Episode 1

## Dark Side

**Dark Side** (ダークサイド, *Dākusaido*?) is the first episode of the *Devils' Line* anime series. It aired April 7, 2018.

## Plot

The episode begins with an unnamed vampire (called a "devil") attacking civilians in the night before falling to his knees and crying out.

College student Tsukasa Taira is going home on the metro with her classmates, Shouta Akimura and Miwako Toda. Miwako's current podcast episode is on several recent murders, which appear to have been committed by a vampire, but Shouta brushes the vampire theory off as nonsense and insists that Miwako is scaring Tsukasa. While they talk, Tsukasa muses on the fact that lately she seems to have noticed a mysterious figure who is often watching her.

In the meantime, the several members of Tokyo's MPD Public Safety Divison 5, lead by Takashi Sawazaki of F Squad, are chasing a devil who has committed murder. Several groups cut off the devil's escape routes while Jill, a devil working under the F Squad, gives chase and catches the murderer. However, they determine that this devil is not the one behind the recent serial vampire murders.

Akimura and Tsukasa are now walking home. Akimura admits that he is glad that Tsukasa is currently single, or else he would be jealous of her boyfriend. He tells her that for now, he is okay as friends, but trails off and leaves the sentence unfinished, implying that he hopes they can date someday. Just then, Tsukasa notices that the same mysterious figure whom she saw on the metro is staring at them again, and Akimura pushes them to move faster, claiming that he feels unsafe.

They stop in a dark alley where Akimura says they should be far enough away and hug. When they pull apart, the mysterious figure arrives, pushes them away from each other, and cuts his own finger, forcing Akimura's physical appearance to change into that of a devil. The mystery figure accuses Akimura of being the one behind the serial vampire murders by raping and killing three other women in order to direct his bloodlust away from Tsukasa. Akimura initially tries to deny the charges, but despairs when the figure reveals that his DNA was found at the crime scenes. Akimura asserts that he did this so he never had to hurt Tsukasa, but the figure counters that drinking human blood is addictive, and he would have harmed Tsukasa sooner or later, even if he never meant to. The figure then tranquilizes Akimura and makes a report via radio to Sawazaki, leader of the F Squad, identifying himself as Anzai and announcing that he has apprehended the target.

Anzai walks a stricken Tsukasa home. At the door, Tsukasa begins to cry, lamenting her loss of Akimura as a long-time friend, when in reality she has known nothing about his true self. Anzai comforts her by saying that vampires are so similar to humans biologically that if Akimura had wanted to keep his vampirism a secret, there was no way Tsukasa would have known. Just then, Anzai notices that Tsukasa is bleeding from a cut by her mouth and impulsively licks it and kisses her. As he does so, his eyes turn into the red eyes of a vampire.

## Characters

In order of appearance:

* Tsukasa Taira
* Yuuki Anzai
* Shouta Akimura
* Miwako Toda
* Keiji Ochiai
* Takashi Sawazaki
* Juliana Lloyd
* Hans Lee (no speaking role)

## Notes and references:

1. ↑ In Episode 12, it is revealed that the unnamed devil is Tamaki Anzai, and the incident depicted is Tamaki's killing of his girlfriend's rapers and subsequently the innocent bystanders when he lost control of himself.