Summer 2021 First Impressions – The Duke of Death and His Maid

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: The duke of a certain villa is cursed such that anything he touches dies in his hands. Yet his flirtatious maid, Alice, sometimes gets much too close for the Duke’s comfort, and often acts in a way meant to specifically get a rise out of him. It’s not that he dislikes her attention, but he’s terrified that with one stray touch, the duke might accidentally drain the life away from the one person who seems to want to be around him.

When his childhood fried Phillip asks for a meeting, the Duke is momentarily excited. Phillip was a handful when they were both young, but he also never judged the Duke. Unfortunately over the years things seem to have changed, and Phillip arrives with an entourage of guards and seems terrified to be there. It turns out that he was asked by the Duke’s estranged mother to see if the curse had somehow been lifted; if not, then she plans to pass the family title down to her younger son. The Duke wishes more than anything that he could be normal. Not so much to retain his title, but to be able to live among other people and to put a ring on Alice’s finger by his own hand.

Impressions: The Duke of Death and His Maid has one of those opening episodes that leaves impressions in unexpected ways. It comes on strong with a lot of distracting fanservice-y type stuff early on, and yet buried beneath that is a tale of tragedy that’s downright haunting.

At its center is the relationship between The Duke and Alice, which first comes across as the annoyingly typical dynamic of a sexually-inexperienced guy being hassled by a woman who seems intent on making him uncomfortable. Alice is constantly and blatantly raising her skirt or peeling down her already low-cut bodice as the Duke squirms in his seat and protests. I’m not really a fan of this stuff because it reads as non-consensual, even if later we learn that the discomfort on the Duke’s part seems to be more related to the fact that any accidental contact could result in Alice’s death. The framing plays on the sexual trope/kink angle and it can get really uncomfortable for those of us passers-by who aren’t willingly playing along with it.

As the episode unfolds, however, the deeply sad nature of the Duke’s situation comes further into view. I think it can be difficult to understand the strong desire some folks have for even the simplest of human touch if it’s something that’s readily-available to you. Even just hugging is a luxury if it’s not something you get to do all the time, or if your touch is literally deadly no matter how brief it might be. As goofy as some parts of this episode are, when it gets serious it forces the viewer to consider just how dire it would be to be in this predicament, and I found that very surprising considering the tone of the episode’s earlier moments.

I can’t say whether this will be a winner or not, but it’s quirky and the premise is interesting, and in that sense I can put up with a little bit of lewd material for a while just to see how the story unfolds.

Pros: There’s some very striking imagery throughout the episode, especially when the scene layout is meant to convey the degree of separation the Duke experiences between himself and those who aren’t burdened by terrible death curses. The visual symbolism is very obvious, but I felt like it also did a good job of suggesting his emotional isolation, which is just as important to portray.

The background artwork is also really pretty. It gives the impression of an oil painting on canvas, which lends it a sort of historical storybook quality and takes advantage of its status as a CG production.

Cons: Speaking of CG, this is a (mostly) CG production which also comes with some challenges. CG anime has come a long way, but it’s still no replacement for hand-drawn character animation, in my opinion. The issue I have with CG character models, including these ones, is that anime is stylized in ways that are difficult to replicate if you have a static facial model. An anime character’s face seen from the side generally has some quirks, like side-mouth for example, that make no sense in reality but that we as viewers have accepted as “correct” because of their constant use as shorthand. Static models don’t allow that kind of weirdness, which results in the end product feeling wrong. I think sometimes CG can be seen as an animation shortcut – it takes longer to create a model, but once you have one it can be animated from any angle – but it still takes the nuanced touch of an experienced animator to give it polish.

Alice’s behavior is also a yellow flag to me. While I get the narrative explanation for her forwardness it’s difficult to see some of the things she does as anything other than harassment. I get accused a lot of “hating fanservice” and believe it or not that’s not actually true. I just dislike fanservice where it feels as though someone’s getting hurt in the process, and unfortunately that’s how it seems to be in many cases.

Content Warnings: Mild fanservice. Sexual teasing that often reads as non-consensual and harassing. Child abandonment. Emotional abuse. References to disordered eating. Images of dead animals.

Would I Watch More? – This… this is interesting. While I have ambivalent feelings about some of the content, I’m curious about the core mystery of the Duke’s situation and actually feel somewhat invested in his and Alice’s potential relationship. If the more fanservicey stuff is kept to a low hum I think I’d be interested to watch this one.