English Dub Review: Engage Kiss: “Without Understanding the Tears Shed”

Overview: Shu (Howard Wang) confronts Miles (Bill Butts) on the horrific betrayal he committed to him and his family. 

Our Take: Shu’s intelligence as a detective never ceases to engage in how he cleverly deduced Miles was the killer due to him being the first to arrive at the scene of victims deaths and his interactions with them beforehand. Akino is also a perceptive one in how she figured out how Mikhail is concealing the location of Shu’s family and confirmed it with his reluctant response. They are both excellent displays of their shrewdness. 

Mikami was also one smart cookie in putting together that Miles was the perpetrator in his final moments, carrying out the kills by always using information he would share with him in confidence. But just what was Miles’ motivation in all this? His daughter needed a cure for her illness which led to him committing the ultimate atrocity in siding with Osmadius, having a hand in the death of Shu’s father, while also feeling indebted to the demon. Miles’ moral plight is a heartfelt motive but one that does not shift the totality of his actions. It adds a layer of complexity in making him an antagonist to sympathize with that also deserves judgment for what he has done. 

Shu has proven he is willing to do anything and everything to get back what he has lost. His decision to negotiate a deal with Sharon to let her free in exchange for her help, even willing to lose all his memories of Miles to kill him, doubles down on that. His momentary wavering does, conversely, drive home just how important family is to him in not wanting to kill his father figure but also not wanting Ayano and others to be murdered because of his indecision. Kisara’s heart-to-heart with him is also tender in how she cares about his well being, forcing him to confront what will happen should she not put down Miles. It also serves as an excellent mirroring of further showing how little remorse Shu has in his own way, sacrificing memories of his loved ones as well as himself without hesitation. 

Kisara and Miles’ brief fight is excellently crafted in her speedy attacks against a hulking berserker with chains along with high octane animation propelling it forward, before Shu is sadly the one to end him. 

Some flashback scenes do their best to illustrate just how close Miles and his family became with baby Shu, his sister, Kanna, and his parents, Isuma and Sayuri along with little Ayano and Akino. Slice of life photo montages do the bulk of the work, which is serviceable enough but would benefit from a full episode to fully flesh out their close knit family dynamic as only plot points key that lead up to Miles’ betrayal are closely highlighted. Ayano and Shu, in particular, were adorable in their playful chemistry as infants setting up their eventual chemistry. 

Some key developments transpire in Osmadius being Shu’s mother, seemingly, with her goal in using her daughter to open a gateway between demons and humans. It is a shocking narrative curveball for sure. However, there is so much exposition dropped at such a blazing speed that there is no time to let the audience catch their breath. Most importantly though, with how little is known of Shu’s mom, it lacks any emotional impact, for now. Similar to the relationship amongst Shu, Ayano and Miles’ family dynamic, more time in the oven will better develop how her betrayal transpired and the weight of it. 

Despite the terrible atrocities he committed and how little he appears not to care, the guilt ridden side to Miles proves how much to the contrary that is in how he lets Shu’s father blow up the gateway, saving Shu from being killed in the blast and choosing to take care of him. With Kisara revealing Miles’ genuine remorse over the deep-seated pain he caused Shu and him remembering his words before he killed him, it makes for a multilayered mourning that is both rage-filled and heartbreaking.