Takemichi, you thought you were down on your luck in the future, but I’m glad you’re slowly starting to realize how bad your middle school experience was. On the plus side, at least you’re able to travel back 12 years into the past to make some changes… it’s just a matter of whether or not you’ll actually survive middle school again. I’m rooting for you, but at this point you’re going to need all the luck you can get.
I’m kind of impressed that they jumped straight to the point with explaining that Naoto was the key to jumping back into the future and past. It doesn’t really explain how we went back in the first place, but hey! At least we have something to tie the two together. Naoto’s seriousness in the situation is actually kind of nice to see in this series. He’s so willing to help Takemichi that even the most absurd things are taken with great consideration. It’s nice to have him on the inside. Naoto has been spending the past 12 years really learning about the Tokyo Manji gang in order to keep that promise from so many years ago. He’s really the best source of information aside from Takemichi’s own memory… which he seems to have blocked a lot of the past out. Which is fair. Based on what we’ve seen so far, I’d probably block that out from my memory as well.
I am not envious of Takemichi or any of his friends, but I’m glad that they have each other’s backs. Like yeah, they’re kind of lame, but they’re also pretty cool too! Especially when they all showed genuine concern for Takuya having to up in the next fight club. They have a crude sense of humor and have unfortunately gotten themselves in a bit of trouble, but at least they’re still a good group of kids. Model students? Well no… but do they have each other’s backs? Yeah! So, it was nice to see Takemichi acknowledge that in this episode. Likely for the past 12 years he just tossed all those memories away and didn’t even think about those friends. But now he has a chance to see them all again, and heck! Hopefully, he’ll have the chance to help save them all too!
But uh, best of luck with that because he’s going to need all the strength he can get. Kiyomizu does not seem like the guy to mess with and Takemichi should know that firsthand after getting beat up with the bat. So, naturally, it makes sense to challenge the guy to a fight, right? Noble intentions, but a seemingly stupid call to make. But if you knew what the future would bring, wouldn’t you try to stop it too? That’s kind of a loaded question. At the end of the day if Takuya doesn’t have a near death experience from this fight, I think that’s a win. I just hope no one else gets life threatening injuries.
But we’ll have to wait to see that outcome for next week. If it keeps moving like this, I’m probably going to have to binge this all over again once the series ends. I’m just so invested by the end of the episode; I wish I could just see the next one! But at least we had some good Hinata content in this episode! I just really appreciate her positivity, she’s basically a ray of sunshine in an anime where everything surrounding them has a pretty dark outlook. And really, at the end of the day, it makes me want to see her be saved in the future! Even just seeing her say that she wanted to protect Takemichi this episode and the conversation that came out of it, made me feel pretty happy. Takemichi you better not abandon her again!
I’m hoping for the best for Takemichi if he does end up going head-to-head with Kiyomizu, but even if that goes poorly, I hope that he can at least meet with the Tokyo Manji gang in hopes of changing the future for the better. Takemichi, you have a tall order on your hands, so you better deliver.
