The Vlad Agency halts the investigation into the TRUE OF VAMP (TRUMP) murders by the vampire terrorist group Pendulum. The aristocratic vampires must wait for their enemies to make the next move before they can investigate further. Delico’s Nursery Episode 3“The Approaching Shadow” reveals some shocking backstory and how Dali was connected to Pendulum in the past. This episode manages to balance the TRUMP mission and raising children.

Delico’s Nursery Episode 3 begins with Theodore Classico talking to his talking teddy bears again. It shows that Theodore may not be as great as he is always portrayed, namely Dino’s perfect, hardworking son. Perhaps the cracks in his mental health are starting to show, especially as he is exposed to the children of the other families having fun together.

In the next scene, Dali and his fellow vampire fathers, who are raising children, are in the kitchen. Gerhard and Dino complain that Dali cooks too much for the children. Even though the food in this show is nothing like the The Last Airbender or any of Studio Ghibli’s other films, the food in this episode still looks appetizing.

One might ask what else a vampire in an established high society eats besides drinking blood. The cooks are able to make a delicious soup using duck blood, which finally satisfies Dali’s taste buds. This week’s child-rearing focus ends with Dali admitting defeat to his cooks and telling them to keep making the children’s food.

As for the more exciting parts of Delico’s Nursery Episode 3The team of Vlad Agency members recaps what they know about Pendulum. They know that they are one of the most significant criminal organizations in vamp society. This prompts Dali to explain to the others the difficulties he and Gerhard faced on their previous missions, introducing the concept of a “Grand Guignol”.

Gerhard describes a Grand Guignol as “a ritual in which a demonstration of death is presented to the immortal TRUMP.” Dali chimes in and reiterates that all vampires are supposed to be spiritually connected to TRUMP, as he was the only vampire to bite them all—a concept that makes sense to those who have read CW’s the Vampire Diaries. Dino questions Dali’s connection to the pendulum, leading Dali to explain that he was once the target of a Grand Guignol.

Dali tells the men the story of how he and Gerhard hunted the vampire Barlach Bell a year ago. He also explains that all vampires go through a cocoon phase in a place called “The Clan.” Their investigation into Barlach leads them to realize that Barlach is responsible for many boys and girls disappearing in their cocoon phase. Apparently, Barlach took these young vampires and bit them to gain control over them.

It is believed that Berlach used a bunch of these cocoon-stage vampires and his Pendulum minions to break into Dali’s house. Dali and Gerhard tracked him down as a suspect before the Grand Guignol was carried out on the Delico house. There is a quick, clean action animation here as Dali takes down some of his enemies in his house.

While Dali is able to quickly kill a bunch of the intruders, Frieda is left defenseless – which leads to her being bitten by one of the attackers and being ordered to kill everyone she loves. Just as Frieda is about to kill Dali, Gerhard stabs her to save Dali’s life. In an unfortunate turn of events, Gerhard’s guilt in Frieda’s death was also revealed.

Although he brings some insight into Dali’s past and some clarity about his wife’s fate, Delico’s Nursery Episode 3 reaches the point where it no longer has a wow factor. The rules of the world are decorated with fancy terms and the like to disguise a previously relatively predictable plot. The saving grace of the episode is the introduction of the supposedly evil mastermind Berlach. He looks like Todd Philips’ jokeras an evil vampire.

The end of the episode feels like the ultimate bore as it cuts to Lord Johannes and Lord Morris discussing whether Dali is suitable for the mission. Of course, Lord Johannes backs up his boy by saying that Dali is simply waiting for Pendulum to make his move first. That’s true to an extent, but people are being murdered all the time. I’m not sure how many more have to die before Dali takes a more forceful approach.

Furthermore, I do not think it is a good sign for childcare if one of the children asks: “What is serial murder?” This is the funniest moment of Delico’s Nursery Episode 3, while everything else seemed like drudgery. Now focus on the sweet kids!

Delico’s Nursery Episode 3 can now be viewed on Crunchyroll.