REVIEW: ‘Delico’s Nursery’ Episode 10 — “How To Kill God”

More reveals and backstory information is uncovered in Delico’s Nursery Episode 10. With Ui and Clara now kidnapped by Pendulum members Juras and Caterina, Dali and his team of Vamp dads deduce Pendulum’s next moves. Delico’s Nursery Episode 10, “How To Kill God,” seems to be a setup for the final act of this series. As almost all of the Pendulum members’ origin stories and motivations are revealed, the story looks to be heading to the final showdown.

The opening of Delico’s Nursery Episode 10 is a great character observation of Caterina. While being kidnapped, she overheard the kids discussing where the secret new nursery was—Clara’s house. Caterina kept talking to the kids about the location, which is how she found Clara and Ui and kidnapped them along with Lord Johannes.

Meanwhile, Dali and his crew have captured Abraham, Kiki and Keith. Here, the men discuss that they have to interrogate them all, but Keith is essentially diagnosed as having no cognitive functions after what Juras did to him—more on this later. It’s at Kiki’s interrogation where it becomes more clear what the metaphor of the cocoon phase for Vamps is in this world.

The cocoon phase is not only a metaphor for puberty but a time of ecstasy, too. It’s the classic case of raging hormones that some of these Pendulum members crave when they eat the drugs that temporarily allow them to experience a pseudo-cocoon phase feeling. This is a fascinating commentary on how many young adults don’t want to grow up in their twenties, and this all makes sense for an anime series like Delico’s Nursery, which tackles topics like childcare and child-rearing. If one were to take away the vampire elements of the show, it’s still very relatable to human issues.

Delico’s Nursery Episode 10 introduces The Clan Festival, which Dali explains as an annual custom for students of the Clan to show off their powers. Dalie adds that it’s also rare when the school opens its doors to visitors to watch and participate in The Clan Festival. Again, this is another example of the show’s writing only serving to heighten the plot—adding to the show’s ambiguous power-scaling in fights issue. Also, everyone somehow deduced that the TRUE OF VAMP/TRUMP will be at the school. It’s too obvious the show is pushing everyone to The Clan Festival.

As Dali and the other Vamp Agency men finalize their plans to be on the lookout for Pendulum at The Clan Festival, the kids barge in since they can’t sleep due to the trauma of being kidnapped. With the fathers’ newfound strong connections with their kids, they collaboratively agree to read them all a nighttime story. It’s great to see the dads finally understand how to care for their children.

One of the biggest introspections of Delico’s Nursery Episode 10 is learning more about Juras’ cocoon phase abilities and what he intends to do once he finds and meets the TRUMP. This series continues to subvert expectations with Juras’ abilities, as he can enter people’s minds when he touches them. However, Juras explains it’s not as simple as digging through their minds, which is why he can’t find the location of the TRUMP in Lord Johannes’ mind.

It’s tragic when Juras also tells Lord Johannes about the first time he discovered his power: hugging his crush Rosa back in the dhampir-populated Nebula Village. While realizing his power, he sees into Rosa’s mind, and it appears she’s only thinking about another villager, Carlo, leading Juras to jealousy. This reveal is devastating because it emphasizes Juras’s one-sided love for Rosa.

On a more touching note, Delico’s Nursery Episode 10 contains an unexpected heart-to-heart conversation between the captured Clara and the captor Caterina. Shockingly, Caterina trained Juras when he first joined Pendulum, so she knows the most about him. Caterina also knows about Juras’ love for Rosa and why he strives to kill the TRUMP. Despite Caterina having a lot of dialogue in this episode, she still doesn’t go into her backstory. Perhaps Caterina’s backstory is a major mystery yet to be uncovered and will be shown closer to the end of the season.

Delico’s Nursery Episode 10 ends with a hype montage of the four Vamp Agency fathers, the Pendulum members, and the hostages all suiting up, literally. Everyone is getting dressed in their most formal wear to attend The Clan Festival, with some epic lyrical rock-electronic music in the background. The kids cry that they’re leaving, but Theodore steps up again!

He says he’ll play with the other kids so the dads can focus on their work—rescuing Clara, Ui, and Lord Johannes and taking down Pendulum before they meet the TRUMP. This signifies that Theodore has developed more confidence as the eldest among all the kids. Also, Theodore knows he can help lessen the load on the adults by keeping the other children distracted. The fathers acknowledge Theodore’s initiative and leave him in charge of the nursery; Theodore blushes after they leave him with that responsibility.

Delico’s Nursery Episode 10 details the final showdown to come, setting up a major fight or confrontation at The Clan Festival. Juras’ backstory continues to peel back many layers of Juras’ mentality and motivations for finding and killing the TRUMP. The main critique of this episode was how plot points arrive too conveniently. There is no way The Clan Festival lined up perfectly for Pendulum to infiltrate it and find the TRUMP.

Ultimately, the plot issues continue to battle against the better elements of Delico’s Nursery, as child-rearing and character development are its strengths. Sadly, the crime portion of the narrative is suffering.

Delico’s Nursery Episode 10 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.