The trainees are now on the beat as they protect the security of Tokyo Station. Their easy life is made difficult, however, by a criminal looking to score big by threatening the public.
What They Say:
Episode 2: “Let Me Stay Like This for Just a Little While”
Having qualified for on-the-job training, Naoto is assigned to K4, the Tokyo Central Railway Security 4th Guard Team. Waiting for him there are his partners from JNR Central Academy: Aoi, Haruka, and Sho. They immediately set about their work at Tokyo Station, but as if being teamed up with the gruff Aoi didn’t worry him enough, Naoto is increasingly anxious as he watches the Tokyo Public Security Mobile Police set out on a mission.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
So, the four academy trainees are reunited as on-the-job trainees, all being assigned to the 4th Security Guard Team, which is headed by Nana Iida, a rather buxom woman. (Bonus points, by the way, if you chuckled slightly at “kei yon,” the Japanese for “K4,” as it does sound slightly close to something else doesn’t it?).
The simple introduction of the team is upstaged, however, by a major threat to the railways: a bomb at Yokohama Station. The Railways dispatch their special forces unit (railway security has a special forces unit?!?) to counter the threat and protect their passengers. Lots of over-dramatic scenery as Hitomi Gono, whom we first met as an instructor at the Academy, commands the commando unit which is riding on a special train. The only one not quite getting into the uplifting martial mood is Naoto, who declares that his intended peaceful life of just becoming a train driver at JNR is over. Fortunately for him, the trainees are not going to battle terrorists. Instead, they have their regular duties at Tokyo Station, walking the public corridors and helping passengers. Aoi is rather put out at their not going into harm’s way, but Naoto could not be more pleased.
And frankly, that makes complete and total sense. Who in their right mind would send high school kids to deal with terrorist bomb threats? I’m glad that in addition to deliberate nutcases like Hitomi and Aoi, we have grounded, normal individuals as well. And Aoi may well learn something from Naoto, as she just casually shrugs off an old lady looking for the bullet train, but Naoto immediately springs to action, walking the old woman towards the gate and leaving her with a Railway attendant who will help her to the train. Security is not all about pulling guns and shooting at people. There’s the very simple human contact aspect that probably makes up 90% of security employees’ dealings with the general public.
And then there’s human contact and excuses for other things, as well as a somewhat trite gender stereotyping that’s not at all surprising. But little missteps like that are balanced by very good little touches like the scene that immediately follows the lost boy: Aoi is clearly displeased with being little more than “a small town policeman,” but Iida tells her she’s completely mistaken what her role is. They are, basically, small-town police officers. To help her learn the lesson, Iida quite deftly disarms Aoi (which shows you there is much more to Nana than meets the eye) and says she won’t let her have her gun for a while. But we then see much more stereotypical female behavior when the girls are taken to lunch by Iida, and we finally see the feminine side of Sakurai as she likes sweets. Though again, Iida is engaged in a slightly deeper game as she notes how sweets are best when you are frustrated by something, showing us she is all too aware of Aoi’s frustration at not being allowed to go around shooting people (and it’s probably for the best that this situation remains for a while).
All nice and peaceful…until the bomb goes off in a locker right near where Naoto and Sho are working to put up posters. It appears that this was just a demonstration. An extortionist is threatening to detonate a much bigger bomb if he’s not given 100 million yen by 3 o’clock. A very large sum, but only a third of what the station takes in in profits every day. So, how will they react to this threat?
Iida and the station master decide to pay the bomber, since evacuating the station and causing panic would paralyze transportation in the capital and cause other problems. The safety of passengers has to be placed above all. Naoto, however, is not entirely pleased and wonders if they could locate the bomb, hoping that Capt. Gono and the bomb squad can return from Yokohama in time to defuse it. Iida actually thinks that’s not a bad idea…but only to locate the bomb, nothing more. So, the team and other station employees start looking, but it’s not an easy task. For example, there are more than 3000 coin lockers in the station (here is where we get the railways trivia portion, in addition to the operating profit of the station noted above).
As it happens, searching lockers and other places is futile. Aoi is the one to figure out that the bomb must be somewhere that would be least expected. A clue appears when the Lost and Found area calls Koumi to tell her that the dog she and Naoto found last episode has been barking furiously ever since its owner called. The call must have activated a timer inside the bag holding the dog. So, bomb found. What to do now?
