Dies Irae

Episode 10

It's a good thing that Dies irae is going to have six online-only episodes after its TV broadcast concludes in two weeks, because it's nowhere near a reasonable stopping point, much less a reasonable conclusion. The story still feels like it's only in Act 2 of the story – which I guess is appropriate if there will be 18 episodes.

In other words, Ren isn't anywhere near powerful enough yet to take on the more badass subordinates of Heydrich, much less Heydrich himself. It quickly becomes apparent how far he is out of his depth as Samiel, aka Eleonore Von Wittenburg, goes on the offensive while her giant flaming skeleton initiates the fifth swastika. Theoretically Eleonore isn't out to kill him, but that's more just an excuse for why she doesn't obliterate him at the first opportunity. After all, she can knock him out without working up a sweat, leaving Marie to manifest and get beaten up while nominally protecting her man. That's actually kind of sweet in a cheesy way, but at least the series is trying.

This episode also offers some background details from other characters, which helps fill in at least a few holes. Now we know what stake Kei has in all this and how she's connected to her predecessor. Her grandfather made a special weapon that sucks the soul out of its wielder, and part of her wish to bring people back is to put an end to that. That's all well and good, but it also makes the whole “she's insane” bit from last episode more pathetic and unnecessary. We also get a bit more on how Riza fits into various relationships, as well as firmer evidence that the priest may be playing both sides for his own self-interests; he does offer to team up with Ren at the end of the episode, after all. Also left unclear is whether Kasumi or Rea is truly Riza's granddaughter, but at least for the moment we can assume that she's looking out for both of them for some reason. (Of course, she doesn't have a problem killing off everyone else...) There's still a lot of necessary context missing, and the story is not doing a particularly good job of piecing it together.

For an episode that should be more action-oriented, not much actually happens beyond Ren and Marie getting tossed around like rag dolls, and what does happen isn't all that exciting. At least the giant skeletons are still cool, as is Eleonore being particularly unbothered by being decapitated. The script also seems to be taking further cues from Fate/stay night in bogging down event progression by having characters drone on in boring fashion.

Despite all of these criticisms, this episode doesn't actually suck. Unlike some previous episodes, this week actually delivers some entertainment value. Still, I'm not sure if ascent to mediocrity is something that should actually be praised.

Rating: C+

Dies irae is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.