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Impressions:

A pretty good second episode, but I think it progressed too slowly. Immediately after I finished watching the episode, I was surprised that the events in the bar were able to fill up the 20 minutes airing time. Nevertheless, it was pretty interesting and engaging. When the woman pushes Naoya away to get to the door, I thought she was psychic too and was responsible for the vision, but that does not seem to be the case. I guess the fact that she remained calm throughout the whole thing gave me the idea that she was like Naoto and Naoya. Other things to note: Naoya is far too afraid of everything. I can understand he is scared about seeing nasty things when he touches people, but he should face it more like a man that some helpless child. All he has to do is act slightly less panicky all the time. Questions: Where did Shouko go? What is her significance in the show? What is this ‘Minus energy’? Looks like more blood and violence next episode.

Summary:

Naoto and Naoya spend the entire episode in the bar ‘Stinger’. The people in the bar give them unwelcoming glances as they enter. After a few moments of silence, the bartender offers the two to sit down. Naoto explains that they have a flat tyre that needs to be repaired. A few of the guys start laughing. One of them stands up and offers his services for 30 000 yen. Although it is quite expensive, Naota accepts the offer. With the money and the key to the car in hand, the man begins to make his way to the vehicle, which is parked a few hundred metres down the road.

The brothers sit down as they wait. A man turns on the television, which is broadcasting a program about psychics demonstrating their powers to an audience. The man in the show bends a spoon, which amazes the audience. One of the guys at the bar mocks this, saying that everyone knows it’s just a hoax. Hearing this, Naoto gets annoyed. A woman working at the bar serves the two brothers some drinks and asks for their order. She notices Naoya looking depressed and asks if he’s sick. She reaches for his forehead to feel his temperature, but Naoto grabs her arm, asking her to not touch it. On the TV, a fortune teller is shown revealing a man’s secret of dating an older woman. One of the women in the bar says she would like to have such an ability, as she’d be able to tell whether a man truly loved her or not.

As everyone is laughing at the remark, the restroom door opens and a man in a suit comes out. He notices the program and turns it off immediately, saying only idiots believe in supernatural powers. Naoto gets angrier. The man confronts the man who had turned the TV on, saying he knew it was him who did it as he overhead him talking about it. It is easy to figure out that this guy is very authoritative. Everyone remains silent as he speaks. He continues to rage, saying that if anyone has such powers to show him. The woman at the table who had joked about having psychic powers tells him that he’s acting like an idiot. The woman is the man, Jin’s girlfriend. Naoto has some flashbacks about his childhood. Naoya tells his brother to not get angry. Jin turns around and demands Naoto’s attention, asking why he looks so angry. He approaches him, but Naoya gets up and tries to stop him, saying his brother isn’t feeling well. Jin aggressively pushes him aside. The contact between the two triggers something in Naoya. Jin’s childhood memories of his dysfunctional family are revealed. It seems that everyone saw it as they are all staring at Jin and Naoya with shocked faces. Naoto gets up and runs to Naoya, pushing Jin aside.

To back up his opinion of all so-called psychics being fake, he reminds everyone that his mother is missing because she ran away with a phoney psychic. He gets madder as he speaks. He says that if everyone could bend spoons, read minds and such, everyone would be happy (which is false) and there wouldn’t be any murders in the world (which is also, definitely false). He sits down next to his girlfriend, who tries to comfort him by saying there is no such thing as superpowers. Other people affirm this as well, which seems to calm Jin down slightly. However, the man who turned on the TV has more to say (argh, you fool!) He claims that just because the people on TV are fake, doesn’t mean everyone else is. Getting pissed again, Jin pushes the man onto the floor. With the worst possible timing, the man who repaired Naoto’s car returns. Unaware of the tenseness in the room, he casually reminds everyone that the psychic show is on. We all know what happens next. Jin rounds on him and starts bashing him. Naoto tells him to stop it, which brings Jin’s attention to him. Naoto takes a fork and twists it (psychedelically of course). The head of the fork snaps off. Everyone is shocked.

The brothers are about to leave, but Jin has not been persuaded. Naoto gives him another demonstration, which shuts him up. However, he is convinced by Jin’s girlfriend that it’s a trick. She accuses Naoto of being a phoney. He gets mad and his psychic powers begin to operate. He demonstrates more of his powers by levitating cups etc. The man who believes in psychics is amazed at this and asks if Naoya has any powers as well. The man suggests that Naoya has the ability to read people’s minds. The ever-imposing Jin gets worked up again and punches him in the face. He turns around immediately and goes for Naoto. He is about to do god knows what to Jin, but Naoya yells for him to not do it, which results in Naoto receiving a punch in the face. With his only threat on the ground, Jin calls for his girlfriend to come and touch Naoya to see if he can really read minds. The woman places her palm on his cheek, which results in her secret love affairs being broadcast to everyone in the room. She had slept with two men and offered herself to a third (all three men are in the bar). Shocked, Jin slaps her. He is about to smash a chair on her, but Naoto uses his powers to throw Jin backwards. He is in such a rage that everyone in the room gets a nosebleed. Naoya begs for him to stop, and he does. A woman who does not seem shocked at the brothers’ extraordinary powers, gets up off the floor when he calms down, dragging someone else with her. She pushes Naoya out of the way as she leaves, but in doing so causes Naoya to see her strangling someone. The brothers quickly leave the building. After Naoya tells Naoto about what he saw, Naoto questions whether the Minus energy will be released.

Elsewhere in the Futami household, the parents of Shouko who disappeared last episode are crying as they have just been informed by a detective/officer. Miki has a few flashbacks of when Shouko had said that the two brothers will escape and given her the notebook. She seems to realise something important at the end.

Preview:

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