Well, the only thing they can do now is try to defuse the bomb, since there’s only 15 minutes left. It works somewhat well, since Sakurai allegedly knows a little about bomb defusing from her father, but it nearly fails in the end when Aoi refuses to trust Naoto’s instincts when it’s a “cut one wire or the other” situation. So, how will things end? That’s a silly question. It’s episode 2, of course none of them are going to die. This show has given no indication that it will be that kind of show.
So naturally, Sakurai would come up with a countermeasure, which she does from lunch. Lunch? Well, at lunch, she had a special frozen dessert, which involved using liquid nitrogen at the table to flash-freeze the dessert. Now, she grabbed some liquid nitrogen from the restaurant and flash froze the circuit board of the bomb, which prevented electricity from flowing (this is not complete and total authorial invention; intense cold can have an effect on electrical circuitry). At the other end of things, the extortionist is caught by Gono and the assault squad on the station platform as he prepared to receive the money from the station master and make his getaway.
We end, however, with a rather strange juxtaposition. Aoi has to this point been shown as a hard-charging, gung ho security nut who would seem to be more interested in a military career than in community policing. But it seems the stress and strain of defusing the bomb makes her break down, revealing a true softer side underneath the bravado. Now, there are two ways to take this. The more negative view would be that this is the same old, same old gender stereotyping that women are weak in the face of danger and need the comfort and protection of a man, thus we see her sink into Naoto’s arms for comfort.
But the more positive spin might be that this is a necessary adjustment of Aoi’s personality. Up to this point, she has been a caricature. It’s fine to have a caricature, similar to last season’s Rize of Is the Order a Rabbit?…but it only really works if the show is either absurdly unreal (like Rabbit) or fantastically unreal (as is the case with, say, Sousuke Sagara in Full Metal Panic). This show, however, seems to operate in a somewhat more realistic environment (yes, it’s fantasy too, but there’s a closer connection to reality than those two shows I just mentioned). And in such a “real” world, we would hope that someone like Aoi is, in the end, a real human being. More than anything else, this little scene does humanize Aoi in a way. If she were just a single-minded violence junkie…that would be boring, would it not?
At the end of the day, the second episode does many interesting things. It builds upon elements introduced in the first episode (the dog carrying the bomb, after all, first appeared there). It works to flesh out the characters more, especially Aoi and Nana Iida in this installment, though more of Naoto’s desires and interests surface as well. While there is certainly now the basis for a love triangle, it’s not being pushed terribly hard and romance is only a second-tier concern between the action and occasional humor.
On the not quite so positive side of the ledger, there are some of the same old stereotypical elements focused around gender roles as we’ve seen them in anime. Sho is lazy and hungry all the time. The girls all like sweets. Sakurai has a soft center inside of that hard outside. The one who gets all the praise is Naoto.
But on balance, this is a good show. The little bait and switch they pulled may not have been a complete surprise, but the reveal came in a completely unexpected manner. Seeing Naoto and Sho putting up posters, I did not expect the small bomb in the locker at all. Most of all, no one is acting like an idiot in this show. While there are some odd personalities, there is a basic grounded sensibility to all of the major and minor characters. And while the girls may have softer sides, they do not lack strong senses of self. Even Koumi, presented as the much more stereotypically female character, the fanservice romantic object for the lead (and for much of the males in the audience, no doubt) does not lack a sense that she is in control of her own life. The scene during the bomb defusing where she demands that Naoto let her do something to help him was key to that. She’s not just a bystander, looking on helplessly. She knows she can act, even if she is unsure what action to take at the moment.
I think this is what saves the show and even elevates it above a good number of other ones this season and many seasons past. We don’t have a single overpowered protagonist who saves the world to the adoring oohs and ahhs of a simpering clique of cult followers. We have a team, working together, doing what they can to make the best of a crappy world. And there is some humor injected into all of this. In some ways a much less jokey Patlabor or You’re Under Arrest. That’s not bad company to be in.
And this show definitely has the best ED I’ve seen in the past few years.
Simulcast note: The show was only available at 480p resolution with hard (non-removable) subtitles at the time of review.
In Summary:
The safety of the passengers at Tokyo Station is threatened by a bomb planted by a man seeking 100 million yen. With the bomb squad and special response teams diverted elsewhere, it’s up to K4, the squad composed of the trainees we met last episode, to handle the situation. Unlikely as it is, they do, but the way they do so is not entirely impossible. The action is well-handled, the characters are fleshed out (and increasingly better balanced), and overall this show continues to strike the right tone, with only the occasional little misstep into the land of boring old stereotypes. One to watch for this season.
Episode Grade: A-
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 4GB RAM, Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard
