Claude thinks the pair to be con artists, but Aya proceeds to explain in detail how she knew the driver’s wife had recently gotten him to stop drinking. She even gets him to feel bad and realize what a fortunate man he is! I also love how Aya and Tsuguru chuckle at each others’ jokes.

Since she’s unable to partake in the meal, Aya uses it to lay out the list of most logical subjects. Only two lack alibis: Alfred and Claude. This irks Claude in particular, and by extension his dad the Lord, but Aya assures them it’s unlikely an outsider did it.

Kurosawa Tomoyo is masterful at giving Aya a calm, collected, and direct manner that commands respect. Among everyone only she is the master detective, and those who doubt or question her process are quite frankly out of their element and resorting to emotionalism.

That said, we later learn that Aya doesn’t have a clue yet who killed Lady Hannah, and the dinner conversation was merely to buy her some time. When Claude confronts them in the hallway, he threatens to snap Tsuguru’s neck. In doing so, Aya confirms that his, and everyone else at the dinner table, had impeccably clean hands.

While Shizuku stays with Alfred and the young maid Giselle (and assures them she doesn’t work for Tsuguru and they can insult him all they like), Godard takes Tsuguru and Aya back out to the woods, where he once again insists that his household is innocent.

Godard then asks if they’ve heard of “Fushi”, or the immortal one. Tsuguru says he has. Aya adds that while they’re indeed immortal, even they can be defeated by an oni, only they were otherwise fairly weak and stupid, and driven to extinction in the Great Purge.

Godard then points out that Aya and Tsuguru might be talking about themselves: the immortal one and the oni. He then gets an arrow to the neck, and then rushes into the woods to capture the human vampire hunter who loosed it.

He’s about to kill him in “self-defense”, but Aya stays his boot. Instead, she questions the man, named Josef, and quickly learns that he was on a train near Berlin the night of Hannah’s murder. That said, he came to avenge his friend Hugo, another hunter who vowed to kill Godard.

Aya’s last question allows her to determine that even Josef wasn’t sure that Hugo’s stake was silver. As thanks for his being so forthright, she allows Josef to run off unharmed, irking Lord Godard. But he hired Aya, and so it falls on him to trust her and not his own instincts in this matter.

For her part, Aya believes she now has everything she needs to solve the mystery—or as she calls it, “this humorous and tragic farce of a murder case.” I’m looking forward to her conclusions.

Undead Murder Farce – 02 – Ahead of the Game

We travel from Japan to eastern France this week, as Lord Godard and his son are out hunting deer. We learn he’s a vampire who wishes to “meet humanity halfway”, accepting, for instance, the gift of a rifle even though he doesn’t really need one to hunt. Godard returns home to find his wife—also a vampire—has been murdered with a silver stake.

The town and the press soon catch wind of the tragedy, suspecting a vampire hunter might be involved. Among the journalists is young Annie Kerber, who is excited to learn that Godard, whom she trusts as an ally to humans, has hired the “Cage User”  Shinuchi Tsugaru and Rindou Aya to investigate the murder.

While on a not very comfortable wagon ride (though I would have liked to see at least part of their boat ride from Japan) Tsugaru and Aya exchange some bons mots between themselves, Shizuku, and the driver. Upon arriving, we learn all the players in this whodunit: Lord Godard, his two sons Claude and Raoul, his daughter Charlotte, the butler Alfred, and the maid Giselle.

Since he is himself supernatural, Godard isn’t surprised upon meeting Aya’s head. On the contrary, he is happy to have a detective of note on this case. Aya immediately compiles a list of seven questions they must answer in order to discover the culprit, but only reveals five of them for now. Charlotte makes an appearance, but is freaked out by Tsugaru and the bodyless Aya.

This episode is primarily setup for the murder mystery to come, introducing the players, the setting, and creating the atmosphere. All we know for sure is that it’s unlikely for Godard or Raoul to be the killers, as they were out hunting. Based on nothing at all, my primary suspect is either an outside vampire hunter, or the maid. We’ll see how close I came as the case continues to unfold.

