Undead Girl Murder Farce – Episode 2 Recap & Review

Vampire

Episode 2 of Undead Girl Murder Farce begins in 1898, over in Givre, Eastern France. The specific location is the Vague de Folie mansion. A gunshot pierces the air, as a vampire called Lord Jean Duchet Godard hunts a deer. Only, he misses the shot on purpose so he can chase it through the forest. He does so easily, and with the carcass slung over his shoulder, he returns to his son, Raoul.

After Dracula’s death, the pair need to make a good impression and blend in with humanity, hence the kill. They head back home to their mansion in town but there’s a problem. The chains on their door have been broken and it appears they have an intruder.

Godard is shocked to find his wife upstairs sitting in a pool of her own blood, brutally murdered with a silver stake. This is the first murder among human allies, and it could well be that the culprit is someone not happy about the vampires’ allegiance.

Reporters buzz round Godard in the morning, desperate for news. Godard only really stops for 14 year old Annie, where he points out to her that this is the work of someone discriminating against vampires. In order to get to the bottom of this, he’s going to hire a specific detective who has arrived from the East. And that is, of course, Tsugaru and Aya.

The pair’s infamous tales have travelled far, including several cases around Europe including a golem in Belgium. Tsugaru savagely dismantles Shizuku, pointing out that it’s difficult to tell she’s a woman given her flat chest. When she heads off with suitcases upstairs, Godard learns just who Aya is, specifically how she’s beneath the cage.

After understanding the make-up of Godard’s family, including Giselle and Alfred, two human servants, Godard discusses Hannah herself, including her love for fixing things up. Given vampiric bodies tend to disintegrate faster than humans, they only have a photo of the corpse to go on.

Looking at this, Aya deduces that it was indeed a stake that killed her. She bled less from the left instead of the right side of her chest… and she also seems to have been sleeping peacefully at the time, given the lack of surprise with her expression.

The chair she was found in seems to have no discernible piercing marks though, and her hands and feet were unharmed, despite potential presence of holy water thrown about after the murder. Some evidence is left behind though, coming in the form of a dusty empty bottle. There’s blood on the lid, and as for the silver stake, touching silver is prone to burn and singe vampire skin. If any vampire is burnt in that way, the regenerative powers fail to work and it takes around a week or so to heal entirely.

Only Alfred and Godard had keys to the storage room where the stake was returned too. There’s enough evidence and incriminating details left behind to question the notion of whether it was someone outside the mansion. But who could it be?

Little Lottie shows up behind Tsugaru while he’s trying to count out Aya’s deductions. As he turns to face the girl, she gets spooked and hurries away. After the credits, an intriguing scene sees a vampire hunter enter the scene, sporting a crossbow…

The Episode Review

So who killed Lady Godard – and why? One would assume that it’s someone from outside the mansion at first glance, but given the way this entire scene has unfolded, I can’t help but feel it could actually be Lottie or Alfred… or both! The questioning from Aya seems to lend itself to believe a vampire is behind this but somehow covered everything up, otherwise why the questions about burning and the focus on the silver stake and bubbling blood?

It’s worth noting too that this episode does have a pretty meaty time jump, and while I appreciate this is where the manga actually starts (something that this reviewer hasn’t actually read!), it’s quite jarring to see such a huge jump. The expository dump about how Tsugaru and Aya are now established detectives and have made a name for themselves feels a bit clunky, and it’s a tad disappointing given it would have been nice to actually see this.

Having said all of that though, there’s plenty to like with Undead Girl Murder Farce. The tone and the general vibe this one gives off is fascinating and creepy, while the aesthetic is gritty and well done. Roll on next week’s episode!