The Momijikawa Arc Is Not Over
Discussing the chances of a Momijikawa villain arc and other possibilities (WBK Spoilers / TW Suicide)
If I had written this article two weeks ago, I’d be dismissed as a crackpot again for even suggesting this kid can become a villain. But thankfully, everyone’s darling Suo crashed out on main, and so now the barn door has been blown wide open.
If SUO can become a villain. ANYONE can become a villain.
And between the two, there was far less evidence of Suo villainy. We only got a hint of that during the KEEL incident. Suo only had one scene hinting at a villain arc. Momijikawa has had several. So I want to go over all the hints and why Momijikawa might give into hatred. And why he has every reason to go searching for the man who killed his grandfather.
Part 1: Anger in the New Semester
Without getting too specific, I think the Suo Arc will have themes about anger and revenge, probably involving some villain with an ax to grind. My point being that a main theme of this fall semester saga is… ANGER.
The Axes of Extinction War theory seems more possible than ever. (My theory that the next big war will be about metal chopping trees.) Axes have long been associated with anger, revenge and longstanding conflict. (Sugishita has an axe motif, and he’s closest to Momi 🤔) Also We just got a new team in Lion’s Fury literally called Moby Dick, a quintessential revenge story. And oh boy, does Momijikawa totally have an axe to grind as well…
Momijikawa is angry. Filled with it. But unfortunately, we don’t actually get a full examination of Momijikawa’s hatred of outsiders. He tells us WHY he hates outsiders, but that’s it, he doesn't explain HOW he hates them, leaving questions unanswered…
Does he hate outside civilians? Does he hate foreigners? Did he STOP hating outsiders? Or just Sakura specifically?
His hatred of outsiders is never thoroughly explained or put to bed. In fact, he sort of doubles down on his hate and changes the subject.
But he also has the baptism moment where he jumps into the water and calls himself scum. So…. It’s left kinda vague??? But my reading is that he doesn’t hate outsiders anymore, but he still hates the scammer, specifically.
Which almost feels like a set up… Like Nii-sensei has quietly created a challenge:
Can Momi forgive the scammer too?
Why else have him say that? That’s the only way to complete his character arc now. On the topic of scammers, let's talk about my favorite thieving organization.
Part 2: Momijikawa entangled with KEEL
For once in my life, making a giant tangent about KEEL is actually justified because I think the New Semester Arc is very much designed to draw comparison to KEEL. The New Semester Arc is meant to be a redux of the KEEL Arc. A second chance for Sakura to do things right this time, and demonstrate his character growth as a leader.
Even Momijikawa’s name has strange ties to KEEL’s battleship theme. The Nakajima Sakae Engine, or just Sakae (栄, Glory) was a 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine and the most produced and used engine for Japanese fighter aircraft during World War II by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Meaning if a plane came off a battleship carrier, it was probably using a Sakae engine.
The ghost of KEEL continues to pop up in the story, in a way that the other arcs don’t. The main themes of the KEEL Arc is about fear and being outnumbered and the angry reaction to that and so central to the story that they’re arguably the main antagonistic theme. Not having courage, “looking away” as Sakura put it.
And since Momi is a foil in for Sakura, it stands to reason he’d get his own KEEL called Vermileo. But Momijiaka is not Sakura. Momijiaka doesn’t have the same self-hatred checking his impulses. He will beat and brutalize his opponents without mercy.
Unlike Sakura, Momijikawa has opened is heart to hate
There's an old quote, “If you stare into the abyss long enough and it’ll stare back into you.” And sure enough, we keep getting these panels where Momijikawa is positioned JUST like the Vermileo scum he’s fighting. Almost like he’s becoming one of them.
The biggest hint of all is the scene before he gets jumped. We have this moment where he looks himself in the mirror. And then the Vermileo guy points out how he’s not in Bofurin’s uniform. Instead he’s wearing a black shirt. Which figuratively suggests that he’s beginning to leave the Bofurin path.
Here we’ve seen him hitting a lowest point, his last loved one is dying, and gets confronted by “Banjo Jr”. Back in the war, we saw Suzuri suggest Natori go home and Natori gives a cryptic non-answer about how he’s “good at pissing people off” and here we see the Vermilleo guy saying the same thing.
Of note, immediately after saying that line, Natori takes off his uniform to reveal a plain black shirt. Now look, I'm not sure if the shirt is supposed to be a literal comparison or if the black shirts just convey villainy in general, but I can DEFINITELY say the similar themes are being covered by these two encounters.