Undead Murder Farce – 01 (First Impressions) – Getting Ahead in Life

Right off the heels of Jigokuraku comes another stylish supernatural period piece, this time taking place during the Meiji era (1897 to be precise). Shinuchi Tsugaru (whose name means “headliner”) is a member of a supernatural troupe, where he fights monsters in cage matches under the name Oni Slayer. He’s feared in town as another one of the monsters, and by the same rabble who think a regular stray cat is an ayakashi.

One night, Shinichi is visited by a maid who happens to have a long rifle with a katana for a bayonet. The two dance under the moonless night in a very clever and kinetic little fight, until a voice that is not the maid’s is satisfied. The voice proceeds to demonstrate that she knows quite a bit about Shinichi: that he’s a half oni hybrid, but poorly made, such that one day his oni side will consume him.

The voice says she offers a way to extend his life, and all he has to do is kill her. The maid lifts the covered birdcage and the curtain around it opens to reveal the severed head of a beautiful young lady with piercing blue eyes. She introduces herself as Rindou Aya. She’s a 947-year old teenager who up until recently had a body, until a hybrid like Shinuchi absconded with her body and took it abroad.

Ever since his transformation, Shinuchi has treated life pretty much like a joke if not a complete inconvenience. He knows what’s coming, but he performs explicitly because he knows one day he’ll go berserk and take out as many lowlifes who patronize his line of work as possible.

But now that Rindou has offered to extend his life, he’s willing to change course to a less nihilistic end. But in exchange, he rejects Rindou’s desire to be killed. Instead, he offers to help her get her body back. She’ll be the brains, and he’ll be the brawn.

This isn’t just altruism, either: Shinuchi correctly surmises that the same foreign geezer in a top hat with a cane engraved with an “M” who took Rindou’s body is the one who took his humanity. He’ll be restoring Rindou’s body and getting some sweet revenge.

All in all, it sounds like a mutually beneficial deal. Rindou declares she’ll fulfill her end of the bargain and extend his life now to seal their deal. To do so, she’ll spare a bodily fluid, specifically her saliva, which she’ll transfer to him with a kiss. And boy howdy what a creepy, quirky, cool, and beautiful kiss it is!

Kurosawa Tomoyo’s Rindou blends Sakamoto Maaya’s ethereal Oshino Shinobu with Kitou Akari’s matter-of-fact Iwanaga Kotoko. Yashiro Taku does a fine variant of Tsuda Kenjirou’s apathetic velvety gravitas with Shunichi. There’s deft direction from Omata Shinichi (Kaguya-sama) and a compelling score from Yamaguchi Yama, and the OP and ED that totally whip ass.

Put it all together, and Undead Murder Farce fields a strong debut here. It’s a little talky, sure, but it also gives you plenty to look at and hear while the talking is happening, plus the information and characterization being conveyed is clear, concise, and intriguing. I’m definitely in!

Hell’s Paradise – 07 – The Real Battle

When the two ethereal-looking lovers spot Choubei and Touma, the one with golden hair stands up from their necking session, protests the presence of humans, and transforms into a male form, crushing a fruit in his hand. When Gabimaru spots a little girl with pink hair, he gives chase, leaving Yuzuriha and Senta to deal with the girl’s Groot-like protector.

Yuzuriha swipes Senta’s glasses then drinks some kind of tincture that causes her to secrete a thick viscous liquid from her skin and orifices. Unfortunately, like Senta, we’re not able to see more of her secret ninjutsu, but the next we do see her, the Groot is on the ground.

As for the little girl, she’s extremely quick through the forest, but so is Gabi. When he catches up to her, she Judo-throws him, then later throws a punch that demonstrates strength far beyond the presumed limits of her slender frame.

