English Dub Review: Vermeil in Gold: “The Desperate Magician and the Imprisoned Disaster”

Overview: Alto (Mike Haimoto) summons a new familiar in the lovely demon, Vermeil (Monica Rial), causing an uproar in his school life. 

Our Take: When a boy is in desperate need of summoning a familiar, a beautiful busty demon answers the call. It is a tale as old as time complete with a nude summoning and the only way to replenish her thrust is by sucking him dry…of mana, of course. 

All jokes aside, it is a relatively easy-to-follow and fun setup of the magical school and fanservice that Alto finds himself in with his one weak spot being summoning, making way for his femme fatale, Vermeil. It is conventional in its tropes, especially with Alto having deadly potent mana and hidden potential, but there are various moments of levity to keep things breezy and entertaining like poking fun at the convenient situation of Alto finding the right book at the right time to summon Vermeil or her promiscuous interactions with him. 

Alto’s jealous best friend, Lilia, fuming at his new attractive friend, is another great example of those zany, charming situations. However, incurring her wrath does allow for some interesting factoids about the school in their duel system to solve disputes. Also, the villainous reputation associated with demons also helps build up the magical world and the school within it, that will no doubt play a role in their relationship later on. Vermeil and Alto’s secret of her true nature will also be an intriguing factor in the fallout of a potential discovery.

 However, even with all those positive qualities, there are still plentiful amounts of concepts that very much go by the book like Alto’s naïve inability to see that Lilia is very much in love with him and very emphatically shows it. For the stereotype he is, his honorable personality simultaneously makes him a decent enough shepherd for the show, but with any luck he can be fleshed out more as the narrative continues. Other than maybe Vermeil herself, nothing here will leave you in shock and awe, but the characterizations of Vermeil and Alto still make for a delightful introduction to the series moving forward and perhaps cause you to blush once or twice.