English Dub Review: The Vampire Dies in No Time “Assault! Mr. Fukuma”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Ronaldo’s best-selling memoirs of his vampire hunting exploits became a smash hit, but that means that his publishing company is after a sequel. His scary axe-wielding editor Mr. Fukuma is coming to collect the manuscript, but there’s a problem: Ronaldo hasn’t even begun writing it. Later on, he and Draluc try to stop a strange plant-controlling vampire on the loose, and then have to pass an inspection from Hinaichi, a police officer from the vampire control division.

Our Take:

The Vampire Dies in No Time had a pretty solid premiere episode last week. The first episode displayed some laugh-worthy humor, nice art design, and two leads with good chemistry. Assault! Mr. Fukuma follows that up with a three-act episode that’s maybe not quite as funny—but is a whole lot weirder.

That weirdness doesn’t show up until the second act, though. First, we’re treated to the segment from which the episode draws its name. The plot finds Ronaldo at odds with his editor from Autumn Books, who happens to be absolutely terrifying. Mr. Fukuma is a lot scarier than Draluc ever was last week, and it’s cool to see a bit of horror-lite from the show, even if everything is so over-the-top that it’s more absurd than alarming. This segment is a good indicator of the show’s sense of humor as a whole. There’s lots of dramatically overdone reactions and weirdly out of place tidbits, like how everyone at Autumn Books publishing must be versed in battle combat. This kind of comedy can work for me in small doses, but two episodes in it’s already a little wearing.

The second segment switches things up, and not necessarily in a good way. A mad scientist at a vampire research facility has created a vampire that controls plants. It doesn’t sound weird, but uh, once you see the vampire with plants for pubes, you won’t want to see it ever again. There’s also children involved, which the vampire wants to feed his seed to… altogether it’s a really head scratching storyline that definitely had me cringe-ing more than once. Oh, and the vampire’s name is Nudenium, so, there’s that.

The final act of the episode introduces Hinaichi, the policewoman from the vampire control division. It seems like there’s some tension between the vampire hunters and the police force, which might be interesting to explore down the line. For now, though, The Vampire Dies in No Time feels like the kind of show that won’t have any overarching plot for better or worse. Hinaichi’s segment is more about Ronaldo’s crazy attempts to kill Draluc with vibrations than it is about getting to know her, but I do like her character design so hopefully the show will let her show some personality later on.

As a whole, Assault! Mr. Fukuma definitely felt like a bit of a step down from the manic energy of the premiere. Draluc and Ronaldo do have some comedic chemistry together, but there’s only so many times that Ronaldo screaming while Draluc turns into sand will be funny. I would love if next week’s episode had the two of them out on a case together again instead of keeping them cooped up in Ronaldo’s office bickering with each other. We already know the vampire dies in no time, but I hope the quality of the show stays alive a little longer.