Quick recap of ‘Sparks of Tomorrow’ Episode 8: Kengo finally reveals that Seiroku died in the war, while he survived because Seiroku’s Electrical Catalog, tucked beneath his clothes, stopped a bullet that might’ve killed him. Kengo has spent years believing the Catalog should’ve saved Seiroku instead, even though nobody blames him for what happened. Kihachi is devastated to learn his older brother’s fate, but with Inako’s help, he manages to break into the sealed room containing the missing half of Seiroku’s Electrical Catalog. After finally getting his hands on it, however, Kihachi decides he’s willing to give the Catalog up to Yosuke.
Titled Time to Part, Episode 9 of ‘Sparks of Tomorrow’ begins with Kihachi declaring his intention to hand over the Catalog to Yosuke so that Inako’s engagement can be called off, leaving her free to pursue her own dreams. Inako is completely against the idea and instead declares that she will marry Yosuke.
The scene-stealer of this ‘Sparks of Tomorrow’ chapter is a flashback of Yosuke meeting Seiroku on his first day at college, and it’s 100% a “love at first sight” kinda scene. A young Yosuke walks onto campus with his head buried in a book and his face hidden behind a mask, a sign of the aloof arrogance we’re already familiar with. Perhaps he doesn’t want to be recognized because of his wealthy family, although we also know he considers the air too polluted for his sensitive nose, given that he usually has poor Izo following him around with an incense burner.
Either way, Yosuke has absolutely no interest in talking to anyone. Then a dashing Seiroku curiously grabs the book he’s reading, their eyes meet, and Yosuke’s immediately go all starry-eyed. Before long, he’s following Seiroku everywhere. It’s honestly difficult to watch the flashback and interpret Yosuke’s instant fascination with Seiroku as anything other than a massive crush, which then develops into an obsession.
The animators do a fantastic job contrasting the young, almost boyish Yosuke with his older more flamboyant self, it’s like watching two different people. While Seiroku glides through these flashbacks like some dreamy hunk plucked straight out of a fantasy romance.
This episode of ‘Sparks of Tomorrow’ also shows how Inako’s older sister, Noriko, met Seiroku. But of course, the primary suspense of the chapter is whether Inako will really marry Yosuke, or whether Kihachi will manage to stop her by giving up the Catalog. As Inako heads to a ball, it seems Yosuke himself might not be very serious about his desire to wed her.
Emotions run high throughout the episode, both in the flashbacks and the current timeline. Seiroku’s influence on so many of the primary characters really makes you wish he were still around, and that the news of his death somehow isn’t true. And hey, this is a steampunk anime, so you never know. Maybe he could just rise from the dead.
I usually hate the soap-opera trope of resurrecting dead characters, but I think I’d happily make an exception here. If, by some miracle, Kihachi’s enigmatic older brother turns out not to be a corpse after all, I certainly won’t complain. Yosuke would certainly thrown a grand as hell ball over it.
The rivalry between Yosuke and Kihachi only deepens in ‘Sparks of Tomorrow’, even though, ironically, both of them are passionately interested in the thing: to bring Seiroku’s dreams of an electrical era to life. Just that their approach and working styles are wildly different.
Watch ‘Sparks of Tomorrow’ on Netflix.
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