Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens Episode 9: This Confirms It - Lin Needs a Hug

Anime has this real trend of giving main characters fairly horrific back-stories which are usually revealed through flashbacks at the mid-season or just before the final arc of the season, and Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens has followed trend by devoting most of this episode to Lin. Now we already knew Lin had a fair amount of tragedy in his past but knowing things were bad and seeing what he went through and the ongoing impact it is having on him are two entirely separate things.

It’s a straight forward episode with no twists or turns or sudden character developments. All the clutter that this series usually injects is stripped away and we get a very straight forward narrative about Lin and his time being trained to kill. In one way that doesn’t distinguish it from other episodes of the same ilk in other shows and yet it does heighten the impact in this season as we get a solid focus on this character and this moment.

And while the end of this sequence is about as predictable as it comes that isn’t to the episode’s detriment. It wears it well and ultimately the ending has more impact because you have seen it coming and you get the satisfaction of it playing out as it needs to without trying to be overly clever.

I’m wondering though if this is the beginning of a final arc that will play out over the next couple of episodes or whether they will rush through it like the previous arc. I’d like to think they will give us a few episodes of build up to really get to a climax for this series. Either way, I enjoyed this episode and hopefully the show can continue to entertain.

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Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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