The Duke of Death and His Maid

I thought to myself that there was something about this anime series that was really intriguing during the very first episode. Sure, the first thing you notice is the style of the animation, because there are CGI characters combined with more traditional animated backgrounds, and those who know me probably understand that I am not a fan of that combination. However, I had zero problems watching this show and it all looked good to me. It reminded me of Hi Score Girl, which was when I first managed to get used to this type of animation and, like with that show, it did not really spoil my impression in the end, and there were even moments where I even liked it a little bit (like when The Duke and Alice dance in the moonlight). In other words, the CGI animation is well-produced and that is why it was not an issue watching it, and even the more traditional animation style has something to offer and works well. However, that was not what really caught my eye. After some time, I realized that I liked the narrative, and more importantly, I found the way the animators portrayed all the emotional scenes completely believable. I did not even mind Alice constantly fawning over The Duke, which I might have found awkward and just like stupid fan service in other shows, however, within the context of this particular show it just felt like adorable romantic teasing. I found the main male protagonist’s initial loneliness and also the love between the two main protagonists quite believable and was feeling the sadness of the fact that they wanted to be together so badly and yet could not. I also enjoyed what I thought was a perfectly chosen opening, which is a duet between the two main protagonists and perfectly sums up the relationship between them, and I also liked the ending and most of the other musical themes, including The Duke's piano playing. Personally, I thought it was a very well made romantic comedy that got under my skin, it is an enjoyable show that often kept me well entertained and it has an intriguing narrative that makes me want to know what is behind the curse and how it all ends, even though the whole time I am thinking, that by fairy tale rules, very little would have been enough... I just love this animation studio, and much of the team behind the aforementioned Hi Score Girl anime series, were behind this, and so they got me again, again they managed to convince me of their skills, both in terms of CGI animation and especially in terms of adapting interesting and emotional narratives. It is now clear to me that if this show follows the same trend as their previous productions, my current rating of 8.3/10 will go up in the future and I am going to eventually be giving it five stars because, after all, the romantic comedy of Alice and The Duke is just beginning... I am looking forward to future episodes, and once again I am starting to realize that somewhere deep down, behind all my cynicism and pragmatism there is a great romantic soul hidden in me and that these gentlemen have managed to awaken it again and that is just not something anyone could do! (27/05/2023) (moins) (plus)