English Dub Review: The Duke of Death and His Maid “White Snow, Black Clothes”

Overview:

On a snowstormy night, Alice is reminded of when she first began working as the Duke’s maid. Despondent and holed up in his dark, messy room, the Duke can’t even remember who Alice is and is ready to dismiss her…

Our Take:

We finally get to see the younger brother of the Duke and Viola. He has a definite inferiority complex especially when it comes to the number two. I have a feeling he will come up more in future episodes. It was interesting to see that Viola thought Cuff was a burglar and fought to contain her but Cuff thought she was playing.

The best part of this episode was getting to see Alice’s first days working for the Duke. He had forgotten her entirely but she never forgot and has loved him since she was little. He really treated her poorly but I feel like it was out of concern for her than anything. He knew about his curse but wasn’t sure if she knew. The Duke gave her a task to complete in three days and she managed to do it in one night. All his plans to make her leave failed so he decided to leave and essentially commit suicide.

Suicide is a heavy topic and one that I don’t really think should be touched on lightly. I think this show handled it really well because it can be hard not to glorify it. You could tell the Duke didn’t really want to die he was just at his wit’s end. He thought he had no other options but he does. We all do, life can be hard but if we push on there is always some good to be found around the corner. Luckily, Alice found him and we know that they are doing well now but nothing is perfect but it takes work and that is what I love about this couple, they put in the work.