Anime

Dies irae Episode 7: Terrible Dancing and Memories of Daddy

Quick Summary

In Dies irae Episode 7, “Swastika,” Marie sinks into the deep, deep water only to awaken in Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich’s arms. They’re dancing as his minions play a waltz. She is understandably confused. After all, it’s hard to reconcile a spear through the heart one moment with a formal ball the next! Later, Ren Fujii regains consciousness as Rea Himuro begins to unchain him. He confused at his situation, but before she can fill him in, she leaves, upset. Valeria Trifa arrives to usher Fujii to a meeting with Reinhard. What does such a super villain have to say to Fujii? Can our hero even sit in Reinhard’s presence without Marie? Or will so much concentrated evil just vaporize him?

Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.

What’s In This Post

Quick Episode Summary
3 Favorite Moments
Thoughts
Related Posts

3 Favorite Moments

Marie is surprised that she isn’t dead — maybe she’s wondering why Reinhard doesn’t know any better dance moves? Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

Did you expect Marie to wake up in Reinhard’s arms on a ballroom dance floor (0:49)? I didn’t! I thought that as soon as the underwater darkness swallowed her, the show would cut to the opening credits, or Fujii (or Shirou Yusa) would somehow save her. Instead, she opens her eyes to find herself dancing! At the same time I’m saying this was one of my favorite moments in the episode, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that their dance moves are among the worst things I’ve ever seen animated. They moved almost as if they were participating in a log-rolling contest. Except without the skill the two athletes showed in the linked video. And with considerably less grace. But at least the switch from abyss to dance floor was interesting!

Ren’s unnatural birth provides a solid explanation for why he could level up so quickly. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

We learn a little more about Fujii’s “birth” (4:40).Apparently, a married scientist engineered Fujii from Karl Kraft/Mercuious, perhaps through cloning or other genetic manipulation. I’d really like some more detail on how the scientist fits into the picture. What happened to him, his wife, or his daughter? Do we already know some of them by different names? I guess it explains Fujii’s affinity for Marie’s powers, though. That makes it easier for me to accept how easily he seemed to get good at using the blades.

Valeria’s taunting Himuro after she partially freed Fujii. Apparently, she and Valeria are engaged in some kind of ongoing battle of wits, and she’s had enough of it. Saying that she hates him, she storms off. Riza Brenner had been walking with Valeria, and as Himuro storms away, Riza looks back and forth between the two (9:53). After a second’s hesitation, she hurries after Himuro. It was just a little gesture, but it showed that a) Brenner’s capable of at least some human emotions and b) there’s dissent even among Reinhard’s inner circle.

Thoughts

When faced with the choice to follow Himuro or stay with Valeria, Riza chose to support Himuro. I wonder what that means? Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

We got a few new tidbits of information this week. Marie is experiencing more emotions, and that should add some interesting possibilities for her character. Fujii had an abnormal birth, and that explains some of of the abnormal (or super-normal) traits we’ve seen in his character. The entire city’s part of a giant magical seal constructed out of swastikas that, when opened, will allow Reinhard to descend and begin his reign of destruction. But did we really need an entire episode to get those points across?

More to the point: Didn’t we already suspect some of them?

Reinhard asked Fujii to “Show me the unknown.” Showing versus telling — sounds like a great idea! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

One of the traits I most enjoyed about this show is its tendency to understate. It didn’t over-explain anything. It seemed to rely on the viewer to fill in the blanks. Now, I admit that there’s an argument to be made about whether the show took that concept to the extreme. But it was something I liked, because it gave my imagination a lot of room to maneuver. Never mind I seldom guessed right. The process of guessing was still fun!

This week’s episode seemed to veer 180 degrees. This episode was practically all conversation about what we already suspected to knew. I’ll grant that a little new information came our way. But again, did they really need an entire episode to get that across?

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

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