It takes Takemitchy a good while to put two and two together.  And even then he doesn’t always get four.  But he does always at least arrive an answer. I can’t say that the ending of this episode came as a complete surprise to me, as it was flagged pretty hard.  But it was still pretty unsparing by Tokyo Revengers standards.  This series tries very hard to pretend the violent thugs at its core are something other than that, but events like Emma’s murder make it a lot harder to maintain the illusion.

One (at least this one) can never feel certain whether Wakui Ken get the fundamental truth about all this.  These are not innocents, none of them.  With the lifestyle they’ve chosen, they really have no right to express surprise or dismay that tragedy seems to follow them everywhere.  Emma is basically the same as Hina – an innocent bystander caught up in the gravitational pull of mass stupidity that is gang lifestyle.  Takemitchhy was always focused on her death and the role it played in changing the future, but that was his tunnel vision.  In truth it looks like the death of a different girl that serves as a nexus point.

The backstory stuff was pretty standard TMR fare – fine, but nothing notable about it.  Humanizing Mikey is part and parcel of the series.  As for the Black Dragon angle teased last week, Inupi indeed nominates Takemitchy to be the 11th leader.  Mikey resists at first, but it’s obvious he’s just sulking.  Takemitchy being someone you’d want to lead something or the kind of guy you wouldn’t want to let go is another of Tokyo Revenger’s conceits you just have to look past.  For the moment that matter is on the back burner, as Inupi reckons Tenjiku is going to attack Toman the next day, the anniversary of Black Dragon’s creation.

Is there a difference between the likes of Izana and Kisaki and Mikey (this Mikey), et al?  Sure – but in the big picture, they’re all tarred with the same brush.  Flat-out murder – and of his own half-sister at that – is another level from most of what we’ve seen, true.  Izana and Kisaki (whose idea was it in the first place?) are scum on another level.  Kaku-chan was so horrified he walked out on them (which is rather ironic).  But again, it’s all par for the course in that corner of society.  It was decent enough as entertainment, anyway.   We’ll see what the next few weeks hold for TMR as far as continued coverage is concerned.