Cop Craft Episode 5

Lonesome Vampire

Let me start of today’s review with a complaint. The fifth episode of Cop Craft was way too dark. I don’t mean that it had a dark plot. I mean that it was difficult to see what was going on in many scenes. My screen brightness is even maxed out and I couldn’t see what was going on half the time.

A more minor complaint is that I would have liked for the good animation to be used for the fight against the vampire instead of Tilarna figuring out where the vampire is hiding. But, I’ve already accepted that this series isn’t really going to have well choreographed and animated fights.

However, aside from those complaints I think this was a good episode overall. It had a good mix of the modern world and fantasy monsters that I wanted from this series all along. I’m not sure if the anime will continue to go in that direction, but I definitely enjoyed this arc more than the last.

To set the stage for the next section of this review, the vampire escaped after Kei and Tilarna fought it in the morgue hallway. Kei sprayed it with a fire extinguisher, which apparently vampires are weak to. This was never actually explained, but Tilarna mentions that using the fire extinguisher was the right choice.

Vau e Deie

Now that she’s on the run, the vampire goes after a second victim, some random truck driver. After sucking him dry, she has enough power to use magic, and she uses a spell which creates clothing out of black flames. This spell is called Vau e Deie, and that name will probably never be important again.

But let’s talk about it anyway.

Vau e Deie is a relatively low tier spell which doesn’t seem to do anything more then serve as a visual effect over the body. While it looks like black flames, there’s no evidence to suggest that it generates heat or protects the user in any way. It’s also unclear why the vampire chose to use this exact spell.

The argument could be made that she wants to cover up her body because she’s naked, but at the same time she doesn’t seem to have an issue with being seen naked. I kind of get the feeling she views humans and other life forms as nothing more than animals, so she doesn’t really feel embarrassed in front of them.

Tilarna, on the other hand, does get embarrassed. We learn that she too is capable of using Vau e Deie, but refuses to do so when Kei requests her to show him. The reasons for her refusal showcase some of this spell’s shortcomings.

First of all, the user must not be wearing any clothes. This already rules out Tilarna using it because she’s not about to strip just to show Kei a spell. It also doesn’t make sense that the user must be naked. Why can’t the flame cloak reside over clothing? Will it burn the clothing up somehow?

The second issue is that if there’s a break in the user’s concentration, the spell will be undone. I’d imagine that if Tilarna did attempt to use this spell in front of Kei, her concentration wouldn’t be focused enough for it to last for long knowing that if the spell is undone she’ll be left naked.

But, the unfortunate fact that Tilarna didn’t strip and show off this spell aside, this spell gives us a small insight into how magic works in this series. We can assume that like Vau e Deie, any spell will fall apart if the user loses focus, perhaps even the spell Tilarna uses when she goes into battle.

Book of Niba & The Greater Gate

This episode also begins to piece together everything that we know about the series so far. We don’t yet know exactly how the psychic bomb from the first arc ties in just yet, but it’s becoming clear that everything is leading up to something.

Zelada was the mastermind behind that crime, and he seems to be the one who had the vampire brought to Earth too. He claims he wasn’t, and perhaps this is the truth, but he plans to use the vampire for his own goal either way.

And what is his goal? Well, we don’t know. But we do know it has something to do with an ancient book called the Book of Niba. An ancient book which the vampire just so happens to have knowledge of.

So how does the vampire and Book of Niba tie in to the rest of the plot though? Well, it turns out that the Greater Gate — the gate connecting Earth to Tilarna’s world — is a legend referenced within the Book of Niba. And now everything is beginning to make sense.

In the first arc we were told that Zelada’s end goal is to cause distrust between the people of Earth and those from beyond the Greater Gate. He wanted to set off the psychic bomb to showcase the power the aliens had, and to make the humans fearful of it.

Perhaps he now wants information on the Greater Gate so that he can close the portal connecting the two worlds. As a wizard, my assumption is that he’s from beyond the gate, but his goal really seems to be segregation, not the outright extermination of humans.

Conclusion

But what do you think Zelada’s goal really is? Do you think he only wants to separate humans and aliens? Do you think there’s an even darker plan he’s keeping to himself? And, what’s your guess for the origin of the Greater Gate? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.