We finally see the dark, possessive and even manipulative side of Tamon come out. They’ve been teasing it bit by bit since Ouri has entered the picture, but today Utage identified that this side of Tamon is part of him, and is quite dangerous.
Tamon may have his insecurities and struggles to flip the switch of his roles from time to time, but when it comes to wanting to flip the switch for his own gain, that comes easy. Utage witnessed this firsthand with the way Tamon shuffled between Gloomyhara, Hottiehara and now the new “face” Darkhara (the most problematic one of the three). Darkhara is especially problematic because we see clearly how this was formed out of fear of being abandoned and disliked. Ever since Ouri declared he’d win Utage over, Tamon has increasingly become more and more emotionally unstable and clingy to Utage. He has even saying extreme things, suggesting he’ll just die if she were to leave him– which Utage quickly and correctly identified it as a threat. He also said he hopes Utage will continue coming over forever, never hates him, never betrays him, or cheats on him, may she never show any interest in the rest of humanity for all her life— LIKE BRUH. That’s a fucking scary thing to say, and Utage was justifiably freaked out by that. She may be a fan, but even she knew how chilling and insane that was.
And it’s super important that Utage immediately identified this behaviour as problematic and dangerous, because it is. By no means is this healthy for him as an individual, not for their relationship which is strictly still on a combination of fan/business terms. Utage knows he can’t be dependent on her, he needs to be able to survive on his own. On top of that, Utage set up the boundary in the first place was because she knows how dangerous is for a fan to cross the line with an idol. What she didn’t expect was Tamon to be the one to initiate crossing that line himself. And that, she’s well aware she’s not fully prepared or sure how to handle it just yet. So she’s going to have to figure out how to deal with this side of him, and fast.
Notably the more concerning part about Darkhara is the manipulative side of him. The way he realized he could exploit his switch to “Hottiehara” to make her swoon and abide his wishes. He even went as far as licking icing off her face!
But perhaps the scariest part of all of this coming to terms that this side has always been a part of Tamon all long. He absolutely got her good when he flipped to Hottiehara to get her to at least take a bite of the cake he painstakingly made for her. (I will say though, despite how problematic Tamon was acting, it was comedic gold with the way the plugged in the song. It made made me laugh so freaking hard, I was in tears. Really impeccable timing for it!) But that’s precisely why Utage knows she gotta distance herself from him and nor let this escalate any further than it already has. While she considers it as “devaluing himself” in attempt to please her, she also knows that this behaviour is by no means acceptable nor should be encouraged.
Apart from that, following the new song launch and Tamon’s demotion, he did still managed to net ton of new fans. They were completely smitten by the vulnerable and tearful side he showed during the performance. Meanwhile Ouri has earned the title the eternal bridesmaid (which is SO on point), poor guy. I don’t know why he’s committing to a losing battle by declaring he’ll win Utage over. He’s certainly a stubborn one that’s for sure.
And finally we got to briefly meet another one of the members of F/ACE, Keito, the new center. He’s the eldest and also the leader of the group. His ‘character’ is a soft and clumsy airhead, but in reality he’s nothing of the sort. He didn’t have very nice things to say about their fans, even calls them gullible fools, easy to manipulate. But by the way the conversation went between him and Ouri about Utage and Tamon, it looks like he really dislikes fangirls in general. So it’ll be interesting to see how he and Utage will interact when they properly meet.
