Dance With Devils – Episode 3 [Tango of Passion and Seduction]

Coming into this episode having read Charibo’s review of last week’s episode, my guess is that Lindo’s secret is that he is also a demon or devil of some kind. Why? It’s all in the eyes, of course. ^_~   And so to avoid an incest plot, it’ll be revealed that he’s not really her brother. Guess we’ll see soon enough though!

In episode three, Ritsuka has essentially become a prisoner in her own home, with her older brother as her warden. He makes her breakfast but tells her to stay home and not leave the house for any reason. Azuna calls, and the pair agree to have a sleepover later that night at Ritsuka’s house. Naturally when Lindo leaves the house a short while later, Ritsuka ends up outside – she hears what sounded like a terrible car crash and rushes outside to investigate. She sees nothing, and then Urie Sogami (hello pervert plait guy!) makes his grand appearance by materializing out of thin air. He lies to get her out of the house (since he can’t enter her family’s home, thanks to the holy water Big Brother was sprinkling around the front gate earlier), and like the naive shoujo main character she is, Ritsuka agrees to go with him.

From there the episode heads over to Shiko Academy, where Señor Urie has gathered many students together for a party in the school’s arboretum. I must say, the stretchy plastic smiles on the faces of the students creeped me right out. We can see they have a seal on the backs of their necks, meaning they’re being controlled/possessed. Urie puts the moves on Ritsuka with a fancy dance involving a dumptruck full of rose petals and a flamenco dress. However just as Urie leans in for the kiss of death a romantic kiss, Ritsuka’s pendant saves her again, and she slaps Urie for his attempt. I’m with Charibo, I am liking how Ritsuka is not the standard reverse harem female. You go Ritsuka! Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ

I also agree with Charibo that there’s definitely something going on with Azuna. I’ve had my suspicions since the beginning, for admittedly dumb reasons (like how she’s been animated), but this episode seemed to confirm some of what I’m thinking. Note that when Azuna is checking her voicemail, you can see a little cross charmstrap dangling from her cellphone. She’s got a cross, Lindo’s got some kind of religious job – anyone else seeing a pattern here?  I hope Azuna has another role to play this season, aside from just being Ritsuka’s best friend.

Anyways, Ritsuka’s rejection of Urie sparks a revolt amongst the female students who’d gathered for Urie’s party, as they turn on our heroine and run after her. The arboretum must open into another dimension during this chase because suddenly in the middle of the frigging dome is a carnival! With a ferris wheel, rides and everything!  Ritsuka attempts to hide from the masked female students in the mirrorhouse, but they catch her and she is saved by Urie. Hidden outside, he apologizes for his “butterflies’ behaviour” and questions her about her brother. A bombshell is dropped – Lindo is not studying folklore, but is actually training to be an exorcist. I guess that’s the set-up for some of the shots in the show’s opening theme – will the final showdown be exorcist versus devil?!

Out of the blue, Rem shows up and busts Urie’s balls for acting out of turn. Earlier in the episode he’d noticed one of his shogi pieces had been moved, and Rem had put two and two together and figured out that Urie had approached Ritsuka. Both guys extend an offer to Ritsuka for her to come with them, but she figuratively tells them both to go fuck themselves by running off. Left behind on the carousel, Urie and Rem talk about finding the grimoire until Rem gets pissed off and leaves.

Outside the arboretum, Ritsuka runs into her brother, who takes her home. Back at the carnival, Urie muses about Ritsuka being his “special butterfly”, but when he catches the white butterfly which had been fluttering around in front of him, he crushes it. Obviously this dude’s no good for Ritsuka, but now it looks like Rem has a rival in the race for Ritsuka’s affections. (Which is too bad because I totally ship Urie with Ritsuka, even if he’s an evil bastard. Damn my shipper heart!  o(╥﹏╥)o )

As for the little musical interludes, my apologies to Charibo because this episode had enough tunes for both episodes two and three. The first song of the episode is a brief reminiscent of the song Ritsuka sang at the beginning of the first episode. And man, I don’t know where she got it, but I want something in my bedroom that causes cherry blossoms to rain down upon my bed too!

The second song makes its (also brief) appearance as Ritsuka and Urie are walking through the high school’s arboretum. (And that is how you can tell a school is not just high class, but super-ultra-elite!) This tune had a good beat, and I kinda wished it had been made into a regular-length song, not just a snippet.

But the third musical number, Urie’s song, fuck that was easily the best song of the episode. Lots of spiderweb metaphors, flashy dance moves, all capped off with a near-kiss. Woo, there might’ve been some sock rolling on my end. *fans self*

I’m excited for next week’s episode because it looks like there might be a showdown between Lindo and Rem…!! I hope there is lots of songs for Charibo to review too! But, who is that mysterious blue-haired boy?