Summary:

After having a nightmare about Shiratori ripping apart a Johnny, Akira wakes up back home with Saki watching over him. She reassures him that Oosugi is okay and had nothing to do with what happened in the hotel, and she lies about having not seen anyone else when she got there. Back at the Eden club room, Oosugi has rejoined the group and reveals that he had lost his bag, and that bag had apparently been picked up by the person who encountered the Johnny hunter. Oosugi is still suspicious of Akira though, and he tells the others that he won’t be joining them if they partner with Akira. On his way out via a walkway, Oosugi happens to see Saki and Akira arriving together below him, and in his frustration, he tries to look Akira up on Eden of the East. Since there’s nothing, Oosugi secretly takes a picture of him and uploads it onto Eden of the East with a comment asking for Akira’s true identity.

When Akira arrives at the Eden club room, he notices on his phone that Shiratori paid a lot of money to have any evidence at the hotel destroyed and for the police to be hindered. The others want to talk to him about what happened, but Akira talks business at first. He does, however, decide to ask them about repairing the cell phone he got from Kondou because it could hold clues about his own past. Micchon can’t help, but fortunately Saki remembers a guy named Itazu, also known as Pantsu, who might be able to. It turns out that Itazu is a genius in Kyoto who has shut himself in his room for two years and hasn’t even gone to school. Akira immediately decides to go see this person, so Hirasawa makes Micchon tag along – even though she doesn’t want to – and Saki volunteers to go as well. Meanwhile, Oosugi notices a discussion start on Eden about Akira’s identity, and everyone seems to know him as someone different.

During the train ride to Kyoto, Saki and Micchon tell Akira of how Itazu thinks highly of himself and had suddenly one day decided not to come outside anymore, citing how he lost his best trousers to the wind. He had also created something called the society computer that can forecast the movements of society. The three eventually arrive in Kyoto and at Itazu’s home, but he doesn’t open the door for them. Instead, he talks to them through the door that has a peephole, and upon seeing Micchon and Saki, he sends them on an errand to buy some magazines for him. He’s been too busy with all that’s been going on with the NEETs, Careless Monday, the prime minister, and so on. After Saki and Micchon leave, Akira arouses Itazu’s interest by bringing up the Selecao and revealing that he is one, and Itazu eventually lets him in. Back in Tokyo, Oosugi is investigating Akira’s shopping mall, and he tries to call Hirasawa to warn Saki but learns that she went to Kyoto with Akira. Regardless, he tells Hirasawa about what he found out through Eden and how he suspects that Akira is involved with something unthinkable.

Preview

This episode got off to a good start, though I found it a little odd that after Akira basically came to an understanding with Shiratori last week, and she even bandaged him up, he still had a nightmare about her killing Johnny. And how did he know she had wings? By that point he was already unconscious. If he wasn’t entirely out, then maybe he saw through Saki’s lie about there not being anyone else when she got there. In any case, I hope this isn’t the last we see of Shiratori. She’s too good of a character not to get a better, more satisfying resolution.

In contrast, I got rather annoyed with Oosugi’s character. I’m sure him researching Akira through Eden will advance the story, and I understand that he wants to protect Saki, but I can’t help but feel that he’s becoming a wedge between the main couple that I don’t want to see torn apart. It’s especially annoying and a slap in the face given how Akira was trying to save him last episode. Of course, Oosugi’s actions didn’t ruin the episode for me, but they didn’t help either. Overall, it just was a bit slow compared to the excitement and shockers of last week. They’re continuing to build on the mystery and touched a little on the theme of NEETs and paradise, but nothing appears too important yet. That society computer will probably come into play, I’m sure Itazu/Pantsu will produce something interesting with the phone, however that’ll be for next time.

45 Comments

  1. >I’m sure it’ll advance the story, but I can’t help but feel that he’s becoming a wedge between the main couple that I don’t want to see torn apart.<

    Sadly, I’m sure a lot of shippers will see it that way too. The problem is the real wedge between Saki and Akira has always been his amnesia/mysterious past. The details of which would have come to light one way or another. Though I guess Oosugi’s motivations could rub people the wrong way.

    BlackCat
  2. That’s what you get for even feeling a bit sorry for the most pathetic and annoying character in the whole show (Ohsugi). He should get hit by a bus. Quick someone call Juiz and place an order plz.

    GP
  3. @BlackCAt

    I don’t agree, even though Saki knows next to nothing about him she doesn’t seem to care. She still trusts him enough to follow him all the way home from the US. And after that to leave with him on his bike, and agree to his idea. Hardly the signs of a wedge.

    And shippers aside, as a male, it’s just sad to watch Ohsugi acting like that. First off he should have had the ability to get a clue that Saki didn’t like him romantically. Or have the balls to confess way sooner. And now that he’s learned the truth and sees his chances have gone to zero, does he move on? No. Get over it, you can’t even call him whipped since he never had a taste.

    GP
  4. @GP

    I agree with you. If Oosugi/Ohsugi would have handled this better and reacted how a real man would, I’m sure we wouldn’t have a problem with him. The fact that he feels he has to act like Saki’s guardian and check up on Akira to find out about him due to his jealousy.. well that’s just pathetic. He wants to be the wedge because he feels he should be with her and not some guy that no one knows anything about. That’s how I see it anyway. I wish he’d just get a clue. Heck, when he was in the supposed trouble, Saki didn’t even seem THAT worried about it all. >.>

    Akiyama
  5. So now Osugi’s a stalker of sorts… That’s just asking for people to hate you.

    I wonder when we’ll learn the significance of the Johnny zombie creatures…

    Crossword
  6. @GP

    That speaks more to the type of flawed character Saki is than to their actual relationship. Her mindlessly following him around does not tell us if their relationship is durable. Now if she doesn’t have a problem with him randomly proposing to screw unhinged women then you might have something. There are other things I find wrong with this pairing but this isn’t the place to go into that.