I love how we see Suzuri give a “?” because Natori just loves to give confusing misdirections and nonanswers. He's as mysterious as Suo! And like Suo, Natori doesn't use his fists, preferring to use a baseball bat and thus can’t be communicated with. We fought Natori twice and we still don’t know anything about his backstory. Because Natori doesn’t want to talk about himself and his ordinary daylight life. Later on in the fight, when he talks about ordinary living, he gives a skeptical bored dreary look. But more to the point, Natori’s goal in this fight is to “have fun” and extract as much enjoyment from it as possible to relive that boredom.
And this is why Momijikawa consents to fight Vermilleo. To “blow off steam” and to “relieve his boredom”.
And because of it, he almost misses his grandmother’s death... Without his grandmother, Momijikawa would have fallen down a very dark path. And even WITH his grandma's influence, he still almost went that direction anyway once she left the picture. He was boarding an elevator going straight down.
If Umemiya is “The Top” KEEL is “The Lowest”
The very name KEEL is meant to invoke the very bottom of a ship, the lowest of the low. And I find it concerning how Momi attributes the death of his grandfather on the “lowest of the low”. Which was caused by scammers and thieves just like KEEL.
Let me be clear: I am NOT saying Natori is the scammer who stole his workshop. But Natori IS the closest thing. And the tragedy is now Momi is slowly becoming the very type of person that ruined his life. Unlike Sakura who only deals out justice, Momi is meeting the hatred of the world with more hatred and its left him feeling empty and nihilistic.
When Momijikawa looked into his reflection, he GLARED. He was so utterly disgusted with what his boring thankless life had become.
He was finally beginning to hate ordinary life itself. Or just LIFE itself. When he challenges the whole gang of Vermilleo to charge at him at once, we get a cut away to the damages life has done to him. The injustice and cruelty of an uncaring universe.
Until he snaps and decides he just wants to destroy everything
I'm fully convinced Momijikaka was saved just in time. If not for Sakura and Bofurin, this moment would have put them on the slow path to becoming Natori. Someone completely hollow, who has nothing to give humanity but unmitigated hatred and distrust. And the very next panel when Momi hits this Lowest point-
THATS when we get the shot of the guy dragging the pipe like KEEL.
This is KEEL. This is what it means to hit the Lowest.
Luckily that's when Sakura swoops in to save the day!
Like a literal superhero, invoked. The moment KEEL materializes into the world again, Sakura appears to shut it down again. But unlike last time where KEEL was completely wiped out, a little bit of it escaped this time… inside Momijikawa.
Part 3: Momijikawa’s Revenge?
I suspect the second half of the Momijikawa arc will be in the Momose Arc. This is where he’ll actually learn teamwork and interact with the Zojo team. However, the contours of this arc evade me. I have no idea what it’s gonna look like. If I had to guess I could see the villains being a bunch of anti-art bigots, or some type of conservative militia.
Heavenly King Zojo is said to have a blade that banishes ignorance.
Momose has his pencil. That’s his blade. His art. His kindness. He’ll banish the remaining ignorance from Momijikawa’s soul. I could also see him building a relationship with the Grade Captain Yuzuriha, where Yuzu sort of fills in as his own “Nirei”.
But until that happens… is there going to be a moment of temptation?
WOULD MOMIJIKAWA BETRAY BOFURIN TO GET A SCAMMER?
Now, obviously, we can’t hold it against Momi for hating the scammer. Not judgement here. Rather I am more so focusing on the symbolic significance of his anger in general. But here’s why it’s still significant now. I think it’s only a matter of time before we run into an evil team that represents ANGER. Let’s say, this villain team is good at tracking down people and trapping them. Will Momijikawa cut a deal?
POINTS FOR: Why It Might Happen
1) Momijikawa has never been THAT close to Bofurin. And his status in the organization started on shaky ground. He didn’t join for YEARS. He’s kinda like the anti-Sugi in that way.
And to be ‘frank’, he didn’t even help in the Noroshi war. He could have asked a nurse to fill in for a night, when there's a will there’s a way. When everything was on the line, Momi chose his grandmother. That’s fine, but it’s revealing. Again, I’m not judging him for this. But this shows that when the chips are down his personal world comes first.
2) He’s finally free to pursue revenge. Up until recently, he didn’t even have time to go to school. Let alone track down the bastards that ruined his life. But now that his grandmother has passed on, he’s free to do other things. And It wouldn't surprise me at all if it was always his plan to start hunting the moment he had the chance. And just like the Suo situation, there are promises that run deeper than a school team. If forced to make a choice between Bofurin and justice for his grandpa, what will he choose? I’m betting on the latter.
