Angel Heart – 18

Summary:
In his hospital bed, Kaori holds the seemingly unconscious Ryo and tells him not to die. Shanin then briefly catches a glimpse of Kaori’s brother Hideyuki looking at an old photo. He thinks about how they’re not true siblings, but he still considers her his little sister. The scene changes back to Kaori and Ryo, and she tells him that he can’t die because then she’d be sad. Kaori’s one tear leads Ryo to lower the broken glass and feel that he can finally sleep now. Ryo slips out of the hospital the next morning, but gets confronted by Hideyuki. He tells Ryo to go and never show his face in this town again. Ryo walks off, but mentions City Hunter and leaves a warning that Hideyuki should be careful. That night, Hideyuki is trailed by several men and eventually attacked.
Waiting at home, Kaori has a bad feeling, but then hears the door open – it’s Ryo supporting up a beat-up Hideyuki. After Kaori is done tending to her brother, Kaori thanks Ryo. Ryo turns into his lecherous self and starts incurring Kaori’s wrath. When she kicks him out, he turns serious again, telling her that it was the first time someone cried for him and how happy it made him. Later that night, as Kaori is sleeping, Ryo wakes up Hideyuki brings him to the roof. Hideyuki pulls his gun on Ryo, but Ryo easily takes it away from him. Ryo suggests that they work together as City Hunter, but Hideyuki takes it as a joke and questions Ryo’s motives. Ryo replies simply that he doesn’t want Kaori to cry.
The final place Shanin gets taken to is a park with Ryo and Kaori. Since he doesn’t know, Ryo asks Kaori what her name is. In turn, she wants to know his, but he doesn’t actually have one. He allows her to pick a name from his multitude of fake alias. And so, that’s where the name of Saeba Ryo came from. As the future couple walk off happily, Shanin tries to congratulate them with a hug, but phases through like a ghost. Shanin sadly remembers that they can’t see or hear her, but then Ryo calls out her name. Shanin runs to grab the two’s outstretched hands and start to call Kaori “mama.” Back in the real world, Shanin finally wakes up from her sleep to find Ryo still watching over her.

I had started suspecting last week that this entire story arc would fit in nicely with the City Hunter storyline despite the fact that Angel Heart is supposed to be an alternate reality. This episode pretty much supports that (at least to my limited CH knowledge) with Ryo offering Hideyuki a part to play in the City Hunter job. Having Kaori choose Ryo’s name becomes icing on the cake. I said a few weeks ago that it’s the Shanin/Ryo/Kaori relationship that has me keeping with this series, and this is the perfect example of why. Honestly, I really hadn’t expected this series to include so many feel-good ending style episodes.
I love the mood that today’s insert song gives, but is it really alright for them to be playing a love song in a scene between two men? I guess it’s kind of ok since they were talking about Kaori, but still. Anyway, next week seems to have Shanin working in a Chinese restaurant.