English Dub Review: Cop Craft “Dragnet Mirage”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Kei and Tilarna fight off the zombified assassin before Tilarna disembowels him. This means no questioning, but the guy didn’t seem in much of a talkative mood anyway since he’d been overtaken by some sort of dark magic called Mildey, which seems to be what happened with the dealer that killed Rick. Cecil, a local coroner and Kei’s ex-girlfriend, explains that both bodies were turned into basically zombies after ingesting fairy dust, meaning it might be being peddled as some sort of drug.

But this doesn’t stop Tilarna from getting kicked out of her hotel after the staff tell her to leave her sword behind, so Kei ends up having her stay with him and his cat Kuroi. To her surprise, Kei is actually allergic to cats, but is taking in Kuroi until someone takes him, showing her a softer side to him than she was aware of. In turn, he learns that her mocking mispronunciation of his name was actually a pun in her language, meaning “a fearful cat”.

Meanwhile, the true source of the fairy smuggling turns out to be an elf named Elbaji and a wizard named Zelada, who showcase a bomb for a terrorist customer named Kareem. This “Fairy Bomb” is used on some nearby policemen, who are immediately killed and turned into puppets by the dust’s effects, with plans for a larger blast radius on the way.

The next day is Rick’s funeral, which is a somber occasion, but interrupted by the discovery of the policemen’s bodies. They were usually pretty clean, so finding the dust in their system stumps their previous knowledge of how it’s been used. Eventually, they manage to trace the incident back to Elbaji, but they have no evidence to move in on him, so they can’t do anything. This frustrates Tilarna, who decides to leave her sword behind. As a sword is seen as more precious than her kind’s life, this is a sign that she is willing to give up her life to solve this case.

OUR TAKE

Okay, glad to see the kinks in the main duo’s dynamic is getting worked out quickly. We know that Kei is a hardboiled detective with a tough shell, but this episode shows us more of his likable and sensitive qualities, which finally get Tilarna to let her guard down. Likewise, Tilarna started out as more than a bit of a brat last week, but she’s starting to form a clear connection with Kei as they learn more about each other through this case. In addition, they even each other out in terms of skill sets needed for the threats they’ll face in this series, with Kei having knowledge of the law and the streets while Tilarna has the smarts regarding all the magic stuff that Kei wouldn’t ordinarily be aware of, as well as her special abilities. They’re slowly gaining a bond as a team that will make them both a force to be reckoned with and, more importantly, actually pretty fun to watch.

We also get a glimpse at the masterminds behind these zombies and those controlling the fairy smuggling. Elbaji is pretty unremarkable in design and notably flat in his motivations and outlook, so I’m guessing he’s expendable for this plot, but Zelada seems too interesting in being a wizard to be thrown away after just this one matter. And we know a bit more about how the spells at play here work, if only a little bit more than we did last week. The fairy dust WOULD make sense to be distributed as a drug, but now it seems that people can be forcibly exposed it, be killed by it, and then become willing pawns for someone else’s bidding. As is mentioned by Kareem, this sort of tool has far darker implications than what it’s currently being used on, especially considering its source.

But either way, Cop Craft seems to be on smoother waters in terms of pacing and character. I’m considerably more invested than last week, even if there were a few visual directions that irk me a tad, but I’m willing to let that slide if we can get something good out of the final overall product. Going by the usual rate of light novel anime adaptations, I’m guessing this season will be covering three of the currently existing six novels, so hopefully we explore a sufficient amount of the world and characters before that’s over.