Asian Addicts Anonymous

Tokuda’s past sequence is officially over. The others sit around him in shock. Tagawa then crawls over to Tokuda, gun in hand. But he can’t seem to get it together to kill him and ends up putting the gun back down. Ozaki then loses his cool and grabs the unconscious Tokuda and begins wailing on him. Not one of the tenants initially stops him, but when Ozaki keeps hitting and hitting and hitting, Kameda finally says that Ozaki should stop as Tokdua can’t take anymore. Makiko says that he will die soon and Ozaki finally stops only to have Tokuda tell him to go ahead and keep hitting him until he’s dead as his life is nothing but bad luck. A tear rolls down Tokuda’s battered face.

To demonstrate his pitiful life, Tokuda tells about his childhood. His mother died when he was born, his father’s company went bankrupt and he was taken in by his aunt. Bad things always happened around him and the people who came in to contact with him become unhappy. Illustrated by throwing a paper airplane over a fence causing some kind of accident, and then letting an old woman use the drink machine ahead of him while he thought about what he wanted only to have the machine eat the woman’s money. Whenever he tried to do a good deed, bad things happened. Like when he returned a dog to a woman pushing a wheelchair. She let go of the wheelchair (on a hill mind you) to take the dog only to have the old man in the chair go rolling away before crashing into something.

Back in the present, Ozaki lets go of Tokuda’s collar and flings himself back down. Tokuda straightens up and says how he grew to hate being around people and almost never left his house since he didn’t want to make anyone unhappy. He liked to draw and spent everyday doing nothing but drawing (his entire room is covered in sketches) by himself. Then one day he hears that famous mangaka Yamada Kikuo is looking for an assistant as she is very busy and needs more help with her work. This excites Tokuda who flips through a magazine at hand and finds a page about Yamada’s work. Looks like he decides to apply.

He then goes to the office where the walls are lined with weird ceramic creatures and we see the strange three women who ordered the hit on him. Tokuda lets out a big sigh and the one with short hair and a stuffed monkey around her neck asks what the sigh is for and if he can draw well. This takes Tokuda by surprise. The woman then doesn’t give him time to answer her questions and she says that they will see how good he really is. The woman, Miss Milky, then decides to have a sketching contest. The girl in the middle with long, straight hair isn’t too keen on the idea of Tokuda, but the third girl with glasses and wild, messy hair jumps up happily and starts snapping pictures while Tokdua is lost in confusion.

Milky then tells Tokuda not to worry as she will strip later – say what? She then says that if Tokuda wins, the will get the stuffed monkey on her shoulder – Marquez. This shocks the middle one and excites the third one who starts snapping pictures once more. Milky asks him what he is waiting for and tells him to start stripping. Tokuda finally says that he doesn’t want the nasty monkey which angers the weird trio. Milky tells Tokuda not to judge Marquez without knowing him and demands he hurries and strips. He asks why and is told that Milky will draw him. This upsets Tokuda as he didn’t sign on for this. The middle, moodier one, yells in a deep voice for him to just strip already while the third one says something unintelligible and begins snapping pictures again while Tokuda covers his face. The three women start getting angry and tell him not to underestimate pros and demand to know what connections he used to get in there.

Just as Tokuda goes to run for his life, Yamada comes in, shocking him. This surprises Yamada-sensei and when Tokuda looks back at the women, they are sitting quietly and appear to be working hard. This surprises Tokuda. Yamada asks who he is and he introduces himself and says he heard she was looking for a new assistant. Yamada cuts him off and tells him to sit by the other three and thanks him for his help. Without looking at his credentials or interviewing him – weird. She then sits down and begins working.

Back in the present, Makiko recalls her sessions with Yamada and is shocked to learn that there is a connection between her dead patient and Tokuda (nothing is really surprising at this point, truthfully).

Back to Tokuda’s story, he starts work with the four women. While working, he decides to be nice and delivers drinks to all of the girls, making them all happy for the attention. The next day, or later, or the same day (not quite sure on the time really), he brings in flowers to decorate the office, and comes in with a grocery bag full of food. The girls then watch as he sets about cooking them dinner. They can’s seem to take their eyes off of him at all as he cooks the pasta. He even catches the eye of Yamada-sensei. I think it is probably safe to say that all four of them develop crushes on him because of his nice behavior. Dinner is done and the four sit down to eat at the table while Tokuda watches. He asks if it tastes okay and they reply that it is very delicious. He is happy to hear that they all like it. So how did things end up getting to the point that the three women ask to have him killed?

