Reviews for The Duke of Death and His Maid

Ok so first of all anyone who hates Cgi just in general can go suck a truck because I’m tired of every decent Cgi series be compared to Ex-Arm it’s clearly without a doubt not even close to that seriously y’all are stupid or being an annoying troll (seriously trolls y’all ain’t funny get a life) but anyway review of the show “Giving a white wilted rose means to give never ending love” Now I don’t know if that’s true but man did that tug my heart strings Animation: (7) Ok so yes the anime is CGI and before you walk away from it, it’sdone by J.C Staff which in my opinion have been pretty good with Cgi shows lately, nothing mind blowing like studio orange but just enough to be decent to pretty good and yes I think traditional 2d would have worked more for this show but the animation itself is clean and smooth and it’s able to fully capture the main characters charm and the atmosphere of the show (goth esthetic but also very bubbly)

Story: (8) Now just the premise itself is interesting, a man who can’t touch anything because otherwise it’ll die and his maid teasing him romantically and sexually, sounds stupid but it’s very thought provoking as at first glance it seems like that’s kind of dumb but the way the show plays the premise is super adorable and sad with showing us the struggles the main character has to go through and how while miserable he is, the maid teasing him gives him life and makes him feel happy in his darkest times and keeps him sane.

Characters: (9) My favorite part of this series, there are more characters to come but for the review I’ll focus on the main two Bocchan and Alice. Now honestly I was expecting at most that they would like each other and just not admit it (a typical trope) and I would still like the series but seeing these twos adorable interactions mixed with the obvious love for each other is so touching as we see their emotions as they want to embrace and love each other but can’t is heart breaking. The twos dynamic is so entertaining I just crave more each episode and the way they express their love without touching is so good I almost cried. Seriously just so sweet. Also both VA’s are doing a really good job and both play their character so well and makes the characters full of life (ironically cause you know….Duke of death…..anyway)

Music: (7) Normally this bit is for OP’s and ED’s but this anime actually has piano performances and singing from the main lead. Personally I haven’t really watched the ED yet so I can’t give a fair opinion but the OP is wonderfully simple and cute with nice symbolisms with the main leads singing the song together, it’s very simple but nice. But what makes this a 7 is the piano performances and the singing actually touched me and brings a nice ambience to series

Personal Enjoyment: (10) Nothing to do with actual score just really enjoy this series and I usually only do reviews for series I extremely enjoy (expect for my first review, that was just me giving a trashy series credit where it’s due with what it was) but yeah the other ones are series that get misunderstood and need more love

Overall: (8) Now I really appreciate this series, it took a premise that I expected to be cute and dumb and made it that but so much more with the story being interesting while very cute and the romance is very heart breaking and sweet to watch (coincidentally the manga was announced for English release around when the first episode aired so I’m definitely buying that) and yeah if you like romance give this anime a shot it’s a fun ride and I hope more people start to appreciate it

Imagine living with a beautiful maid everyday who serves you, pleases you, and wants to be with you at all times. The only problem? You can't touch her. It almost sounds appaling but that is the fate of Bocchan, a noble man who suffers a curse where he kills anything he touches. When I heard news of the manga getting the anime adaptation, it wasn't a bit surprising. It's one of the most popular manga from Sunday Webry and contains a premise that is suitable for a fantasy rom-com. With the manga running over 190 chapters, it also seems clear the anime doesn't have enoughtime to cover everything. Yet here we are, with a 12-episode adaptation. Created by Koharu Ikami, it is their only work yet shows that the author wanted us to experience the life of a noble and his maid.

Watching The Duke of Death and His Maid is about as simple as it sounds. At its core, it's about the relationship of the duke (Bocchan) and his maid, Alice. As a timid man lacking social experience, Bocchan has difficulty making friends or expressing his thoughts around others. This becomes a troubling experience and running gag throughout the show. Why? That's because his maid Alice just absolutely loves to tease him at every single chance she gets. With her lascivious body and flirtious personality, Alice tests the limits of his curse. In various episodes, she often gets Bocchan to the point where he ends up being speechless. While most of these scenes are lighthearted and humorous, we have to remember that this is also a punishment for him. Remember, Bocchan can't touch Alice or anyone due to his curse. And it's a traversty.

As we learn to understand more of Bocchan and Alice's relationship, we also meet others such as Rob, Viola, Walter, Zain, and Caph. These characters are intergrated into the show as a way to show the aristocratic lives of the cast. Most of them are protrayed in a Victorian way that adheres to the show's common themes. Characters such as Rob and Walter represents the gentleman stereotype. Others such as Viola and Caph has a more self assertive personality who speaks their thoughts confidentally around others. But perhaps distinguishable character is Zain. He has the head of a bird with a playful personality, who can easily get around others. It's an unorthodox addition to the cast who perhaps represent freedom. He always behaves with an open mind and freely expresses himself around others. From the show's viewpoint, you'll soon realize these characters exist there to be themselves and their roles. They're not there to further the duke and his maid's relationship. To me, that's an example of creative writing in establishing characters in their own unique roles. Unfortunately, this season didn't prepare enough to fully develop them. Let's face it, the anime is only 12 episodes and 190+ chapters is far more than a 1-cour show can handle.

But the more I watched this anime, the more I realized why this show is a fantasy rom-com. It aims to flesh out Bocchan and Alice's relationship as much as possible without them becoming an official couple. Of course, this has a valid reason because of the curse. However, Alice's personalty goes deeper than just what we see. She truly cares about Bocchan beyond her flirtious facade and through some flashbacks, we can see that she was a vulnerable young girl. What's also fascinating about Alice is her lack of fear despite knowing Bocchan's curse. This is due to her immense trust in him. In fact, their relationship is built on trust from the very start. She never fears to be near Bocchan and always puts on a happy smile. If anything, she is perhaps Bocchan's savior and his personal hero.

