It’s funny to think that Agetarou, who lives and works in Shibuya, has never been to Ikebukuro – they’re both on the Yamanote Line for crying out loud.  While I, born half a world away, have been there countless times – stayed at hotels there, eaten dozens of meals there, visited the animanga shops and and Sunshine City.  But Tokyo is that sort of place – I knew locals who never left their section of town, sometimes looking at others with a certain uneasiness or disdain.  And Ikebukuro isn’t necessarily the sort of place a local would go unless they had a specific reason to.

Our hero does, of course, have a specific reason to – he’s been invited to an event at a club hosted by fellow DJ Matsumata Ikenosuke (Kimura Subaru). He’s better known to his colleagues as the “Rookie Killer” (certainly a name familiar to many readers of this board).  I suppose DJing is no different than any other competitive field where if a newcomer has a lot of success, guys who’ve been paying their dues for years are not going to be happy.  There’a also the matter of an artist plying his trade outside of his comfort zone for the first time, never an easy thing. I don’t know the club scene (obviously) but I do know that Ikebukuro is a very different scene than Shibuya.  And Ikenosuke very much reflects that.

So can Agetarou succeed with a hip-hop audience, and one that’s been ordered not to dance to boot?  He has his secret weapon – the wisdom of the cutlet.  Like Shou-kun from Ginga e Kickoff, working at his frantically busy family restaurant has taught him many lessons valuable in his new vocation.  And a little bit of tonkatsu philosophy from a local master goes a long way – low, slow frying rather that superheated oil.  It’s Ikebukuro that’s how we roll, Kid.