Gabimaru, desperate to reunite with his wife and thus prepared to do anything, uses his ninjutsu to ensnare the girl in vines. After he monologues about being tired of everything so difficult and warning the girl to tell him about the elixir of life or she’ll “force him to do more,” the girl bursts into blubbering tears. Gabimaru is disarmed, and Sagiri rightfully shoots him a judging look.

Sagiri takes the girl in her arms to comfort her, and they reunite her with the Groot, who tells them he’ll take them to their village for a meal and to discuss the elixir. Yuzuriha agrees with Gabimaru that this could be a trap…until the Groot tells them they have a bath, then she’s on Team Go to the Village.

After Yuzuriha and Sagiri enjoy a nice hot soak (Sagiri insisting she’s not relaxing her responsibilities while making a very pleased sound upon immersing herself made me LOL) Yuzuriha and Senta eat the fruit provided and don’t transform into flower zombies.

The Groot, who is named Houko, explains that there is indeed an Elixir of Life, but it is located at the very center of the island, the map of which is three concentric circles representing the three regions: shore/woods, village, and mists.

Houko is fine sharing this information and showing the humans hospitality, because he’s certain they’re not getting off this island alive. That won’t be because of him—he harbors neither affection nor animosity—but because of the Tensen.

So far, Gabimaru and Sagiri & Co. have only encounter the Soushin—monsters of the forest region. In the central region of Horai dwell the Tensen, who are the gold and pink-haired individuals Choubei and Touma encounter. Described as perfect, eternal beings, no human is any match for the Tensen.

We know Choubei is no slouch, but his giant blade is shattered by Goldie’s bare hand, and both he and Touma are tossed into a pit packed with former human victims, all technically still alive but partially transformed into flowers and in a constant state of bliss.

After Houko’s exposition, Gabimaru heads to the bath with Sagiri tagging along. He chastises her for letting her guard down (we cut to her nodding off after the bath and meal) but she insists she didn’t. When Gabi walks in on the little girl (whose name is Mei), she bursts into tears again.

Mei runs to Sagiri, but Gabi doesn’t understand the fuss; in his village everyone shared the baths except the village chief, who had a private one. As Sagiri pulls up her sleeves and gives the filthy Mei a proper Edo-style bathhouse experience and washes her hair, her remark about Gabi stretching himself too thin takes him back to a memory of Yui saying the same thing.

Gabimaru was initially embarrassed to have his back washed by Yui, but also just dislikes baths. He believes they wash away his “edge”, to which Yui responds by dumping a bucket of water on his head and asking him to clarify if he thinks his wife is wantonly robbing him of his luck in battle.

No, she’s insistent that he’s stretched too thin, and has to take the time to relax and reinvigorate, so he can stay prepared for “the real battle”—her term for life itself. In this battle, he’s the general, she’s the strategist, and victory is living peacefully, honestly, and true to one’s ideals.

Gabi asks if he, as general, can issue a strategic order: for Yui to stop wearing her hair so it hides the scar on her face. He tells her she’s beautiful, making her beam with happiness. We haven’t seen much of Yui, but she makes such an impact in the times we have that I’m confident she’s a worthy rival to Yuzaki Tsukasa for Best Wife of the Season.

Back in the present, Gabimaru tells Mei not to be embarrassed by her scar. When Sagiri says that’s not so easy for a woman, Gabi begs to differ: he knows a woman with a large scar, but no one is more beautiful. Not only is Sagiri “dumbfounded” by this respectable comment, but Mei seems to be won over, as she grabs Gabimaru’s sleeve and looks admiringly upon him.

Outside the bath, as Sagiri smiles over the prospect of Gabimaru being a good person who continues to change little by little, Gabimaru wears a fearful face. Even if his wife told him to relax occasionally, he’ll never see her again unless he maintains his focus.

He knows where the Elixir of Life is, and the kind of beings who may stand in his way. He’ll use the information Houko provided to keep moving forward, knowing he’s sure to collect a few more scars before the mission concludes. If he can look upon Yui’s beautiful face once more, it will have all been worth it.