Admittedly, I did approach this show with a sense of trepidation. That's because the promotional material contained CGI quality material. And for a rom-com like this, that hardly qualifies as encouraging news. Luckily I believe the CGI ultimately doesn't deteriorate the quality of the anime although I do wish J.C. Staff took a more traditional approach at animating the show. On the other hand, Alice is decorated with an alluring figure. Dressed as a maid in goth-like clothing, she has lavish blonde hair and crystal blue eyes representing her beauty. It's no wonder why Bocchan gets so nervous when she comes near him.

It's a not uncommon trend for a maid and her master to fall in love in fiction stories. From this story, we witness the unorthodox relationship of Bocchan and Alice. It's easy to accept their relationship but hard to understand it completely. That's where the anime needs improvement and it became obvious the length of the show isn't enough. Still, I do recommend The Duke of Death and His Maid, especially if you're a fan of rom-coms. This is a show that just loves to be what it is.

A story that had potential but was dragged down badly by the low quality animation. It's very difficult to present a credible romance story with emotionless CGI faces that can hardly convey expressions. The maid seems more like a sci-fi sex robot than a human. In terms of romance, nothing is really developed. The story begins with the main couple already being in love, so the audience is expected to fill in the blanks from the past at this point. This Master-Servant relationship wasn't written exactly as wholesome as you would expect, since the maid simps for the boy for no reason while he treats her as asimple servant (instead of an equal), for example ordering her to go do some chores when he's annoyed by her close presence. Or after she gives him some heartfelt love words, all he has to reply is "ok, now I feel like having dinner" lol. He also has her living in what appears to be some small wooden barn outside his mansion... is that how you treat someone you want to marry?

Most of the fanservice and comedy is based on situations where the maid and side characters are at constant risk of dying by acting careless around the cursed boy and almost touching him. Not exactly funny, it simply comes off as being dumb (either that, or the characters have some weird death wish fetish).

The maid blue-balling the boy with her sexual advances also gets old after a while.

Sound and music are decent, so not everything is bad in terms of production value.

Overall it's a show with several flaws in the story with the slow robotic expressionless faces making it hard to overlook them.

This show, though it appears to be tragic, at its heart it is just another romcom(that will make us smile and feel good for the rest of the day) with a nice premise. I'm saying this, because I'm sure some of you came to this show after hearing it's premise, and though it was gonna be a tragic show with complex characters. (APPROACHING SPOILERS) So, I'm gonna make this short, this anime is really good. The premise is very interesting; so close, yet so far. Tragic, yet wholesome, and I think it would make an interesting story. And they absolutely nailed it. Let's get the smallstuff out of the way, like everyone says the cgi, is very icky and emotionless, but its not that bad, it doesn't drag down the other elements and tbh I'm ok with watching this cgi (because the story is beautiful). Music, very fitting for the theme and setting, and the op SLAPS.

Ok, so the characters. Let's talk Bocchan, his character is pretty interesting, a curse that was put on him, which made his life miserable, that would make interesting interactions and room for growth. And they did it, his growth wasn't really shown in the first few episodes, only implied, but in the later episodes they fixed the problem. In the flashback he grows, he finds resolve to live and actually looks forward to his future. He also shows growth, in the part when he asked Zain to destroy the journal, that's him putting his friends, which he didn't want before, over his own goals. And the part where he stands up and defends his love for Alice, not caring about status or pissing of his mom. So basically, the main reason he changed, is because of Alice.

Speaking of Alice... Ok some may say she's bland and emotionless and only being a tease to make Bocchan happy, but in the later episodes she starts to show her true emotions, which was great to see. Speaking of being bland and emotionless, isn't that the image of maids, she needs to not show her true emotions, but that cold image is warmed by Bocchan throughout the series.

Next, is Rob, nothing much to say, which may seem bad, but imo I like it that way. He keeps this image of a cool old guy, with wisdom and skills, but that's not the extent of his character. In the Rob backstory-ish segment, it's shown that he really is a wonderful servant, that focuses on his duty. And the part where he hires Alice, it really shows his resolve to make Bocchan's life better. Then there's Cuff and Zain, both have complementing, personalities. Cuff being the clumsy, short-tempered, aho girl and Zain being the composed, carefree, perverted dude. But though out the series, they break out of character for each other, Cuff wanting to be responsible, and Zain, being very overprotective and willing to sacrifice his friends for Cuff.

Then there's Viola, who serves as Alice's friend and a perspective in the main house. Her liking Rob was really fun to watch and her giving and failing to use her advice was hilarious. As the show progressed, it is stated that she wants praise and to be herself, this gave the idea that Bocchan's life is a happy one, compared to his siblings. Speaking of that idea, the one that is openly implied is for Walter, he lives in Bocchan's shadow and is just the "spare", the ironic thing, is Bocchan's main priority isn't to become king. Anyway, his growth is shown as he meets his brother and agrees to help him, this may seem like it's to take the achievement of lifting the curse, but I think it's because he genuinely wants to see his brother happy, after seeing him. Last, is their mom, well she is a scary power figure, and it is shown that she is absolutely ruthless. However, in is implied that she actually cares for her son, and in the last episode, she is happy to see her son stand up for himself. I really think that was a powerful moment.

