Dantalian no Shoka – 04

Everyone in this show is blonde, inhuman, blonde, a character that ends up dying, not important, or blonde.

So yeah, I gave into my urges the other day and pulled out my old N64. I don’t care what any of you people say, Pokemon Stadium was a great game. I almost smacked my younger brother though when he asked “isn’t reading all those words annoying?” Sigh. Kids these days and their games with minimal text…

Dantalian opens up with a blonde guy typing painfully slow in a dark room on a typewriter, instantly giving me Moulin Rouge flashbacks. Luckily, this episode doesn’t look as depressing as that movie was and a woman enters the room. She is also blonde. The man says that he’s finally done, but the woman doesn’t think it’s enough, so she grabs a nearby knife and presumably kills him. Though I don’t know how she expects him to write any more if he’s dead.

Damn, and I thought editors today were strict

Back at the Disward mansion, Dalian is upset because Huey only bought the first two books in a trilogy and there was a major cliff hanger. Huey then says that the author got stabbed on the street one day before he could finish writing the last book. Interestingly enough, it also was a BL series.  LOL. Even more interesting is the fact that Huey ordered it in for himself. Unfortunately, Huey is not a closet yaoi fan and he bought the books because his grandfather received a letter from the author asking for help because he was trapped by a book. Dalian gets ready to depart right away.

The two head to some snowy place and meet Murderer Woman X outside. Huey explains that he was in the neighbourhood (in the middle of a desolate snowy mountain) and decided to stop by because Lenny (the author) was a friend of his grandfather’s. Also, he knows someone is there because the fire place is lit.

Huey then explains (…for some reason) that Lenny doesn’t like to be disturbed while writing and won’t see any visitors. The woman says that he’s right and that Lenny won’t want to see anyone now. Dalian asks if he’s writing his last novel and Murderer Woman X says that he is. The two women talk about how great Lenny’s novels are and Murderer Woman X says that she’ll try and convince Lenny to see them and to come back tomorrow. Oh and her name is Paula Lents, Lenny’s wife.

However, in the car, Dalian reads the dedication at the front of the book and apparently Lenny’s wife isn’t supposed to be alive anymore. Meanwhile, Huey notes in his head that Paula was washing a bloody knife in the water outside.

How sweet, dedicating a BL novel to your dead wife

Later that night, Paula walks out of the shed with a trail of blood leading into it. Once she’s out of sight, Huey and Dalian pull up and go to investigate the shed. Huey pulled out his trusted lighter and Dalian trips and lands next to a dead body. Huey immediately recognises him as Lenny Lents.

Also, they find a woman with torn clothes in a cage. Once she finds out that they’re not with Murderer Woman X, she introduces herself as Leticia, Lenny’s lover. Damn this guy has a lot of women. Huey goes to bust her out with his gun, but she says to come back tomorrow and to save Lenny.

The next day, Huey goes to the post office and then to the house. On the way there, Dalian says that she thinks it may be a Phantom Book. Huey just thinks that she wants to read the last book.

In the house, Paula starts quoting random lines from the book and refuses to let them see Lenny. Dalian tries to tell her that she made a mistake in one of her quotes, but Huey shuts her up before Paula rips out her throat or something.

Paula then takes them to Lenny’s study, which has a locked door that just screams ‘Paula is a crazy yandere GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN’ as if her actions didn’t do that enough already.  On the inside is Lenny, who is miraculously alive and says that Paula mentioned them before.

Both of them stand and watch Lenny type, which normally wouldn’t be all that exciting. However, Lenny is actually typing that he can’t disobey Murderer Woman X yet and that they need to get Leticia out of the shed that night while saying that the final volume is being rewritten. Before they go, Huey asks Lenny to sign Dalian’s book, which is used as an elaborate way to pass them the crumpled page with the message on it. Dalian confirms from the handwriting that he is indeed Lenny Lents.

‘Blind as a pickle’ indeed.

