Roll Over and Die

Episode 9

For a powerful organization with secret labs and even more secret agendas, the Church seems very nonchalant about letting these lumpy flesh monsters roam the streets. Normally, the cover-up happens before an entire town has time to gather around to gawk at the unnatural grotesqueries. Then again, if I were to draw on real-life examples, the leaders of "actual conspiracies" tend to be far less devious and cunning than the characters we see in fiction. Maybe Roll Over and Die is aiming for verisimilitude.

That observation aside, the most significant issue with the series at the moment is that it has lost much of its narrative momentum. Flum especially feels inert when it would make more sense for the protagonist to be proactive about following up on her leads regarding the machinations behind the Church and the kingdom's royalty. The last few episodes have instead focused on introducing new characters and subplots that keep the story's wheels just barely spinning. While I don't mind the additional introspection that comes with Roll Over and Die slowing down, the show has yet to find a good equilibrium. Even the action-heavy final portion of this episode lacks a sense of friction, as it instead focuses on the noble sacrifices of two characters whose death flags had been flapping violently in the wind. This is a fantasy yarn, and I want real conflict!

This nice part about this easygoing pace is that the series continues to develop its found family theme. This week, Sara reflects on her childhood with Maria, Ed, and Jonny, and they demonstrate how children can band together and help themselves through the tragedy of war. As soon as I saw this much sentimentality applied to their past, I knew Ed and Jonny were going to bite it by the end of the episode. But beyond being cheap dramatic fodder, their example resonates with the warmth of Flum's current household. Elsewhere, Eterna correctly perceives that Ink is hiding the trauma from her previously abusive family unit, and Eterna is empathetic. Their interactions this week are very cute (I laughed at the excellently localized “mofo” joke), and I like the idea of Eterna being a trauma survivor who wants to ease the healing of a child who has gone through something similar.

As for the other family units, the heroes' party continues to fray, with additional members talking about leaving in the wake of their failures and Jean's autocratic leadership. Cyrill is the hardest hit, having lost the use of her powers after betraying Flum, which is about as clear a manifestation of guilt as one could ask for. However, the narrative leaves the door open for eventual reconciliation between her and Flum, as Flum does not resent her at all. Her thoughts are instead empathetic, as her new strength gives her a better understanding of the burden Cyrill had carried, especially in their relationship. We have to remember that Flum's apparent uselessness caused her to experience self-loathing. She thought of herself as a burden to the party, and that attitude was not exclusively inflicted on her by Jean. Now, Flum's physical strength comes with better mental health, so she can ruminate more easily on how others might have thought or felt. Roll Over and Die sometimes surprises me with its emotional intelligence. I wish it could balance that better with its dark fantasy preoccupations.

The adventurers' guild also continues to deteriorate, as Kahnis takes his rise to power as a cue to cement his status by killing Dein. Again, this is a stark contrast with Flum's household and her gentler attitude toward the heroes' party. Dein, now a literal monster, is solely focused on getting revenge against Flum, and in his blind obsession, he dooms the rest of his former guildmates. I like the presence of the spiral here, as a symbol of these personal resentments growing out of control into a cataclysmically destructive force. The eyeball rain, by contrast, is a far goofier image, but it has a macabre quality I also enjoy. Less successful is the eyeball chase scene, which, when combined with the adaptation's barebones production value, looks downright silly. It's as if Ed and Jonny are killed by a rogue swarm of marbles.

Sara, I'm sure, is fine despite the literal cliffhanger, and I hope this is a sign of the plot moving meaningfully forward. That means the extra lovey-dovey time between Flum and Milkit will likely disappear. While I think the adaptation veered too hard away from conflict, I appreciate that we got those genuinely romantic moments between the couple. I suspect that Milkit's decision to keep her bandages on is more of a branding decision by the author than a quirk of her character, but it also makes sense that she grew used to having that extra layer of defense. She only lets her guard down around Flum, and the removal of her bandages is an appropriate image for that. That's wife privilege.

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.