English Dub Review: The Vampire Dies in No Time “Kidnap Capriccio”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Draluc has never been good at transformations, so when he finally turns into a serviceable bat, he’s excited to show Ronaldo and John. But they’re out for donuts, so he has to leave the house to go find them. Instead of locating his friends, he runs into Hinaichi who takes him back to police headquarters as a pet. Handa tries to cover for Draluc, but eventually he’s found out by the captain.

Later on, the Vampire Control Division teams up with the Hunters’ Guild to track down a vampire who has been kidnapping babies. Ronaldo is worried about John, who went out on the town. Through a series of unfortunate events, John ends up in the kidnapper’s clutches… but it’s not who you might think it is, and John’s eventual savior is also a big surprise.

Our Take:

The eighth episode of The Vampire Dies in No Time is out now on Funimation, and I’m happy to say that it’s not half bad. Instead of the usual three segments, this episode is broken into two parts, which helps give the storylines a little more time to develop and feel less scattershot as a result. It’s also nice that they focus on more side characters and less on Ronaldo and Draluc, who we’ve already seen get plenty of screen time. All in all, Kidnap Capriccio is one of the better episodes of the show I’d say—it’s certainly one of the more enjoyable ones so far.

It starts out with Draluc having success at transformation. It’s been established how bad he is at this, so even the little act of becoming a cute bat is a nice bit of development for him. Being the dumb dumb that he is, Draluc heads out on the town to try and show Ronaldo and John instead of just waiting for them to return home, and that’s where the true trouble begins. Hinaichi finding him and adopting him as a pet is kind of fun and a little cute, but it’s also a little silly, as if she wouldn’t know a vampire when she saw one. It’s part of what makes this episode work, however—both storylines are silly and the show knows it and plays the silliness up.

Handa’s insistence that Draluc’s bat is actually a crab starts out really stupid, but it goes on long enough that it eventually drew a smile out of me when he claims the bat did a mating dance and laid eggs for one of the detectives, who Handa says, is now a father who must take responsibility. I would’ve liked to get a bit more backstory on the head of the Vampire Control Divioin, especially where that mustache is concerned, but maybe that’ll come later on in the series.

The second and final plot kicks into gear in a bit more serious fashion than we’ve come to expect from this show. There’s hardly a serious moment between phallic-shaped vampires and prank-playing hunters, but this storyline sets the stage with news that kids are being kidnaped and it’s a big problem. So big in fact that Ronaldo is being called in along with his fellow hunters to team up with the Vamp Control squad. And that’s where the silliness starts again, because Ronaldo is freaked out about John being out. Apparently, the little critter left the house to go pick up some treats for his caretakers and isn’t back yet. Through a series of very silly and very sad events, John winds up in the clutches of Nagiri, the blood bending vampire who’s out for revenge against Ronaldo.

We’re led to believe he’s behind the kidnappings at first, but then an inferior, spider vampire kidnaps John from Nagiri, and Nagiri ends up saving John and the children from the inferior vampire’s lair. I definitely didn’t see that coming at the beginning of the skit, and it’s nice to see the show actually trying to be a bit more dramatic instead of just going for the easy laughs all the time.

With the first storyline all about the comedy and the second one upping the ante with a little added tension and drama, Kidnap Capriccio delivered an entertaining episode for sure! Hopefully the show can build on this success and keep it coming down the road as we start heading towards the finish line.