Dance with Devils

Episode 11

Get ready for this, everyone – in this episode, Lindo takes off the shirt. Not that we get to see him shirtless or anything, but somehow traveling to the castle of Lord Nesta, ruler of the vampires, makes you change clothes. (Shiki fans, prepare yourselves for some skin.)

All sarcasm aside, this is actually a good episode of Dance with Devils, and not just because of the costume changes. Ritsuka has shown glimmerings of intelligence before in the show, but this is the week when she, at least temporarily, proves it: she knows that her existence as the grimoire is making things difficult for others (to say nothing of herself) and so she is determined to just take care of it. No more letting big brother or hot guys handle things – Ritsuka figures that since she's the grimoire, this is her job. In some ways this allows us to at least partially excuse her apparent idiocy in earlier episodes: perhaps she was always making an effort to resolve things without help. Not that her decision to let Jek take her to Uncle Nesta was a brilliant plan; Nesta, who keeps women chained to his throne in case he's feeling peckish (they appear to be the equivalent of the granola bar you keep in your desk), claims that he only needs a drop of her blood to relieve her of the grimoire. (Strangely, the Doberman Pincers are off-leash.) After being scrubbed like a freshly pulled tuber, dressed in a blue wedding dress (complete with mourning veil), and locked in a room, Ritsuka suddenly wonders if maybe, just maybe, she oughtn't to trust the man who just spent five minutes raving about how hot her aunt was. In the best, most brilliant move she has made all season, Ritsuka picks up and hides a sharp pair of scissors to use against the vampires. It may be the most rewarding scene in the show.

This is a reverse harem, however, so Ritsuka clearly can't be allowed to save herself, at least not fully. When Loewen tells Rem that Nesta has Ritsuka, he suddenly snaps to and admits that he loves her. Then all six guys go charging off to Nesta's castle, which looks oddly like the ruins of the Silver Millenium in Sailor Moon. They naturally arrive in the nick of time to treat us to a song, during which all six proclaim their love for Ritsuka in what is the song most likely to cause second-hand embarrassment if you're prone to it. Naturally the episode ends soon thereafter, with no guarantees about who will live, who will die, and who will get the girl; tune in next week to find out.

What really works about this episode is not just watching Ritsuka finally take action on her own, although that is inarguably a major draw. It also brings things full circle, not only returning us to the opening episode, but also tying up some of the plot threads from earlier in the series – Ritsuka and Lindo's happy childhood becomes a source of strength for Ritsuka, she learns about her aunt's past with Nesta, and she realizes that Azuna would not have wanted her to blame herself for letting her die. That last may be the most important moment for Ritsuka; when she was taking responsibility for the loss of Azuna, she was also allowing herself to believe that she was disposable, that if something happened to her in trying to get rid of the grimoire, it was deserved, because Azuna died in her stead. Once she comes to understand that Azuna wouldn't want her to see things that way, that's when she begins to make decisions that show she's thinking.

Things will finish up next week, and we'll hopefully continue to see Ritsuka do something intelligent even though her knights in shining armor have shown up. I'm not sure how they can top a six-fold love song or a pomeranian terrorizing two big Dobies, but hopefully Dance with Devils will end on the same vaguely ridiculous, thoroughly entertaining note on which it began.

Rating: B+

Dance with Devils is currently streaming on Funimation.