#valtom

I do like how much their relationship has progressed seven episodes in. Sei is a lot more expressive when it comes to Aresh’s quirks and his surroundings now. Aresh is a lot more possessive of Seiichiro, but in a caring way as he’s hell bent on caring for him. It does make me wonder what’s going to happen when Sei returns to his world. I honestly like that Aresh is doing all of this not because he wants Sei to relax and to watch over him, but it’s also to let him know he isn’t alone. He was the only one who asked personal questions about Sei like what his family and home life was like and that’s why his desire to care for him keeps on growing. I also like that he’s known him long enough to know what words to get Sei to comply to his demands like efficient and convenient.

Because this is a new arc, there are a lot of new characters introduced. While we’ve seen Sigma in the first episode, he’s formally introduced here. I can’t believe his name is Sigma… Anyways, he’s a talented boy that Sei is keeping an eye on. I wonder if he’ll adopt him…though, I’m not sure if Aresh is ready to be an adopted dad yet given how possessive he is. There are also Aresh’s house staff who are kind people. Because the second half will focus on the church, two characters are introduced: Selio, a kid who works at the church and Siegvold, a priest. It seems that no one in this world can do their jobs properly because I’d be frustrated if I was treated the same way Sei was when he met Selio. If I was Siegvold, I’d be a lot harsher on Selio for not being informed about anything.  Because of this, Siegvold is a swell guy—he understands the situation and isn’t completely snubbing Seiichiro for being an otherworlder.

I want to address the elephant in the room: yes, the animation quality for this episode is staggering. There is a scene where Aresh and Sei are kissing, but it’s panned out. It’s unfortunate that they had to do it since it’s one of their intimate kisses in the manga. But yeah, the first half is a little janky but it does get slightly better towards the second half, in my opinion.

New characters mean more voice actor trivia. Sigma, the boy Sei is fond of, is voiced by Yurie Kozakai. Kozakai has been in previous DEEN BL anime like Yua’s voice actress Kamakura. She voiced Iwata, the neighbor with the golden retriever, in Tadaima Okaeri and Ogasawara’s girlfriend Eimi in Sasaki and Miyano. Another role of hers is voicing Yuki Yoshikawa from Horimiya, which is a bit of a reunion with Seiichiro Yamashita who voices Norbert in this anime and voiced Tooru in Horimiya. Speaking of Ogasawara, his voice actor Yuuki Ono voices Siegvold. Ono has been in a lot of BL anime like Dakaichi as Junta and Hybrid Child as Kuroda. He has also been in Titan’s Bride as Caius, which makes his role in this anime a sort of reunion as Seiichiro is voiced by Kento Ito who voiced Kouichi. Selio is voiced by Shiori Izawa who voiced Mienumon from Appmon and Pochita from Chainsaw Man. To be honest, Izawa isn’t a bad voice actress by all means, but her voice for Selio is a little jarring because he’s supposed to be  around Sigma’s age or a little older, but his voice makes him sound like he’s around ten years old. Maybe it’ll get better if I keep listening to it…

Regarding the mansion’s house staff, Valtom the butler is voiced by Taiten Kusunoki who voiced Rock Bison/Antonio Lopez in Tiger and Bunny. The chef Pavel is voiced by Shinnosuke Ogami who voiced Goryoku in the Danganronpa 3 anime. The maid Milan is voiced by Megumi Sato who has been in Sasaki and Miyano anime as Sasaki’s mother. She’s also been in the Pokemon anime as Clemont’s Dedenne.

While most of the discourse for this anime revolves around the animation quality, I’m doing my best to not talk about it too much and focus on other aspects. Let’s just hope the quality gets a little better next week—it’s best to be optimistic. Let me know your thoughts on this episode!