That night, they return to the shed only to find Leticia dead this time. Just as Dalian says that it’s the Book of Soul Exchange, Paula and Lenny appear. Huey goes for his gun, but Paula shoots Lenny in the back of the knee like a crazy bitch and demands he drop his weapon. She then locks them in the cage (also, she is holding a book).

She goes to shoot Lenny, but Huey tells her to stop and reveals her true identity. Huey did some research and it turns out that Paula is an obsessive stalker fan of Lenny’s that he just couldn’t get rid of. Unfortunately, restraining orders didn’t exist back when this anime takes place and the police suspected that she was the one who stabbed him on the street.

Lenny says that Leticia was the one who healed his soul after his wife died and Paula says that it didn’t matter how many woman he had as long as Lenny kept writing. Unfortunately for Lenny, Paula didn’t like the way the last book ended so she decided to kill him every night to ‘teach him a lesson’. Dalian says to watch and the floor starts glowing green. Leticia’s wounds heal and she starts yelling at Huey asking why they didn’t take Lenny and run.

Paula shoots her in the head, but she revives again. Dalian explains that the book Paula has contains the magic of resurrection, but it’s incomplete because one day the restored body will rot. So in short, neither of them can run away. Paula then says that it’s her destiny to kill them every night and then begins to kill them over and over again.

Lenny says that she doesn’t love his work at all, so she starts beating him with the shotgun. Also, she starts ranting (and effectively spoiling the last book) about what was wrong with the plot. Dalian intervenes saying that the character Paula cared about wasn’t really that great anyways, thus serving to make her even anger….So she shoots Lenny in the face.

He should have quit while he was ahead (sorry, couldn’t resist XD)

However, Lenny stands up even without a head and Dalian says that Lenny and Leticia have been exposed to the book’s magic so much that they’ve become immune to death.  They turn into some green glowing thing (reminiscent of the things that appear in closed space in Haruhi Suzumiya ) and begin to violently tear Paula apart. Luckily, the ring with the keys falls near the cage so Huey and Dalian can escape. Dalian grants Huey permission to use her books to get rid of the green thing, but Huey says there’s no need and it turns into the shape of Leticia and Lenny before fading away.

Dalian does get her final book eventually, but ironically, she also has problems with the plot. However, instead of becoming a crazy murderous yandere, she proclaims that she must continue writing the series herself. With Huey’s help of course. He gets no say in the matter XD.

Final Thoughts:

This show sure does love it’s yanderes (and blonde characters). Hoooooly crap, I thought Estella from episode two was pretty yandere, but she doesn’t even come close to Paula. Even Huey realised right away that she wasn’t right in the head this time (though it would be pretty hard not to notice). I can see why some people out there are terrified of fangirls. Overall, I’d have to say that this episode was pretty entertaining. I love yanderes and the ending scene was pretty violent too, but luckily there was minimal censorship (or at least on the version I was watching, I don’t know about anyone else). Yes, I’m quite pleased by the lack of random shadows that don’t belong. I’m also pleased that there was no unlocking scene again.

I completely agree with Dalian’s rage over the last book never coming out. I’ve never had a favourite author die on me yet (though I was saddened by the loss of Kaze no Stigma’s writer), but I’ve had a lot of my favourite series go on pretty permanent haitus *coughCLAMPX/1999cough*. So yeah, but I guess it’s sometimes worse when a book series comes back after a long hiatus and it’s like it’s not even the same series anymore. So the lesson this episode? If you become a popular yaoi writer, you will score lots of women. However, one of them might be a crazy murderous yandere, so be careful how your plot develops. I think it’s something we should all take to heart XD.

Preview:

The preview was pretty amusing with Dalian asking if Huey if he knew how to treat a lady properly little does she know that Ono has played a demon butler before and therefore is an expert not only in serving women, but precocious shotas as well. Next episode is titled ‘The Magician’s Daughter’, so yeah, another female next episode I guess?