In the words of Cosmo Kramer, you know the name now, huh?  The cat is outta the bag.  If you’re not a Touch veteran “Harada Shouhei” won’t mean anything to you, of course.  But for the rest of us, he’s the most tangible link we’ve had to the series Mix is based on.  And it’s certainly great fun to hear Ginga Banjou in this role again.  And indeed, to be having fun in a role where he’s able to project considerable humor, which is not that common for him (especially these days when he doesn’t work all that much).  Harada Shouhei has been enough to level up Mix all by himself, but fortunately he hasn’t had to be.

Things are happening all over now, in all sorts of ways.  The baseball team is shaping up – Touma and Ichiban throw a combined no-hitter in a practice game (though Natsuno allowed three runs on eight walks in four innings protecting it for Otomi’s sake).  Ooyama-san is feeling almost giddy about having enough decent players to field a team around the Tachibros, with Ryou proving the biggest spark.  And Adachi continues to be the unrivaled master of self-referential humor, as he demonstrates with that “his face seems easy to draw”.

Most of the focus here is on Harada Shouhei, though.  He’s taken to sleeping in a tent (bought with lottery winnings) as the beds were too soft in the house, and is generally more sure of himself even without regaining his lost memories.  He tries playing catch with Nishimura Takumi, but comes to the mistaken conclusion that he wasn’t a baseball player.  The name “Nishimura” does trigger something, and later in the coffee shop (not a ramen shop) he almost has it – it’s something directional – before the boss slams his napolitan down and breaks the spell.

That coffee shop visit is quite eventful.  Harada’s sharp wit as he banters with the owner (“No jokes, please.  Your face is bad enough.”) is quite refreshing, and one of his old Meisei classmates pops his head in and sees him.  But unfortunately it’s clear Shouhei was no favorite of his, and when his old buds fail to rally around his call to meet up and take their revenge on him, he gives up on confronting Harada (another opportunity gone).  He’s getting closer – the memories will come back soon enough.  It’s going to be very interesting to see what role Adachi has in mind for Shouhei once they do.

Also of note is that Souichirou – who’s been pretty fringy in terms of importance this season – wakes up complaining of headaches and dizziness (Touma’s reaction stands in stark contrast to when Otomi cut her finger).  That has an air of Chekov’s Gun to it, and you can never be too sure where Adachi will go with a thread like that.  As long as he avoids busy intersections and rivers with swift currents he’ll probably be fine, though.