“Mangetsu to Silhouette no Yoru (満月とシルエットの夜)” by Bocchan (Natsuki Hanae) & Alice (Ayumi Mano)

In many ways, I think Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid is a sort of test case.  How much undercutting can a really good story sustain and still succeed as an anime?  The Duke of Death and His Black Maid (for once, a literally translated English title) is a really good story.  The manga is flat-out charming, with a great visual aesthetic.  But it’s full CGI, somewhat miscast, and seems very likely to run a single cour.  All of those are potentially big problems, but it’s that last one that concerns me the most (ironically, as it’s the only one not a factor in enjoying the premiere).

I can throw out my near-ubiquitous caveat about not judging a series by its first episode here.  The characters in this series do not arrive fully formed, and one could make assumptions about both its tone and substance based on the premiere that would be wrong.  But the thing is, with only 12 (presumably) eps to work with there isn’t going to be time to really give more than a fleeting glimpse of Shinigami Bocchan’s essential nature.  The manga is modestly though not massively popular, and we can assume a full-CGI J.C. Staff adaptation is a very cheap production.  There’s absolutely no compelling evidence that this show is under any consideration for more than one cour.

Still, the news isn’t all bad.  Not least that the first episode itself was very good, especially considering that the first several chapters are not the manga’s best by a long shot.  And we have most of the Hi Score Girl team in charge here, which means that CG or no we should at least get very competent storytelling.  Having the time to completely adapt HSG (which I suspect they knew they would from the beginning) made that job a lot easier, of course.  But I get the sense from the premiere that director Yamakawa Yoshiki and writer Shirane Hideki grasp the nature of the story they’re telling.

Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid is the tale of a young nobleman (known only as Bocchan) who was cursed by a witch at the age of 5 for reasons he cannot remember.  To wit, any living thing he touches – even through gloves or clothes – dies instantly.  He was banished by his mother to the detached estate, where for years his only companion was a butler we don’t meet in the premiere.  Eventually young Alice (Mano Ayumi), daughter of the chief maid at the main house, turns up to serve (among other things) Bocchan.  Bocchan (Hanae Natsuki) curses his fate, doesn’t eat much, and takes some solace in his piano (at which he’s a prodigy).

The chief dynamic in the premiere, obviously, is the heavily sexualized teasing Alice relentlessly subjects Bocchan to.  And that’s a part of the series without question, but only a small part.  I don’t know how many viewers it will bother (some will eat it up), but it did bother me some early on in the manga experience.  It does help that Alice not only cares deeply for Bocchan, but is very open about it – she may love tormenting him a little too much, but she leaves no room for doubt about her feelings.  This is especially frustrating for Bocchan of course, because while he feels the same way he can’t even touch this girl (and she’s absolutely fearless, you have to give her that).

When the Duke’s childhood friend Phillip arrives for a visit, we get a truer picture of what sort of series this is tonally.  Phillip was the one friend who didn’t turn on Bocchan when they were kids, but the man who arrives now is visibly terrified and his overprotective handlers make the situation worse.  Phillip, in fact, is only there because Bocchan’s mother wanted to see how her son was faring – evidence, at least, that she hasn’t totally forgotten he exists.  This is a pretty depressing turn of events of course, because is reminds us of just how isolated and socially ostracized Bocchan is.  And in that context, maybe Alice overcompensating the way she does isn’t such a bad thing.

I have no major complaints with the way all this was handled, apart from the CGI which I was at least prepared for.  I’m not absolutely crazy about the casting for either of the leads but while Hanae never ventures outside his comfort zone, at least he’s closer to being on-type here than with a lot of his roles these days.  Where I’m really torn is on the matter of pacing.  I don’t want the anime to tear through he material skipping chapters left and right, but there’s a lot of stuff I want to see that we never will unless they do just that.

In point of fact, while I like the main pair and the romance side of this series is sneaky great, I would say the strength of Shinigami Bocchan is actually the supporting cast.  How many of them will we even meet, I wonder?  It’s a very 2010’s anime problem to have, but I’m still pleased to see this very winning series at least get a chance to reach a wider audience.

“Octane (夜想曲（ノクターン）)” by Alice (Ayumi Mano)