Ah, like expected: the series is going to close off with Yagi’s arc. This episode was meant to set everything up, while the final two episodes can really explore this guy.
We also now know why Yagi was so important to this story, as he turns out to have known Yaichi as a child (yeah, the child in the flashback really was him). It all points towards a trauma: the guy witnessed the death of the only adult he looked up to, which is probably what made him turn to become a member of a gang. The beauty is that he already developed a lot in the meantime. Yagi has some weird ideas, and he keeps sticking to his criminal roots with the use of Goyou, but he’s also bright and witty.
It’s interesting how there have been no kidnappings for the past few episodes. It’s probably because of Yagi that he’s not trying to do anything funny; he must have recognized him back there, though it was probably a bit harder for Yagi to lay the link because of how Yaichi grew up and completely changed his appearance. The white hair also could be some sort of hint here: why did he suddenly lose all of the pigmentation there?
In any case, with two episodes left I’m very curious to see whether they can surpass the middle episodes. I think my highlight of this series lies at episode six and seven. The final two episodes have already received a ton of build-up at this point, now it’s up to this series to make optimal use of this.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Yeah, it looks like they can deliver a very solid ending.
I hadn’t considered that Yaichi had lost the pigment in his hair. That’s an interesting observation.
The funny thing about Yagi is, if I’m correct, he was one of the very first characters were introduced to (in episode 1). I’m going to have to go back and re-watch that now to see if he really is there.
“It all points towards a trauma: the guy witnessed the death of the only adult he looked up to, which is probably what made him turn to become a member of a gang.”
Wait. That can’t be right.
In the earlier flashbacks, we saw Sai getting abducted by the gang, then spared and told that Yaichi delivered him there on the orders of the house’s mistress, IIRC. The guy with the scar now looking for him was the leader of the gang, and the scene we saw in the beginning of THIS episode was Sei returning after several years to find out that Yaichi dead, then taking his name.
Yeah, it’s pretty obvious that Sei was aleady a member of the gang when he learned about Yaichis death.
My guess would be that the gang actually killed Yaichi and lied to Sei about Yaichi turning against him during his kinapping incident. I think that Sei found out about it later and that was the reason for ratting out his gang…
Just a guess though.