So, the story, I won't say much. The first act, gives exposition and embodies the spirit of Takagi-san, where the Alice teases Bocchan in a lot of situations and that gives us the feel of the show, classic romcom wholesomeness. The end of the first act also, gives us a possible solution to the curse. The second act, shows backstories and the growth of most characters, it shows that Alice is actually in love with Bocchan and not just being a good maid. They face challenges, and moments where they want/need to embrace, but can't.

So overall, this anime is fantastic for a romcom enjoyer like me, it has it's flaws, but I'm very satisfied with this show. Can't wait for next season!

While there is a lot of interest within this show from it's concept. The idea of it would appeal to most viewers. With the concept of the life of a character that had been cursed with anything that is living and breathing that he touches, will die. With only basically two people there for him to attend to his needs. Sounds a good concept right? Well, not really. What really ruins it, is the characters more so. While there can be cute moments, very cute moments. But what ruins it, is that the characters, or least most of them are basically one trick ponies, with onlya smudge of a bit more personality to them. As if all they have to them, is one thing, and one thing only. Let's take Alice for example. Her entire character is one gag. That gag being her flirting with Bocchan. Flirting in a sexual manner. I can deal with it once or twice, but it keeps happening, and happening, and it gets tiresome after a while. While Bocchan has a bit more to him, the first episode is a good episode to show that after all. But that's pretty much it. While their butler is the same, 'Old and works too hard.'Even is family can just be described as one particular personality trope, with just one or two added extras.

It's just a shame really, the mystery over this curse, and the idea of 'will he, or won't he be freed from it' really drives this sows interest, along with a slight bit of the character's backstories. But beyond that, there isn't really a lot.

As for the art, it's subjective. I honestly don't mind the style too much. You either love it, hate it, or don't mind it at all. So I can't really say too much on it. Besides how the characters look, the whole presentation does look decent at least. Much like the sound is, a plus for sure.

Boccan to Kuro Maid is an OK type of show, but it's just not for me, and it may not be for you. I suggest waiting it out to see how it ends for this one.

Me: "Oh hello, busty Takagi-san. Is that you trying to entice the love of your life, if in an alternate world where Nishikata was cursed and he cannot touch you?" Takagi: "Nope, my dear male MC Nishikata is trying to be Code:Realize's MC Cardia Beckford, a lady whom can decay anything at the slightest touch. He's trying his very best to break out of his curse, just like Cardia. And thank god that he's not in a harem." Nishikata: "Yes, I'm cursed, so busty Takagi can only do her teasing through sexually harassing me to the best of her abilities and make that her usual running gagjoke. So get those soft boobs outta my face please, for the love of God!"

In a typical relationship between a boy and a girl, there're many works that display the kind of teasing that is similar or akin to Souichirou Yamamoto's Karaki Jouzu no Takagi-san, arguably the most popular work of all if ever there was a credited influence from. A lot of mangakas whom thereafter created similar works like it don't really credit this back to Takagi-san because of the overt similarities that it shares, while making theirs stand out in a special way (see Uzaki-chan and Nagatoro-san). And now there's one more to add to the mix: newbie mangaka Koharu Ikami's Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid a.k.a The Duke of Death and his Black Maid. A fun fact that these 3 works were released around the same time in 2017, just a month separate from each other, with Shinigami Bocchan in October, Nagatoro in November, and Uzaki in December (yet the anime adaptation airing is in the reverse order, fate much?).

I need not mention the story (or rather, its plot) itself because it's just that: the Duke of Death Bocchan getting cursed by a witch, which makes everything he touches decay, and moving into this mansion where that is the limit of his extensive reach, being shunned by friends and family alike. Thankfully though, he's not alone, with the maid Alice and butler Rob, and the sole goal of Bocchan is to find a way to get rid of the curse and be a normal boy again through all means, even engaging with the supernatural. Sounds simple, but it works really well. The story expands over time and makes your time well worth spent, because as much as the Duke Bocchan wants it done and dealt with, that also gives way for his black maid Alice to poke her fun towards him, because they're in a relationship right off the bat. The dialogue sometimes can be a little dis-interesting and forced when compared to Takagi-san as one-trick ponies, but as a sole work, I'd say that it checks all the boxes if you're willing to relax on a rom-com like this.

The comical part is when the material dives in on the sense of contact a.k.a touch, because Bocchan literally CANNOT touch anything, not even his sexually alluring maid Alice, even if he wants to. It sounds kinda dumb when a curse is what literally holds you back from doing everything but anything that concerns your hands, but it's a miserable life indeed for Bocchan. To make matters worse (or better), it presents itself in a black gothic, Transylvania feel that complements the setting, so it services as the gateway between Bocchan, Alice, Rob and the other characters in their midst. Concerning the other beings, there's the red-haired witch Caph (because why the hell would you mistranslate that as Cuff) and bird wizard Zain, and just like Bocchan and Alice, they're in love with each other...but wiith a caveat: neither would sound out the confession. And try as the child-like Caph and the pervertic Zain would mingle amongst each other, their character dynamic adds to the dark tones of the duo's balance like yin and yang. In addition, Bocchan's family of their harsh mother Gerbera, youngest sister Viola (who has a thing for old men like Rob) and the younger brother Walter (which laments being 2nd, as if he's accursed by the number 2) makes the whole character complement work very nicely, I must say.

