This episode was PAIN. I expected things to get chaotic this episode, but I wasn’t expecting anything like THIS. We knew that ??? was going to go on a rampage since it always does when it awakens, destroying everything in its path whether it be friend or foe. And man… I didn’t expect to get so many Teru feels this episode, but that’s what I got. As if I didn’t already really love Teru, this episode made me love him even more. Poor guy is just CONSTANTLY getting beat downs in almost every fight he takes part in. I felt like I was just super tense the entire episode out of concern at what was happening and for Teru’s sake.
Because of how powerful and unpredictable ??? is, it feels like it’s almost futile to go against it. So when Teru took up the mantle to try and talk Mob out of it, I was incredibly scared for him. We’ve already seen first hand what ??? did to Teru back in season 1, who is to say it won’t end the same way… to which it basically did. Teru is a true homie with him trying to talk things out with Mob to understand why he’s going berserk like this. While we know this only happened because he got hit by a car, it still hurt to see Teru trying to reach out to him because he thinks Mob is hurting emotionally. It just makes the situation all the more messed up because this didn’t come about because of Mob’s emotions and was something that happened out of his control. Though it is interesting how ??? is still somewhat honoring Mob’s forefront wishes of seeing Tsubomi, even going as far as to protect the bouquet he was going to give her. But also I highly doubt she would want to see Mob like this.
I legit was afraid if Mob actually killed those people since we know that he would live with that regret for the rest of his life. We already know that it was a traumatic event for him to wake up and find Ritsu on the ground bleeding. I can’t even imagine how he would feel if he had woken up to find several corpses in his wake. I am SO GLAD that Teru was actually able to protect everyone from him. And while he may have lost the battle overall, he was able to prevent Mob from hurting these people. Even sending them to somewhere safe despite having lost consciousness. Instead of thinking of himself and the state he was in, he was thinking about everyone else, pushing himself to the absolute limit for everyone else’s sake. That’s some fantastic character development.
Also, oh my gosh, I didn’t recognize Koyama because he dyed his hair back and didn’t have all his piercings. Probably for the sake of finding a job as I’m sure no one would hire him looking like he did. I didn’t recognize him until he started speaking. XDDDD And despite it being a small scene overall, I still felt proud of him despite just working at a convenience store, Koyama actually wants to give his customers the best products he can and doesn’t feel good to give them something sub par with a smile. That’s still a good bit of development for him considering how he was in season 1 where he literally beat up middle school kids. Good to see both him and Sakurai taking strides to give back to society rather than looking down on it. Even going as far as to protect the store that basically gave them a chance to integrate back into society from ???. I don’t think they stand a chance, but I really hope they are somehow able to prevent ??? from destroying the store for both of their sakes. Especially since it would feel like their change didn’t matter if they just end up losing what they had after deciding to get real jobs.
I love seeing how far characters have come since their first appearances and this episode gave me A LOT. Teru absolutely stole the spotlight this episode and I couldn’t be prouder for how much change he’s gone through since his first appearance. But man this episode was STRESSFUL. Looks like next episode is probably going to touch upon Ritsu and Mob’s relationship and show how much it’s grown from Ritsu being afraid of Mob. And with how Suzuki is coming in hot and Koyama and Sakurai trying to fend off ???, former Claw looks like they’re going to be involved. Which makes sense since Ritsu’s arc bled into the first Claw arc in the first season. This arc really do be feeling like the series finale with how many things are being brought up from past seasons. I honestly can’t wait to see what else these final couple episodes will bring even if they’ll most likely hurt. Especially since Mob can literally only watch as ??? destroys everything in his wake and having to witness the people he cares get hurt because of him.