Roll Over and Die

Episode 7

I do not know what Dein is still doing in this story. I know I'm jumping ahead, but it is ridiculous that he is (ostensibly) alive by the end of this episode. While he made sense as an early villain for Flum to undermine, she and the story have much bigger fish to fry at this point. Dein just isn't that interesting. Even the additional context of his once-noble lineage does not affect the core of his character—the regressive male entitlement that sits opposite of Flum's character growth. He and his inflated ego should have been cut to ribbons last week, which would have tied a nice bow on Flum's revenge arc and Milkit's path to recovery.

Instead, Dein kidnaps a blind homeless girl and uses her as a hostage in order to get Flum to drink dragon poison. This is a “tying the damsel to the train tracks” caliber of cartoonish villainy, and I don't think Roll Over and Die needs all this moustache-twirling when it has the church-and-state conspiracy to unravel. I might have forgiven this excess had Flum been allowed to skewer his ass once and for all, but Ottilie's deux-ex-machina puts the kibosh on that. The writing just feels confused here, complicating what should have been simple. On the bright side, Dein goes out in an appropriately pathetic manner: betrayed by an underling and presumably absorbed into a giant flesh ball. Although that may be a fate worse than death, I hope that Flum gets her chance to put a pin in it, as it were.

The surprise star of this week's Roll Over and Die installment is Ottilie, lieutenant general of the royal army and disaster lesbian extraordinaire. She provides further evidence for the power of gap moe, because I'll be honest; I had originally rolled my eyes at the gallant lady knight with the bright red twintail drills. I certainly don't mind her archetype, but she did not appear to be bringing much else besides cliches to the table. However, her all-timer “lezzing out” spiel brought me back on board. Not only does she quickly identify the back of the knees as a powerful charm point, she quickly tacks on other highlights like the webbing between fingers, the nape of the neck, and the sexiness of a woman's nostrils (censored here for a modicum of decency). They don't teach this in Yuri 101. This is advanced yearning.

Crush on her superior officer aside, Ottilie becomes another one of Flum's allies. Our heroine now knows inside women within both the royal army and the Church, which is important for her next mission. But I don't care about the plot implications as much as I care about Flum's growing merry band of queer women. Roll Over and Die isn't a series that just happens to star a lesbian couple. It deliberately concentrates sapphic characters and situations around Flum, and I hope it is aiming towards a satisfying thematic conclusion. I want the notion of yuri to be philosophically woven into the fabric of Roll Over and Die, not merely the “gimmick” that helps it stand out.

Certainly, the series isn't winning any prizes for subtlety in storytelling. Flum's other new companion is the blind homeless girl with amnesia, who is also an escapee from the Church's magical experiments on orphans. It's like the writer smashed all the buttons that are supposed to make an audience sympathize with a character. The girl doesn't even get a name, although the show invites the audience to draw plenty of visual and functional comparisons with Milkit. I would have expected the girl to be a one-off presence if not for the updated ED, where she's seated with the rest of Flum's clan. If the show can meaningfully develop her character—perhaps through the act of Flum and Milkit becoming her surrogate family—then I'll be more okay with this clumsy introduction.

Overall, though, this episode did not succeed in its dramatic ambitions. I don't care about Dein. I never thought Flum was in real danger. And we do not make any meaningful progress towards solving the conspiracy lurking behind the Church and this kingdom. I didn't mind last week's pause in the action, but I do mind this week's illusion of action. On the other hand, I got the most satisfaction from little character beats: Ottilie unleashing her lesbian thirst, Eterna sipping tea while Flum and Milkit act lovey-dovey in front of her, and Sara happily munching on whatever food she can reach with her tiny arms. These touches of brightness are important to Roll Over and Die's mood. But if the series wants to succeed as a dark fantasy, it also needs to be more creative and evocative in its nastiness.

Rating:

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.