And then there comes the CGI part. Whenever 3DCG studios like Shirogumi or Sanzigen uses complete CGI to produce anime, it raises hairs for it being bad, but it's not really that bad, hell I'd say that we've come a long way from getting used to fully CG-produced anime like Orange's Beastars or Houseki no Kuni a.k.a. Land of the Lustrous (which is still the undisputed king of 3DCG anime done purposefully right). In hindsight of J.C.Staff, director Yoshiki Yamakawa directed High Score Girl, which is the first J.C.Staff show to ever be produced in full CGI that's aided by SMDE (Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment). Since that and Shinigami Bocchan are serialized under the Shogakukan banner, it makes sense why Hi Score Girl (though not originally planned to be one) and this show would be fully animated in CGI, and it's quite the look. And this will be a hot take, but it's a subtle improvement over Hi Score Girl in the CG sense that I'm quite accustomed to now.

There are also some nice things in the music department. VA Hanae Natsuki is a mainstay giving that child-like tone to Bocchan, but this is VA Ayumi Mano's first lengthy break playing the main character after doing support roles, and her voice suits Alice's teasing demeanor of a charm. Also, the OP is kinda of a sweet touch where it gets interactive between both characters with that playful-ish feeling of singing, teasing and having just a good time together, honestly, it's a nice song all wrapped up together to serve that light-hearted ambience together with the ED, which is presented in a ghost-like solemn manner to complement the song.

All in all, as someone whom reads and watches way too much AniManga that uses the now famous teasing trope to entice and keep the relationship going, I can say that I leave this show being pleasantly surprised. Sure, it isn't quite as polished as Takagi-san is when it comes to the rom-com rhetoric, but as a standalone material, it is one fun ride that I can recommend if you're searching for more shows that aren't so much Takagi-san lookalikes for changes in settings, but you get my drift.

Pain. An unpleasant feeling that everyone has experienced once in their life. Be it a small cut while doing geometry homework or getting rejected by your first crush with a small letter that she didn’t even hand deliver herself, it’s a feeling that no one wants to experience, but they don’t have the liberty of choice. Now imagine living a life, completely isolated, with no interactions with friends or family and an inability to touch or feel anything. It sounds like a nightmare, a fever dream that you want to quickly wake up from. Unfortunately for our favorite duke, it’s a harsh reality. The duke ofdeath and his maid, is a story that follows…well a duke and his maid. The duke was cursed when he was a kid, taking away his ability to touch less feel anything, as all things living perishes from his wicked touch. Abandoned by his family, and forced into isolation due to his curse, his only shining light is his maid who was accepting enough to live with him. We then follow the troubles of the duke as he finds his life withering away because of the curse but simultaneously finds solace in the warmth of the maid he adores….well not really.

The show tricks us into thinking it’s going to show us the painful side of being isolated and abandoned. A feeling of helplessness, a growing resentment towards the people that made your life miserable. All the anger, hatred and sorrow that grows in you as your life withers away all alone. The show had such an ambiguous and indecisive plot to work with. It could have displayed so much emotion and human drama, the chances of visual imagery in this show was indefinite. It’s a show that had honestly one of the most equivocal plots to work with, but they throw that shit down the drain cause why not.

Instead we get a show of this mortified, helpless duke, being teased by a hot big tiddy anime maid. It contradicts its whole point of expressing the lonely and depressing life of an ostracized duke, as it moves towards making the show seem like a shitty fan animated Takagi-san, yet not nearly as good. The majority of the plot is taken up by the maid teasing the duke through sexual scenarios, enough for you to honestly wish you were in that dukes place. It makes for a laugh from time to time, but honestly leaves you feeling empty, as you realize you just watched 20 mins of basically nothing.

The problem with the show is its direction. Reading the synopsis, you think it’s going to be a drama with extreme exposure towards human emotions. But you see it slowly turn into nothing more than a maid sexually harassing a socially awkward and super childish duke. I don’t think the maid is the problem, it’s just the role she plays. She isn’t the saving grace or the comforting persona for the duke. We don’t see her act as someone who’s empathetic towards the duke when he’s down and out, rather as an obnoxious and quirky character who risks her life for a 10 second teasing session for her personal enjoyment.

Speaking of characters we have the duke. I’ve never seen a characters backstory have this less of an impact in their life. As previously told, cursed, abandoned boy living with his maid. You expect him to be heartless, emotionless, filled with anger and resentment. But nah, that’s too deep. Well formulated character who expresses a darker side of the human persona? Nah too rooted in reality, might scare the kids away. Make him awkward, childish and clumsy and have him blush while getting harassed by his maid for the 50th time as if it doesn’t become commonplace by them, that’s enough to keep the brain dead people’s attention in this show.

The maid is no saving grace either. She was set up to be the light to the dukes darkness filled life. Unfortunately the duke is more cheery than I was receiving my Nintendo DS when I was like 5. Her character could have been an detrimental part of the show if played out correctly, but since the main focus of the show (the duke) is completely contradicting his own personality, the maid loses her integral reason for being In the show, and just turns into a quirky and outlandish character.

Coming on to the art, its CGI, that sentence alone is enough to put the fear of god in you and make you avoid this show like its Voldemort, "he who shall not be named". It’s not like Beastars CGI rather more like windows movie maker levels of CGI. It’s abhorrent. It doesn’t do the characters any favors. There movements are so robotic. The characters move in like 2 frames per second. I can hear the whole dialogue being said before the characters even finish moving their lips. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, CG and hand draw animation do not mix, like at all. It should just be illegal. This show proceeds to go against that and use hand drawn backgrounds with CGI characters. What we get is two cartoonish, stupid looking characters, interacting in the pace of a sloth, in an actually well drawn background. It looks dumb, something out of a children’s picture book if the picture book was made by a man who snorts 10 bags of crack every day.