I have to say before going farther, that I did enjoy this scene. Well, the cooking montage was kind of “eh,” but seeing Tokuda show an honestly happy expression and laughing freely and naturally was nice. It’s a side that you don’t get to see. He is usually always polite and kind, but you could always tell he wasn’t really all that happy. So, it’s nice to see. Plus, Kato Shigeaki has a really nice smile when he is being more natural and free.

Tokuda gets back to work and the trio of weird ladies stare at him constantly. Whenever he looks back, though, they always seem to be working diligently. While working, he goes up to Yamada and asks if the close up was too much. She tells him it is fine and he is relieved because he worried it would detract from the previous scene and what is going on. Yamada seemed surprised. Was it at his thoughtfulness and questions and suggestions? Or was it because he was so close to her at that point? Who knows.

In the present, Tokuda tells the others that the deadline was approaching fast so they often had to work overtime. We then cut back to the past where Tokuda is in a warehouse full of boxes. He is looking for drawing paper, but is having problems finding it. He then hears weird noises and starts freaking out because it is late at night and he is alone. When he turns back around, he is startled to see one of his coworkers (the one with the long, straight hair) dressed in a skimpyish Lolita outfit asking him to sketch her. The surprised Tokuda asks what she wants and she asks if he likes that playful side of her. The poor, scared Tokuda asks what she is talking about. The girl then comes closer and closer and he begins backing away, telling her to leave.

He finally goes to turn and run only to come face to face with the camera-taking girl. He covers his face as the flash keeps going off and she says that it is wonderful that she finally managed to catch his face for keeps. Tokuda lowers his arms and the girl snaps more pictures, getting closer an closer. Where the other girl went, I do not know. Poor Tokuda! Freaked out even more, he goes to run once more (again, he should have been backed into the 1st girl, but she has mysteriously disappeared.

Tokuda goes to run off and comes across Milky who is sitting in the warehouse looking all scared and depressed. She sees Tokuda and asks where Marqez is. Has he seen him? Tokuda says he has no idea where the stuffed monkey is when Milky gets up and begins calling out for Marquez. OMG! How freaking weird is this going to get? As Milky begins losing her cool and screaming, Tokuda gets scared. He then hears something and notices Marquez! Who is apparently dancing and walking towards him. Um…sounds like Tokuda is having a mental breakdown. The monkey then launches itself at Tokuda and he has problems getting it off of is face. Seriously?

Then bam! Tokuda wakes up in a cold sweat. Thank goodness – it was all a dream. I was hoping it was something like that since this sequence had some weirder camera effects. When he looks over at the girls’ station, they are all gone and only Yamada remains. Tokuda gets up and asks Yamada where the others went. Yamada replies that she doesn’t know – probably home. Tokuda then asks what they will do about the deadline as the two of them can’t finish in time. Yamada then say that there isn’t a deadline anymore. Say what? Tokuda asks what she means and she stands up and begins ripping the sketch saying she can’t draw anymore. Tokuda asks what she is doing as that is her work. Yamada tells him it doesn’t matter anymore as she can’t draw well even if she tries. She walks towards Tokuda, causing him to back up until he is backed into a corner (all the while he was praising all of her different mangas).

Yamada tells Tokuda that no matter what she draws, every person ends up with the same face. Tokuda tells her that her latest manga is sure to be great like all the others. Yamada then asks Tokuda if he has ever kissed anyone before. This questions surprises Tokuda. Yamada doesn’t allow him to answer and says that she has never kissed anyone before. She then asks Tokuda to kiss her. This really throws Tokuda for a loop. Yamada puts her hands on his shoulders and gets closer and closer. She tells him that she believes kissing him will enable her to draw once more. She then asks him what a kiss tastes like an asks him to teach her. She pulls him closer and their lips almost touch!

Tokuda then pushes Yamada away before the crucial moment. He starts to say something, but Yamada turns and walks away. Tokuda apologizes. Yamada apologizes as well and blames Tokuda for her current trouble. Yamada tells him that things became weird after he came. All the other girls started behaving strangely and fell in love with him. Tokuda can’t believe this. Yamada then turns around and pulls out the blade on a box cuter. She shows her wrist that is full of little cuts. She then smiles and slits her wrist in front of Tokuda. After she falls over, Tokuda runs over, crying, asking her why she did that. He tries to stop the bleeding and his face is covered with her blood. He goes to get a first aid kit and finds the other girls one by one – all with their wrists slit. Tokuda loses it. I don’t blame him on that one.

End episode.

Well, we at least know that those four girls don’t die there with their communal suicide.