As used as I am to ongoing manga I like getting one-cour adaptations, Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid still stands out to me as a tough fit. I can’t for the life of me imagine how J.C. Staff can possibly do this story justice when they can fit so little of it into the anime. It’s not so much that it’s fantastically subtle or complex – though it’s certainly subtle and complex enough – but that there’s so much of it. So many distinctive characters, so many twists and turns of the plot and so many subplots. I supposed I can imagine a couple of reasonably logical stopping points, but will there have been any point to its existence? That’s a question only time will answer.
At the bare minimum, we’re meeting the characters the series can’t possibly exist without. That’s Bocchan and Alice of course, but also Rob. I’m reasonably happy with the casting of Ohtsuka Houchu here, which is the exception rather than the rule with this show. Bocchan’s younger sister Viola (Minase Iori) is also core, though in truth the more important sibling long-term has so far only been seen and not heard. I’m not as thrilled with the casting here based on this week’s episode, though even on the page Viola can be a lot to take.
Rob is a relatively classic anime super-butler – on the surface. But there’s a lot to his relationship with Bochan, which like much with this series is only hinted at on first appearances. Initially Rob was the only one to follow Bocchan after his exile, and though now old with failing eyesight and a wonky back, he tirelessly (too much) strives to make his duke happy. Like Alice he comes way too close to touching Bocchan – though the circumstances behind it could hardly be more different.
As for Viola, she swings by to visit without telling her mother. And it’s implied that it’s not for the first time, though her arrival still gives Bocchan quite a start. Self-obsessed and unfiltered, Viola certainly says what she thinks and seems not too bothered about her brother’s curse. Indeed the only thing that throws her off is the arrival of Rob, as Viola seems to have quite a thing for (much) older men.
Bocchan himself takes his solace from the piano – his refuge from the cruelty of his existence and potentially the source of his survival should his family outright disown him. That he should even have to think about such things is a cruel fate, as is the fact that the arrival of an abandoned cat in the mansion is enough to drive him to terror. Never mind Alice, Bocchan can’t even have a pet for company for obvious reasons – that’s the extent to which his existence is isolated. Apart from Rob and Alice of course, who just don’t seem to give a flip.
One of the refreshing things about Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid is that there’s no false drama around Bocchan and Alice’s relationship. Things are made clear pretty much right out of the gate – clear to us, and to each other. The obstacles they face are the source of drama, not their feelings, and that casts Alice’s antics is a much more favorable light than would be the case otherwise. One can only imagine what Bocchan’s life would be like without Alice and Rob in it – and indeed, it seems clear that Bocchan often does. But there’s a strange and beautiful world beyond the walls of his estate. I only wish I had more confidence the adaptation was going to have the chance to show us much of it…
