Welcome Back Taro
Summary
Haruka: We tried using our Kibi-points to get Taro Momoi back.
But... he ended up disappearing again, in the end.
But... he ended up disappearing again, in the end.
Tsuyoshi vows revenge on the ones who hurt his beloved wife, Miho. Just then, Gekisou-Ki appears, declaring "Traffic safety!" as he erases pedestrians, cars and other vehicles alike. As Haruka and the others fight him without Taro, Jiro appears again, proclaiming himself as Taro's replacement leader for his four companions. As Gekisou-Ki reappears, Haruka and the others pursue him, only to discover that...!?
Tropes
- Ambition Is Evil: Downplayed. Jiro tosses about the idea of executing the other Donbrothers and replacing them with a team of his own without a trace of irony. He never gets around to this and in fact reveals his desire to "replace" Taro to be a half-hearted one in the following battle.
- Bait-and-Switch: Tsubasa seeks Tsuyoshi's help in seeking the Natsumi lookalike he had encountered. When Tsuyoshi asks for a photo, Tsubasa brings one up on his phone. Tsuyoshi stares at the photo in shock... only because it's heavily edited from a photo booth and that there's no way he can recognize "Natsumi" from that.
- Call-Back: Back in episode 6, Taro, after seeing Tsuyoshi and Miho in the hospital, thought to himself he could never make a woman smile in happiness like that. This episode he manages to do just that after Haruka reunites with him.
- Character Development: Upon his return, Taro delivers real motivation to Haruka upon seeing her state (the same praise Haruka wistfully assumed he'd say in her head earlier) confident that she'll walk again. This is the same guy that could barely even look at his "companions" without something to criticize.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Jiro can still lift and toss boulders with relative ease, ineffectiveness against the enemy notwithstanding, thanks to his lifelong training.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Haruka and Shinichi call Jiro out for attempting to fight despite lacking any powers, but Jiro insists his inner voice tells him he will acquire them soon. Sure enough, in their next encounter with Gekisou-Ki, the same Magitek that gave the Donbrothers their powers appears before him and grants him his Don Doragoku powers.
- Crazy-Prepared: Kaito brings out a wheelchair for Haruka the moment she loses the use of her legs. When asked why he has one just sitting around, his response is "We're well-stocked."
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: While Jiro's a Heroic Wannabe as a civilian, he takes a level in badassery after transforming into Don Doragoku.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Played for Laughs. Jiro's solution to Haruka and Shinichi holding Taro back is executing them.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Taro's hair in the flashback is notably darker and fully straightened, compared to his lightly tousled, chestnut brown hair in the present.
- Extranormal Prison: Some of the Hitotsu-Ki hosts the Donbrothers couldn't save are revealed to be trapped in one, as opposed to dead. Sonoi defeating Gekisou-Ki allows Jiro to follow Tsuyoshi there and bring Taro back.
- Face Death with Dignity: Parodied. When Jiro announces his intent to execute Shinichi and Haruka for "their incompetence holding Taro back," Shinichi's seemingly okay with it - equating his inability to make haikus with losing his "life's splendor." It doesn't happen.
- Flashback: Jiro recalls that he met Taro back in high school in a fight with a bunch of delinquents. Despite being outnumbered, Taro barely did anything to retaliate, simply taking every single hit in stride. At the end of the flashback, Taro is shown still standing with quite a few injuries, while all of the delinquents are exhausted from their attempts. Seeing such made him idolize Taro as an ideal hero.
- Flashback Effects: Jiro's recall of his first encounter with Taro is sepia-toned.
- Foreshadowing: Jiro's... extreme... response to Taro's companions holding him back falls in line with the darker side we see in the next episode.
- The Glomp: Haruka runs towards Taro as she realizes she can walk again, but she somehow trips and ends up tackling him to the ground in this manner.
- He's Back!: Thanks to Jiro and Tsuyoshi saving him from the Noto's prison, Taro is able to fully come back to the human world.
- Honor Before Reason: Sonoi contacts the Donbrothers and offers them a chance to rescue Taro as he wants a second chance to properly defeat Taro in a fair fight.
- Last Request: Haruka begs Jiro to use his Kibi-Points to bring Taro back "after the end." Of course, he doesn't actually have any.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Jiro decides that Taro's companions have held him back too much and that they aren't needed anymore. He volunteers to execute them.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After Taro and Jiro defeat Gekisou-Ki, Tsuyoshi reverts back to human and drops to his knees crying and apologizing to Taro for what he did as Gekisou-Ki.
- Parting-from-Consciousness Words: Shinichi begins contemplating a haiku when the effects of taking a boulder to the face set in.
- Pet the Dog: Sonoi volunteers to help the group bring Taro back, despite logic dictating not to.
- Power at a Price:
- Kaito reveals to Haruka and Shinichi that having negative Kibi-Points in any capacity causes the person to lose an important function. As such, Haruka loses her ability to walk while Shinichi loses his ability to create haikus. Thankfully, they recover these after Taro returns.
- He also implies that should they drop to a certain level of negative points, they could potentially die.
- Replacement Goldfish: Downplayed. While still insisting himself as the new leader of the Donbrothers, Jiro admits that he would like nothing more than to fight alongside Taro rather than completely replace him.
- The Reveal: Some of the people that the Noto have personally "eliminated" are actually housed in a cyber prison within the Noto Layer. The episode also reveals that said people can still turn back into a Hitotsu-ki, making the Donbrothers' method ultimately more effective.
- Ship Tease: Haruka seems to be the most ecstatic after Taro's return, going as far as to run towards him as soon as he's in her line of sight, like one would to a lover that you've been separated from for a long time, culminating in the below-mentioned hug and title drop.
- Title Drop: Haruka utters the episode's title near the end while hugging Taro.
- Took a Level in Kindness:
- Taro is significantly more affable and appreciative to the others upon his return. While before, he suffered a seizure if he so much as tried to praise them; here, he gives Haruka a heartfelt speech about believing she can easily shake off the effects of the negative Kibi-Points. Since Taro presumably still cannot lie (and Haruka does exactly as he says she can) he must genuinely have confidence in her now.
- Despite his previous hostility towards them, Haruka and Shinichi try everything in their power to bring Taro back, even when their Kibi-Points are in the negatives. When Taro comes back, the duo is both relieved and ecstatic that Jiro's plan worked.
- True Companions: Jiro relents from pushing himself as the Donbrothers' new leader after learning how much Haruka and Shinichi actually want Taro back.
- Wrong Context Magic: Haruka requests Jiro to spend his Kibi-Points to revive Taro should she die from completely draining hers, however Kaito points out Jiro has no Kibi-Points to spend because he isn't considered a "companion".