Its super unnatural and a real immersion breaker. What started off as acceptable levels of CG takes a massive nosedive in quality in the later episodes. As someone whose not opposed towards CGI in anime (after AOT & Beastars), I went into the show with a high remark for and a new found appreciation for CG. Unfortunately after watching this Im going back to the phase of thinking CGI was the creation in humanity.

The sound is not really anything to be touched upon. The duke’s hobby is playing piano, so a lot of the tracks are piano, violin, percussion instruments in general. It adds to the whole classiness of the duke’s lifestyle. Piano is also a great instrument to produce sounds that are eerie and uncomforting, which could have been a great expression of musical imagery. The eerie music could have really complimented the dukes horrifying life. I personally was too distraught by the CG to pay attention to the sound, so I’ll give the show the benefit of the doubt and assume it was good,

The problem with the show lies mostly on the direction that it took its story. The CGI could be overlooked or could have been bared with. Unfortunately there’s no saving when it comes to the plot. What could have been an amazing show filled with drama and emotions, turned into...you know what, I honestly can’t be asked to write all that again. The story, instead of going towards its destination, does a complete 180 and goes the other way. Im honestly disappointed with the show. Initially I thought the teasing was just a short term gag, and it’ll pick up its actual plot later on. I was left completely dispirited. Extremely displeases how this show turned out to be. Yeah it’s not the worst thing to come out, but it sucks to see a great show with a plot that has insane potential to be something beautiful, be left redundant and to die in the pit of generic shows. The only reason I finished it was because I put too much time into it. If I could describe the show in one sentence, it’s Youtube Clickbait. I feel like I got cucked and now I have trust issues. There honestly is nothing unique about the show. Besides the CG and abhorrent plot, the shows pretty average. Be it characters or storytelling, it takes a super safe route to a goal that’s nonexistent. Give it a shot, if you don’t despise CG and don’t care about wasting 4 hours of your life. Veterans advice, take those 4 hours and go play Bloodborne, BASED.

The main character has an interesting curse, and that's where all the interest ends. This anime is just a full bad CGI anime with gag after gag of a maid sexually harassing an incel with death touch. And that's basically what you see in the anime. I suppose that the story will keep going and that the characters are going to evolve, but the road will just be like this. Poor jokes and scenes about sexual harrasment that are not even funny, just stupid. Better don't waste your time, it's not even good as a slice of life. The issue is not about the story, northe characters, it's just that it's too repetitive and you'll just laugh at the first gag, maybe two, but then you'll realize that it will just iterate again and again the same and it will become tedious af.

When the only person giving this a 10 is someone calling trolls to those who don't like the anime and gives a 10 to everything is watching, you should understand how reliable that review is.

Recommendation: A low-quality adaptation of very good source material. I highly recommend reading the manga, but I would not bother with the anime. Story: The main story follows the titular Bocchan, the eldest son of a powerful noble family, who has been cursed to kill any living thing he touches. His mother has banished him to a separate estate and told him he will be disinherited if he is unable to break the curse by spring. He is joined only by his maid, childhood friend and love interest Alice, as well as his elderly one-eyed butler Rob. Despite the title and generalnature of the curse, this is first and foremost a lighthearted romantic comedy. There is very little here that could be described as dark or serious, and the series doesn't dwell on the few parts that are. It's funny and just generally enjoyable to see the different combinations of characters interacting while trying to break the main character's curse.

Audio/Visual: Good voice acting work all around, especially from Bocchan and Alice's VAs. They're also handed the duties of singing a duet for the OP, which is pretty solid, and they sing during the show as well, with a duet of The Owl and the Pussycat between the two late in the season being a highlight scene.

Unfortunately, the visual aspect of this series is a major letdown. Even by CG standards, the animation is very poor and cheap-looking. In some parts, such as a brief scene of Cuff flailing her arms while getting excited about Santa, it looks downright embarrassing. As a layman, I have no idea what went into the decision to use CG animation rather than doing it the traditional way, but it was a huge misfire creatively. This is a series that would probably have double the score I gave it if it had even minimally competent 2D animation, but I can't in good conscience recommend a show that looks this terrible. The disappointing part is that there is an interesting sense of style to everything that isn't CG. The backgrounds are textured to look like paintings on canvas, and a few brief sequences use hand-drawn characters and animation and they look great. If they had put resources into this project instead of cranking out a cheap, low-effort CG adaptation, it could have been really good. As it is, they did a terrible disservice to the elegant and creative artwork in the manga, especially the Witches World, which is gloriously spooky and weird in the manga and just looks goofy in the anime.

Characters: The characters nearly make this thing watchable in spite of the CG visual mess. Alice's interactions with Bocchan are funny and charming even if they don't always totally make sense (for example, why is she doing things like asking for a kiss or a hug when she's fully aware that she would die from it?). More importantly, the show is completely stolen by Zain and Cuff, a witch duo that tries to help Bocchan break his curse. Zain is a very horny birdman and Cuff is a complete and total idiot but very lovable. Their relationship is explored more in the manga, but they are highly entertaining even in the anime. You could easily spin off an entire series about these two and it would probably be better and funnier than the original. My one criticism here is Viola, and in particular her gross crush on Rob, who is old enough to be her grandfather. Thankfully, it's entirely one-sided and acknowledged by everyone else to be just her going through a phase, but it's uncomfortable and unnecessary either way.

Before I start: This Anime is tanking at least 1 Point from me because of the 3D animation. In my option it just never looks good, in this case it looks more or less like a game rather than an Anime. As a huge fan of the Manga I was looking forward to this. Story is great, Characters are amazing and the setting too. But the way this Anime is done is not really to my liking. While the Manga has a lot of it's charme from the Art, the Anime does not - they decided to make it 3D models. What would have worked better (IMO)was doing it in a style like Toilett-bound hanako-kun. But here we are, 3/10 for Art.

