Going by the season preview – lots of series with very few sure things – Spring 2024 figured to be very crowded around the middle of the pack. Bubble territory. I wouldn’t say The Fable was one I had ticketed for that, but it was far from a lock just the same. The premiere more or less set the stage for that – it was pretty good without making much of an impression. But it also played as if it were strictly setting the table, with the dining experience not beginning into the story’s arrival in Osaka.
Like most of the season’s shows in this tier, The Fable’s second episode was a step up from the first. There’s clear potential in this premise, though for me it’s more potential than realization at this point. I’m quite enjoying the Osaka yakuza boys, especially Ebihara – Ohtsuka Akio is, as usual, a feast for the ears. He’s already playing an important role here, as he’s not as sanguine as his boss about having the Satou siblings camped out in their territory. The initial meeting was very interesting to watch play out, with Ebihara asking Fable how he’d kill the pair of them right then and there if he had to do so.
Fable is a seriously anti-social dude, there’s no question about that. I don’t envy Youko having to be his minder, especially when he’s under strict orders not to make a fuss (or kill people). The gang sets the “siblings” up in a pair of houses previously used as hideouts, where Ebihara keeps his precious Hakosuka – the Nissan Skyline GT-R, one of the most iconic cars in Japanese history (and worth a shit-ton of money now). He puts Fable’s gun skills to the test by seeing if he can shoot out the security camera without two seconds. Fable does so, taking out the less obvious target and showering the Hakosuka with debris in the process.
Between that and comments about his nose hair, Fable has already seriously pissed off Ebihara. Fable immediately locates and disables all the surveillance equipment in his house (Youko is blissfully unaware of hers), but Ebihara leaves his flunky behind to keep an eye on the Satou siblings. Knowing Ebihara is determined to drive them out of Osaka, the kid takes the initiative to stir up some trouble. He recruits a kickboxing champ who’s a friend of a friend to confront Fable when he and Youko leave the bar at which they’ve been drinking.
The way Fable handles this is, arguably, surprisingly restrained. He takes the measure of both his opponents immediately and proceeds to orchestrate a performance to leave them convinced they’ve kicked his ass. The kickboxer is sharp enough to suspect they’ve been played, but he’s probably not eager to pick a real fight with a guy who can play him like that. This is just the opening salvo, though, if indeed this is going to be an ongoing campaign to hound Fable out of town.
Also of note is the neighbor woman Fable spots from the roof of his unit, tripping as she runs up the stairs to her apartment. She shows up again after the “fight”, offering a handkerchief, and sets off running again. It was Youko who said she was searching for romance on this vacation, but it appears it may have found Fable first. Not that he’s shown any evident interest in women so far, but absent proof to the contrary I’m going to assume he’s not oblivious to that sort of thing.
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