Episode 5
Let’s get ready to RUMBLEEEEEEE! Sakura, Sugishita, Umemiya, Hiiragi, and Suo have all stepped foot into Shishitoren’s territory. Oh and Nirei managed to come along too. Which to me is absolutely hilarious. I know he’s an important character and shows us that you can have strength not just in fighting, plus he helps give us the details on all the fighters. But it’s just funny to me that we’ve sent in some really strong fighters and Nirei. Anyways, I hope you learn a lot from these fights and that no one tries to take you one on one, buddy!
Honestly, this episode was fantastic in laying out just how strong members of Bofurin can be – and how fickle the members of Shishitoren are. When we arrive, everyone in Shishitoren is shouting, trying to intimidate the outsiders, whereas all of the Bofurin members simply aren’t giving it the time of day. Suo likens the Ori to a den of beasts, but not necessarily a threatening one. Sure their roars are loud, but when it comes down to it, how many of them can actually hold up in a fight? On the flipside, Umemiya and his crew are fully confident in their own abilities. They don’t have to shout about being stronger than the others but instead move through the space without a care in the world. Umemiya comments that it doesn’t matter if they win or lose, but it’s clear that no one intends to lose.
So we get the first fight: Sugishita vs Arima. Despite being the first, it sets the stage for what comes after. Initially, I thought this was going to be a much longer fight. One where both sides had to put up a fight, but it was over in an instant. We’re told that Arima is a heavy hitter and someone who can break ribs with a single punch. Granted, we’ve also seen Sugishita fight and he seems like a brick wall. Sure he’ll take a hit, but he’s not going down easily. Arima plays dirty at the beginning, by trying to fake something happening to Umemiya – the only character Sugishita seems to care about. The only drawback is that it ends up being Arima’s downfall. First, he forgot the honorifics and second… well, he used Umemiya as bait. So in total, there were only two blows exchanged in this fight, with Bofurin taking the first win. Naturally, that completely changes the vibe of the audience.
Well, not the whole audience. Chojji and Jou seem entirely unphased. I’m not surprised by this as they see people who are weak as disposable. Never once did they put any confidence into their fighters and thus, watching them lose doesn’t make them feel any particular way. Well, aside from wanting to fight Bofurin as well. Arima is quickly disposed of off the stage which now strikes fear into the next opponent, Kanuma. Which honestly? He should be scared. He’s the type of guy who just roles with whatever the top guys are doing. To me, he never seemed like a threat. Just someone who talks big and hides behind his friend. Perhaps if Arima didn’t go down in a single hit, he’d have more confidence, but here he has to avenge his friend to a guy talking about becoming an adult.
Suo easily became my favorite character in this episode. I’m obsessed with the description from Umemiya calling him a kind gentleman only for Sakura to basically disagree. In his own way, Suo is incredibly brutal in the fight. He’s not aiming for a one hit kill or even to knock Kanuma unconscious. He’s just here to mess with him. Unlike the others, who seem to have all their experience from street brawling, Suo seems to have trained in martial arts (and that’s just speculation on my part based on his movements), and doesn’t really seem to be on the offensive. Granted, I don’t think he felt any reason to be on the offensive since Kanuma has a sloppy fighting style that is easily parried. To be honest, there isn’t much more I want to comment on for this fight because it was clear that Kanuma didn’t stand a chance. But! I do like how Sakura wants to fight Suo in earnest. I hope they get to in the future, as friends 🙂
And with that, Suo is the winner of the fight despite never knocking the other fighter out. Honestly, getting knocked out might have been kinder to Kanuma rather than being scorned by the member’s of Shishitoren. If I were him, I’d grab Arima and get the hell out of there immediately. After all! If he loses, he’s no longer one of them! So hey! I’d high tail it out of there before the next fight gets on stage!
Episode 6
I knew coming into this episode that Sako had beef with Hiiragi, but I didn’t expect it to be “Senpai told you to find your own path” type beef :(. Those hurt. I just thought it was going to be a long standing feud between the two. Now I just feel sad about the whole thing.
There’s only one fight this week and it’s between Sako, one of the top 5 fighters of Shishitoren and Hiiragi, one of the 4 kings of Bofurin. Up until the stage was set, we weren’t really sure how strong Sato was, but we did know where Hiiragi stood in the hierarchy. It could have easily ended like the previous two battles, but this time around it seemed like our fighters were evenly matched, but more importantly, there was something at stake for both of them. Sako , desperately wanting to prove that Hiiragi’s decision to not pursue power and instead follow someone else, was the wrong solution. And Hiiragi wanted to give Sako that space to do so. This fight truly felt like a conversation, like Umemiya had called them in an earlier episode.
The fight itself was pretty cool in the sense that there was an actual challenge on both sides. They were both landing hits and needing to dodge. I’m not super knowledgeable on fighting myself, so there isn’t much that I can add in terms of commentary other than the fact that I enjoyed watching it and the animation seemed pretty smooth. I do, however, really like the difference in the fight from the beginning to the end. It seemed like Hiiragi was being held back by something in the beginning, which ultimately led to him getting knocked out for a period of time. But after being yelled at by Sakura it seems like he was reinvigorated and ready to fight for real. And boy did they give us a show! Complete with new music too!
But the real meat of the episode comes in the flashbacks between the two. We learn that Sako has always been a quiet, weak kid who was bullied. If it weren’t for Hiiragi, he wouldn’t have even learned how to fight. What I found most interesting is that Hiiragi has always been a kind guy. Part of me was expecting a transformation before he went to follow Umemiya, but this flashback with Sako lets us know that he’s always been a good guy. Scary, and the type to fight, but he wasn’t doing it for the thrill of defeating others. I totally get where Sako is coming from! I’d want to follow a guy like that! It makes sense why it hurt so much when he was ultimately told not to follow him. I can’t be mad at Sako’s conclusion, but man it hurts. I feel bad for him. In the end, Sako did become incredibly strong, just not stronger than his senpai. Truthfully, he didn’t belong in Shishitoren. As Jou mentioned, he seemed more desperate to join – honestly reminding me of Sakura a little bit. He wants to fight to prove his strength and become stronger. I think a lot of the current members (save for a few) really are only there to bully others. They cared about bullying into submission and proving their strength. Whereas Bofurin wants to show strength in protecting. Strength is more than your muscles, but also in your ability to use them for good.
Anyways, I hope we get to see a little more with Sako in the future, even if it’s not much. We’ve gotten most of his story by this point, but I hope that he either joins Bofurin or is just a good citizen :). Either way, he is no longer part of Shishitoren. I guess the only other ending I could see for him, is if Jou and Chojji go down. There’s a possibility that Sako could pull an Umemiya, I just think that’s highly unlikely.
Oh well! We’ll just have to wait and see since it looks like we’re finally going to get Sakura and Jou’s fight next week! As long as nothing goes wrong at the venue (knocks on wood)! Will we see the first Bofurin loss? Or will they continue to sweep? I’m excited to see!
