The next episode of the Japanese animated series "Dies Irae" will see Ren Fujii strengthening up to activate his Swastikas.
With one of the main antagonists Reinhard Heydrich entering the picture in episode 4, fans can now expect the story to accelerate.
The first four episodes of the anime have been a sort of introduction of the heroes and villains in the dark series. Fans got to meet the main protagonist, Ren, a creature of habit who wants to live a normal life, but a trip to a museum changed all that when he unknowingly acquired his Ahnenerbe. Kasumi Ayase is Ren's childhood friend, who gets possessed by Mercurius and starts decapitating people without her knowledge.
Kei Sakurai is a member of Longinus Dreizehn Orden, the most powerful and dangerous organization in the world. She pretends to be Ren's girlfriend to help him control his newly acquired powers while keeping him away from Kasumi. Reinhard, on the other hand, is the leader of the organization.
For fans who have already read the visual novel from which the anime was adapted, the previous episodes have been a fast-paced information dump, probably meant to make new audience understand the story better. Now that a lot of the main characters are out and the gist somewhat has been explained, fans are hoping that the series would start slowing down and showcase all the great stuff from the main source.
In episode 4, titled "Spider," Ren continued to stay away from Kasumi, using his new supposed girlfriend as an excuse. But the truth is he wants to prevent her from ever finding out that she was behind all the murders happening in town and allow her to keep living a normal life. Ren has basically made himself an outcast as he stayed away even from his other friends at school. His new guillotine power makes him want to go on a killing spree. Good thing Kei is there to help, although her role still remains doubtful for most viewers. Does she have an ulterior motive?
As Ren continues to work with Longinus Dreizen Orden, the magical organization that lived through Nazi Germany and stayed young with the help of dead souls, he is being trained to become stronger to activate the Swastikas. To do that, he must engage in actual battles as killing innocent people would render only weak souls.
How will this play out for the hero who desperately wants his old life back?
Find out as "Dies Irae" airs every Friday past midnight at 1:05 a.m. JST on Tokyo MX; Monday late nights at 12:30 a.m. JST on BS11; and every Saturday night at 9 p.m. on AT-X. For online viewing, check the full schedule here.
