The Duke of Death and His Maid – A New Twist on an Old Genre

Production

Like I said, The Duke of Death and his Maid is an entirely CG production that faces different challenges than more traditional anime. You may have something in mind already, I know I did! Let me say this, I think The Duke of Death and his Maid really chose the best possible art style and character models for a CG show. The characters seem quite natural in CG and the movements, although obviously computer-generated also work along with the rest.

How can I say this? There is no visual clash or uncomfortable uncanny valley in this show. You can clearly see it’s computer-generated but all the visual elements work together so it doesn’t bother you. At least that was my experience and I quickly forgot about that particular aspect. Oh, and I guess I should mention that I liked both the art style and most of the character designs.

What struck me more about the visuals was the backgrounds. Not so much the layout rather than the texture. The backgrounds in the show all have a visible canvas texture which makes it seem like that characters magically came alive in a painting. It’s an interesting choice and I think it adds a lot of visual interest to the series.

Music has an important narrative role in the show so I was happy to see that the score is quite nice. Bocchan (the Duke) plays piano and there were several truly lovely pieces throughout season 1. I enjoyed just listening to them and if you like classical piano, I would definitely give this series a try.

Story & Characters

I have never been shy about letting you guys know that Romance anime and romance fiction in general, isn’t really my thing. But I am realizing that that’s not exactly true as I’m slowly building up a library of romances I enjoyed. What doesn’t appeal to me personally, seem to be the more classic tropes and devices of romantic comedy/dramas.

I dislike uneven power dynamics in couples where one partner is infinitely passive. I get annoyed by the manufactured conflict that makes one or both characters seem crazy as they fly into rages or fall into deep sorrow over seemingly random events without even bothering to make sure they didn’t misunderstand anything. I’m not a fan of how partners in romances never seem to simply have a normal conversation whenever any sort of challenge comes up.

And I do understand that a lot of these tropes exist because they are a tried and true way to create conflict in a romance narrative. They are part of the building blocks of romantic fiction and I’m not saying these are bad. They are simply not my thing.

However, without these elements, I often find romances quite charming. It’s simply a matter of finding another way to create that conflict or tension. And The Duke of Death and his Maid certainly does exactly that.

There are two main conflicts in this series. First and least is the class disparity between the Duke and the Maid making a romantic relationship between the two somewhat socially inept. It’s not as acceptable. And certainly, it seemed like this could cause an issue as Alice was gearing up to take decisions by herself “for the good of her loved one”. But season 1 actually does a very good job at resolving that one conflict smoothly and with maturity. It was in fact the climax of the series and I have to say, it made me honestly proud and happy for the characters.

The second and really main conflict and hook of the show is of course that the duke is cursed. He cannot touch the one he loves, even accidentally. This makes simple cohabitation risky and challenging in all sorts of ways and adds a lot of tension. It also is at odds with a young man full of hormones living under the same roof as a very beautiful girl who seems to have nothing better to do than to tirelessly tease him.

It takes the conflict outside the main couple and makes it something they absolutely need to face and solve together rather than an issue only one of them has to resolve.

And just like that, the romance went from tedious to sweet for me.

I’m not saying that The Duke of Death and his Maid is a perfect show. It’s not even my favourite romantic anime. But I enjoyed it despite its weaknesses. And what are those you may ask?

The dialogue is sometimes a little clunky. I’m not sure if this is a case of losing something in translation. It sounded that way to me at times. The supporting cast is also a bit underdeveloped. There is potential for more in further seasons but in the first one, they are still rather 2-dimensional characters. Ha!

This might be just a personal pet peeve, but the fanservice looked a little awkward to me at times and I blame the CG. There isn’t all that much fanservice in the show. The character models do have ridiculous proportions though and somehow it just looked funny to me in 3d. Most of it was Alice being a little seductress and I actually thought that was fine. It’s more just particular scenes with Cuff and Viola where you could see that they were going for traditional sexy poses or “weird camera angle bro” but it doesn’t look the same in CG and for me, it just ended up either actually looking weird, like the angles didn’t work or silly rather than sexy. It’s not a big thing but it did take me out of the moment and remind me that I was watching a CG animation.

Finally, The Duke of Death and his Maid threads the line between comedy and drama. I personally think that so far, the drama is a little weaker simply because the foundations haven’t all been properly established. But I did feel for the main characters so it’s not like there’s nothing to it. I did think that the balancing act will turn off some viewers though and make the experience a bit more shallow.

I did say that I put season 2 on my to-watch list but when I finished the first season, I did not know that there was more planned. I remember thinking that it felt a little unresolved. That could be a problem because although season 2 has been announced, I don,t think there’s a release date yet and if we have to wait years for the rest of the story, it’s going to really mess with the narrative flow.

For me though, these were relatively minor setbacks in an otherwise enjoyable little romance. I was pleasantly surprised and I think that if you like romantic comedies, you’ll find something to enjoy about The Duke of Death and his Maid.

You might like this anime if:

You enjoy romantic comedies with a bit of drama in them.

I save all my screencaps on my Pinterest and you can find more there if you are interested. But I still like to show you a few in the post. If you’re like me, screencaps are something that really helps you decide to watch an anime or not.