English Dub Review: Doreiku the Animation “Servitude”

The following episode contains some disturbing content. You have been warned.

 

Overview (Spoilers below)

Right out of the bat, “Servitude” make clear in its goal to make feel as uncomfortable as possible with its showing. This chapters centered its first half in Julia’s backstory and the start of her relationship/obsession with Ryuuo. She is clearly a birdbrained girl with a disturbing lack of wit and backbone, and we know she was supposed to be in a dark place, but her latching into a kid at least a decade her junior is nothing short of repulsive.

My tame skepticism slowly turned into incredulous horror as I watched how close she was becoming to the little white-haired brat. And I don’t know if the kid is a genius, not only for tricking an adult into slavery but because his first command – because I would have done the same, I admit – or if Julia’s IQ is even lower than we suspected as she felt for the simple, if underhanded, trick. And this is admittedly the strangest version of Stockholm Syndrome I have the dubious pleasure to witness.

The situation with Ryuuo’s mother, and his reason behind his established actions so far, was kind of heartwrenching and I found myself cheering for the little rascal, but here is where I draw the line, specifically when he started to pimp around his new mascot to set his honeytraps and get more slaves for his collection. That, and I think Julia has a hidden appreciation of being sodomized.

The second half, on the other hand, was surprisingly entertaining. Oh, the episode as a whole has unredeemable pacing issues, and its second half is a premier example for that, but it was mildly interesting watching a bunch of grownups playing ‘Capture the Flag’ like their lives depend on it. Fujiko’s fall was, if funny, too predictable and she made some stupid mistakes with her strategy, but I guess I too would have been dumbfounded if confronted with Julia’s kamikaze attack, hilarious reaction notwithstanding.

The blond tsundere’s attitude was bothersome, and the general stupidity of the rest of her teammates even more so. Furthermore, au contraire to Julia, Fujiko is way more open with her SDM fetishes.

Our take

“Servitude” was another example of the tone handling issues this anime has. The first half was uncomfortable to watch and rather disturbing, while the second half was somehow a comic relief. I got the impression that he shows doesn’t know what it wants to be and it is going for several types of characterizations at once while failing horribly at it.

Overall, it had a shocking start, and not for the better, and ended in a more lighthearted note, despite the severity of the situation, but my main problem with it was that we didn’t have Best Girl Sachi to make things better.