REVIEW: ‘Delico’s Nursery’ Episode 7 — “Battle Amidst Flames”

Dali Delico and his other three trusty Vamp Agency comrades continue to fail at everything in their lives, sadly. Delico’s Nursery Episode 7, “Battle Amidst Flames,” solidifies its main cast is kind of bad at their jobs in Vamp Agency and their child-rearing tasks. Whenever they have small wins, the losses are really significant. This time, Dali and the other vampire dads get word from Lord Johannes that their children are safely at his home. Even though they are relieved, they should really reconsider how well they watch over their nursery of kids.

Simultaneously, Delico’s Nursery Episode 7 does a great job quickly picking up from where the vampire extremist group Pendulum members Abraham and Kiki drop the kids off at their destination. Unbeknownst to Kiki, she realizes the kids belong to Dali and the others. It is funny when Kiki notes how she essentially killed two birds with one stone by sheer luck.

Lord Johannes’s character development is enhanced here when he has the chance to watch over the kids. Every time Lord Johannes visited Dali’s mansion, the kids were not around to interact with him. The story quickly ramps up as Lord Johannes checks who the other guests are, only to be knocked back by Abraham from the giant mansion doors.

Clearly, the Vamp Agency security sucks if this keeps happening to every major aristocrat introduced throughout this series. Or, Pendulum is just that good. What is worse about the characters of the Vamp Agency is that Delico’s Nursery Episode 7 shows how Dali is the best fighter of the four main guys, but even he gets his cheeks clapped at the end of every fight. Primarily because the fight turns into a 4v1.

Kate and Albrecht makes a cool appearance to back up the leading vampire men. Kate comes in straight-up shooting at the vampire world’s police officers, the Officers of the Blood, who got put under Pendulum’s Initiative (a bite from another vampire that compels the receiver of the bite to do what the biter bids). Everyone is shocked because Dali and the men have just been knocking the officers out with hand-to-hand combat. But they quickly realize that Kate is not a psychopath. She is using rubber-like bullets. Still a rad entrance.

The most interesting lore-building knowledge that gets dropped in Delico’s Nursery Episode 7 is the mention of the term “dhampirs.” Similarly to the world of Dungeons & Dragons, dhampirs are half-vampires, half-humans. During the fight with Dali against Julas, Dali says, “I smell a gutter rat.” This is an interesting line for the protagonist to say. What a classist and racist thing to say, and what a way to remind the audience how high-class and stuck-up Dali and the other aristocratic Vamp Agency members are.

Dali continues calling Julas a “gutter rat,” even after surmising that Julas is most likely a dhampir. When they ultimately lose the fight and lose Lord Johannes and their kids, Dali tells the others how it’s beneficial to them that one of the Pendulum members is a dhampir because they can sniff out Julas. However, Dali says all this most condescendingly while again calling Julas a “gutter rat.” Not a cool look, Dali!

As frustrating as it is to like these ridiculously beautifully-drawn vampire fathers, the art style in Delico’s Nursery Episode 7 holds its own for these fight scenes. Abraham keeps using his fire attack to prevent Dali and the others from following them again. It’s almost like these guys don’t learn their lesson. The most intricate action sequences occur whenever a new Pendulum member shows off their respective abilities, in contrast to the Vamp Agency members, who simply use weapons to attack.

An interesting thing to note about the Vamp Agency versus Pendulum is how both sides are dressed. Dali and his boys are all uniform and look similar in their traditional red clothing, whereas the Pendulum characters are all dressed differently. The artists at J.C. Staff deserve some kudos for the various styling of every character in this series. Katerina still looks dressed immaculately out of an episode of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures. 

But it begs the question if this is a narrative choice to represent the two sides. One side is uniformed and is restricted by their rules versus the other side that believes in freedom so they are all dressed to their own liking. Maybe Dali and the others will realize they have to shed their uniformity and lean into their individual styles and thinking to outwit their opponents. Dali is probably the most unique-thinking because he started the whole nursery concept while the others thought he was crazy.

Yes, Dali, Gerhard, Henriques, and Dino each have a distinct enough way of wearing their uniform, but it would be cool to see them let loose—unless that’s the point of it all. Their rigidity has been their downfall and may be their ultimate demise by the end of the series. Delico’s Nursery Episode 7 shows a little bit more of Dali’s creative thinking when he shows the others his secret archives under his home.

Even though the other men scold him for storing his own stolen classified files, it was pertinent intel. He explains the case file on how a dhampir settlement called Nebula Village was wiped out by TRUMP. So, Dali assumes that Pendulum’s motivations may be related to the incident.

As Delico’s Nursery Episode 7 kicks off the second act of this half-mystery, half-child-rearing story, the situation worsens and worsens for the Vamp Agency. Nothing seems to be working out for the good guys, so it looks like they’ll need to start thinking outside of the box, and start going on the offensive. The only consolation of this whole ordeal is that the baby Ul was safely hidden from being kidnapped by Pendulum.

Delico’s Nursery Episode 7 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.