This episode mostly was a lot of build up with an intense confrontation left for the end. It was definitely the slowest episode we’ve gotten, and maybe also a boring one too. It mainly consisted of the two groups hunting, one after the deer, and the others after the wolf. Learning about Nihei, the group confronts him to stop him from killing Retar, and also for his tattoo.
Nihei is a weird guy. While he’s not obsessing about dicks and boners, he’s obsessing about hunting and his hunter’s soul (a soul that has a major boner). He’s hunted over 200 bears, but this time he’s after the white wolf simply because it fulfills his curious hunter’s spirit basically. And of course we know that the only white wolf in Hokkaido is Retar, so we know this is real bad. But Nihei is also significant because he’s actually one of the 24 prisoners. He’s a man that went after men that tried to kill him and literally beat them to death, twisting and breaking the neck of the last man right in front of the cops because he just doesn’t give a fuck. I already knew this man was crazy but he just gets even more crazy and dangerous. I have to admit, I’m not really all that interested in this guy like I am with Tsurumi, but maybe he won’t stick around for much longer since he is one of the prisoners. As for Matagi, I have no idea about him either. Like I said last week, I’m not too happy about a large cast of side characters. Matagi may be a cool character, but right now I’m not too invested in him yet.
The confrontation in the end was the only exciting part but it’s disappointing that it had to end in a cliffhanger. It seems that Sugimoto has the upper hand because he cut off Nihei’s fingers on one hand, but Matagi wasn’t there so he can provide some backup. Also, there’s still that fear for Retar. If anything were to happen to Asirpa if one of them targeted her, I have a feeling that Retar would immediately come back to protect her. Would anything happen to him? Anything goes, but I’d be crushed if he would get hurt. Asirpa doesn’t need more loss!
Another thing I really liked this episode was them touching on Sugimoto’s PTSD as he had trouble killing the deer himself. You’d think that maybe Sugimoto wouldn’t suffer from this as he seems like a calm and collected guy with confidence in himself, while also proud of baring the name Immortal Sugimoto. But this is the second time we’ve seen him suffer some sort of PTSD, the first time being when he had that nightmare of his best friend that was killed. Speaking of which, I wonder if he’ll ever mention him or his wife and child again since they are the reason why Sugimoto is searching for the gold. Either way, these instances add some depth to Sugimoto’s character.
The episode was a little forgetful, but there were still some entertaining parts like more hilarious facial expressions and Asirpa getting stuck in the hut, though I don’t condone underage drinking!
