That episode, even if it did sport the usual moments of TR illogic and unintentional (?) comedy, was pretty good.  Very good in fact, a big step up from the first of the season.  Given how crucial suspension of disbelief is to the success of Tokyo Revengers (you basically have to ignore that none of it really makes sense for it to work), eps that make you forget all that are the best ones.  And that means eps that are visceral and tense, getting you totally caught up in the moment.  The first season had quite a few peppered through its run, and this was another.

I also like the way it reminded us of the stark disconnect between the ages of the protagonists and they shit they’re involved in.  Takemitchy at the game center with Shiba Hakkai (Hatanaka Tasaku), played like a couple of normal (if exceptionally good at bowling) middle schoolers on a date with their girlfriends.  Of course Hakkai’s girlfriend turns out to actually be his sister Yuzuha (the always excellent Komatsu Mikako), but that doesn’t really change the vibe.  Takemitchy recognizes Hakkai, and we’ve seen him before – or after, if you like.  In the future he’s one of the leaders of Black Dragon and a certifiably bad dude even by hoodlum standards.

Takemitchy struggles with this – the kid he’s playing with (and losing to at everything) hardly seems like the monster he remembers from the future.  But things start to clear up when the foursome head over the Hakkai’s house (as 14 year-olds will do), only to find a biker gang parked out front.  Yuzuha immediately tips off the nature of the problem by stating that big brother is back.  One of those unintentionally (?) hilarious moments comes when Takemitchy sees “BD” on the back of the bikers’ jackets (along with a dragon) and wonders “BD?  What does that mean?”

This is obviously a troublesome situation for Takemitchy and the siblings both.  The captains (one of them played by Natsuki Hanae of all people) of the unruly Black Dragons make it clear that a Toman captain (his reputation has preceded him) on their turf is an act of war.  Even when Hakkai declares Hina and Takemitchy to be his friends the Dragons aren’t backing down.  With Hina alongside him the smart thing for Takemitchy to do would have been to take Yuzuha’s advice, make them a tree, and leave.  But Takemitchy has never been the smartest or most practical guy, and leaving Hakkai (at that time technically a comrade in arms) to fend for himself would have looked like a cowardly act.

Not to belabor the point, but living the lifestyle Takemitchy does, this sort of situation is going to keep arising in one form or another.  Why the hell the strategy of just getting as far away from it as possible and removing Hina’s link to it never occurred to anybody I’ll never know.  But here we are, in a total no-win situation.  Hakkai makes it clear he’s not going down without a fight – Yuzuha too – and Takemitchy is justified in wondering if the Dragon lieutenants would really kill friends of his brother.  That’s all mooted when said brother, Taiju (Sugita Tomokazu) shows up and immediately presents as the craziest one of the bunch.

I’m not sure even a teenagers’s body could absorb the repeated beatings Takemitchy does and escape permanent damage (maybe that explains certain things).  Psycho Taiju certainly does a number on him, and ultimately he puts it to his brother to finish the job – “beat him to death” in his own words.  Even knowing what Hakkai turns into in at least one future, this Hakkai doesn’t seem like the sort of kid who’s going to follow an order like that.  But then, what choice does he have?  That’s the sort of situation you’re going to get into when you confederate yourself with thugs and play war games.