Bad Boys J Ep 12 Review

The final episode of Bad Boys J is at hand, and it begins with Tsukasa (Nakajima Kento) finally finding Sasaki and starting the climactic battle. Why do I still get the feeling Tsukasa’s going to end up psychoanalyzing Sasaki, even as they’re punching each other?

Before we get to that, though, there’s the matter of the second-in-commands – Gokurakuchou’s Youji (Iwamoto Hikaru) and STP’s Ishimoto. Unlike the leaders, these two have a history – Ishimoto wants some revenge against Youji for humiliating him years ago.

But more than just wanting revenge, Ishimoto is also a firm believer in Sasaki, and eager to fight for his leader. It beats me why, though – Sasaki has done absolutely nothing to deserve this kind of loyalty. Wish they had, you know, given us more background on STP so that we could understand this devotion. Later on in the episode he says that Sasaki was the first person who treated him like a human being, but we’re left with no real sense about what that means – especially since Sasaki doesn’t seem to treat anyone like a human being.

Meanwhile, Hiro (Hashimoto Ryosuke) is having a much more interesting battle against . . . did we even get this guy’s name?

Anyway, this is the best fight in the episode as far as I’m concerned, because Hiro shows enough awareness of his opponent’s personality is to come up with a way to get the upper hand in this fight (remembering that he’s just come out of the hospital and probably at his limits after his efforts in the last episode).

Bad Boys J Ep 11 Review

On the one hand, this episode managed to do something I had begged the writers to do in the past two reviews – give us a bit more background on STP and its leaders. So . . . that made it a good episode, right? But at the same time it also continued to portray Tsukasa (Nakajima Kento) in an unreasonable way. Did the positive aspects of the episode outweigh the negative?

While the other members of Gokurakucho are ready for action, Tsukasa is still unresolved. To recap, the group STP, led by the demented Sasaki, had a massive fight with Gokurakucho that ended with Sasaki dragging Youji (Iwamoto Hikaru) all the way into Gokurakucho HQ. Youji is the closest thing to a friend Tsukasa seems to have (at least from what we’ve seen) but even though Tsukasa has readily fought battles over less – getting fired up immediately without even thinking about it – he’s now unwilling to seek revenge. Ostensibly, this is because of a promise he made to his beloved Kumi (Hashimoto Nanami) who didn’t want him to fight anymore, but he had already turned pacifist before that.

At least Eiji (Fukusawa Tatsuya) and Hisao (Watanabe Shota) share my frustration. It would have been better if Tsukasa explained his reasons (or state his excuses) properly, but the writers left Hisao to dismiss it as Tsukasa not belonging to their world. That’s funny because, in the early episodes, the only way he seemed to fit into their world at all was because he fought. With Youji in the hospital, Eiji and Hisao had the right to a real explanation from Tsukasa.

Thankfully, Tsukasa does get angry when the former leader of STP, Ryuji, shows up to explain why he did what he did, . . .

Bad Boys J Ep 10 Review

In Bad Boys J, Kiriki Tsukasa (Nakajima Kento) ate okonomiyaki while Hiroshima – or Hiroshima’s gangs, at least – got burned. Doesn’t have the same ring to it as Nero fiddling while Rome burned, but you get the idea.

Youji (Iwamoto Hikaru) and the other members of Gokurakuchou are understandably troubled because they don’t even know who STP is and already they’re going to have to prepare for an attack from this new aggressor. There’s no question that with Nights and BEAST already down, they’re next.

But even though nobody else seems to have good information on STP, one of the BEAST ladies seems to know all about them, saying that their number one and number two fighters are really strong (well, no kidding – they just beat up on the top two groups in Hiroshima). This sad attempt at exposition just makes the incongruous STP situation worse.

Bad Boys J Ep 09 Review

In the previous episode of Bad Boys J, they wrapped up the plot where they dealt with the scary demon character who was capable of defeating everybody except Danno (Nikaido Takashi) and possibly Tsukasa (Nakajima Kento). So . . . what are they going to do this time? A more novel plot I hope?

No, they’re going to give us yet another demon, except this time the guy will really mean it (instead of being talked into submission by Tsukasa). This new demon – Sasaki – is so bad that the set his school on fire and trying to kill all the students. So . . . why are the cops letting him go to roam the streets?

Apparently, it’s because he’s reflected on what he’s done. Why do I get the feeling that Sasaki’s reflection wasn’t quite as deep as the people releasing him might have hoped.

That’s all irrelevant, of course – either Tsukasa will fight Sasaki and win or he’ll talk the monster into surrender. Let’s get to the real plot of this series – whether Tsukasa can win the love of Kumi (Hashimoto Nanami). That is, after all, the only thing main character Tsukasa has been after since the start of the show.

He always delays his words just long enough for someone or something to interrupt, so he hasn’t managed to confess properly.

Kumi sure gives him plenty of opportunities to say how he feels, though, and finally he manages to get it. Not only that, but he also tacks on a ninety degree bow and helps an old lady to boot. What a guy! How could she resist?

Bad Boys J Ep 08 Review

With the way the last episode of Bad Boys J ended, I was expecting/hoping that they would start this episode on a serious note for once. After all, the peace in Hiroshima has been broken and an all-out gang war has been declared . . . right?

Well, you’ll get no sense of that as this episode starts. The members of Gokurakuchou are too busy with another challenge – trying to eat a humongous parfait nicknamed “The White Devil” in under 30 minutes to win a 10000 yen prize. Instead of skipping the humor in the beginning, they doubled it . . .

. . . and the results are not pretty:

Poor Kumi (Hashimoto Nanami) – having to deal with Tsukasa (Nakajima Kento).