POINTS AGAINST: Why It Might Not Happen
1) Sakura has already beaten Momi in a fight. It’s highly implied Momi lost the duel. So that kind of takes the wind out of the sails for any future encounter. There’s no way Sakura is gonna fight him again. That card has already been played once.
2) Momijikawa is a really good person. Concerningly so. Like an amazingly selfless guy who’d work in a soup kitchen on his weekend.
Momi acts too much “like a grown up” to go on some childish villain arc. Right? So I don't see him turning evil, or at least not to his core… And besides, we just went through a big arc about him being a jerk, so why go over it again? And he’s already set about changing himself, that's why he jumps in the water. It was his Misogi, his baptism.
No. Any hope of a Momi villain arc was doused when he jumped into the water.
And what a damn shame...
Part 4: Who’s Afraid of Momiji Wolf?
Here’s the thing…It's questionable how much of Momi’s good nature is genuine goodness or just selfish protectiveness. Let’s be honest. There’s no way his grandmother would have been okay with him quitting school if she was in a sound mind. He protected her and the town for a personal vendetta. And it consumed him.
When I look at his apartment. I don’t see the room of a teenage boy. There’s no posters. No interests. No room for his own personality. I see the dwelling of a dying woman. Sanitized with little sticky notes everywhere, even after she’s gone… Trapped in time. In a way, his apartment is as empty as Sakura’s used to be. And to be fair, we see him finally let someone in in the end. Sakura. That’s a good first step.
Man, I can already see the rest from here~
How is Momi being even MORE selfless going to solve his problems?
Again, Momijikawa is NOT Sakura. That happy story worked for Sakura, because Sakura never had anything. Momi has a different problem being that he only lives for others.
So I want him to LEAVE. I want him to jump ship onto a villainous team and track down that scammer piece of crap. I want Momi to get piercings. Paint his nails black. Rock out! Don the black shirt and make mischief!
Be a kid!
Like Sako before him, he’d actually grow way more as a person by joining a different team. Bofurin is not enough to heal Momijikawa. He needs to embrace the night. Grow into his own like Sako did. Become more selfish. Become more… him.
I suspect a big feature of his story is going to be him learning that living for somebody else is dangerous. When we saw a flashback of Momi’s grandfather, notice what he says. The workshop YOU were going to run. The shame of letting Momijikawa down is what killed him. His grandfather made the fatal mistake of living totally for somebody else. So having Momi skip a real villain arc (or barely flirt with one) feels incomplete. Squished.
Momijikawa’s declaration of independence never amounted to anything substantial. Which is why the happy ending in Ch.207 misses. It's sickeningly sweet, even by the standards of WBK, and it just feels too good to be true. Compounded by the fact that so many elements of his arc feel incomplete. The only way to salvage this is to have him relapse. An evil team would encourage Sakae to be selfish, and would have no restraints in pursuing his revenge he desires...
AND CAN YOU IMAGINE HIM LEAVING NOW?!?!
Especially now. Especially when we just went through this giant fricking arc, and then he ups and LEAVES with the rascals. That'd be the biggest twist since Mob Psycho 100!!! Where its main character also made a shocking choice of group. Instead of going down the Momose/Zojo path we all expect him to, imagine if this kid makes his own path. That said, it’s possible he might regret that choice later on. Maybe he’ll outgrow the evil gang and come back in the end, but either way, I feel like a detour is needed for his growth.
SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
It seems the post-Noroshi, Fall Semester Saga may continue with themes about rage. Themes that started in the KEEL arc and were reprised in Momijikawa, who’s still very much processing his anger even though his Sakura beef is over. He still might take a turn towards the darkside to get revenge. But I think he’ll come around. If he left the team that might even be good for his growth as an individual. But it is equally, if not more possible, that none of this adventureism is gonna happen, and we’re just gonna get a straightforward Momose arc where Momi falls in line with Team Zojo. But it feels like Momi’s arc has left way too many ominous loose ends. The door on this chapter might be shut, but interesting ones are still open…
My god this is a loooonnnngggg Momi post. And there’s stuff I didn’t even cover. Like his obvious wolf connection with Noroshi and the night. Idk I have so many feelings about Momi. I feel like he has so much missed potential. That his ‘rebel in the ranks“ premise never really went anywhere interesting. He was a jerk for like one scene after the rooftop and immediately turned into grandma’s boy. And all I can do now is grasp at straws and hope this will become interesting later on. I mean I could easily see this guy turn into my favorite character, but we’ll see~
