Genre: Fantasy, Romantic Comedy
Where to watch: Crunchyroll
EPISODE 1: A JERKY IS A PROMISE: SKATZBITT
A young woman sits on a bench holding a huge, tasty-looking sandwich. She takes a huge bite with a smile on her face. An older nobleman who is passing by asks her if he could have a bite, so she offers him a sandwich from her picnic basket. He happily takes a sandwich and exclaims how tasty it is. When he asks what kind of meat it is, she tells him it is “backhorn meat”. Realizing he just ate “monster” meat, he throws it up.
Later that day, the young noblewoman named Melphiera is at an outdoor banquet. She is excited about all of the food avoiding interaction with the other nobles. Her attendant admonishes her and reminds her she is there to find a fiancé. Melphiera is hardly in the mood, but she remembers the words of her stepmother:
Even her father tells her that even a knight would do. Anyone kind and a good person would do.
Unfortunately, her reputation of liking monster meat proceeds her. When she tries to interact with the other nobles, they ignore her. She runs off to another location in the park where the knights are known to gather. She arrives to screaming that a beast has appeared. As she is about to flee, she hears a noble push down an elderly couple. They break his cane and he can’t walk. Melphiera offers to help them, but as she is about to help the older man up, the beast appears behind her. Torn between fleeing and helping the older couple, she chooses to make the monster chase her.
Just as she is about to die, someone flies through the head of the beast.
We meet Aristide Rogier du Galbraith or otherwise known as the Blood-Mad Duke. The whispers begin and he asks Melphiera if she is afraid of him, but it is quite the opposite. He’s beautiful. Stunned, she gets up and immediately begins her introduction. He asks if she’s okay and she tells him she is, but as she looks up at his face, she notices monster blood trickling toward his mouth.
She quickly explains that mad backhorns have toxic blood, but then she goes off in a tangent explaining had it not been mad, she could have turned it into sausages. She realizes she said too much and apologizes for taking too much of his time. Instead, he notices she’s covered in blood, takes her hand, and tells her they will find her something to wear. She tells him she doesn’t mind and explains that she sees even more when she butchers a beast.
He asks her name and when she introduces herself, he laughs. He has heard of the Voracious Villainess who eats monsters. She once again speaks passionately about her love of monster meat. Realizing she said too much again, she decides she is just going to smile. However, the Duke is overcome by emotion and hides his face.
She thinks it backfired, but could it be possible he thinks she is cute? He asks her how beast meat tastes. She is a bit anxious to tell him, but she proceeds to tell him it is similar to beef. He shows interest and she is happy. He asks her how to make it safe to eat. She goes into detail on how to make it edible. He then addresses her by name and asks her to cook it for him sometime.
The Duke prepares a bin of water for her to wash up. She tells him that he should go first, so he takes off his shirt. Embarrassed, she uses her hands to close her eyes, but she peeks. As they are washing up, she asks if she could learn to behead a beast they way he did. He says yes, but she won’t be able to swing a blade with her slender arms. He tells her, “Leave the fighting to me.”
He notices she still has blood on her face and helps her get it off. She returns the favor.
As they were saying their goodbyes, she hands him a basket of jerky made of skatzbitt. He immediately takes a bite and his attendant scolds him and tells him he knows it is supposed to go through a poison taster first. But, instead, the Duke shoves the jerky in his attendants mouth.
They both agree it’s delicious. Meanwhile, Melphiera admits it is hard for her to say goodbye. As her carriage departs, she admits that she hopes it was more than the Duke just being polite.
THOUGHTS
What an absolutely cute show! They did a great job with the tokidoki moments. My heart jumped at the Duke’s gestures. It had a lot of good comedic moments highlighted by cute chibi animation that had me cackling.
The Duke is swoonworthy!! They both have a level of unawareness about their quirks and it’s so cute.
I obviously really liked this introduction to the show. I will continue to monitor.
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