REVIEW: ‘Delico’s Nursery’ Episode 8 — “Thus Spoke Juras”

Exposition in any story, on any format, is always a key narrative element used to expand the lore of the overall plot and break up some of the tense or faster-paced moments. That’s what Delico’s Nursery Episode 8, “Thus Spoke Juras” fulfills, explaining what really happened during the Nebula Village incident. The episode also connects the details of Nebula Village with some backstory for one of the most mysterious Pendulum members: Juras.

Delico’s Nursery Episode 8 is one of the episodes that follows the Pendulum members in their cave hangout for about the majority of the runtime. The Pendulum members recently captured the Vlad Agency’s head Lord Johannes, and almost every kid of the Vlad Agency’s finest aristocratic members. The Pendulum group explain to Lord Johannes why they captured him, and what will happen if he doesn’t comply to their demands.

Essentially, they tell Lord Johannes that he has one week to tell Pendulum the whereabouts of the TRUE OF VAMP/TRUMP, or they will start killing the kids one by one. To which, Lord Johannes responds, “Go ahead. The survival of our kind takes precedence over the lives of even children.” Keith remarks back to Lord Johannes, “It’ll be interesting to find out if you’re not just playing cool.” This is some gutsy back and forth between them.

Lord Johannes has been saying this for a while, and Dali Delico even mentioned how Lord Johannes is someone who always keeps his word. Like Keith, it will be a hot-button discussion and intriguing to see if Dali and the others can’t rescue Lord Johannes and the kids on time. Is Lord Johannes as cold-hearted as he says he is? Based on his past interactions with the kids, he seems playful with them and wants to help them. So, it looks like he will crack when the one-week expires.

Since Delico’s Nursery Episode 8 follows more of the perspectives of the Pendulum members, many of their reasonings for joining Pendulum are revealed. Throughout most of the episode, Catalina with Kiki recounts how the masked and bandaged Juras is a dhampir (a half-vampire, half-human like Marvel’s Blade) from Nebula Village. The way these expository scenes are shot is kind of cool too. 

As Catalina describes Juras’ backstory, their physical bodies appear next to a young Juras in the scene—almost like they are in a simulated recollection of Juras’ past. The deeper the two talk about Juras’ past, the more the animation shows them walking through Juras’ time growing up like a spinning wheel one would find in a children’s book with all of the hidden flaps. This is another instance where the show does a good job adding in a storytelling element.

Catalina reveals that a dhampir named Rose saved Juras from poverty and high-class abuse and was slaughtered at Nebula Village, too. This is important to note for why Juras hates aristocrats and wants revenge for killing the TRUMP. While Catalina describes Juras’ past, Henriques Lorca’s wife and the head of intelligence at the Vamp Agency, Kate Lorca, reveals to the fathers what she’s gathered on Juras, dhampirs, and Nebula Village. Generally, Kate uncovers that there were three reported survivors of the Nebula Village massacre.

From Kate and Catalina’s respective retellings, both surmise that the TRUMP visited the village and lost control of their Initiative (the act of having full mental control over another vampire) of the dhampirs, resulting in all the villagers murdering one another. This is very important for both the Vamp Agency and Pendulum’s viewpoints because it’s proof that the TRUMP is an unstable being despite being praised as a god or deity.

In nother important detail from Delico’s Nursery Episode 8, a scene finally shows Pendulum’s boss in a flashback scene with Juras. Pendulum’s leader explains they simply want to make the TRUMP happy because they praise the TRUMP, much like how Nebula Village worshipped the TRUMP. This is the first time Pendulum’s agenda is more clear-cut. For most of the series so far, a big mystery shrouded the Pendulum’s goal. It’s great to finally have an intention for the rebel group.

More conversations in Delico’s Nursery Episode 8 leads to other Pendulum revealing why they joined the group. Keith and Kiki appear to have the simplest reasons. They both have a cocoon phase addiction, which is simulated through pills their boss provides them. It’s really interesting to know that in an all-vampire world, drug addiction still exists. Perhaps this is a symbolic commentary that people will always be chasing a high regardless of whether they are immortal or that life becomes so boring in immortality that people need the high to be happy.

As explained before, the cocoon phase for vampires is when they are transitioning into adulthood and begin to have hallucinatory episodes. This is what’s been happening to Theodore throughout the season. For Keith, his addiction comes off very simply as he just likes the hallucinatory high of the cocoon phase. At the same time, Kiki’s intentions seem more abstract.

While Delico’s Nursery Episode 8 doesn’t go into her backstory, Kiki tells Catalina, “I want to stay in my cocoon phase forever,” revealing that she needs the pills to do that. She knows the high she’s chasing by doing so is not true happiness but hopes that if she reaches that high, there will be marigolds. Then, Catalina ends the conversation with, “Marigolds symbolize despair,” which could be alluding that Kiki’s ending will be one filled with despair. This could be foreshadowing for her, even though she takes good care of Dali and the others’ kids like a protective mother.

Delico’s Nursery Episode 8 ends on a great cliffhanger. The Vamp Agency quartet daddies head into a forest, searching for the last known location of the other two Nebula Village survivors. This forest scene is a nice change of scenery, flexing J.C. Staff’s beautiful art style, with some cross-hatching on the forest and shrubs. While the greens feel muted, it maintains a distinct children’s book style. They are using a mix of cel-shading and children’s book drawings. Ultimately, it comes across looking like Netflix’s Castlevania, but with a twist.

The vampire dads meet an older hunter named Sekishu, but the young teen’s identity is unknown for now. Delico’s Nursery Episode 8 continues to flesh out its antagonists fairly well. The manga creator Kenichi Suemitsu is also writing the show’s adaptation, so it’s cool to see his concepts presented—especially with all of the commentary on real-world society juxtaposed with his vampire society. This episode shows how snobby the aristocracy is and has conversations on beliefs and what drives people—or vampires, in this case.

Delico’s Nursery Episode 8 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.