Long-Haired Captive
Summary
Oh look, it's Inoue's convoluted Love Triangle all over again.
Tsuyoshi: Momoi-san becomes pretty wild when he transforms into Don Momotaro.
We're his comrades, but we don't seem to live up to his standards.
Maybe it's because he's just too strong...
We're his comrades, but we don't seem to live up to his standards.
Maybe it's because he's just too strong...
Tsubasa meets Sononi, who asks him about human love. Questioning her intentions, he thinks back to Natsumi. After some thought, he coincidentally meets up with Tsuyoshi, who sympathizes with his feelings. Tsuyoshi decides to invite Tsubasa to his house to talk, with the both of them unaware of the striking resemblance between Miho and Natsumi. Taro encounters Sonoi while working, admiring his unique personality, while Haruka meets an eccentric long-haired customer at Donbura who uses her as a model for his art.
Tropes
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Tsuyoshi allows Sonoi to have Mashin-Ki Killed Off for Real, and justifies it with his belief that anyone who hurts Miho should not be allowed to survive.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Thanks to Tsuyoshi's interference, Sonoi is succesful in killing the host of Mashin-Ki.
- Commonality Connection:
- Tsubasa and Tsuyoshi bond over having partners they love dearly. Their flashbacks are shown to even mirror each other's, including having gone on a date to a ramen restaurant as well as proposing in front of the exact same church.
- Taro and Sonoi bond over their shared interest in saving humans; however it comes to an stalemate when Sonoi reveals his Fantastic Racism against greed-consumed humans specifically and how they would lead to The End of the World as We Know It, which Taro agrees with, but isn't willing to accept.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Due to not being purified properly and getting killed by Sonoi instead, thanks to Kiji Brother's sudden intervention on Don Momotaro, Sakaki's soul is shown appearing in dimensional space inside of a cube before it cracks and shatters, all while he's screaming the entire time.
- Finger Poke of Doom: Sonoi administers it to one of the thugs that he and Taro fought.
- Likes Clark Kent, Hates Superman: Taro and Sonoi become impressed and bond with each other over their shared interest in saving humans, but are not aware of their alter-egos being enemies in combat.
- Missed Him by That Much: Just as Miho manages to escape from Sakaki and starts running home, Tsubasa leaves Tsuyoshi's place after it's gotten too late at night. The two barely missed each other, subverting the misunderstanding between them the plot appeared to be initially setting them up for.
- Mistaken Identity: While the plot initially appeared to be setting this to happen between Tsubasa and Miho, the former had only once mistaken a random passerby for his lover Natsumi due to her similar hairstyle and clothing before meeting Tsuyoshi, and he ended up never meeting Miho due to her being kidnapped.
- Plot Twist:
- Tsubasa ended up never meeting Miho this episode.
- The usually meek Tsuyoshi having a ruthless side, disrupting Don Momotaro's Finishing Move on Mashin-Ki and allowing him to be Killed Off for Real by Sonoi for having hurt Miho.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The A-plot is about Tsuyoshi and Tsubasa bonding over the women they treasure in their lives who happen to have quite a lot in common with each other. The B-plot is about Taro and Sonoi learning that they're more similar to each other than they realize.
- Wham Shot: Tsuyoshi kicking away Taro's blast, allowing Sonoi to get the drop on Mashin-Ki and eliminate him.
- What You Are in the Dark: Tsuyoshi freely admits via Inner Monologue that he doesn't feel bad at all for letting Mashin-Ki die, believing people who hurt Miho are all Beyond Redemption.
