Arise Monkey

May I offer you

Yakko being the best big brother ever ❤

“serizawa! you can daydream later! hurry up and zap the thing!”

“i-i’m afraid i can’t exorcise it, sir!”

“what do you mean you can’t?”

“my powers…”

“don’t tell me you’re out of fuel! i gave you all those energy bars back at the office!”

“but sir… you only told me to eat them because they were expiring soon…”

“are you saying i, reigen arataka, your benevolent boss, do not provide for his employees? the nerve! i even got the jumbo-pack for you!”

“…i chipped in for most of it…”

“When she comes by, just tell her how you feel…”

So Retsuko’s death metal karaoke has always been how she expresses her feelings. She’s such a passive girl that she hardly gets to do that. It’s her escape. It’s part of who she is. But it’s private so she keeps it a secret for most of the series.

But in each season she’s had a love interest. First season was Resasuke, and second was Tadano. How she came to terms that these people weren’t her “soulmate” was through her karaoke. She expressed her feelings in the most vulnerable way as kind of a “test” to see if they can not only understand her feelings, but also accept this side. It didn’t turn out that way for either guys, which is why she didn’t end up with them.

However, let’s look at the karaoke scene with Haida. Not only did he bring her to the one safe place where Retsuko can express herself freely, he met her on her level, and communicated his feelings the same way she does, through death metal karaoke! This is something that Tadano and Resasuke could not do for her. But I think my favorite part was when Retsuko started singing. Haida wasn’t scared or intimidated like the others. He faced her feelings, listened, and pushed back. He took her hand at the end and said “Let’s punch them together” We have never seen someone do this for Retsuko. To not only communicate the way she’s comfortable with, but to make sure she knew that he was different. He was going to bring out her emotions the way she knows how, and I think that’s what the writers/creators of the show were trying to show. I don’t think it meant to come off as Haida not being sensitive to her trauma, but that he is being sensitive and he wanted her to express it the best way she can. I seriously cannot wait for S4 to explore these two more, because I highly doubt this scene wouldn’t of happened if Retsuko and Haida were not end game.