Dance With Devils – Episode 7 [Pas de Deux of Fantasy and Innocence]

Finally, some cats are let out of the bag. Or dogs, if you will. There were some unpleasant tones carried over from the previous episode, but if you put those aside, I think this episode was pretty decent overall. (Although I still don’t know why the end theme is subtitled, but the opening song is not??)

Episode 7 opens with Rem being grilled by his father, who is demanding that Rem take possession of the grimoire. How nice that must be, knowing that you father gives zero shits about you and wants nothing else other than some magical object of great power. I know he’s a devil, so maybe their feelings are not quite like a human’s, but still. Ouch.

While he’s being interrogated and beat up, the rest of the Student Council are discussing keeping Ritsuka for themselves. Urie and Mage start getting into an argument, but when they notice that Shiki is missing they race after him. Nobody notices the little dog, Loewen, who seems to have something up his sleeve… errr, his fur.

In the next scene, Ritsuka and Azuna have been sent to a home improvement store by Lindo to get what look like building supplies.  Azuna berates Ritsuka for wanting to go one or two aisles over alone, because DEVILS… but then tells Ritsuka to wait in the aisle while she checks out at the cashier. Hypocrite much? While she’s waiting for Azuna, Ritsuka spots Loewen sitting on a bottom shelf amongst some stuffed dog plushies. He trots away as if she expects to follow him, and after shouting a quick excuse to Azuna about where she’s going, Ritsuka does follow the dog.

It turns out Loewen is the light blue-haired guy we’ve seen around the Third Library. And his name is actually Cerberus; he serves a fiend named Maksis. He can smell Ritsuka’s scent (which is a concept I still find somewhat creepy), and wants her to follow him so he can tell her all about the grimoire. So Ritsuka lies to Azuna about having somewhere to go, and walks into a portal behind Cerberus, like it’s the most natural thing in the world. 

Once he has spirited her away, Cerberus tells her the truth. And I’m going to take a quick moment to brag a little and say that I pretty much fucking called it – Ritsuka herself is the grimoire. Whoever “owns” the grimoire will be the person Ritsuka chooses to give her power to. But as Lindo reveals later in the episode, there is a high cost to pay. For once she gives her power to someone, Ritsuka herself will cease to exist.

Once this knowledge is revealed, I think this episode gets a lot more interesting. Think about how many people want the grimoire, and why.

• Rem, for his father
• Lindo, to protect Ritsuka (so she could continue to live)… but he’s also been commanded by church members (or his exorcist organization?) to get the grimoire for them.
• Urie, Shiki and Mage, to rule the world with her power
• Cerberus, for his lord Maksis, who will end the war between vampires and demons, and then rule the world by opening the gates of Hell

Damn, no wonder she has virtually no one to trust in this show.

Speaking of vampires, I’m guessing that’s what Lindo is. Aside from his red eyes (blood lust), it would also explain the shot during the opening them when he and Rem stand opposite each other, with Ritsuka between them. One is a devil, the other a vampire, and she theoretically is supposed to choose one of them. Hmmm.

Flashing back to the beginning of the series, I’m willing to bet that the mysterious group who ransacked Ritsuka’s family home and kidnapped her mother are vampires as well (it’s all in the eyes). And let’s not forget that as Charibo mentioned in the previous episode, Ritsuka’s mother is currently being guarded by vampires, and she has bite marks on her neck. I’m not sure yet how these things play into the overall plot, but they’re something to remember as the series progresses. Maybe Ritsuka’s grandfather is still alive and he is the Vampire King? ⊙﹏⊙

Anyways, Rem wakes up after being beat down by his dad, and upon seeing that one of the curtains in the Third Library has been parted, he slips through and ends up following Cerberus and Ritsuka. He listens in as Cerberus tells her about her hidden power, and offers to keep her hidden until her seventeenth birthday when her power awakens. Cerberus also drops a tidbit about Ritsuka’s mother returning and her family being left alone if Ritsuka gives the grimoire’s power to Cerberus (to give to Maksis), and Ritsuka looks convinced. However when she is about to take her magical ring off, Rem intervenes. Naturally, this is when Lindo teleports himself to where Ritsuka is and goes berserk on Rem. This allows Cerberus to slip away unnoticed. 

At the very end of the episode, Lindo sits down with Ritsuka and fills in some more of the blanks surrounding the grimoire’s power. After she goes to bed, she despairs that she doesn’t know what to do or who to trust.

My thoughts: Cerberus’ seiyuu has a really nice singing voice, and his song was pretty straightforward. Cerberus wants the grimoire for his master, he wants Ritsuka to trust him, blah blah. The choir of singing dogs was… a little odd though. ^^;;

I think the only thing I was unhappy with this episode was some of Cerberus’ behaviours towards Ritsuka. I know I know, I’m getting on a soapbox again. But I find the whole scent thing a little creepy, because Ritsuka’s never been ok with it and I don’t like seeing her fear being played up for laughs. Also, that scene where Cerberus hurts Ritsuka with his nails – if one were watching only the 3 seconds where she screams and protests, with zero context behind it, one could have a hard time telling whether it she was being hurt or they were watching porn. :/   Which I think is the point, and I don’t like it.

Special props this episode go to Azuna, who held her own against Shiki, Urie and Mage in battle until Lindo showed up. Shiki hiding behind Azuna made me tee-hee a little too (but I still think he’s a psycho). I’m so glad Charibo and I guessed correctly that Azuna would have an actual role to play in this series, and that she was not just cast as the plucky best friend/sidekick. That trope gets really old really fast.

Bonus trivia: I’m probably a little late to the party on this one, but if you read the subtitles for the first few lines of the ending theme, the text might initially look like another language, but it’s actually just English in reverse. So the first few lines read: “Dance with devils right now/Dance with devils right now/Dance with devils right now/Right now.”

Next episode looks like there might be some sailing on the Ritsuka x Rem ship, so stay tuned!