The Immortal and the Oni
Episode 3 of Undead Girl Murder Farce begins back at the mansion. It’s dinner time and Tsugaru is happily eating with the family. Aya and Shizuku though are all eyes, watching everyone and trying to find anyone acting outside the ordinary. While there are questions around Aya’s investigative keen eye, she soon stamps out any concerns when she analyses the driver’s clothes, which in turn make her look at his mannerisms and deduces he hasn’t drunk alcohol for a week.
The vampires are impressed and liken Aya to the great Sherlock Holmes. Aya is flattered of course, but then gets right back to business. Godard explains that after dinner, his wife left to rest in her room for a bit. He went up to the study during this time and started chatting to Claude.
Nobody seems to have seen Hannah after dinner. Charlotte tagged along (with Godard and Claude) and was playing with her dolls, and then they came down to the main atrium, where he and Lottie parted ways with Claude. Godard head out to hunt, which is part of his usual routine on that day at that house, while Lottie was then with Giselle.
Godard claims that nothing seemed to be amiss in the storage room during the evening, but it could well be that someone took something at that time. Raoul, as we know, was out in the forest with Godard.
Claude left Charlotte with Giselle during this time and head back to his room, where he read alone. So what of Raoul? Well, before going out to hunt he was in his room too, but he didn’t seem to hear anything.
Giselle, the maid, was cleaning up the kitchen and then went to the laundry room at 1am. This is what she does every day and as Lottie seemed bored at the time, she decided to sing some songs to her while doing the laundry. She went to the bathroom once during that time, where Lottie would have been on her own, but that’s all.
And Alfred. Dear old Alfred. He went down to the office in the basement and was adjusting Godard’s schedule, but other than that he did nothing. He was by himself this whole time and didn’t hear any noises. Curiously, someone (it looks like Claude) closes his eyes and shakes his head as Alfred says this, which is rather suspect.
After hearing everyone’s testimonies, Aya admits she’s narrowed the suspects down to two people – Alfred and Claude. As she says this, Lottie spills her drink and rushes out the room crying. With the dinner over, Claude catches up with Aya and Tsugaru, pointing out that he didn’t kill his mother and would happily snap Tsugaru’s neck if he gets the chance.
When he leaves, Aya points out that she was paying attention to the hands for all the vamps at dinner and they seem clean of cuts or burns (remember the silver stake leaves burn marks that don’t heal for a while). So, that could well mean that Alfred or Giselle is responsible.
Tsugaru and Aya head out with Godard to look deeper in the forest, where Godard points out that the way his wife was killed seems to hint at it being a vampire hunter responsible. Is this deflection? Well, right now Aya is keeping her options open.
While they discuss “the oni and the immortal” in the forest, a hunter suddenly smacks a crossbow bolt right into Godard’s neck. He’s not phased though, and vows to strike fear in the man’s heart. Godard immediately pins the guy down to the ground and demands answers, believing he killed his wife. But as he’s just arrived in town now (according to Aya), he doesn’t think it’s possible.
In fact, the hunter’s personal items show he was in Berlin 3 days back so there’s no way he killed Hannah. His name is Josef and he’s here to avenge Hugo’s death. After hearing the man’s account of everything, Aya decides to let him go, believing he’s learned his lesson and they no longer need to wander around the forest. They’re going to go back to the mansion – and crack this case once and for all.
The Episode Review
The pacing for Undead Girl Murder Farce is absolutely impeccable. The slow burn murder mystery, slowly starting to whittle down those responsible and understanding what really happened, is helping to drive this anime forward in an engrossing way.
It now would appear that Charlotte is an important key witness here. We know there’s a time she’s unaccounted for, given Giselle head off to use the toilet for a few minutes, and Lottie may have actually seen the murder take place and ran back down again, all while Giselle was indisposed. This would explain her suspect behaviour.
Then again it may not be Claude or Alfred after all! Could it be that Giselle is the murderer? Given she head off to the toilet, that may have been the time she murdered Hannah. Either way, this is a deliciously enticing prospect and next week’s episode should be an absolute belter.
This definitely feels like the sleeper hit of the anime season, and there’s lots to be impressed with here. The dark humour from Aya and Tsugaru is just right, and it works so well against the murder mystery vibes which I’m guessing will see the pair head off and solve various different cases across Europe together. Either way, we’ll have to wait and see what next week has in store for us!
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