Dantalian no Shoka – 05

Why having a harem may not be such a bad idea

Well, it looks like anaaga was right about Blood-C not coming out this week. It’s taking a break just as the show was getting good too. With Sket Dance being moved to our Shounen Corner, this week has been strangely devoid of writing. Oh well, at least I have Dantalian.

The episode starts off with a castle and an oddly scientific looking room. A capsule opens to reveal a naked woman and a man (her father) says that he has an idea for an experiment since she has finally awakened. …I thought this anime was about books.

At the Disward manor, Dalian is yelling at Huey that he put away a book she was reading while someone knocks at the door. It’s a guy (note that he is also blonde-ish) who rushes into the house calling Huey ‘Lieutenant’ and desperately asks to borrow one of his books.  A Phantom Book to be exact.

In town, Huey tells the guy (Armand) to stop calling him Lieutenant. Armand apologises and asks if they should really be taking a loli to a brothel. Dalian says that she’ll be fine and it turns out the whole story behind them going there is that Armand fell in love with a famous courtesan named Viola who demanded a Phantom Book from whoever proposed to her.

They arrive at their destination and Armand bows extravagantly to a homely looking woman, who gives them a letter. More travelling and Armand explains that Viola doesn’t like to give out where she lives (and who would blame her after the yandere stalker last episode?) and so she left Armand instructions to direct them to her house.

Armand asks that if they meet her, that they’ll give him a Phantom Book and Dalian says that if he finds one on their shelves, he can have it (lol). They arrive at an ominous looking mansion and Armand bows like a fool again to a maid. The maid leads them to Viola, who Armand introduces to Huey and Dalian.

Apparently this is how he greets everyone he meets

Dalian gets straight to the point and asks why Viola wanted a Phantom Book from all the men who proposed to her. It turns out that a bunch of men before asked Huey for these books and thus why they came to see who Viola was. Viola curtsies and apologises to Dalian calling her the ‘Black Biblioprincess’, revealing that she knows that Dalian holds the Dantalian. Dalian asks how she knows this, but Viola doesn’t know because she lost her memories and everything she owns was a gift from her patrons.

Armand starts going on about how unfair her life is and just as Dalian goes to kick him to shut him up, Huey kicks him out of the way. A fairy thing swoops down and announces that the Count will come at the next full moon to take Viola back. Huey shoots at the thing, but it just flies away. Viola says that she wants to stay in this city because of someone and that she can’t quite remember, but her knowledge told her that she needed the Phantom Books to fight the Count. Dalian says that she’ll return the full moon and the three leave.

The night of the full moon, a bunch of men gather at Viola’s mansion to defend her and Dalian compares the situation to The Bamboo Cutter’s Daughter where Kaguya from the story asked five men who wanted her hand in marriage for five treasures to prove themselves. After Dalian concludes her comparison saying that 1000 years later, men are still idiots, Armand announces that he actually found the Phantom Book Viola requested and so did the other four who were asked to find the books.

Isn’t male bonding beautiful?

Viola then comes down the stairs and thanks everyone for coming for her sake, but tells them to run. The men start fawning over her and Dalian says that this is what she wanted in the first place.

The Count appears and when the men resist, he does something to make them all collapse. He then announces that he’s surprised at how many men she managed to attract, but he’ll be taking her back. Huey announces that the Count turned the men’s blood into mercury and Dalian says that the Count has forbidden knowledge and can create magic without a book. Thus why he waited until the full moon to attack because that’s when magic is strongest.

The remaining men still resist so he summons more fairy things saying that they’re his daughters and they cut them down. The Count introduces himself a Melgar and says it’s an honour to meet the Black Biblioprincess. Armand goes to use his book to protect Viola, but it turns out it was a fake (as are all of the other books they brought).

The five men then go and use their bodies to shield Viola as the fairy things attack, but Viola protects them. She bleeds purple and Melgar explains that Viola is a homunculus with human emotions that he made as an experiment. Her role was to seduce men, but she was so good at it (lol no kidding) that she gained her own will in the process.

He then announces that after he takes her back, he’ll dissect Viola’s body to see how she gained her own will. The five guys go to protect Viola once again and Melgar throws a fireball at them.

Dalian grants Huey permission to unlock the door and we get the recycled unlocking scene again. Also, little Huey visits albino Dalian and asks if she ever wants to leave the Dantalian. She says no because everything she could have outside, she can find in books and that it’s been so long that she no longer really remembers what she’s missing. After little Huey leaves, she adds that she didn’t really remember until she met him.

Rainbow coloured lights shoot from Huey’s hand and he pulls out 5 books. The fireball is deflected by Armand in time and the other 4 men also use the books to block Melgar’s attacks, heal the wounded, etc. Melgar asks what’s going on and Dalian says that it was Viola who mentioned gathering the books in the first place.

Sentai Book Rangers! Assemble!

Melgar… gives up. He wishes his daughter good luck finding love in an immortal body and says that she can be free until she wishes to return to him. He also says goodbye to Dalian and Huey and disappears in a flashy light show.

Afterwards, the books are returned and Viola is free to love the person she wants. The five guys ask her to choose which one she wants to marry, and Viola says that she’s already made up her mind. Just as they all kneel down, an elaborately dressed man comes asking if Viola is alright and she jumps into his arms.

The men are confused and Viola introduces the man as her lover. Apparently she met him after she sent the 5 off on requests and they fell in love. She thanks them again and she and her lover ride off in a carriage. Huey says it’s to be expected form a magician’s daughter and Dalian comments that girl’s hearts are stranger than a Phantom Book.

Final Thoughts:

Ahahaha after the yanderefest last episode, a more lighthearted episode like this one came as a surprise. Well not exactly lighthearted, but I mean it was so frigging theatrical. They could have thrown in several song and dance numbers with flashy choreography, and it wouldn’t have had any effect on the episode whatsoever. I’m a bit disappointed actually. This episode just wasn’t that interesting to watch and I’d have to say that the best part was actually little Huey and albino Dalian’s two minute conversation inside the Dantalian because they were pretty much side characters the rest of the episode. I liked the unlocking scene. That’s how boring it was.

Should I even start talking about how cheesy this episode was? GOOD LORD THIS EPISODE WAS CHEESY. It was bad enough that every one of Viola’s lines sounded like it came straight from a juvenile drama production (Armand was pretty bad too, but at least he was supposed to be a stupid character), but the ending with the guys using the real magic books? Is Dalian just giving these things out now or what? HUEY DIDN’T DO ANYTHING THIS EPISODE. The Count was pretty stereotypical bad guy material too. He wore a cape for heaven’s sakes.

….Ranting aside, I thought Viola was going to be a seductress. More so than she actually was, I mean. All of her lines were so fake sounding, I thought she was doing it on purpose, you know? And plus she looked pretty sinister when she was explaining that she knew who Dalian was. What kind of excuse is ‘I forgot but I remember a bit’ anyways? It makes sense I guess, but it’s a pretty unbelievable excuse. Sigh, I guess the writer got tired of all the yanderes from before. So overall, this episode was okay. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t the best.

Preview:

…………….Wait. What?

About Karakuri

University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.