English Dub Review: Hakata Tonkostu Ramens “Pinch Hitter”

Looks like the baseball motif is here to stay.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Our episode begins with Ling, disguised as the Niwaka Samurai, (Who we’ve previously learned is actually Banba’s assassin persona) fighting against the rising star of the ninja-themed assassin world, Shunsuke. Cut to a few hours earlier, and we see Ling taking a call from the old man at the ramen cart about a job for the Niwaka Samurai. Banba’s passed out, however, yet just as the old man is about to call it quits on the job, Ling pretends to ask Banba if he wants the job, with intent to do it himself. After an Oscar-worthy subterfuge, Ling accepts the job on behalf of Banba, and we’re right back where we were at the start of the episode. Ling and Shunsuke go at it, and surprisingly, Ling is finding himself outmatched by the upstart assassin. Meanwhile, Banba wakes up to find Ling missing, a fact which doesn’t seem to trouble him much.

Just as Shunsuke’s and Ling’s fight is reaching its climax, a mysterious van pulls up out of nowhere, and a man stuns Ling throws a bag over his head and pulls the supposed “Niwaka Samurai” into the van. Driving off, the two kidnappers celebrate their victory in kidnapping the famed assassin-killer, and drive off into the night. Meanwhile, Jose, (The big muscled guy who works for the revengers) has just gotten his first internet client for a shady job torturing some guy.

Shunsuke and his agent have caught up to the van, after getting some info from Enokida on its location. Shunsuke intimidates the lowly kidnappers into giving up the Niwaka Samurai, but they also reveal that this Niwaka Samurai is just a fake and that they called in a pro (Jose) to torture Ling into giving up info on the real samurai. Upon hearing this, Shunsuke throws a tantrum and starts beating on the kidnappers, pissed that the Niwaka Samurai won’t take him on in a fight.

Banba is off enjoying the festival in the meantime, but the old man finds him in the crowd to tell him of the situation. He’s got a message from Shunsuke, threatening that he’ll kill Ling if Banba doesn’t show up to fight him. Naturally, Banba takes it upon himself to save Ling’s bacon.

4:41 AM comes around and Banba shows (In his festival regalia) to take on Shunsuke and save the day. Shunsuke presents Banba with Ling’s body stuffed into a suitcase, saying that Ling is already dead, though he’s not the one who killed him. The two are just about to throw down when a bunch of armed thugs show up and handcuff Banba. Turns out, its the guys who hired Shunsuke to take out the Niwaka Samurai in the first place; the mob boss they work for would prefer to execute Banba himself. And oh boy, Shunsuke is not happy about that. But, after the goons drive off with Banba, Shunsuke’s manager reveals he put a tracking device on their van, so Shunsuke can go and kill the Niwaka Samurai himself.

While this is happening, we see Ling’s true fate revealed. Not surprisingly, he’s not dead at all! Rather, he and Jose pretended that Ling died while being tortured to get him out of that sticky situation. But its not long before Ling gets a call from the old man, saying that Banba’s in trouble. The shoe is on the other foot, and Ling rushes to Banba’s aid. Yet, it looks like he doesn’t really need it, because none other than Shunsuke rushes in to save him. Butchering dudes left and right, the two escape to the rooftops, evading their foes at every turn. Just then, the leader of their pursuers gets a call; apparently their boss is dead, so the goons just decide to call it off. Then the two assassins decide to get their fight over with; no time like the present, after all. Meanwhile, we see the killer of the mob boss meeting with Shunsuke’s manager. She’s a femme fatale named Sayuri, and she’s as deadly as she is clever.

Banba and Shunsuke clash blades, and it seems like victory is assured for Banba when Shunsuke nearly falls off the rooftop they’re fighting on. But just as he’s about to fall, Banba grabs his wrist at the last minute and pulls him to safety. The two agree to a draw, at the very least for the sake of the festivities being enjoyed on the streets below. Then, we wrap things up nice and tidy, with Ling apologizing to Banba for impersonating him, and Banba pouting that he missed some of the festivities of this year’s celebration. Oh, and they play some baseball together, where we see Sayuri managing the opposing team, the “F.Udons”, who is apparently Banba’s ex. And it seems Shunsuke is joining on the baseball fun, too, serving as the Udon’s pitcher.

Our Take:

There really isn’t much that separates this episode from any other episode of Hakata Tonkostu Ramens, mostly because of the amazing efficiency with which any tension is quickly dispelled by Ling’s kidnapping. While I’m not certain if this is a deliberate creative choice or just an example of failed storytelling, the casual nature with which our cast approaches death and violence gives this show a more slice of life feeling than anything else when it should have the excitement and tension of an action-noir anime. As it is now, each episode just feels like going through the motions. This show is treading water in a tepid pond, and things are starting to get quite boring.