English Dub Review: Dies Irae “Twilight Girl”

And for something we think you’ll really like…

Overview (Spoilers)

Meet Ren Fujii. He and his buddy Shirou are having a bit of a fight right now. No, literally, they beat each other up so bad they had to go to the hospital. As soon as he is discharged, Ren makes a break for it. He doesn’t want his other “roomie” to catch up with hi- too late. Meet Kasumi Ayase, kendo enthusiast and a sort of house mother for the gang of them. She, Ren, and Shirou live in separate apartments next to each other, but the place is a bit run down. There are holes in the walls big enough for them to fit through, so they’ve basically shared a giant, three bed, three bath, three kitchen apartment. Where are their parents in all this? Doornail dead. Anyways, as reparations for ditching her, Kasumi wants Ren to join her at the Swords of the World exhibit at the local museum. This is not his cup of tea. He suffers from a form of aichmophobia, an extreme fear of sharp objects. It seems to stem from some trauma in his youth. While staggering about in the museum, he spots a mysterious character in a shadowy hall. Following him, Ren discovers a hidden part of the exhibit: a guillotine. Both he and Kasumi are creeped out, but things are about to get worse. A ghost emerges from the blade, grasping his face. He feints, finally reaching his fear limit. However, Kasumi doesn’t see the spirit. Strange. That night, he has a nightmare of the ghost coming to him again, calling him Cagliostro. He then finds his head in a guillotine, and he and his dream head are legally separated. Thoroughly disturbed, he awakens and goes to school. Apparently, someone at the school found a decapitated body. Know who that is? Rea Himuro. And she’s waiting up on the roof for Ren. They are friends, and she is honestly trying to be there for him, but she has a twisted way of showing it. This girl is one long, drawn-out double entendre after another. He decides after talking to her to skip class and sleep on the roof of the school. He awakes late in the evening, and walks home with Kasumi. Unbeknownst to them, dark forces are gathering.

Our Take

The writing of this episode is much better than the previous one. The story is a bit more grounded and linear, so it is far easier to understand what is going on. Where the last one felt like it was bouncing all over the place, this episode has a stable point of view, Ren. There are still a few mysteries, even with the things in the modern day. We don’t know why Shirou and Ren fought, or why Shirou ran off. That just scratches the surface, though. We can’t forget the characters shown in the first episode, especially after how things ended. But, it isn’t all mystery and doom and gloom here. This episode was fuuuuuny. Between Kasumi’s quirks and Rea’s filthy mind, I laughed quite a bit.

I liked the animation in this episode. They didn’t use any CG, opting for entirely traditional, and it’s pretty high quality. I haven’t spotted a single error in the entire episode, and that is with a lot of complicated movement. Is there long hair? It’s going to be moving with the breeze, and you will see individual strands. The animators are working hard here, and it’s got a great premise for the rest of the series. I also enjoyed the art style and the amount of personality behind the character movement. Kasumi is unique in her flair as she scolds Ren for ditching her. It’s kinda funny how she gets u in his face, glaring at him. There’s a ton of detail in the eyes of these characters, even when we aren’t at a close-up.

Similarly, voice acting rocked. Again, I lead with Kasumi as an example. Madeline Morris gave her irritated voice so much character, it actually made her more believable. It also went very well with her getting up on Ren’s grill. Trina Nishimura was having fun as Rea in this episode. She’s playing the character a bit closer in tone to Mikasa (from Attack on Titan) than she is a few of the other characters I’ve heard he voice. However, she takes that sound and that monotone base and makes it work in a whole new way with these jokes. Rea is pulling off all these dirty jokes as deadpan, and it is hilarious. Even more so when she’s on the phone, pretending she’s doing the deed with Ren. Just great. Keep it up, ladies.