Roll Over and Die

Episode 3

Notice how Flum, after taking care of room and board, uses their quest bounty to dress Milkit in a maid outfit. If anybody was still harboring any questions about Flum's sexual orientation, then this should remove all doubt. However, the rest of the third episode is unfortunately light on the yuri. Flum gives Milkit a half-kabedon, after which the camera zooms in to make it look like they're smooching, so that isn't nothing. And frankly, we shouldn't ignore how much of a freak Flum has to be in order to dress her literal slave like a French maid. She definitely has fantasies of a certain ilk. But overall, this installment's priorities lie elsewhere.

Sara Anvilen is our focal point this week, and I can't say I had a good read on her character at first. As something of a JRPG connoisseur myself, I know what it means when there is a dogmatic religious presence lurking in the background, and since she's a nun, I expected Sara to function as an avatar of that institution. However, Sara turns out to be strong, ditzy, kind-hearted, and willing to shirk the church's teachings if they conflict with her own code of ethics. That's the opposite of dogmatic. Moreover, Sara follows in the footsteps of one of Flum's previous party members, the healer Maria. Maria is also selectively disloyal to the church, yet she obeyed Jean when he commanded her to not heal Flum. Clearly, something more is going on with these nuns.

Sara's backstory provides some context. She explains that the brand on her neck (similar in appearance to Flum's) marks her as a member of a different religious sect that got folded into the central Church of Origin when demons destroyed her hometown. Because the same thing also happened to Maria, and because the demons are commanded to spare humans, I am now 95% certain that the demons are in cahoots with the church. They destroy pagan villages that the Church of Origin can convert en masse, growing their numbers towards some nebulous and nefarious purpose. I haven't read the light novels yet, but I'm calling my shot.

Of course, I'm not saying I'm some kind of plot genius to be wary of the Church. In addition to all of my aforementioned reasons, the plight of Leitch and his wife informs us of another sinister religious aspect: the banning of all non-magical medicine. I can't say I expected Roll Over and Die to touch upon the modern antivax movement, but it is nevertheless a welcome thematic contour. Within the context of the story, the search for the herb acts as Flum's next quest, and their mutual sense of medicinal justice endears us to both her and Sara. It's functional storytelling, although I feel the plot moving more quickly than I'd like.

I would prefer if Flum had more downtime with Milkit to better establish their characters, as well as the character of their relationship. While I like Flum's bedtime confessional this week, I'd be happier to get an episode dedicated to those kinds of character beats before we jump into another storyline. Still, it did not escape my notice that Milkit chooses to prepare food for everyone in order to feel useful, which mirrors how Flum felt and behaved in her previous party. I'm interested to see if Milkit will now rush into danger in order to help Flum.

Curses make Flum stronger, so the opposite is true as well, which Flum discovers firsthand when Sara's healing magic hurts her. Although I had initially expected Sara to harbor nefarious intentions, now I think it makes more sense for her to be pure-hearted. It's Flum who has been twisted around by her lot in life. In a literary sense, we can interpret her “Reversal” skill as a coping mechanism that protects her from harm and abandonment. The trade-off is that a truly kind soul like Sara cannot get through to her. Only other damaged people like Milkit can pierce her defenses. It's not a hard and fast rule, but people who know trauma tend to sympathize better with other people affected by trauma. These relationships, however, can just as easily prove volatile due to those shared wounds.

Before I get too distracted by psychological analysis, I should comment on the quality of the episode itself, which is not very good. The production already looks flimsy, cheap, and awkward. There are more off-model moments. The palette and backgrounds are ugly. The interjections from the narrator feel increasingly lazy on the part of the screenwriter. There are attempts at creative storyboarding that the anime just can't fulfill (in particular I'm thinking about how bad the water effect on the fountain looks). And these 20 minutes wrap up before anything gripping happens. I'll give Roll Over and Die credit for doing something legitimately creepy and worthwhile with the stat screen—and if you know me, you know how gargantuan a compliment that is. Overall, though, this slice of the story feels unsubstantial.

On the other hand, I cannot deny that this series possesses a quintessence that draws me further in despite its evident mediocrity. Am I swayed by the lesbian factor? Am I satisfied to sup on the tantalizing breadcrumbs of a larger conspiracy that may not pan out? Do I still see the shadow of Big Order in its moments of incompetence? I'm going to continue to work that out right here, same time next week.

Rating:

Dub Review

The first episode of Crunchyroll's dub is live, so I will wrap up with a few of my comments on what I've heard so far. Overall, I like it! The script sounds fine to me; I enjoy that it keeps the little title drop, and it very wisely emphasizes the pronunciation of Milkit's name as Milk-EET. While the alternative would have been far funnier, this is the smarter option. Performance-wise, Emily Neves stands out as our leading lady. She sounds truly spiritually broken in the first part, and she gains Flum's protagonist pluck in the second. Reshel Mae has less range to work with as Milkit, and she more or less matches the softspoken delivery of Miku Itō. I also like Tom Laflin as Jean. He makes him sound like a proper bastard and really puts some stink on that “garbage” he flings at Flum. The weak link here would be Alex Hanback, who sounds noticeably less animated when compared to the amount of ham that Tanuki Sugino slathers on his delivery as the slave trader who bought Flum. Granted, the trader only sticks around for the first episode, so this isn't a big deal in the long run. I'd recommend the dub if you're interested and you don't mind the lack of subtitles for the onscreen text (sadly a common feature of Crunchyroll's dubs).

Roll Over and Die is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Sylvia is on Bluesky for all of your posting needs. You are not allowed to ask her to roll over. You can also catch her chatting about trash and treasure alike on This Week in Anime.