Dance in the Vampire Bund 10 – Walpurgis Night

After getting 3 consecutive action-heavy episodes, we get one that is slower paced and more subdued. We learn a bit more about Meiren’s past and the clans that make up the vampire world. The episode also brings to the forefront the impossibility of the relationship between Mina and Akira in this class-based world and clearly sets up the conflict that will be the focus of the last 2 episodes.
The episode starts with Akira having a nightmare that Mina is killed, a silver stake through her heart. The silhouette of someone who appears to be Meiren appears and says, “I’ll kill you!” before he is awakened by Mina who is watching him sleep. Now that things have settled down and the railway in the Bund has started going up, she invites him to hang out that weekend. Unfortuantely, Akira has another appointment and must refuse. It turns out he had promised Meiren that they’d meet.

So the first half shows the main characters enjoying some down time. Mina, Vera, her maids (including Nanami, who became one after last episode), Yuzuru, and Yuki play around in an indoor pool, while Akira takes a long walk with Meiren. This gives us a chance to earn a bit more about the past of Akira, Mina, and Meiren, though we still don’t get anything concrete.

He gets to do this for all eternity.

In the opening scene, according to Mina, the flowers that keep showing up in the flashbacks are apparently cleome. When Meiren and Akira are talking, Meiren mentions the flower and tells him an old story regarding the flower: because the flower looked so much like a butterfly, a butterfly fell in love with it and flew around it constantly, trying to mate with it, until it finally died from exhaustion. She alludes to how Akira’s relationship with Mina is very similar to this story. Meiren also mentions how the cleome is the favorite flower of the person most precious to her, and we are shown a flashback that suggests that she may have been saved by Mina in the past.

Everyone is enjoying their relaxation when they’re interrupted by the visit of the “3 clans.” Mina explains to Yuki how besides her own royal bloodline, there are 3 clans that serve as subordinates to her own, though she calls them simultaneously her “blood relatives, vassals, and old enemies.” They’re named Li, Ivanovic, and Rozenmann.

Mina in her battle uniform.

Mina gets into a very princess-ly dress (which she calls her “battle uniform”) and meets with the heads of each of the houses (these are the same 3 who were talking over video at the end of the previous episode). It’s immediately clear that these 3 don’t have much respect for her authority. They quickly turn the subject to the fact that according to ancient orders, it is their duty to continue the pure vampire bloodline, and the only ones qualified to do that are the 4 present in the meeting, with Mina being the only female. They grew tired of waiting for her to pick one of them, so the 3 came that night with a contest: they each brought over their best assassin, and whichever one kills Akira wins its master the right to marry Mina.

Meanwhile, Akira, who was informed by Yuki that Mina needed him, is ambushed as he tries to re-enter the Bund, by one of the assassins (who looks very similar to Lady from Devil May Cry 3). He runs away, but each of the other 2 assassins comes at him. And because it matters which of them kills him, the assassins fight one another as well, which gives Akira enough of an opening to run away and back towards headquarters.

The 3 assassins, in order of appearance.

Obviously Mina is very upset over this situation, but she can’t fight back, because as the vampire princess, she can’t admit that her romantic interests lie with a wolfman like Akira and that she likely has no plans of choosing any of the 3. The episode closes on a pretty wicked note: an old lady enters with a chair with restraints at the wrists and ankles while saying that she must perform the verification of Mina’s virginity. The last thing we see is Mina voluntarily having her “battle uniform” ripped off her by a couple of guards.

Mina will have her virginity verified in this. Yeah...

So, one thing that’s clear is that I was mistaken in the last episode; I had assumed that the man with the eye patch was using the royal “we” when he called Mina “our” fiance, but he was actually talking about all 3 of them. The turn of events regarding them should make for a nice way to close out the show. The issue raised by the difference between Mina’s and Akira’s statuses in society had been in the back burner for most of the show, but they’re dealing with it head-on now. One way or another, it’s going to be resolved before it’s over, and I’m excited to find out how.

I’m not sure where Meiren sits in all this, but I’m glad we got to learn more of her past. The nightmare at the beginning seemed to suggest that she might be someone against Mina, but her flashback and the way she talked with Akira suggests that she’s on their side. I wish Akira had been more inquisitive in their conversation. I wonder if, like some other characters in this show, Meiren has responsibilities that go against her personal wishes: i.e. that she wants to help Mina, but whoever she’s working for has its own separate agenda.

The amount of action was minimal, and the quality of what was there was okay . Knowing what Shaft did in the last few episodes, I’m greatly looking forward to seeing the action unfold in the next 2. I think they’re setting up for a series of one-on-one showdowns, as it was just the 3rd assassin who was shown ominously watching over Akira at the end of this one. I’m sure Meiren will get involved as well. Each of the assassins fights a little differently, with the first one using what appear to be wind-based projectiles, the second one using a naginata and claws, and the third one just fighting without weapons. A lot of potential for good eye candy there.

I’m finding myself enjoying the creepiness factor that this show just keeps up. It was bad enough that we have 3 fully grown men discussing mating with a loli while alone in a darkened room, but the show took it over the top with the bit with the chair and the virginity at the end. Instead of letting it be just a shock factor, the show exploits Mina’s perceived age to create a real feeling of discomfort and unease that add to its already high tension scenes.