Yosuke’s going to be one hell of a hate sink, because not only is he being creepy with a 15-year-old girl, he and his minion essentially kidnap her. Fine, you can argue that 15-year-olds were considered adults back then. It wasn’t uncommon for young girls back in the day to marry at such a young age. Sadly, this practice is still legal in some places even now! Gross, gross, gross! But (ugh) cultural relativism and all that. At what point, however, do we draw the line? Inako clearly does not want anything to do with this guy. Her “no” can’t possibly be more emphatic.

Of course, cultural relativism rears its ugly head again: a daughter in this day and age — the steam age — is meant to obey her parents’ wishes, no matter how fucking terrible they are. A daughter in this day and age has no rights. But maybe this is what the electrical age — in its entirety — is meant to usher in. It’s not just modern technology, but also modern sensibilities. It’s a form of liberation that sees Inako flying high towards the horizon (with Kihachi) and feeling as though she can touch the sky. The metaphor couldn’t be more apt. If she stays put and follows orders, her world is limited to the storehouse, the proverbial jail that her father sticks her in until her spirit is broken and she obeys. Or she can leave and allow the rest of the world to become her stage.

It’s also cute to see Inako and Kihachi lend each other their support back and forth. She’s hesitant to abandon her role as the dutiful daughter, but he encourages her to break free and go after what she truly wants. He proffers the hand that literally lifts her out of her prison. Having said that, he broke into said prison but couldn’t even leave without her help. He needs her as much as she needs him. Case in point, Kihachi’s still traumatized by his brother’s disappearance. Seiroku’s electric technology was meant to clear away not just the fog that chokes this world, but also darkness, the one thing Kihachi hates the most. From Kihachi’s perspective, it’s as if Seiroku not only failed, but was swallowed up by the one thing he failed to conquer. But in another scene, Inako proffers her hand in return, daring to replace Seiroku and lead the way into the dark unknown. Earlier in the episode, it was her push that got them into the air. Both kids are understandably full of self-doubt, but together, they are greater than the sum of their individual parts.

Unfortunately, Yosuke is not only a creep, he’s also persistent. And thanks to Kengo mistakenly seeing Kihachi as the kidnapper — made worse by the fact that he’s Inako’s sister’s fiancé — the adults eventually manage to corner the kids and drag them back home. Yosuke finally gets his greedy little hands on the Electrical Catalog and mutters, “Seiroku, the time has finally come for us to make our dream come true.” It clearly sounds like he, Kihachi’s brother, and Kengo were war buddies. When Kihachi revealed his relation to Seiroku, images flashed through both men’s minds. They saw him die on the battlefield. But what is this dream? And why is Yosuke so hellbent on fulfilling it that he would strong-arm a child into marrying him?

Well, much to Yosuke’s dismay, all he sees are doodles in the Electrical Catalog. Plus, it’s missing its other half. Maybe Seiroku thought it was prudent to entrust each half to a different person, but at the moment, I can’t imagine why he would think this. We know so little about him or what he was up to. Point is, Yosuke thinks he has his hands on a fake. He might be rich and powerful, but perhaps he lacks the imagination to truly create and innovate. Not only that, the hunt continues, because the second half is still out there. Kind of like a rat race. You just hope that the ending doesn’t end up being anticlimactic like a lot of media about rat races.

Stray thoughts & observations:

— Can’t say I’m a fan of the OP. Not very catchy.

— Yosuke’s minion knocks both kids out with a karate chop, so it’s not just kidnapping. This is also assault.

— If Yosuke is the biggest hate sink, Inako’s father isn’t far behind. Hell, he doesn’t even deserve the title of father. He argues that marrying her off is the only way to save the brewery that his late wife left behind, but c’mon, would she have approved of this? Would his wife have sacrificed her own child to save what is nothing more than a business? But I doubt the father cares. To him, the daughter is probably just a piece of property. Plus, they probably wouldn’t even be in this situation if the brewery was properly managed…

— Kihachi sure has a bunch of gadgets up his sleeve. Unfortunately, they all need revisions. For example, he’s got this box that can stun people, but it requires him to turn some crank. Not exactly super useful when someone is being kidnapped.

— Ugh, Inako is immediately cowed when Yosuke says that her defiance will bring shame on her father. Screw that guy! Keep fighting! Well, she does keep fighting in her own way: she hid the Electrical Catalog in one of her sleeves. I guess it’s too much to expect Inako to openly defy the adults. She’s too demure for that. For now, at least. Hopefully, she will have a character arc that rectifies this shortcoming.

— I so badly wanted this bird to fly off with the Electrical Catalog, but (again), the book was with Inako all along.

— Big sis Noriko is really doing her best to free her sister, including tackling their father to the ground. I wonder if she will face any retaliation from her dad. Maybe because she’s already someone else’s fiancée, especially to a big dude like Kengo, the father is hesitant to do anything to Noriko.

— There’s also all this unnecessary and unwanted touching. Yosuke has probably never been told no before in his life.

— I also hoped Kengo would redeem himself after learning Kihachi’s identity. Maybe he could break them free and let them go on the run again or whatever. Alas, this didn’t come to pass.