The Duke of Death and His Maid

BrewWarrior Nov 29, 2021

9.3

You are a fool if you fail to enjoy this because of the animation. Period. Watched all 12 episodes in one sitting, I just could not stop watching.  I'm going to, against my better judgment, reveal a bit of myself in this review; not like many will read it anyway. As a single father of 4 at age 42,ive totally given up and lost any hope of discovering pure or true love. I'm not talking about the genuine love or dedication between child and parent. I'm talking about me, ever, allowing myself the risk of pain, to love or be loved. This anime hit extremely hard in the feels. This is one of a few anime I've ever seen a glimpse of what, I feel, genuine love must look like. And, I shall cherish it.    "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." This is a love story through and through. For me, the above quote encapsulates the primary romance in the anime.  The characters are simply wonderful. Each one just oozes personality and there is a reason for the viewer to love, hate, pity, or cherish them. Please pay close attention to the subtle messages in the WAY the characters say things. Especially Alice. Top 3 favorite anime of all time for me. Honestly, I personally feel the Ecchi tag should be removed. Nothing in the entire show is "perverted" or "raunchy". Not judgements either, I love ecchi. It has its place. But this is not ecchi. If I'm wrong, it's the most pure hearted and tastefully done ecchi I've ever seen. 

HikenNoAsxce Aug 21, 2021

7

This is a fairly average anime. A boy who kills anything that comes into direct contact with him. And his loving maid who is determined to say by his side. Animation: This uses a filter that just adds a Canvas texture to all of the background paintings. It doesn't add to this story its just meh. This uses a 3D rendering engine similar to video games to render the anime but with a 2D filter on top. This looks good in stationary shots but as soon as characters do any sort of movement, you can see the flaws of this system. Example 1 There is a scene where the Maid, Alice slowly raises her head. This is supposed to be dramatic. But this result is a weird slow-mo head tilt. The engine can do slow motion but can't do characters moving slowly. Example 2 The Duke tries to get ready and fidgets with his belt. But since this engine can't do interactions properly it looks like he is just rubbing his palms over his belt. This engine isn't suited for close-up detailed shots. It is possible but would most likely require a lot more work. Story: It's super slow in the beginning with most of the time being spent on gags, jokes, or skits, rather than pushing the story forward. You have to sit through a lot of repetitive stuff before the story really kicks off. Characters: There are some interesting characters here but the ones that matter the most are the Duke and the Maid. It's really their interaction, teasing, and flirting that keeps your interest.

krofire Mar 26, 2022

8

J. C. Staff’s 2021 gothic romantic-fantasy was animated by Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment and features a main character cursed to live without love. Victor – the young “Duke of Death” - cannot touch another living thing without killing it. The curse was placed upon him by a witch when he was quite young but the reasons for it remain obscure. His family have banished him to their country house where his fate sent him into a spiral of suicidal despair. To his rescue comes the beautiful Alice – his Maid. They were childhood friends and she agrees to return as his maid. Her love for him is over-whelming and brings him back from the precipice. The story mainly revolves around his attempts to lift the curse, for, if not, then he will lose his title to the family estate. Yet he cares less for that than he does for taking his beloved Alice’s hand in marriage. Despite the obvious nature of the tale, it is also quite funny. Alice is atrociously flirtations with the Duke and his reactions are priceless as you can imagine. He lives in constant fear of accidentally touching her and killing the girl he loves. As the story unfolds the Duke befriends two young witches, Cuff and Zain, who agree to help him as best they can. They are joined in their hunt for a cure by the Duke’s young sister Viola and his butler Rob. The mystery grows and grows as we learn the curse has something to do with enigmatic senior witch Daleth and her relationship both with Alice’s mother Sharon and the Duke’s mother Gerbera. The style of animation is a little unusual and not necessarily to everyone’s taste. The mains characters appear to be hybrid CGI/hand drawn animations. As CGI they are quite good yet lack a little subtlety in their design. It is well executed and better than a lot of CGI we have seen yet it still looks synthetic and unnatural on the screen. The original manga was written and illustrated by Koharu Inoue starting 2018 and ending 2022. Season one ends with no conclusion to the story yet it obviously has a lot of mileage and the audience will want more. Season two is expected before the end of 2022 so those of us who loved this story should not have long to wait to learn if the Duke can unravel the mystery behind his curse. Since everyone will want the young couple to be able to touch, we are all hoping for a happy ending. The characterisations here are all adorable and the storyline well-paced and entertaining. Although lacking a little in execution this is a thoroughly decent show.