But I stil enjoyed it and the story is the same as in the Manga, so it's overall a 7/10 for me. But boy I could've been so much better.

Read the Manga, guys.

I'm a huge sucker for romance anime, and this one actually has it all. It's got an interesting hook and characters with actual personalities. The main plot is a romance between an aristocratic heir who was cursed by a witch as a child to kill all he touches (hence the "Duke of Death"), and his maid, Alice. The pace of the romance between the Duke and Alice feels incredibly natural, and the chemistry between the two is clear with an actual backstory to it, instead of it being 'just because.' The dynamic between the two of them balances out quite nicely. Even though Alice technicallyworks for the Duke, and on paper he has authority over her, she has all of the power over him emotionally. Their personalities compliment this dynamic as well: the Duke is timid and easily flustered, while Alice is playful, teasing, and is shown multiple times to be quite perceptive and cunning. But the characters don't feel static- there is plenty of character progression for both of them.

Rather than detract from the primary romance like so many other side characters do in different series, the side characters in this series actually serve to further the romance by introducing conflict from their respective worlds, and thus giving reasons for the Duke and Alice to improve and their romance to grow. There are really two categories of side characters: the witches (notably Zane and Cuff, who serve as a side romance between the two of them), and the Duke's family (Rob the butler, as well as the Duke's sister, brother, and mother). To elaborate, Zane and Cuff serve as an introduction to the world of witches, and by extension, the hunt to figure out a way to break the Duke's curse. The Duke's aristocratic family, on the other hand, naturally sees the Duke's affection for Alice to be taboo, which serves as a catalyst for him to grow independently as a character. In addition, these side characters also have quite enjoyable personalities!

Overall, the romance is incredibly well written and paced. Would probably be between a 9 and 10 if it wasn't 3D animated. However, what is actually drawn in 2D is beautiful, and the mostly classical-adjacent music is lovely. If you love romance anime, don't miss out on this one.

I generally really enjoy the story. The manga is amazing, but this is an odd adaptation. The intro and outro songs are really good. Will add to music play list later. The thing that kills it for me is the animation. It is unfortunately CGI and it's a bit garring at times. Its feels like I'm waiting for the cutscene in a video game to be over. The CGI is distracting. The movements of the characters are sometimes really uncanny and not normal. How is it that the background characters are animated in 2D, and the main characters are in CGI? Its normally the otherway around, but ok. The backgrounds are really odd too. They are trying to give the backgrounds a texture like an oil painting on and canvas. While it can work in other shows, it doesn't work here. It clashes with the CGI characters.

Honestly if you like the story, just read the manga. It's so much better.

Side note- At least the CGI is better than RWBY's. This was way more palatable than that hot garbage.

I don't know why these trolls are complaining about the animation and characters, they are great. I like the story how it's going right from the first episode. The antagonist is always trying his best to get over his past and has a nice supporting character. Woah, there's some nice teasing every few minutes and the voice actor suits Alice and her character very well. I'm looking forward to how he overcomes his past and also his curse. Music is excellent, especially the opening and ending song coming right from the character voice actor's. The first episode animation was a bit laggy, but it wasimproving every few minutes and it looked perfect starting from episode 2 and there onwards.

This show isn't for the faint of heart. The FMC constantly teases the MC in various ways, ranging from innocent or playful gestures of closeness to straightforward and blatant sexual harassment. But unlike other shows where we've seen this theme, here we have the added threat of her straight up dying if they really touched (and no, him wearing gloves does not remove the risk, we are shown they do not help in one of the first scenes). As a result, aside of the typical feelings of awkwardness or embarrassment or perhaps anger or annoyance this could evoke in the MC, and by extension inthe more empathic viewers, here we have a constant terror of death. Imagine someone you care about juggling grenades or constantly pointing a knife at their own throat just to tease you. It is an absurd and impossible experience, and while I've gotten used to it and learned to ignore it after a while, it was really unsettling for the first couple episodes - much more than any "horror" tagged show has ever managed to affect me. Hopefully that's just me being weird and won't apply to most other viewers, but anyway, you've been warned.

So far the episodes have only introduced the setting, main characters and their relationships and typical daily routine and interactions. I found them quite interesting and enjoyable. However, we've not had any actual plot development - even the supposed main plot point of trying to break the curse has not yet been put into focus and is just a minor detail mentioned in the background - so there is not much else to review yet. I'm eagerly awaiting the next episodes.

As for the animation style, I like it. I saw some people worrying about it at the mention of 3D CGI, but I think you don't need to worry in this case. If you could handle High Score Girl for example, you'll be ok with this one too.

Let me begin by saying that the animation is very nice, even if it is CGI it doesn't always mean that it's bad. The story is interesting and original and the characters, while not all that interesting, are still decent. I'd say it would be a 9/10 anime if not for the excessive sexual harassment, which is also a thing in the manga, but way easier to gloss over. While that is the case, the voice acting, sound design and good animation manage to make it an enjoyable adaptation regardless. Overall would recommend if you're into slice of life, with a side of magic, type stuff.

