There’s Something About Dale
If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord Episode 3
What happens when you take the most adorable element of your adorable anime off the screen for a large chunk of the episode? Well, by and large you force your audience to pay attention to the other part of the main duo, in this case Dale, and that may or may not work for viewers.
I actually enjoyed Uchi no Musume this week despite the serious lack of decent visuals in both the dragon flight and fight sequences. Seriously, while this one manages adorable close ups of Latina in almost every other scene and has some nice looking character designs when there’s only one character on the screen and they aren’t moving very much, the animation is definitely questionable at best and we’re only three episodes in. It isn’t a deal breaker for me because I quite like these characters and what little plot is being draped around them at the moment, but I can imagine it would be quite frustrating for some.
Dale is a little over the top and hard to take at times. His excessive obsession around Latina, to the point where he throws a childish temper tantrum about leaving is just kind of sad. With this episode splitting time between Latina learning to make a pie at the tavern to surprise Dale when he gets back and Dale actually doing his job, they were seriously risking the audience switching off in the Dale moments.
What saves those scenes is actually the other characters we’re introduced to. I love that we have seen Dale as a jaded adventurer and now doting father/brother character who is way too obsessed with looking after Latina, but it was interesting to see that other characters really do see some fearsome character. The reaction of the dragon rider to Dale was priceless and the contrast between how Dale has been presented to the audience so far and how the dragon rider viewed him was hilarious.
I also liked meeting Dale’s friend Gregor and his response to how Dale has changed. Gregor’s honest bewilderment at Dale’s antics as he moped about leaving Latina and sulked about the job felt really genuine and made me want to know more about Dale pre-Latina obsession. Then of course we actually got to see Dale working and while in the lead-up to the job he was still carrying on, once they reached their target he was all business. Dale is apparently very good at his job.
Affiliate Link – light novel
What also works here is that Dale asserts that he can kill demons or humans if it is his job. Adopting Latina hasn’t stopped him from being able to do a job where he is required to kill demons. This definitely sets up some future problems that the characters may come across.
All and all, this episode wasn’t as aww inducing as the previous two but I felt like it was moving things along and helping us learn more about the characters and the situation so I enjoyed it. I still think Dale’s a little over the top, but I do have respect for his skills, and I’m looking forward to seeing more.
Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
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Karandi James
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Images from: Uchi no Musume no Tame Naraba, Ore Wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru Kamo Shirenai. Dir. T Yanase. Maho Film. 2019.
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Remember how I promised I would be watching Demon Slayer after I finished catching up to Is it Wrong etc? Of course it’s not availble for me in Holland. Sometimes I really hate where I live😢 Oh well…guess that means I’m going to be watching this one! 😊😊
Demon Slayer isn’t available to you? Sometimes I find Crunchyroll’s regional restrictions just frustrating.
Yeah…this season really takes it to a new level honestly. Pretty much all the cool shows are not available for me, except for Fire Force😢
As much as I enjoy this story, I really wish they’d waited another season or so and taken the time for better animation. It’s been lackluster since the beginning, but that fight scene was just embarrassing.
Speaking of the fight scene–specifically Dale and the female demon–I’m deeply trouble by it. Not that Dale continues to fight, nor that he is willing to fight a female. Combat is what it is once it begins. My problem is the HE KILLED HER AFTER HE HAD ALREADY DISARMED HER. If you have disarmed your opponent, removed his or her capability to continue the fight, then it is no longer combat. It is murder. (Sorry, I served 8 years and still recognize the Rules of Engagement.)
So I hope that this is actually a digression form the light novel, just another part of the really, really poor animation of the fight scene. Otherwise, my opinion of Dale just plummeted.
*served 8 years in the military. U.S. Navy.
Maybe in a world where people can use magic, so disarming them may not actually be neutralising the threat, they have different rules of engagement?
If so, then they should make more effort to show this. Anime is a visual medium, and what I saw was Dale disarm and opponent and then kill her anyway. Very disturbing in its presentation, and injurious to his character.
Episodes 1 and 2: cute images of Latina.
Episode 3: onscreen bloody killings.
Mood whiplash is an art form.
We still had a cute Latina in a dress.
And technically, episode 1 started with Dale fighting monsters and then they found Latina’s dad or whoever she was travelling with dead in the forest so it wasn’t all that unexpected a development.
I love how obsessed he is with being a dad, but completely 86’d that demonic girl without a second glance.
I know. It is really interesting that when it comes to Latina he’s totally obsessed but it seems he doesn’t have much in the way of deep connections to anything else.
Mhmm, clearly the show is going to display how this girl is changing his life, and not only his. Kids do that though, so it’s true to form.