Hey, look who’s back!

— Before Satomi finally takes her leave, she takes one last shot and claims that Shinichi’s eyes look empty. Man, too much drama for high school kids. It’s not like they have to decide whether or not to spend the rest of their young lives together. They just have to date and have fun. I guess nobody here is ultimately right or wrong, but if they’re having this much trouble with each other, maybe they should just accept that they’re not in the right place for a relationship right now. Just be friends.

— Finally, Uda re-enters the story, and it’s to help Shinichi investigate Kuramori, the investigator? I know he’s the only ally that Shinichi could find, but he doesn’t strike me as someone who might be fit for the job at hand.

— Neat trick.

— Uda’s parasyte is finally renamed Joe or Jaw. Joe is funnier to me. Joe doesn’t think names are important, but he watches TV all the time. You figure he’d at least appreciate having an identity and thus a name by now.

— Elsewhere, not only does Reiko end her business with Kuramori, she also pretends as though she has no clue what the guy is talking about when he’s freaking out in public about Shinichi’s right hand. Apparently, she doesn’t think that the guy can be relied upon anymore. I guess his observations are of no use if he can’t even hold onto the video evidence. She then “laughs” on the way home as she contemplates whether or not she should kill the man. Yeah, this is apparently Reiko’s way of laughing when she doesn’t consciously realize that she’s doing so. She develops it a bit later, but it’s fittingly twisted in a parasyte sort of way. Even animals can laugh, so parasytes are so new at this existence thing that they actually have to learn how to display their mirthful joy. They’re what I’d expect from a newly born AI, but just organic in existence.

— Kuramori returns home and… what? The whole family is full of investigators? In any case, his wife suggests that he backs down, but he wants to prove himself as a private eye or whatever. The books on his shelves suggest that this is some sort of boyhood dream of his.

— Uda looks like a dorky Terminator. Too much TV, I guess.

— Shinichi opts to explain everything to the investigator, but there’s only so much you can say. Naturally, Kuramori pretty much has to start over from square one and suggest that Shinichi and his friend turn themselves in for the sake of humanity. Migi, who has been quiet up until now, finally makes an argument that is actually supposed to appeal to Kuramori’s emotions. He essentially asks the investigator to empathize with Shinichi and what our hero has been through, but not before threatening the man’s life. Still, this is just more signs that Migi has evolved since the start of the series. I wonder if he can laugh.

— Before the meeting ends, Migi and Jaw warn Kuramori that Reiko will probably kill him. Well, that’s nice of them, especially considering how Reiko killing the man would actually be in their favor. I mean, I wouldn’t bat an eye at Shinichi warning the man, but I half-figured that the practical Migi would let the man walk his way into certain death.

— Reiko is attending a class about altruism. She has also boldly taken her child to a lecture. But hey, if she can control it as well as she suggests, I guess there are no problems here. I just don’t see why she can control it so well. The baby is still just human, right? Why wouldn’t it cry then in a giant lecture hall?

— Speaking of which, the lecture on altruism is pretty incomplete, but hey, what can you expect from a few, brief minutes of digression from the anime. The lecturer suggests that love and whatnot isn’t real from the viewpoint of a certain theory, then merely ends with “Well, the theory has its problems.” Oh, okay. I’m sure it does.

— More inconsistencies. Reiko is good at fitting in with society, but she doesn’t know that you can’t hold a baby like this? C’mon, now…

— And then she holds the baby properly when she goes to see Shinichi!

— Shinichi first asks if the baby is hers. It would’ve been funny if Reiko had just swiped one from the hospital.

— Reiko says she can just assume another identity if necessary. Why hasn’t she? She still looks exactly the same as when we first met her.

— There’s nothing here that we haven’t heard before. The parasytes want to coexist with humans the same way that humans coexist with livestock. In other words, we’re the livestock. She thinks this is okay, since humans also think it’s okay to eat livestock, but of course, a cow isn’t as smart as a human. You don’t expect Shinichi to trade blows with Reiko in a debate, though. As such, he kind of says nothing as the subject turns to his mother.

— When she hones in the fact that Shinichi’s mother had died to a parasyte, our hero starts to freak out. Somehow, the baby sensed something was wrong and started crying. Not that there’s anything that Shinichi can do here anyway. Reiko proudly exclaims that she would use the baby as a shield if a fight were to break out. That’s probably why she brought the baby, I suppose.

— Those college girls from earlier then conveniently show up, which causes the short meeting between Shinichi and Reiko to come to an end. What, are they stalking her now or something? Then just as Shinichi is leaving the campus, he screams, “Out of my way, humans!” Uhhhhhh… just so many absurd moments in a short time span.

— Apparently, there’s one thing Shinichi can’t calm down about, and it’s rage over his mother’s death. So while everyone can go on and on about how much he’s change and how he’s less emotional, but has anyone considered the fact that he’s basically a shell of his former self because of his mother’s death? Sure, he’s changed, but to call him inhuman when the guy’s mother just died… lots of people withdraw emotionally when faced with a personal tragedy. Maybe we’re predisposed to see Shinichi as inhuman, because we’re not as empathetic to people who are dealing with great mental traumas like Shinichi. We expect them to be able to put on an act on the surface even if they’re suffering on the inside. Shinichi’s rage is palpable whenever his mother is brought up, but at the same time, the guy’s a total pacifist. Locking away his emotions, i.e. calming down quickly, is probably his subconscious way to keep his rage in check.

— A fortune teller generically tells Shinichi to confront the person who left a hole in his heart. Shinichi bitterly remarks that he has already killed that person. That’s why Shinichi will never get closure… well, that’s the theory anyway. Once again, therapy might be the answer to an anime character’s problems. Speaking of which, did his father ever get that therapy? Ah well…