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Trickster
Episode 9

by Anne Lauenroth,

How would you rate episode 9 of
Trickster ?
Community score: 2.9

Fallen Hero is a case study of Trickster at its messiest. Once again, it was easy to see (and appreciate) what Erika Yoshida and Masahiro Mukai wanted to do, but never have intention and execution been divided by a gulf of such epic proportions.

In memories of childhood happiness as fleeting as the obligatory cherry blossoms, Hanasaki thinks back to the time he learned to ride a bike. In the not-so-rose-colored present, Kobayashi has at least grown accustomed to riding in the car's back seat without blowing up half the interior, and he's actually shaping up to be quite the useful teen detective/tool. Aside from such practical accomplishments, everyone's busy being as much of a jerk as possible, with no likable behavior in sight. Kobayashi's an emotionless cold fish, Inoue way too stuck up to contribute anything but reprimands, Akechi is unnecessarily cruel and Hanasaki is just as loud and tiring in his grief as he was in his genki-ness.

The key line to this episode's emotional payoff (or lack thereof) is Twenty Faces' "All done pretending to be a savior?" He might have directed this question at "Mother" (who turns out to be just as shady as expected), but it's just as much about Haruhiko and Kensuke Hanasaki. Haruhiko's naïveté and pathetic state make it difficult to think of him as the gifted youngster introduced to us last week. His story serves as a warning of Hanasaki's own future, while simultaneously paving the way to said future in the first place. He's able to realize his own foolishness, but the loss of his family made him vulnerable to be exploited by people with nothing but ulterior motives. His make-belief utopian family is quick to fall apart under stress, just like Hanasaki lashing out at everyone in despair destroys the bonds with his own surrogate family, driving him into the arms of Trickster's ultimate manipulative bastard.

If Twenty Faces picking up Hanasaki from the gutter was supposed to be a shocking twist, it failed miserably. No matter how it ended up happening, Twenty Faces eventually getting back at Akechi through one of his boys has been on the plot's to-do list since episode 5. Now that Hanasaki has been replaced just like Twenty Faces, all our masked foe (and the viewer) have to do after the gunshot-heavy end of Haruhiko's utopian experiment was wait for Hanasaki to isolate himself in despair and be Ripe for the Picking. This foregone conclusion led to some unfortunate pacing issues throughout the episode's second half, further rubbing in the uninspired messiness.

Hanasaki's downward spiral was painful to watch, and not in the good way of despairing with the character. In a better show, seeing him drop his act and revert back to his more vulnerable self might have caused empathy, prompting me to side with him against Akechi, who really displayed some unnecessary harshness. He might have tried to protect Hanasaki in his own way by preventing him from finding out about his brother not being the selfless hero (and possibly even having regrets about his sacrifice). But his meddling also prevented Hanasaki from ever dealing with reality until now, which probably did more damage to the boy's psyche in the long run. When too much reality comes crashing down at once, Hanasaki has little inner strength left to hold onto behind his fake facade. Pushed away by his first family and betrayed by his surrogate one, his life goal of becoming someone his brother could respect vaporizes into thin air. With the source of his constant adrenaline rush taken away, his life becomes as devoid of joy as Kobayashi's. The saddest thing is how much more emotionally effective this theoretically interesting implosion could have played out if Trickster didn't go out of its way to make its characters so darn hollow and unlikable.

If Twenty Faces was able to orchestrate the details of this multiple family drama, it's not impossible to see all of this alienation turning out to be part of Akechi's counter gambit, making him the most ruthless Trickster of them all. I'd probably just start rooting for Twenty Faces in that case, but right now, I'm with Nakamura and her credo of not getting attached to any of these characters. Not that this requires much effort.

Rating: D+

Trickster is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.


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