Matenrou episode? More like Doppo episode, amirite? Need a shot of that doppomine, haha right? Yeah? Right.
Okay but seriously, this was a Matenrou episode but again it felt like the Doppo Show. We did see a bit of the other divisions and did see a bit into Jakurai’s past, but the main plot of this episode dealt with Doppo yet again. And I’m not really complaining because I love Doppo and I was hoping his new friend wouldn’t screw him over, and I guess the staff are big Doppo fans as well since he had so much focus. Well, maybe that, but I know Doppo is incredibly popular among the fans so this is a treat to everyone.
But again, I think the character that continues to suffer the most is Hifumi. There’s nothing wrong with him but he’s not as interesting as the others. I don’t dislike him, but there hasn’t been anything else other than #1 host with him so I was hoping maybe we’d get something else out of him. I also felt that way from the first Matenrou drama, so…oh well.
As this was the Doppo Show, we only got a bit of Jakurai but there was a bit revealed that I thought was interesting. Tom, Rex, and Iris split up so they can cover each division’s rap battles as Buster Bros already won theirs, with Iris covering MTC, Rex covering FP, and Tom covering Matenrou. I certainly wasn’t expecting Tom and Jakurai to have a history with each other, if you can even call it that. It turns out that Tom briefly met Jakurai at a field hospital in the war zone where Jakurai treated him and saved his life. It’s nothing more than that, but of course very life-changing for Tom. Another interesting thing out of that was that Jakurai had an assistant who’s now in a coma, and we don’t know why. I’m not sure if that’s going to be significant, but I do find it interesting that we got to hear about the war again since we haven’t at all so far, except for Tohoten mentioning it at the start. I don’t think we’re going to hear much about the war, so getting literally anything is nice. Also nice to hear about Jakurai’s background and what he means by “to learn the truth”. What a mystery…
When it comes to Doppo, it seems the poor guy can’t seem to catch a break. Is it sad that I was immediately suspicious of Kazuha being so nice to Doppo? Like, hey this is going a little too well. Also, the anime has been a little too obvious whenever new characters are added in, so I knew something bad was going to happen to ruin this newfound friendship. At first I thought Kazuha was going to be weirdly yandere for Doppo, especially when he said he wouldn’t let his boss interfere. And he kind of was? But no, he was part of a burglary group and sort of used Doppo for his benefit and that really sucks. For once Doppo was feeling pretty happy that he had a fan who turned into a friend, and just knowing that there were other people that were supporting him. Doppo doesn’t have much confidence, he considers himself to be the deadweight in Matenrou, and we saw last time that basically no one knew that he was even in Matenrou in the first place! So it was so nice to see him get some positive attention and to see him actually smile and be in a good mood, because he deserves it! And his smile is cute! So yeah, the song at the end was kind of sad and the visuals just made it more sad.
Still, the plot did feel a little rushed and I’m not surprised it felt that way because this time the plot only had half the time to happen. The episode was a bit of a mix at first as we saw Buster Bros win their division, and the three other divisions participating in theirs as well. We had some time with each of them, Ramuda maybe planning something with Rex, and the build up to whatever is going to happen with Jyuto and MTC next time.
It was so nice hearing Ikebukuro West Game Park in the beginning since I was actually hoping the anime would include it, but we sadly only heard a little bit, same with Shinjuku Style. Still, both great songs and it’s nice to hear existing franchise songs again since the last time we heard one was Ichiro’s song in episode 2. Again, I’m hoping that maybe we’ll get Shibuya Marble Texture, and it’d also be fitting to get Yokohama Walker as well. Also, I love how different Fling Posse’s version of the ending is. It’s great that each division gets their own version and I was so excited for it since each group has their own style, and this was very Fling Posse! BB and MTC sort of followed the same beat and melody, still each with their own styles, but FP’s was the most different (until the chorus) and I thought it was great. Matenrou’s style is also drastically different so I can’t wait for their version~ With each group getting three episodes for their version, I wonder if episode 13’s version will be a version with all the groups, or they just exclude the ending.
MTC next time, and I’m excited because it’ll focus on Jyuto, who is another character that I think deserves a little more attention. Also I shouldn’t be surprised that some of his colleagues want him brought down, and I can’t believe I didn’t realize how…shady it is for a cop to be in the same rap group as a yakuza. Yeah, it all just looks bad for Jyuto. Can’t wait!
Doppo is one of my favourite HypMic characters, although this may be a relic of an edgy phase I had years ago where my favourite character in the story I was writing was the almost-eternally-depressed one. (…There are more comparisons to be made than that, but I’d rather not embarrass myself further.)
As soon as they introduced Kazuha, I was like, “Is he going to be evil…?” Chalk it up to my days in the Detective Conan fandom, but when there’s only one introduced suspect, there’s a high chance it’s going to be them.
Apparently there’s some big reason Hifumi is the way he is. We don’t know much about it yet, though the guidebook had some hints on it…I would hope Dawn of Divisions (a new HypMic manga, starting with a prologue next month) covers the incident or gives more hints towards it. Likewise, Jakurai apparently had a past as an assassin, but we’ve not heard much about it.
Before some anime were booted down a season due to COVID, I was hoping Ikebukuro West Gate Park would have had Ikebukuro West Game Park as an OP or ED. Obviously that didn’t happen, but it would have made for an awesome (but confusing) joke had it happened.
I don’t think they’ll go as far as covering Jyuto’s motivations for being a cop in the next episode (as per Uncrushable – presumably the new BB & MTC manga and/or Dawn of Divisions will cover it too), but MTC’s episodes have some of the highest concentrations of plot-and-world-related things in this series, so I’m looking forward to it nonetheless.
Ahh that’s right, I heard they’re making a new manga. That’ll be something to look forward to when I finally start reading them.
And yeah I don’t expect them to delve too deep into the characters (esp Hifumi) since so far we’ve only been getting hints and pieces and I don’t think they’d start showing more stuff now. But if MTC has most of the plot, then I’m happily looking forward to that as well.
It’s not that MTC has most of the plot – each division has their own plotline, but BB’s is one self-contained plot, MTR’s is mostly split into Jakurai’s things (e.g. what happened to Yotsutsuji) which can contribute to worldbuilding and Hifumi/Doppo things which are more self-contained. Then there’s FP’s and MTC’s plotlines which, with the (possible?) exception of Gentaro, all contribute to worldbuilding due to their connections. FP’s has a high chance of not being covered, but MTC’s does, hence my wording and beliefs on the matter. (Come to think of it, that’s probably why the anime chose their order of going through the characters.)