English Dub Review: The Duke of Death and His Maid “The Duke, His Butler, and a Lost Cat”

Overview:

The Duke’s butler Rob makes a return after hurting his back. He’s like a father to the Duke. Rob’s eyesight is getting worse so he almost touches the Duke thinking he’s Alice. Alice listens to the Duke as he plays the piano, he made a ballad for her. The Duke’s sister Viola comes to visit, it seems she has a huge crush on Rob. A stray cat makes its way into the mansion and the Duke tries to avoid it so he doesn’t accidentally kill it.

Our Take:

This episode really made me think about the whole curse thing even more. Don’t get me wrong not being able to touch someone you love is terrible but you couldn’t even have pets really. You can warn a person and tell them not to touch you and ideally they won’t. But an animal won’t understand and you could be responsible for the death of something and not mean to. I couldn’t imagine not being able to pet my dog so I really felt for the Duke in this episode. A stray cat was in the mansion and was super interested in him and just kept chasing him but he didn’t want to hurt it.

Alice is such a delightful tease I love it. This episode sheds a bit more light on how she feels about the Duke and his curse. I think her teasing is a bit of a coping mechanism. She would like to touch him too but this is the best that she can manage at the moment even if it might torment the poor Duke a little bit.

We got to meet the butler Rob in this episode and between him and Alice the Duke has some great help around. Sure Rob might have bad eyesight and a bit of a back problem but he gets stuff done! So much so that Alice is having trouble finding things to do. This leaves her more time to tease the Duke so even us the audience win with Rob’s presence.

I think that Viola, the Duke’s sister, is an interesting character. I think she really does care about her brother but for some reason, she can’t just say so. I also find it hilarious that she has this huge crush on Rob and when he’s around her strong persona melts away. This is one love I hope stays unrequited though, them getting together would be very weird.

I really like the voice cast for this one. I am so used to Clifford Chapin’s screaming as Bakugo that having a more subdued character is interesting. Not only that but he sings in this episode! I was really surprised they dubbed that, maybe that’s why there were two weeks between episodes. He did an awesome job, definitely better than I thought he would so bring on more singing in this show! Kristen McGuire is probably having way too much fun with this role. I wasn’t sure she could pull off a sensual teasing character like Alice but she has done great so far. She and Clifford’s chemistry definitely helps with it as well.

There was a scene in this where the Duke and Alice “danced” and it was fantastic. They moved in sync without ever touching but you could still see the tension they had because they wanted to touch so bad. This was the first time Alice showed a little sadness at the situation and it was just a great scene. It was also refreshing to hear Alice tell the Duke about her feelings so we aren’t constantly wondering and dealing with misunderstandings. This show is really great so far and I can’t wait for the next episode.