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「共犯」 (Kyō han)
“Partner in Crime”
These flashbacks with Tsurumi are always entertaining- they start out with a shmaltzy tale of youthful innocence and a first love, then very quickly get twisted into something morbid. The man’s got unbeatable magnetism. Usami’s fateful encounter with Tsurumi is reminiscent of Koito’s- innocent youthfulness twisted by Tsurumi’s inescapable spell. He’s a creep, but I never cease to be amazed at Tsurumi’s talent in flipping the switch in his underlings while appearing to be hands off- the blushing boy “loses his virginity” and makes his first kill (the poor friend, I knew it wasn’t going to end well for him) under the influence of Tsurumi.
You can sense the gears turning in Tsurumi’s head- Usami is basically his lab rat. Tsurumi wants soldiers who kill without hesitation and decides to try the love intoxication theory on Usami and the others- it works. You have to know one to beat one and what better way to catch a weirdo criminal than to set other weirdos on him- Usami’s a kindred spirit with his obsession over visiting the spot of his first kill.
Tanigaki reunitinig with Inkarmat seemed too easy to be true- and it was. Tsurumi delivers a big blow- Inkarmat’s pregnant and Tanigaki’s the father- but they can’t be a happy family unless he dances to Tsurumi’s tune. Backed into a corner, Tanigaki has no choice but to deliver Asirpa to Tsurumi. I really don’t think that will be necessary- as Hijikata pointed out, he and Tsurumi both have the skins so all they have to do is wait for Asirpa to come to them. While it sucks for Tanigaki to get trapped in this, he’s already implicated in all this with the army, there wasn’t going to be an easy way out.
It looks like the fateful meeting of the foes will happen quite soon, catalyzed by the Japanese Jack the Ripper whose intense murders tip off everyone in the know that he’s probably one of the tattooed prisoners. It’s a race against time- who’ll get to him first. Hijikata already has the advantage, being in the area but Tsurumi’s crew has the benefit of nut jobs like Usami who can read the criminal’s moves better than Hijikata’s gang. Asirpa and Sugimoto’s group will probably stumble into the free for all, taking advantage of the perfect diversion for them to grab the skins will the major players duke it out- if they’re lucky.
While Tsurumi takes the cake for weirdos, Hijikata isn’t too far behind, with plenty of oddballs in his crew. We get a cameo from a gleeful Ishikawa Takuboku, who was a poet IRL, and in this scenario tries (unsuccessfully) to get a marketable scoop. We also get a peek at Kadokura and Kirawus, Kadokura putting his peeping skills to use- I get such a kick out of their dynamic. The dreadfully cold Ogata joined the gang too, his marksmanship having taken a hit, failing to peg any of the birds during target practice. Bad timing for him, but good news for Sugimoto. While he needs to rehab his sharpshooting, his intel is on point. As if Asirpa didn’t already have enough people after her, according to Ogata, one of Wilkes’ comrades, Sofia Goldenhand (I seem to remember her from an earlier episode, though my memory is hazy) is in hot pursuit- this upcoming showdown between the gangs is going to be delightfully unpredictable.
The big newsflash is that Asirpa and Sugimoto might have a workaround for the skins. Heita, while dead, is not forgotten, helping them from beyond the grave with his method of identifying rivers from gold dust sets the gang onto something big. If they have a gold sample, they can find the river and the rest of the gold. The method makes sense- the pH levels, mineral and soil contents might change the color or composition of the gold so it has a unique “flavoring”. Of course, that only works if they have the gold already- that’s taken care of too, thanks to the super big and buff Botaro the pirate, another whacky serial killer, this one with a strong, aquatically suited body that enables him to dive for the gold samples at the bottom of Lake Shikotsu. I’m dubious as to how well this gold-tracking method is going to work- if it’s been at the bottom of Lake Shikotsu for a while, it’ll take on the properties of Lake Shikotsu gold more than wherever it was taken from previously. Botaro will probably end up playing a big role, given that he shows up in the OP- I can’t even begin to imagine what his deal will be (other than drowning and stealing) and I am wholeheartedly looking forward to it.
End Card
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