English Dub Review: Dark Moon: The Blood Altar “Hunter’s Moon – Birthday Party”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Sooha and the boys celebrate a special occasion with the Sunshine City students.  Afterwards, Sooha uncovers the horrific truth involving her new friends.  Can Heli and the others set things right?

Our Take:
Usually, birthday parties are a way to have fun with other people while celebrating one’s birth, or everyone’s birth in this case.  However, given the rivalry between the vampires and werewolves, this particular party seems to be anything but celebratory.  Thankfully, the party went off without any serious issues despite a couple of quarrels.  At the very least, their subtle immaturity has brought out a few chuckles, especially when they’re playing a game of Werewolf.  In short, the episode offers exactly what the title offered: a harmless birthday party that slowed its plot down in favor of the characters celebrating this special occasion…at least in the first half.
The episode’s second half honestly took me by surprise, with Sooha already uncovering the truth about Heli and his vampiric comrades.  I thought that the series would save that reveal until towards the end of the season, but I guess it wanted to unveil that piece of drama sooner rather than later.  It’s a rather shocking narrative choice that paid off pretty well in the end, with Sooha now questioning her trust now that she knows that her new friends are the monsters she despises the most.  The ending involving the adult Chris as a vampire was a twist I saw coming from the moment we first saw him in the third episode.  Besides that, “Hunter’s Moon” is a seemingly charming party that took a bite out of my expectations regarding the second half.