To me, this was the most haunting image in the episode.
Because no episode is complete without Kang To getting a beat-down. Here he is getting kicked out of the station. I love that even psycho Shunji looks started by how psycho his new boss is. I also love that KT tries to stay in not because he loves it (he loathes his job) but because Damsari needs someone on the inside.
Shunji finds out his brother murdered Kang To's mother and his only reaction is to fixate on whether this makes Kang To gaksital. He doesn't even seem to blink that his brother murdered his BFF's family or feel sorry or anything. He is gone.
I have decided with this ep that while Rie is evil and I ship KT/MD with their hidden gestures and longing looks, in an alternauniverse, Kang To/Rie would have made a wonderful, dark couple - their dynamic is so fascinating (unlike Shunji, Rie is still human and in some way she and KT are mirrors) and their chemistry is insane.
I love seeing the fractures in Kishokai...Team Rie!
Here for h/c and prettiness.
I loved this whole sequence - Kang To and Rie connecting, somehow. KT telling Rie he would still save her, the way he did 5 years ago (and he doesn't love her, but he means it), Rie's sadness. Rie making KT sleep and finding out KT is Gaksital and freaking out but keeping it a secret. He is her weakness, isn't he? Honestly, in a dark alternaverse, they would have made an amazing OTP. I also love his reaction afterwards - confused and a bit worried but uncertain.
Shunji lying that he was worried about KT, that he begged for KT to be restored (sure you did, in order to spy on him) etc etc. What I love is that now KT is not buying any of it - he has given up on Shunji's soul as much as Shunji did. He just pretends to go along and the two keep playing their fake-comradery game. Also, Shunji is awful at pretending caring for people. His dead eyes give him away.
I love that you can palpably feel how suffocated KT feels in that police station.
Eeee! I love it when OTP works together! Mok Dan asks KT to find out what is going on with the supposed nursing drive that is trying to recruit gals from the circus.
KT finds out about comfort women. Kudos to the drama for going there (this drama is never going to be sold in Japan, is it?) The whole theme through this episode is horrifying - all these people blithely sending young women to be raped...
I loooove all the cat-mouse games with Shunji and KT - Shunji fails so much at keeping a successful facade of caring, in part because he cannot conceal lack of soul through his eyes and his actions, but also because he cannot resist yanking KT's chain through either Mok Dan or other matters. Careful, Shunji, your inferiority complex is showing! Love hos smart KT is being. Also, is it just me or does anyone else feel utterly creeped out whenever Shunji touches anyone?
Shunji goes to visit Mok Dan. Making KT go along, as a sort of a slap. Oh, Shunji, you so fail at being a human. But I love how KT and MD exchange whispered information - KT found out the women aren't to be nurses but sex slaves.
This scene!!!! The way Shunji grabs unwilling and struggling Mok Dan as some sort of appalling message and reassertion of superiority over Kang To. The way KT closes his eyes (which are suspiciously wet), the way Mok Dan feels powerless and humiliated to have KT witness this (in a very mild way, this is a parallel to the theme of the episode - all these people so gone in humanity they do not see women as people but as property to be mauled as they wish). And then, as Shunji walks away, barking at KT to follow, the way KT walks by Mok Dan, and the way he takes her hand and they hold as long as humanly possible, which is still for the briefest of instants, and he walks off, and she cries, and all that without a word or even looking at each other. OMG.
The scene where Shunji throws into KT's face the deaths of his family. You fal Humanity 101 so badly, Shunji! I just want you dead at the end (I wonder why he didn't crack living with the darkness of his family but the uniform made him crack - I think the darkness was dangerously close to the surface, getting closer with every day in the Kimura family, and the uniform finally made it come out).
I love that KT is even smarter and I also love that he realizes KT found out his brother killed KT's family and thinks the equivalent of 'bring it on!' Oh, KT, ILY.
This. This broke my heart.
Mok Dan trying to save the circus girls and getting a brutal beatdown. The OTP that gets beaten together stays together?
Gaksital! Rescuing the women! And in a stand-off with Rie! This is brilliant. And much better than a standoff with Shunji would have been because Rie has conflict and Shunji does not.