    Also please don’t misunderstand me, I’m part of the camp that thinks Oosugi should just move on.

    BlackCat
  7. Akira is Saki’s prince. He leads she follows. He’s ambitious and bold, she’s passive and submissive. The pairing isn’t “wrong” so much as it’s too traditional and one-sided for my tastes.

    @GP
    I pretty much agree with everything except the part about Oosugi’s problems being that he isn’t a “real man”. I think that’s completely irrelevant when it comes to dealing with unrequited love, but then, I’ve never been a fan of gender stereotypes. That might explain why the main pairing has a tendency to piss me off.

    sikvod00
  8. Not realy. Some japanese girls can kick your ass in second. My friend friend have japannese girlfrind. Some sorts of girlfriend. I hear the tale that she was great in bed(yeah) but was also very stubborn and so he was too and they argue a lot. Sometimes they land in bed sometimes she kick his ass.
    Funny story.

    Sarissofoi
  9. Saki isn’t helpless. She went to DC on her own. She rejected a job offer because she felt she might be exploited. She is clearly a force in organizing the bake-shop displays. In the past, she was the one who gave direction to the Eden club, according to the chairman. In this episode, she is the one who brought up the Kyoto programmer’s name. Don’t mistake her manner for her nature.

  10. @hashi

    You’re pretty spot on, which is why I don’t think the fact Akira doesn’t know about himself or his past matters to her in the least. She’s clearly not dumb, she just lost her way in the mess that is Japanese society with all this job business and that, what I’m guessing, is a old crush on her brother-in-law. I suppose it’s the difference between having her own goal/dream in what to do and instead being forced to follow societies enforced path that’s set out for the majority of people.

    GP
  11. Forgetting about how annoying Oosugi is for a moment, I’m surprised no one thinks that the discovery that Akira was pointing a gun towards Saki in DC might be a wedge between the two of them.. were that to come to light anyway.

    and it has to, so~

  12. Is there supposed to be a second season of this since we only have 3 eps left? I know there’s a movie but that’s supposed to be a summarized version of the anime isn’t it.

    Kagekyuubi
  13. goddamn it oosugi, i’d like to call juiz myself to have him kidnapped and shipped to somewhere far away from this series.
    He is annoying, hopefully next eps will feature less of this boy and more on takizawa and other selecaos we haven’t seen

    Jesus Oosugi Go To Hell
  14. @ God Knows

    Actually the cock blocker was Akira, since he came out of no where and swept Saki off her feet. But seeing as how pathetic he is to not accept it can also produce a similar definition for Ohsugi.

    What exactly is Eden? Is it like a image posting forum where pics get identified ala Wiki? That is what ran through my head when he got responses for who Akira was.

    Oz
  15. >>@RepublicofOne

    I think there may be more than one Juiz, or perhaps Juiz may be a computerized identity.<>@Oz “What exactly is Eden”

    It’s the program the group has created that uses recycled information on the internet to identify objects or persons they correspond to. My take is that it’s like a forum picture site where users can also comment about items in the database. Apparently a lot of people have some beef on Akira…<<

    As a last note, I’ve also been thinking for some time that this series is moving awfully slowly to be able to finish within the allotted episodes. I do hope, whether there is a continuation movie or not, that they do this series justice. It’s definitely one of my favorites this season.

    Nyfe
  16. For some odd reason the site seems to be having trouble with my comment submission and deleted half of it… Here’s the rest, sorry to double post.

    However, her disposition towards the different Selecaos is quite noticeable, such as in the cases of the earlier episodes, Juiz seemed very cold towards Kondou (the officer), a bit indifferent towards Shiratori, and warm to both Akira and Hiura (the doctor). This also would not be related to “funds” left in their accounts, considering that Hiura emptied his account, yet reminisced warmly with Juiz right before his supposed death.

    Also, in my opinion, Ohsugi is just doing his best to protect Saki. He doesn’t know anything about the incident of Akira risking his life to save him, and knows nothing besides the fact that Saki is with a man he has never seen before. I am a true supporter of Akira x Saki, but if you put yourselves in Ohsugi’s place, you can see his point, whether he is going about it in the right way or not. From the onlooker’s point of view, the little information Ohsugi has uncovered so far is quite incriminating.

    As far as Akira’s hallucinations/dreams about Johnny(s), it might be possible that this is a representation/foretelling of Akira’s identity crisis. Each separate Johnny may be the identities he used to impersonate and has now lost, and the Johnny that he dreamed Shiratori killed may be an imagery of the destruction of his memories or personalities. The first hallucination of the Johnnys may have been Akira’s will to reach out and find his personalities, and when they started to attack him may represent that these personalities were bad for him, and didn’t fit.

    Nyfe
  17. @Nyfe — I like your thoughts about Akira’s dreams. Symbolic of his psychological state. As for getting parts of posts lopped off, maybe it’s because of the caret characters you started your truncated post with. They are used in the code that underlies the page, and can sometimes tell the system to do things you don’t expect.

  18. @hashi

    Thanks, and I think you’re absolutely correct; I’ve been reading RC forever, but I’ve only started posting recently. I kinda figured that was the issue when I was able to post the second comment without problems =P

    Nyfe
  19. have you recently seen the extended OP of Eden of the East. It came with the limited cd of Oasis or something like that.
    Anyways, the last part had the apple reference like the ED had. So you were right about that it may have a bigger role the last time you pointed that out.

    Ohsugi and Saki are working on my nerves.

    speegle
  20. @14232

    It’s supposedly more of a slang word meaning “Identity” in that region of America (see first ep). However it has the brilliant dual purpose of being another word to describe male genitalia.

    Nyfe

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