Things are getting rather serious in Naruhata. But that doesn’t mean Vigilante stops delivering amusing moments. Those seem to be intrinsic to its identity, more so than with the parent series. It’s not that HeroAca is “darker” per se – if anything, the themes and morality in Illegals may meet that description. But even when it’s serious it feels less heavy – perhaps as a function of its tendency to keep the focus much more on the human scale. I’d even go so far as to say that’s one of its most appealing qualities.
Just one week after learning Knuckle’s real name, we have to discard it. Turns out Kuroiwa is just a business card name – Knuckleduster is really Oguro Iwao. Not only that, he has a wife. But she’s in the hospital, and clearly in a very bad way. So much so that the doctor tries to keep Oguro from being too hopeful about her recovery. Her eyes are sunken and she seems disconnected from reality – all she does is mumble about Tamao, who very much seems to be their daughter. Exactly what the backstory is here isn’t clear, but it’s obvious this family has gone through some very rough times.
Meanwhile, Soga-san is off trying to find info on Hachisuka-san. As in, even a name, as he doesn’t seem to know it. He heads to her high school (based on the uniform) and starts asking around, which naturally draws the attention of the staff. As it turns out he’s working with Oguro on this, and Soga doesn’t seem any too keen on Knuckle’s attitude towards Kouichi and Kazuho where this matter is concerned. He used the word “bait”, to which Oguro issues a sort of non-denial denial. But even if the name “Hachisuka” is as fake as Kuroiwa (or Knuckleduster) Oguro is still pleased to get the best lead he’s found so far.
As for the bait, their latest development is the performance the local department is staging on their rooftop. They’ve asked Pop to perform, but – in addition to her usual fragile confidence – she can’t bring herself to call it much of a concert. Still, a gig is a gig – and she asks Kouichi his opinion on whether or not she should do it. He passes the buck to Knuckle, given that all roads he can see lead to suffering. Knuckle’s encouragement, however, rings hollow after his conversation with Soga. Is this just encouraging the pair to keep drawing as much attention as possible so he can achieve his goal?
Old friend Captain Celebrity is still in Naruhata, fighting villains and establishing his brand. The new focus of his campaign, as teased last time, is an old-school Japanese school cheer squad (as you might find at Koushien). It seems to be going over rather well with the locals, though Chris himself is rather befuddled by the whole experience. Kouichi has brought Makoto in to help pump up the event (as Oguro suggested), and her idea is to get Captain Celebrity’s name behind it as a sort of community building exercise.
That name is enough, in Makoto’s estimation, to get the event bumped up from “karaoke” to “indie concert”, even if the whole thing is basically being done to promote the food court (kudos to the anime for doing a fantastic job with the cheesy theme song). That it’s been noticed by Hachisuka is, one can’t help but think, exactly what Knuckle was hoping for. She’s irritated with the whole thing and planning to cause trouble, and Knuckle has finally tracked her down. Whatever her connection to his family tragedies, the event is where things between them look to be coming to a head. Causing trouble is what Hachisuka does best (and gets paid for). But in this case, a different sort of trouble is finding her.
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