English Dub Review: Engage Kiss: “Unobtainable Lingering”

Overview: Shu (Howard Wang) alongside Kisara (Kayli Mills), Ayano (Suzie Yeung) and police detective Mikami track down a demon salesman who has unleashed a recent number of D-rank demonic beasts on the city. 

Our Take: This episode finally makes good on the subtle time spent on all the background characters and their relevance within the plot in a demon salesman being killed in what police believe is a struggle between Mafia groups. It is very smart how the brief and subtle dialogue between those gang members in previous episodes is utilized. It also brings Detective Mikami into the fold making for good chemistry in his teasing of Shu and the girls’ love triangle. More than that, it is a clever case in police along with Shu and them tracking down the true identity of the demon behind the mafia murders.  

Besides an intriguing case, it delves deeper into the complicated relationship between Shu and Ayano. With Ayano planning with Mikami behind his back and leaving him out of the loop only until Kisara finds her out, he feels a sense of betrayal that only instigates how deeply she feels when he has never listened to her opinions or feelings, only to clean up her messes and apologize. Ayano’s struggles with Shu growing up, indicated by Linhua, hopefully her issue with his newfound independence is developed more so in future episodes. With his memory loss, the small token of appreciation he is able to offer in the form of an apology is a bittersweet one that shows how much he tries. 

With Kisara explaining his memory loss to her and perseverance to avenge them despite losing past memories, it shows how much spite she has by taking heart of the fact that she may not be Shu’s true love but she will be his only one with his fading memories of Ayano. It also touches on the classic dark heroic struggle in begging the question of how far is Shu willing to go to carry out his goal and do the ends justify the means, further highlighting his misfortune despite his intentions. Realizing the demon is the criminal salesman’s girlfriend taking revenge on all who left her boyfriend to die, she goes after Ayano in an exciting ending that will no doubt be a hell of an intense clash. And with the show’s excellent visual track record, hopefully a beautiful one to watch as well.