The Summer 2024 Anime Preview Guide

Delico's Nursery

In the past, the vampire race that ruled over the land had the power of immortality. In the present day, this power has been lost, and the world has been divided into two groups: the now-mortal vampire race and the human race that coincides with their limited life span. However, it is said that somewhere in this world exists one sole Vampire that still has eternal life. TRUE OF VAMP: The originator of Vamps. Connecting the first and last letters, people called the origins of the vampire race "TRUMP."

Delico's Nursery is based on Kenichi Suemitsu's TRUMP 2009 stage play. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.

Hear me out: hot vampire dads. That's it. That's the premise for Delico's Nursery, or at least it appears to be as of the first episode. Yes, okay, there's another plotline about the ludicrously portmanteaued TRUMP – that's TRUe of vaMP, and I can't help but think that TRAMP would have worked better – and a serial murder case, but that's rather less interesting.

Our hero, Dali Delico, is part of a league of secret vampire agents apparently charged with solving crimes that the Police of the Blood can't handle, the Vlad Agency, but he's also a widower who promised his (murdered?) wife that he'd look after their children, and he knows precisely which job he's more invested in. His male pals in the Vlad Agency don't like his answer, so Dali makes a deal with them: he'll work on the case if they'll also take over child-rearing duties from their wives and nannies. And thus a cover for their investigation is born, along with the oh-so-hilarious premise of fathers being involved in raising their children while working.

I admit to more sarcasm than is perhaps strictly necessary here. I'm the daughter of a very involved father who routinely took me and my sisters to work with him and took us on adventures on weekends and school vacations, and I firmly believe that dads ought to be involved in raising their kids, but I also recognize that that's not always been the case, at least in terms of social expectations. And Delico's Nursery is clearly set in a 19th-century world – and a beautiful one, at that. I love the backgrounds in this episode a ridiculous amount, from the baroque architecture to the furniture to the Victorian levels of clutter in every room. The animation is a little too smooth in places where it oughtn't be, such as the movement of the horse-drawn carriages, but there's an ornate quality to the visuals that really works for me, and for the story thus far.

The selling point, at least in terms of plot, seems to be that Dali wants to make a real point or two to his fellow agents of Vlad. Yes, he has a duty to Vampire and Country, but he's also got one to his family, and he's much more invested in raising his toddler Raphael and infant Ul than he is in finding a serial killer. There's perhaps an argument to be made about how catching the killer could ultimately help his children, but Dali made a promise to the late Frida, and he's going to fulfill it. He also implies that he thinks his colleagues are both missing out and being foolish by not being involved in raising their own children – something all of them have. When Gerhard tries to glare a squalling baby into silence and Henrique looks like he's being handed a grenade rather than a bottle of milk, it drives the point home: these guys are dads in name only. Dali wants them to know exactly what they're asking of him by telling him to work while child-rearing, and I feel like he may also want them to understand why he wants to take care of his kids himself. That's enough to make me interested in seeing a second episode – it's not exactly Vampire x Family, but I'm rooting for one of these guys to get thrown up on or peed on as they attempt to be badass investigators.

There's a pretty interesting idea here. We have all seen countless vampire stories about them being brooding and dark and usually involved in some kind of gothic skulduggery, and the opening minutes of this episode are nothing new if you've seen anything in the vein of The Case Study of Vanitas. The twist, it turns out, is that alongside all that familiar formula, our beautiful vampire men are also going to have to take care of their young children, as Dali Delico's dead wife tasked him to give their children all his love, and he's taken that to mean becoming an involved parent. That's a cool idea, and I'm somewhat intrigued to see more, but in execution this episode left me a little too cold to be excited.

Mostly, it's how the episode just goes in circles through much of its back half. Dali's compatriots in the Vampire Cops want him to dedicate himself to their latest mission, Dali says no because he wants to be with his sons more, the other guys tell him that's ridiculous. That exact scenario plays out about five times before credits roll, and it's only on the last iteration that anything gets accomplished. Dali's connection with his kids also isn't fleshed out much here – their interactions sum up to putting the toddler down for a nap and giving a bottle to the newborn. The premise doesn't really land emotionally without a more personal familial connection. There's still room to have some interesting things to say about child-rearing, especially in challenging the idea that men are "above" such menial tasks as changing diapers and being involved with their kids in any way. I don't have as much confidence that those ideas will be explored based on how this episode went down.

Then there's the visuals, which are pretty damn striking, but in a way that I worry will start to melt as the season goes on. The show was already hit with a month-long delay, and while this first episode looks good, its style and ambition are the kind that rarely last in the current production bubble. I love the thin linework on the characters, making them feel soft and appealing while also blending remarkably well with the heavily filtered background art. There's a ton of effort put into capturing the ambiance of Delico's mansion and estate, along with the overall fashion choices. There's not a ton of dynamic animation, but strong editing and storyboarding keep even the more repetitious segments of this episode visually compelling.

The biggest obstacle to me watching more, however, is that I just don't really like being around a bunch of loud kids, and this episode has multiple scenes with loud, extended crying babies. I just do not feel like sitting through that to see if this show has something cogent to say about vampiric paternity leave. If you've got a stronger tolerance for crying infants, or if the incredibly hot bat-dads are a stronger draw, then there's a lot of potential for a good time.