House of Five Leaves - Episode 10

For all of his quiet reluctance to talk about himself or allow anything much about him to be revealed to his "house-mates", there's clearly a lot of history behind Yaichi's character in House of Five Leaves, and as we hit this tenth episode so some large chunks of this character are revealed.

For starters, we find out from whence Yaichi obtained his name (for, of course, Yaichi isn't his actual name), a discovery made via some first-person scenes which see us join a younger Yaichi within the Bakuro gang. This in turn allows us to tie Yaichi's past in with that of police chief Yagi... something which was clearly foreshadowed in previous episodes but is an intriguing development in itself, particularly considering how Yagi has become the next potential target of the Five Leaves.


Similarly, we hear first-hand from Yagi about his memories of a certain boy who he clearly believes to be (and later confirms to be via Masa's ineptitude at lying) Yaichi, and the relationship which was fostered between the two of them - Something which takes us all the way back to the opening scenes of the first episode of this series, if you can remember that far back.

Throw in to that the returning Bakuro gang member who is looking for vengeance against another former member of that group and his own intriguing relationship to Yaichi, and you have the scene set for what could prove to be a fascinating final couple of episodes. Of course, we know it won't all end in large-scale and spectacular battles as that simply isn't this show's style, but there's so much character-driven drama just waiting to be resolved that it's bound to be explosive in its own far more quiet and reserved way. Who says cliffhangers have to be about edge of the seat tension? Even this more subtle building of interest in various characters and the bonds between them can do the job just as effectively, and I for one am more than a little curious as to where it's all headed.