REVIEW: ‘Delico’s Nursery’ Episode 3 — “The Approaching Shadow”

The Vlad Agency halts progress on the TRUE OF VAMP (TRUMP) murders from the vampire terrorist group Pendulum. The aristocratic vampires are forced to wait for their enemies to make their next move before investigating further. Delico’s Nursery Episode 3, “The Approaching Shadow,” reveals some shocking backstory and how Dali was tied to Pendulum in the past. This episode tumbles its way through to balance the TRUMP mission and child-rearing.

Delico’s Nursery Episode 3 begins with Theodore Classico conversing with his talking teddy bears again. It shows that Theodore may not be all he’s cracked up to be, being Dino’s perfect, studious son. Perhaps the cracks in his mental health are showing, especially being exposed to all of the other families’ kids having fun together.

The next scene finds Dali and his fellow child-rearing vampire fathers in the kitchen. Gerhard and Dino complain that Dali’s cooking for the kids might be overboard. Even though the food in this show is nothing of the like from Shokugeki no Soma or any of the Studio Ghibli films, this episode’s food still looks appetizing.

One may ask, what does a vampire eat in an established high society other than drinking blood? The chefs can develop a delectable soup made from duck blood that ultimately quenches Dali’s palette. This child-rearing focus of the week wraps up with Dali admitting defeat to his chefs and saying they should continue to make the children’s food.

As for the more exciting parts of Delico’s Nursery Episode 3, the team of Vlad Agency members recap what they know about Pendulum. They know that they are one of Vamp society’s preeminent criminal organizations. This leads Dali to explain to the others the troubles he and Gerhard faced in their earlier missions. Here, he introduces the concept of a “Grand Guignol.”

Gerhard describes a Grand Guignol as “a ritual for presenting the immortal TRUMP with a display of death.” Dali chimes in and reiterates that all Vamps are said to be mentally linked to the TRUMP since this was the one vampire who essentially bit them all—a concept that makes sense for those who watched CW’s The Vampire Diaries. Dino questions Dali’s connection to the Pendulum, which leads Dali to explain that he was once a target of a Grand Guignol.

Dali tells the men the story of him and Gerhard hunting down the vampire, Barlach Bell, a year ago. He also explains that all Vampires go through a cocoon phase at a place called “The Clan.” Their investigation of Barlach leads them to find out that Barlach is responsible for many young boys and girls vanishing in their cocoon phases. Apparently, Barlach was taking these young Vampires and biting them to gain control over them.

It is believed that Berlach used a bunch of these cocoon phase Vamps and his Pendulum underlings to invade Dali’s home. Dali and Gerhard closed in on him as a suspect before the Grand Guignol was enacted on the Delico house. Some quick, clean action animation occurs here as Dali slashes some of his enemies in his home.

While Dali can kill a bunch of the invaders swiftly, Frieda is left undefended—resulting in her getting bit by one of the attackers and ordered to kill everyone she loves. Just as Frieda is going to kill Dali, Gerhard stabs her to save Dali’s life. Through an unfortunate circumstance, Gerhard being responsible for Frieda’s death was also cleared up.

Despite throwing in some action from Dali’s past and some clarity on what happened to his wife, Delico’s Nursery Episode 3 is reaching the point of not having a wow factor. The world rules are flowered with fancy terms and such to mask a relatively predictable storyline so far. The episode’s saving grace is the introduction of the alleged evil mastermind, Berlach. He looks like Todd Philips’ Joker, as an evil vampire.

The end of the episode feels like the ultimate drag when it cuts to Lord Johannes and Lord Morris discussing whether Dali is fit for the mission. Of course, Lord Johannes backs up his boy by saying Dali is simply waiting for Pendulum to make their move first. This is true to some extent, but people are getting murdered left and right. I’m not sure how many more will have to die before Dali takes a more assertive approach.

Also, I don’t think it’s a good sign of childcare when one of the kids asks, ” What’s serial murder?” This is the funniest moment of Delico’s Nursery Episode 3, while everything else seemed like a slog. At this point, focus on the cute kids!

 Delico’s Nursery Episode 3 is available to watch now on Crunchyroll.