I’m glad we got to make it through another episode with Draken making it all the way to the end, but boy there were a number of times where I thought we’d finally get the news of his death. Yeah, he’s supposed to die on August 3rd, and this episode only brings us to the first of the month, but literally anything can change because Takemichi is there. I hope he finds a way to calm the conflict before things get much much worse.
The fight with Moebius was intense. Not necessarily in the all-out brawl type of way, but in the way where you’re watching two people go at it and you just want them to stop. At least with Pah, it was entirely one-sided. I would say… Pah certainly didn’t win the fight, but he has guts to go up and fight. So, kudos to him for that. But when you reach the point of fighting while unconscious and still getting everything beaten out of you… I don’t think that’s necessarily a victory. The victory came one Mikey gave Osanai a solid kick to the temple… But at least Pah was still standing. Granted… you can technically say that Pah won after he stabbed a man. I won’t argue with that right there.
But I still have to say I have respect for Mikey in that he does stick with his group. He isn’t ready to abandon them immediately like the Moebius guys were to Osanai. Granted the police still caught up to a lot of them, it still shows the values that Mikey holds. And alternatively, I really appreciate what Draken did in this episode. First, he calls out Osanai and Moebius from falling off the path of a delinquent. Yeah, they are delinquents and they cause problems, but even he admits there are instances where they go too far especially in the instance of rape and assault, especially of those not involved with the gang. Second, he’s also the one to tell them to take Osanai with them. Which in the moment is something both he and Mikey agree on.a They won’t abandon one of their own…
Which of course seems to be the leading cause of conflict in this episode. After Pah stabs Osanai it’s a massive scramble to escape from the police. Mikey calls after Pah to run away with them after he decided that he was going to turn himself in. Draken on the other hand doesn’t try to convince Pah to come with them and instead try to get the other members to escape. And I can see a fight starting out of that! At what point do you respect the wishes of your friend and run? Or should you go down with the ship? Hmmm…. If this is the true spark of the conflict, I’d really like to hear Draken and Mikey fight it out. But as a side note, kudos to Draken for calling Emma to find Takemichi after he passed out. It allowed for the others to get away, but also got Takemichi the help he probably needed.
From the hospital onward, the episode was really stressful. We were consistently given mixed signals about Draken and Mikey’s relationship. Takemichi’s friends seem to laugh off the situation saying that they fight all the time. Which is totally believable. Despite how cool both of them act, they’re still just middle schoolers and act like kids! I mean just a couple of episodes ago Mikey threw a fit because he didn’t get a flag in his kids’ meal. I can totally imagine him getting huffy at Draken for literally any reason. But when the two finally come face to face with each other it is pretty evident that they are not currently on good terms. Which is unfortunate because so many of Takemichi’s treasured possession end up getting smashed in the process. A 72-hour puzzle is one thing, but out right smashing memories with his dad or a successful homerun? Ah that’s a bummer. Especially considering these things might have more sentimental value since Takemichi is travelling to the past. I’m high key looking forward to the next episode to see if he puts them in their place for smashing his stuff. Even better if him doing so gets them to make up.
Overall, I think I enjoyed this episode and where we are going. There’s still a lot of suspense because we’re relying on one person to save the lives of others. Personally, it wasn’t the best episode that we’ve gotten so far and that’s primarily due to some of the comedy that was interjected at various points. And that’s hard to say! Some of the comedy was well placed and great, but there were a couple of high emotional moments that were just :/ because of the comedy. But overall, it was still a pretty solid episode. I’m looking forward to next week! I hope that we’re able to make it through August 3rd!!