Tick Tock although it is impossible to hold hands , Tick Tock the more time it goes by..... Now that was a very soothing anime, where one can truly say that love conquers all and that true love never abandons the one they truly desire, now that this rom com anime has ended, it was kinda sad that we were never told as to why an innocent boy like Bocchan would have to bear the curse that he doesn't deserve, so here are my ratings for this rom cam anime. Story-fair 6: Ok, so the plot covers the romance between the curse Bocchan and his maid lice,thought it was a nice rom that the original creator that Koharu Ikami conceive it wasn't an original plot, since we see it a lot in any anime and manga with a romcom genre, but as one would have it, how the such genre applied differ. There was also the relationship with the Bocchan and his immediate family members were we see that the Bocchan only has problems with his Okasan and not with his siblings....Now I don't know about you , but IMAO the original creator was playing a bit safe with the relationship with the Bocchan has with his siblings to which there is no Sibling rivalry that exist to which the middle bother would treat the eldest like shit.....Also, the original creator and studio J.C Staff didn't paly naughty with Alice's allure by limiting the amount of ecchi we only see Alice in a few fanservices and the rest was more on her figure. In my conclusion the romcom genre was well applied but unfortunately the series' plot depends too much on the said genre.

Art-Good 7: One would thing that this would be one part CGI and 1 part 2D and it might look that way, but nevertheless studio J.C Staff never added any lewdness' on Alice, but rely mostly on her being downbloused and no panchra, even if there were some fanservices around it was very limited also Viola's attire of wearing that Zettai Ryoki with a garter belt was just too over the top when it come to her fashion, cu'z it kinda makes look like a loli whore....Also, if any of you notices something about the characters wardrobe, one would notice something Voodoo in it like the witches' color, white, Deleth's mask , Zain having a bird head, Fire, Bocchan's top hat which a Voodoo's symbol of death, and Alice's attire which can be interpreted as someone to be sacrificed, now IMAO the original creator Koharu Ikami may have had some inspirations with Voodoo in Louisiana or in Haiti where such religion is practiced to which if one was observant enough it wouldn't be that hard to see.

Sound-Good 7: Ok that score was for the opening theme "Mangetsu to Silhouette no Yoru " by Bocchan (Natsuki Hanae) & Alice (Ayumi Mano) which has that appeal as to what the anime is.......which the lyrics says

Tick Tack Although it's impossible to hold hands , Tick Tock the more time goes by, Tick Tock the bond between the two, Tick Tock the stronger will connect.

the lyrics of the song does fit well with the anime , cu'z as one reads the lyric one will have the idea as to what this anime is so the song itself has that romcom feel as for the seiyuu who did the character's voices, I simply have no qualms as to who did who so:

Tick-Tack te to te wa muri demo Tick-Tack toki wo kasanete

Tick-Tack futari no kizuna wa Tick-Tack tsuyoku tsunagaru...

Sorry about that I just really like the song.....

Character-Fair 6: Ok so for the most part this is all about Bocchan and his ever trusting and loving maid Alice, as we can see Bocchan given that he has an estrange relationship with his mother to which he himself has no idea as why can his mother love him the way he is and why does he have to bear the burden of being left alone in another mansion with only his maid and butler, throughout the series Alice herself though was orphaned at an early age performed the duties as both friend , servant and a mother figure to the character in which we see her do something beyond that like teaseing the Bocchan, Viola as we can see despite of her Onichan's curse still does her role as a doting little sister to her Onichan which isn't bad but when 2 new side characters arrive like Caph and Zain it was a bit disgusting that the 2 can't do anything to remove the Bocchan's curse despite the fact the both were also witches...Now fair as it is, the relationship between Bocchan and Alice was very obvious from the start , but as to Alice's mom Sharon, well hypothetically she could be the witch who placed a curse on Bocchan and hypothetically she could still be alive , just put on statis by Daleth and if there will be a season 2 we could only hope that she will removed the curse from Bocchan, there is also that possibility that Alice may have the power to removed the curse or she can touch Bocchan and not die, but hey, that just a hypothesis, so chill.

Enjoyment-Fair 6: It was enjoyable , but as one goes further in watching this anime it some how becomes monotonous since little was happening around and there wasn't much of nay climaxes if there were , then it was good only to an extend.

Overall-Good 7: The series itself wasn't a ripped off, the song itself describes the anime well, but iMAO this deserves a 2nd season. so.

Tick-Tack te to te wa muri demo Tick-Tack toki wo kasanete

Tick-Tack futari no kizuna wa Tick-Tack tsuyoku tsunagaru...

Story: 6 Art: 5 Sound: 6 Character: 3 Enjoyment: 4 Overall: 5 .......................................................... Well, a new season with new animes. What do we have here? A story about a nobleman who was cursed by a witch with a curse that have him cause death to any living creature he touches?Wow that seems interesting!

Huh? he has a maid with no personality whatsoever and her only job is to sexually harass him?

Oh.....

Ok first, I'll probably mention an other anime, Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, as they have a lot of similarities.

Now let's look at the anime's poster, we have our main couple, the younger sister, another cute girl, the old butler, and... a human pigeon? I guess?

I have to say, I become so skeptical with an anime where the only young male it presents is the main character.

Whatever, let's continue.

So it's a romance story between the master and his servant, that'd be nice excepts for this couple being one of the worst couples I've seen in history.

I'm not sure how you can write two lovers with little to zero chemistry between them. Even though they have the potential to be a well-written couple.

He was abandoned and feared by everyone, she was the one willing to be with him, what do you need more?

And you know what makes their couple so bad and uninteresting?

It's that Alice's only job is show any part she can show of her body.

Now I'm not saying that you can't write a couple where the girl deliberately shows her body to either show her love or embarrass the guy who has a shy and somewhat incel personality, a good example of that would be "Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro".

That is because Nagatoro had a personality more than being a fanservice material, and her actions didn't feel forced.

