This was that unicorn among Tokyo Revengers episodes, one where the stuff that happened actually made sense.  Usually even when TMR is entertaining (which is fairly often, to be fair) it’s in spite of the rampant illogic which normally runs through it.  But this got me thinking – you know, this season has actually been kinda good.  We’re five episodes in and I’d say four of them have been really solid.  That’s a better batting average than you’d get at any given stretch of S1, that’s for sure.

We start out with Takemitchy agreeing to join forces with Kisaki and Hanma, over the objections of Chifuyu.  From Takemitchy’s perspective this certainly makes sense – it’s the best option currently available to him.  It is indeed a strange team, knowing what’s already taken place.  On the way back from this meeting Takemitchy runs into Hina (and Naoko – “I’m here too”), and – once Naoko makes himself scarce – the two of them have a very interesting conversation.  Naoko’s “I hate wasting time” immediately puts Takemitchy in mind of something Kisaki said.  But the real kicker is that Hina says the same thing.

Does Kisaki and Hina being old acquaintances materially change things?  It’s hard to say.  Kisaki’s essential nature seems pretty well-established at this point, but Hina holding a more favorable impression of him from their pre-JHS cram school days is interesting. It puts me in mind of 28 Up in a sense – how much of what these people will be as adults is hard-wired when they’re 14?  Kisaki being really smart is the one thing that jibes between Hina and Takemitchy’s history with the guy, and I’m still banking on him being fundamentally evil.  But this is an interesting wrinkle, if nothing else.

The real meat of the episode comes when Hina and Naoto’s father Masato buttonholes Takemitchy for a conversation after Hina goes home.  At the coffee shop, after initially thanking Takemitchy for whatever he said to Naoko and for being “as nice as I’ve heard”, Masato promptly “asks” Takemitchy to break up with his daughter.  His logic could hardly be simpler – you’re a hoodlum who hangs out with really bad people.  How can you expect Hina not to get caught up in that if the two of you are together?

I’m very pleased to see this acknowledged at last, as I’ve literally called it the elephant in the room with TMR.  My thinking was for Takemitchy himself to break off from Toman, but breaking up with Hina (as we know he did in the previous timeline) is another means to the same end.  Why go through all these byzantine machinations when the Occam’s Razor way to protect Hina is so obvious?  Sever any connection that links her to Toman and steer her as far away from them as possible.  It’s really not that hard or that complicated.  Masato may not have known what we know but he has an ability to apply a modicum of logic to a situation, and that’s really all that’s needed here.

Mind you, taking this path sucks for Takemitchy, I get that.  I don’t deny he and Hina love each other (or that he’s a terrible actor).  Again, he could just quit Toman and steer clear of them, but at least the obvious is being acknowledged here.  The problem is he knows (or he should) that at least in one timeline, breaking up with her at this point didn’t save her.  So Takemitchy has a lot to work to do, starting with the whole Taiju Christmas ambush plan, which seems fraught with potential for disaster even if Kisaki and Hanma don’t double-cross Takemitchy and Chifuyu (which they should definitely be prepared for).