English Dub Review: Dead Mount Death Play “The Matriarch”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
One Agakura assassin didn’t go down easy, and now the head of the clan has come to settle the score. How will Xiaoyu cope with this face from his past? And how will Iwanome and Arase cope when the Fire-Breathing Bug crashes their interrogation?

Our Take:
Remember the old saying that when one hydra head gets chopped off, another one takes its place? This applies to the Agakura clan, with one member, Momoya, taken out of the picture by the vampiric Misaki and Xiaoyu. Unfortunately, Momoya happens to be the brother of the clan’s leader, known as the Matriarch. Based on my experience with this week’s episode, it looks like his big sister has the same amount of crazy pills inside her body as her brother.
Also, if you think that’s the only thing happening in this episode, you haven’t been paying attention to the previous ones. Besides the Matriarch, we see the detectives Iwanome and Arase uncovering the mole in the police department, senior commissioner Habaki. Unfortunately, they also get an unexpected visit from the Fire-Breathing Bug and the zombified people affected by the trigger word, “Saboromond”. This resulted in the duo fighting for their lives against the mind-controlled employees and even a steroid-enhanced Habaki while learning a bit more about the Fire-Breathing Bug. It’s revealed that the FBB isn’t a person but a clan with umbrellas with the words “Fire Safety” on them.
We also have another character with a mysterious past. This time, it’s the assassin Xiaoyu. During the confrontation between him and the Matriarch, a part of Xiaoyu’s past unraveled, involving his history with the tough-as-nails woman. The flashback showcased that he made a deal with the Matriarch long before joining the Shinoyama family, resulting in her taking his limbs. It’s also revealed that Momoyo is still alive after taking heavy damage from Misaki and Xiaoyu in the last episode. So it looks like the gang now has to battle the Agakura siblings and another group of mysterious people that’s been added to the show’s massive cast.
Besides the detectives’ troubling dilemma, it was an interesting choice for the show’s second half to focus on expanding the supporting characters’s history, mainly Takumi and Xiaoyu. However, it does come with the expense of putting Polka on the sidelines for a few episodes and the show’s complexity. Regardless, it does enough to give its side characters the proper spotlights, which would likely continue in the remaining episodes.