This is supposed to be an episode (in general) post. But it appears that I had too many to say on Kimimaro and Mikuni alone that I'll have to separate my posts about the fifth episode, haha!
There are more parallelisms between the two, yet more differences are getting revealed. Their relationship isn't exactly as what it appears. They don't seem as they appear either. If Mikuni shall indeed be the main antagonist in the series, what an interesting pair of main protagonist and antagonist we have here~
I suppose I'm one of the few who still finds Kimimaro very incredible despite the fact that he STILL appears "BLAND" even in the most recent episode. I don't think my being a Kimimaro fan is blinding me in seeing this dude as boring. Complicated/awkward as it may sound, but his being unintersting is what makes him interesting for me since episode one. He amazes me each episode, and this one is no exception.
Most people had mainly seen Kimimaro's loss in this episode. Even the other characters have become disappointed (or less impressed) with him because of that. They don't have much confidence in his capability at all, and doubts if we would be able to control deals with his "current level". They don't see him as someone that bright either.... much less someone able to handle money properly. In other words, they don't think Kimimaro has the skills necessary to be a great Entre at all.
But actually, he does.
On Kimimaro's first two battles, he lacked knowledge and motivation in battle. His third one is different, for he finally gained both of those and he didn't need Mashu to tell him what moves he'll use during the Deal.
Now for his first fight where he does things under his control, he doesn't just aim to win, but he wants to do something complicated already this early: determining how much he'll win. In other words, he's a novice that aims to be victorious using advanced strategies on his first game. And amazingly, even though he lacked preparation, he was almost successful.
That just proves that Kimimaro DOES have the POTENTIAL to be an EXCELLENT Entre. He doesn't always need to be lucky in order to win. He truly had the ability to surpass Mikuni from the very beginning. Kimimaro's THAT incredible~
For someone who's not used to engaging in physical battles, he sure knows combat tactics and could even compute how much he should use and estimate when he'll do his moves at the same time. He only had one clue about his opponent, the rest he just analyzed during the fight. For someone who only thought of understanding his battle moves and his weapon only recently... to be able to do that on his first serious fight... is WOW.
But of course, not everything goes according to plan. I suppose he's so used to doing things on his own that he didn't realize that there's actually cooperation with his Asset involved during the Deals. Since the Asset protects him and follows his orders, he might have assumed that, aside from being a living thing that he should care about, Assets are just bodyguards and pawns for Entres to win in the game. Though he informed Mashu that he's trying to leanr how to controls his Deals, he hadn't exactly discussed with her his strategies in detail, making her confused.
So, even though Kimimaro does have the capability, he still has a lot to learn. Mikuni had given tips, so does Mashu. Right now what he mainly lacks is preparation. He couldn't even measure his abilities accurately yet.
(Kimimaro, your drawings are so cute xD Hahahaha!)
I'm really happy that even though he's an exceptional rookie, he still has flaws.
Kimimaro is special and the one who clearly sees him that way is none other than the current most powerful Entre in the District, Mikuni. Speaking of Mikuni, a character finally dared to ask why the hell he's freakin' interested in Kimimaro anywayz. This series isn't shounen-ai so the idea of Mikuni being romantically interested in him is not valid, bwahahahahaha!.
Mikuni says that people who are possessed by money won't be able to control it freely. Members of the Guild, though they limit their gains as much as possible, aren't really the type who aren't interested in profit. Mikuni himself even says that he loves money. It looks like among the Entres so far, the only one who isn't among those possessed by money is Kimimaro. I guess that hints that the person whom Mikuni thinks would be capable of controlling money efficiently is none other than Kimimaro.
Mikuni: The ultimate goal is to take control of the Financial District. If we can do that, controlling the effect of deals should become easier.
Kimimaro: Why go that far?
Mikuni: If I didn't, would you do it for me?
I suppose we can say that Mikuni considers Kimimaro as his successor. That explains the support he gives to the boy. But it doesn't necessarily mean he's forcing Kimimaro to follow his footsteps, since he doesn't force Kimimaro to agree with him (not even insulted when Kimimaro kept on disagreeing with him). He's not exactly spoiling or favoring Kimimaro either... much less genuine care.
He didn't give a damn if Kimimaro won't be able to win against the Entre under the "Dangerous List". Mikuni says himself that if Kimimaro fails, the boy should might as well be destroyed.
Mikuni might've been like a good guy for wishing good things for his country. He would go as far as acting like a national superhero, though instead of using superpowers or giant robots to protect his country, he's rescuing countrymen by paying debts or saving countries that would affect the lives of thousands. He no longer cares if what he's doing is right or wrong, as long as not many will starve and suffer financially, he'll be fine with it.
His concern for others are only people as a whole, but on persons individually, not really. If a certain someone's ruin won't bring much effect to other people, he doesn't care. This explains why he had been merciless on the old man in the first episode, and why he wouldn't care if Kimimaro won't be able to prove himself. So yeah, that clearly shows that Mikuni isn't really a nice guy.
Kimimaro, on the other hand, cares about everyone, whether in micro or macro perspective. He was as bothered when his professor went bankrupt as when a president of a big pharmateutical company lost the Deal. He cares about his loved ones, his Asset, his friends, and even total strangers.
Of course, he also cares about himself that he doesn't want to go bankrupt like his father did. The boy had already gone through a lot... he's no freakin' martyr who will welcome more suffering and cause others to worry for him. But he wouldn't want others to suffer because of him either.
He didn't expect that his life in the real world will still be affected even if he didn't lose much. That caused him in such worry that he checked up on the people he care about. Since now that he knows that it would also suck for him to lose, it seems unlikely that he's going to let himself lose again.
Now that he and his Asset are getting along better (though Mashu still loses her temper on him xD), looks like we'll be seeing better partnership between the two in the next fight~ Speaking of partnership, it's now much highly possible for these two to have a romantic connection. Kimimaro being bothered while looking at Mashu's lips is definitely hinting something.
Looks like Mikuni isn't the only one who feeds his Asset now. I wonder if Mashu would become addicting to eating human food like Q with eating money. Amusing that Mikuni thought of imitating Kimimaro on the ramen feeding thing, haha!
The similarities between Kimimaro and Mikuni are just as striking as their differences. I suppose their big difference would be in what they'd do about the flow of Midas Money. Mikuni is confident that Kimimaro would understand his opinion about it one day, but Kimimaro still couldn't embrace it. I'm really excited to know what Kimimaro would decide to the about that in the future~
