Tomiyama Choji wanted nothing more than freedom. Yes, the long-cherished and long-admired freedom.
But freedom needs sacrifice.
The type of freedom Choji wanted, needed a great sacrifice.
No, not an admirable one but one that drags one down.
Now imagine, if you are to be isolated, despite being the person with authority.
Wouldn’t it feel like, all your struggles were in vain?
Choji was no exception in this matter and wanted a better chance for improvement.
Now the question is, will he find his chance?
Previously…
Previously, Togame Jo vs Sakura Haruka, a battle was going on, though Togame had become absent-minded.
Sakura called his team, a team of bullies, and told him the reason.
He found out the futility of the reason for their fight.
He continued to fight but his head wasn’t in the game.
The result was a one-sided pounding from Sakura.
Sakura wasn’t happy, he needed to Duke it out for real.
He gave a needed push to Togame.
Fight for real
Togame then, rains down on him like a loose cannon.
Both of them were exchanging fists in fun, as the fight drew to a conclusion.
Togame lost by own choice and Sakura won.
Sakura didn’t like the result, and Choji also didn’t like that.
However, both of their perspective were different.
Choji thought he lost because he was weak and treated Togame like a loser.
This angered Sakura and Umemiya equally, but cool-headed Umemiya controlled the hot-headed Sakura.
As he gets on to fight Choji, he declares he won’t lose to a person who doesn’t understand the gravity of someone’s sacrifice.
Next…
Choji was fighting Umemiya, blow by blow, trying to down him.
His hits were landing perfectly without mistakes, but they still weren’t working as he expected.
Do you know why?
Let Umemiya answer your question.
It’s because his punches weren’t carrying the weight of expectations, so his punches were weak.
In exchange, Umemiya was the one to slam him down.
As we can see, Choji himself wasn’t sure what he wanted.
He did not even understand what kind of freedom he wanted.
Was his freedom all about enjoying an intense fight with a strong opponent?
It didn’t seem like that, because he wasn’t enjoying his fight with Umemiya.
All he ranted about was what could happen after he gained his freedom.
All he became was a burden to the team he was the leader of.
Creator’s effort
Choji was wavering, his mind was confused about what he wanted and what he had to lose in pursuit of that.
Some excellent symbolic scenes were rolled out one after another here.
A nice effort by the creator.
In the first scene, Choji is walking in a sandy desert, like his life is, colorless and dry.
In the second scene, he finds a cracked glass pane underneath the sand, like his current unstable situation.
The third scene was where he found Togame squatting in a distance in the desert.
As he tried to reach him, the glass beneath him broke and he fell down.
The fourth scene shows a worn-out Togame squatting down.
He was trying to piece together a broken glass image of Choji and the team together.
Choji and his realization
The first symbolic scene matches the mental condition of Choji when he realizes how alone he is.
Even though Umemiya incited that thought inside him, he actually felt that for a long time.
The second scene shows his fragile social standing among his teammates.
He realized that after Umemiya pointed that out after being pounded by him a lot.
He was more lively, more strong, and surrounded by mates when he was yet to be the leader of Shishitoren.
A strong head butt from Umemiya did the magic, making him understand the importance of friends.
Choji and Togame
He had a dream of the good old days, but he lost Togame there and everyone else. Then roll in the third scene where he falls into darkness alone.
Before the fourth scene comes, Choji wakes up with the eye-opening truth about the wrong direction, that he was moving towards.
Finally, our headstrong Choji has some sense beaten into him.
He had his priority set previously, getting strongest, and leading others to his daily adventures!!
But being strongest also means being surrounded by those who are weaker.
So nobody could follow his extremely difficult missions, breaking his trust in them.
As a result, he became isolated, hurting others including Togame, his best friend.
But this wasn’t only his doing, Togame also supported him to keep the image others had of him intact.
It was in the fourth symbolic scene.
It was, Togame trying to piece together a broken picture of Choji leading the team while Togame supporting him.
Conclusion
Now it’s time for a conclusion.
As Choji lost, he had to come to a decision, and he just did that.
He decided to leave Shishitoren and hand over the team to Umemiya to lead.
Umemiya declined nonchalantly and instead offered a deal of friendship.
Well, all’s well that ends well, everyone then lived happily ever after!!!
If it was a fairy tale, I would’ve said that, but thankfully it’s an action series and many more challenges are yet to come….