But in this anime, it feels like the author is writing his fantasies about maids.

In other words, it feels really forced.

Another thing that this anime wastes the potential of, is the drama and mystery elements it's capable of offering.

Who are the witches? why did this witch out a curse on the MC? How can he get rid of it? Is it even possible? How would he feel if he actually caused the death of another person? Isn't it possible to make him reject Alice in fear of causing her death? Wouldn't it be nice if he had nightmares about that? What does Alice's mom have to do with witches? What would happen if the MC met his mother or younger brother?

I know that I'm asking questions that're going to be answered later, but it's already been 4 episodes with nothing but non-funny comedy scenes and non-romantic romance scenes.

With this season being only 12 episodes, 1\3 of this anime is already gone.

Are we going to waste the whole season like that? Oh god.

Well hello there, congrats, you've found one of my rare, spoiler free reviews! It's basically where I take a title, like for example this one and talk about it's story, characters, artstyle and so on. And if you're wondering why I chose this one, well, it's because it really deserves more appreciation and love, since it's pretty underrated due to the CGI aspects of it. And before I start, I want to mention that I'm definitely NOT a fan of CGI, for various reasons and I could probably count on one hand, how many CGI anime I have watched. And so, Let's BEGIN! As always Iwill start with the story, and one thing I can say for sure, is that this story feels pretty unique. It truly shows that even with a small amount of characters, you can create some pretty interesting plot. It flows well and it is a pretty wholesome experience. And if you think about it, the story feels almost on the border of being a slice of life, which is weird, but cool. As for the story progression, I think it's ok, like I mentioned before about the slice of life aspect, because of it, the progression felt slower, while actually it wasn't. It's kinda weird, but it didn't bother me at all, it almost made sense in a way, since then you get the chance to get closer to the characters and they themselves can get to know each other a little bit more. So it felt great and refreshing to see something new, that you can casually enjoy.

The characters, right. While I can say that the main character's siblings or some of the other characters don't seem like super original, it still felt great to watch and was very enjoyable. But why? I guess it's more like this, you've got more or less the usual characters, but the layout for them is totally different from what I've seen before. This I think is one of the unique parts of it, because it creates new situations and combinations, that no one has really tried before. I like it. And with the simple concept of the story and main character's problem, this adds a lot to the interactions and behavior of the other characters, making it one heck of an experience.

Now for the artstyle and music. As you know, this particular anime is built fully in CGI and I can see how people could just push it aside because of it. But towards those people, I have something to say "Do you really think, that CGI is the same as 10 or 15 years ago?", cause it really isn't. While it is still developing like all of the other arts, the quality has gone up quite a lot and you might be surprised, just how much that is. The only issue that I have towards the CGI is the framerate, it just needs to be 60fps or atleast close to it, since it's not a traditional anime, and even there they spent a long time to fake the framerate and make it fluent. In CGI there are just simply different rules and you have an actual physics engine involved. But when they will nail the correct framerate, it will be perfect. Another important thing I wanna mention, everything is still hand animated, the movements, the gestures and even facial expressions. You might be asking why not use a motion capture suit, and the answer is quite simple, because then it's not an anime anymore. Art, most of the time, has no shortcuts, it's only about perseverance, hard work and self-development. And this applies to voice acting and singing too. When you watch the anime, the characters feel great also because of the work put in by the actors. You can see that they have practiced a lot, especially for that once scene envolving music. That one I liked a lot both from the music and from the story side aswell.

So in the end I give it a solid 9/10. Most of it, is for the framerate issue and a little bit for the character uniqueness. And after reading all of this, if you are still not sure, then you're free to watch it and tell how I am wrong about everything. :D

That's it from me and PEACE, I'M OUT! ^^

Rarely do I write reviews but the amount of crybabies I've seen in this anime review section is pissing me off! If you don't like CGI then there's no point even checking this anime just to shit on it for no reason, find something else to watch, though it will be your loss because the story is just beautiful and the relationship between the duke and his maid is just teasingly beautiful. This will contain some spoilers just to be aware : This is the story between a lonely duke who was abandoned by his own family due to a spell on him made him cursed tomake any organism he touches die. In a journey to try and find out about that witch who cursed him and to try and lift his curse to live his life normaly again.

I really enjoyed watching this season. I honestly find the premise to the anime to be very interesting. A young boy being cursed by a witch and forced to live out his days devoid of any contact with anything and anyone or else they will die. Thinking back I can't think of any anime that has come close to that plot point and I do think it's an interesting one. I will say I do wish though there was more of an explanation of why he was cursed in the first place as all we know from the end of the first season is "witchjust came up to me and did it" - It kinda just feels like they don't know themselves as to why they decided to have the witch do it.

Animation is fine in my opinion. I've seen complaints about the use of CGI and how bad it is. Whilst I don't think the CGI was bad, I can admit it can be a little jarring at times, especially when they're doing something as simple as sitting down. Character designs are lovely. Alice especially.

My only complaints really stem from Viola as I find her to be a little bit annoying at times. Her entire personality is just being in love with the old butler Rob and she has a really irritating voice. My review stems from the English Dub version so perhaps it's not an issue in the sub.

The other characters are pretty interesting and especially the last episode of season 1 really makes you put into perspective as to why the other 2 children are so bitter and envious of The Duke's life. At first my impression was they hated him because their mother out-casted him and that's their way of siding with their mother. However, as more information comes to light and you see how they're living and how they're treated. You can put it together their brother is free to do whatever he wants whilst the other 2 siblings can't even choose their own clothing.

I'm really enjoying this anime so far and I will be watching season 2 next

9/10