Roll Over and Die

Episode 8

As much as I enjoy Roll Over and Die for how it feels like a respite from its genre, the series sadly remains beholden to some of the Narou scene's ickiest impulses. When Ink mistakes Milkit for Flum's sex slave, it is treated like a moment of levity put there to confirm the young girl's growing comfort within the household. That function is fine, but the content draws attention to the insultingly cavalier treatment of slavery as a concept and institution. The story invokes Flum and Milkit's slave status when it feels like it, and that's one thing, but doing so specifically for a joke leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Additionally, while not as severe, I'm peeved by the inconsistent seriousness with which it treats Flum and Milkit's relationship. There's a delicate balance at play here, so your mileage may vary. It's good to have fluffy moments of puppy love between both girls, but I'm getting a little weary of the show flipping those moments into the butt of a joke. When Milkit gets flustered at the thought of marrying Flum, I don't mind that as much, but it still feels like the series isn't exploring their romance as seriously as it could be. And that feeling is amplified by the tone of the post-credits scene, which is straightforwardly tender and romantic.

If I may continue to indulge in my persnickety impulses, I am of two minds about Milkit's face healing. On one hand, it works in the literary sense as a symbol of Milkit's (and Flum's) mental scars healing. If you ask me, I think that is a very basic reading that doesn't invite a lot of further analysis, but it works. On the other hand, this is a disappointingly pedestrian development that conforms to the valorization of conventional beauty standards. Would Milkit being “ugly” or “disfigured” make her any lesser as a character or as a partner to Flum? Wouldn't it be more interesting to explore that idea, as a continuum with the narrative's other anti-authority themes? Roll Over and Die touches upon this side of it when the two of them “kiss” with their slave brands. That's an affecting moment, as we watch both girls turn their pain into an intimate, loving, and vulnerable gesture. They are two wounded souls in love. I just wish the story had taken that a little further.

I like what's happening with Ink Wreathcraft (another 10/10 name). She initially struck me as too adherent to the abstract concept of “generic cute anime child,” but I believe that's the point. We know she had been through a traumatic experience, so it's not unlikely that she is feigning amnesia and projecting this idealized personality to protect herself. She's manipulating Flum and the others to survive, and I think that's a good fit for this dark fantasy world. Still, Roll Over and Die could be better about treating her blindness like a part of her character, rather than an accessory (although, if she's faking that too, then that warrants a different discussion).

Thankfully, Ink seems to be realizing that she doesn't need to be quite so on guard around her new housemates. She remarks that “you live together, even though you're not family,” and that calls attention to the nontraditional and queer found family that Flum has gathered around herself. The heroes' party denied her love and support, so she constructed a place that does, where she, too, can extend that grace to the people she cares about. She knows Ink would likely be retraumatized were she to enter “the system” again, so Flum takes matters into her own hands.

And if we look more closely at the notion of familial restructuring, we can't ignore how Roll Over and Die intentionally genders its examples. On one end, there's Flum and her house, accumulating friendly and gracious girls. On the other end, Dein's exclusively male flunkies betray and kill each other, only for the survivors to reorient themselves around the next toughest guy in the group. It is self-evidently craven, and it is also no coincidence that the only person in the guild who is interested in helping Flum is the only woman, Y'lla. She even stands up and walks this week! Granted, this happens to show how much of a skirt chaser Flum is, but it's a nice interaction.

The last interesting point I want to hit is Dein's religious conversion, because I was pretty vocal last week about being sick of his presence. This, at least, is a surprising development, and I'm willing to see where it goes. More broadly, I like how this intersects the real phenomenon of terrible men turning to religion as a means of “rehabilitating” their image without truly atoning for their misdeeds. Dein appears to be in dire psychological straits, so his intentions may be more genuine. Nevertheless, he has traded physical assimilation (via the flesh ball) for mental assimilation into the Church's dogma, and I don't see that working out either, given what we know about this sect.

All in all, Roll Over and Die continues to be a mixed bag. I don't think it would take much adjustment to reorient the show in a more interesting and thoughtful direction, while still maintaining its darker edge. But at this point, I'm not optimistic about it doing so.

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.