First Impression: Roll Over and Die

Chosen as the hero to lead her party to fight and defeat the demon lord, Flum Apricot starts her journey with great hope, but that quickly changes. Her affinity, “reversal,” locks all her stats to zero—meaning that she’s useless on the battlefield. All Flum can do is cook and clean for her much stronger party members, which she does until the day that the party mage—who has treated her cruelly their entire journey together—sells her into slavery. But at her lowest, stuck in a jail cell and attacked by ghouls, Flum discovers that her affinity and lack of talent only need the right weapon to transform her entirely. Now, along with her own slave, Milkit, she will try to find a way to survive in this cruel world.

Cruel world…indeed, the world of Roll Over and Die is cruel, exhibited from the very first scene, which features the crying Flum fighting for her life in a jail cell against ghouls that are set upon her and others by a slave trader. And then, when she eventually escapes with the young girl, Milkit, Flum faces a woman who encourages them to become prostitutes, an adventurer who sets them up for death, and memories of her best friend joining with the mage in selling her. But the cruelest thing of all is that we have to endure this awful series. This anime is such a downer, which could be bearable if I could trust the story to point us toward some great analogy regarding slavery and freedom, or if there was some really cool adventure up ahead, but I have no confidence in either based on anything in this opening episode. The writing is substandard, and the direction is terrible; for instance, characters act in ways that no one would ever act, like when bullies trip Milkit and then just stand there with arms crossed and laughing. So many scenes in episode one are likewise awkward and cringe. The animation feels cheap throughout (except for the lovely and detailed backgrounds, which are totally out of place in this otherwise weak production), best exhibited by an ED that just pans in and out of a couple of illustrations. I didn’t even mention the setup for a yuri slave romance between Milkit and Flum. I would recommend staying away from Roll Over and Die—far, far away.

Roll Over and Die is streaming on Crunchyroll.

Twwk
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