Undead Girl Murder Farce – 03

「不死と鬼」 (Fushi to Oni)
“The Immortal and the Oni”

I say this every week, but I truly can’t get over how great Aya and Shinuchi are- they always have a blast joking back and forth even when everyone else is not. One of my favorite one liners from this week was Aya’s demure refusal of dinner “I’ve gained a few pounds recently” or the duo’s back and forth about koi and blood thicker than water. Her skills are certainly no fraud (the carriage driver checking under the table for some sort of ruse was hilarious), rivaling that of Sherlock Holmes (who she hates because he’s weird- if he’s “weird”- then what does that make Shinuchi??).

I quite enjoyed her step by step deductions on the carriage driver- marvelous how anyone could figure out such a state from a mere glance, but then appears obvious once pointed out. At the same time, she practices the fine art of “faking it ‘til you make it”, confidently questioning each family member and servant though no clear answer is in sight. Notice hesitation in some of the characters, however- namely Alfred and Lord Godard, when answering.

I wasn’t sure how this series was going to proceed with the mystery at hand, whether it would wrap it up quickly for a mystery every few episodes but it looks like it’s taking it’s sweet old time coming to the conclusion, which I like. It was very classy, the way it practically savored each character’s reactions at the dinner table scene (accompanied by slurping and the carriage driver’s horror- perfect).

What I find curious is that Aya sticks to the events of the night in question and doesn’t question deeply into each person’s relationship with Hannah, which would surely have provided some hint at motivation. Then again, the way Aya goes about it is purely logical- only the facts at hand rather than ruminating over the psychology of the individuals involved. She makes an astute observation about the hands- everyone’s are clean. In the case of the vampires at least, if they touched the silver murder weapon, it would produce burns. However, that doesn’t preclude the possibility of wearing gloves or simply washing one’s hands from blood.

The easy way out of any accusation is to blame the person who isn’t there- namely, the vampire hunter- Josef (I’m surprised he wasn’t Van Helsing, but maybe he’ll come later) who was friends with the hunter, Hugo, who launched the attack on Godard and subsequently forfeited his life. Thanks to Aya and Shinuchi’s quick work, Josef is cleared of guilt, only just arrived from Germany. We learn a few interesting things- 1. Hugo never showed anyone his silver stake 2. Godard will kill anyone who tries a move on him 3. Godard lost a few other family members in years prior oh and 4. 3 shots where fired on that fateful night (sounds like a signal fire to me…). I can see where this is pointing towards, especially based on who Aya chooses to target for closer observations, but you can draw your own conclusions (just no spoiling, please).