Finally! We’re getting some good Takumi food, and we got to see more of how he is such a sweetheart!
Oh and did I mention he’s also a good cook too?
But this week, it was because he suddenly found himself having a hard time after causing more trouble than assisting the girls in a fight against the Ubau-zo. It made him feel awful and ashamed for it to to the point he wondered if he was overstepping his bounds, and even became anxious at the idea of working on the crepe together with the others because he feared he would be troubling them.
And that’s the hard part right? When you’re trying to help out, but instead it’s either not welcomed, or ends up doing the exact opposite, even more so if when you’re an “outsider”. So it’s totally understanable why Takumi became hesitant about continuing to involve himself in the whole affair. It made him reflect on it a lot, and even wondered whether it was really a good idea to get involved after-all now that he suspects “Cinnamon” Mari had referred to could possibly be his dad— which is a fair point to weigh on his mind. After-all, Takumi is still in the dark about many things, but at least the point of Mari wanting to apologize to Cinnamon (who he also suspects could be his father) gave him enough of a heads up that there seems to be some complicated history he doesn’t know about. It even crossed his mind that maybe getting involved in this affair might not be such a great idea after-all.
But ultimately, despite whatever complicated history there may be awaiting him, Takumi overcame his fears of being a burden and made an even greater resolve to commit to the cause. He is no longer in this just to support Yui, but to protect the people’s precious memories from the likes of Narcistoru and the Bundoru Gang.
That said, it was fantastic to see him get more deeply involved in the battle! It was exciting to see him showcasing the range of his abilities, which involved two new cool moves! One of the two we saw him use today was utilizing his cape to rebound the attack straight back at Narcistoru— which almost struck him! I thought was hilarious given considering Narcistoru came into this fight with this “improved” version of the Ubau-zo he used in the beginning of the episode. The idea was to take advantage of Black Pepper’s attacks, and use it against the girls. Unfortunately for him, this time Takumi was a step-ahead of him when it came to adjusting his methods as necessary. The second special attack was “Pepper Mill Spin Kick”, which looked really cool, and it was fun to see him use it together with Yui’s kilos-punch. I look forward to the day when Takumi officially joins their team, but for the time being I am excited to see more of his combat in the foreseen future!
Speaking of which, it was really great to finally see Takumi doing an activity with the group for an exchange (the lunch does not count since he was seated at a different table with the other guys). The opportunity came about when Takumi thought he could to help an acquaintance out by recreating the legendary crepe that used to be sold in town, so he sought Yui out for assistance. Of course Yui suggested the girls could help out as well, which led to Takumi’s finally having an opportunity to work together with the group as a whole. Thanks to that, they were able to successfully recreate the flavor as close as they remember it being.
Though I must say, when Yui made a mess with the flour, I was half expecting to see it coating Takumi’s hair to potentially expose him as Black Pepper, so I was quite surprised that it didn’t haha! Instead the scene led to Amane picking up on Takumi’s feelings towards Yui, as she noticed how he ended up getting all flustered when she had asked if he liked helping others. We didn’t see much or any reaction from Kokone and Ran, so it’s hard to say whether they have noticed as well.
It was also really sweet to see Kome-Kome, (who has evolved yet again to the point she can speak now) going up to him to introduce herself! The whole interaction was really cute, but also really funny because Takumi was like, “Wait who is this supposed to be?”, to which Mari quickly covered it up claiming she’s a daughter of a cousin’s cousin’s cousin, hahahaha! But Kome-Kome is certainly fond of him as he was the one who found her after she had gotten lost in the woods. I’ll never get over how freaking adorable it was to see her sleeping in his hood!!!!
But even after all was said and done, Takumi unfortunately ran into yet another instance where he belatedly realized that perhaps he was being a bit too nosy when it comes to trying to help others. But while he had briefly thought so, at least we could see that he did actually end up helping out as he unintentionally gave Yousuke the push he needed to face Asae after their argument.
Which brings us to the use of writing a short letter at times when you’re struggling to verbally express one’s feelings. We actually saw Yui utilize this as a means to thank Black Pepper for his support since she picked up that he felt down about the last fight. It’s almost too bad we didn’t get to see Takumi’s reaction when he received it, because it probably would have been really cute to see him trying to keep a cool face as Black Pepper while being internally flustered! Needless to say, her letter was exactly what he needed to clear away anymore doubts of whether he should continue to join them in their battles.
Overall while the episode was quite a sweet one, I have to say the start was a bit rushed and it honestly felt quite messy. It actually made me wonder for a moment if I had somehow missed something, though that wasn’t the case of course. Thankfully that was the only real issue with the episode, as following the Opening everything fell into place afterwards. (Also side note: I forgot to mention last week had replaced the dark cloak individual with Cinnamon as of Episode 20, but I digress…)
Next time, we’re getting a follow up of the struggle of expressing one’s feelings as we actually saw Kokone is having a hard time doing just that with her parents who don’t seem to be home very often. I’m looking forward to seeing them explore that since they have been quietly building up to it for the past few episodes!
