Ringing Fate Ep 3 Review: A Father’s Love
If you think Ah Gan/Kaname’s story was sad, wait until this episode when you learn about Ookuma – the boxing master bear. Ringing Fate once again tug at our heartstring with a tragic episode filled with emotion, love and heart-rending pain. While the episode is only 23 minutes, it will show you the depth of a father’s love, and maybe send a message about dreams and sacrifice.
After last episode, we see that both Kaname and Ookuma has lost some of their Qian – and thus some of their memories as well. Ookuma is, however, in quite a critical state, as he only have enough for one match left, and his memories have mostly gone. This reminds me of Valvrave where the pilots burn their memories to fight, and when they run out, they’ll perish. This episode explores why Ookuma is so fixated on challenging Qing Sun. Last episode, we speculated that they might be rivals in their previous life, and Ookuma wanted to prove that his boxing is superior to some mecha stuff, but oh boy was I wrong, on soooo many levels. The true reason is much, much more tragic and emotionally devastating that I don’t know what to expect in the future.
Ookuma’s past life was revealed as well, and he used to be a poor man who had to support his family by fighting in underground boxing rings. His life wasn’t easy, having to support his daughter’s education as well as enduring his wife’s scrutiny. But still, he always believe in his fists, and managed to raise his daughter, although they are materially lacking. But, as they say, once you’re poor, the doors of life seem to always slam shut in your face, as his daughter was found to have a very severe condition that required surgery – a very expensive surgery. Unable to borrow anymore, he had to resort to “stealing” money from loan sharks, and hoping to pay it back later by fighting. But tragically, on the way to the hospital during a rainy night, the bastards got ahold of him while he was carrying his daughter. And both father and daughter didn’t make it through that day.
Ookuma’s past life was revealed as well, and he used to be a poor man who had to support his family by fighting in underground boxing rings. His life wasn’t easy, having to support his daughter’s education as well as enduring his wife’s scrutiny. But still, he always believe in his fists, and managed to raise his daughter, although they are materially lacking. But, as they say, once you’re poor, the doors of life seem to always slam shut in your face, as his daughter was found to have a very severe condition that required surgery – a very expensive surgery. Unable to borrow anymore, he had to resort to “stealing” money from loan sharks, and hoping to pay it back later by fighting. But tragically, on the way to the hospital during a rainy night, the bastards got ahold of him while he was carrying his daughter. And both father and daughter didn’t make it through that day.
Well, one other thing they touch on in Kong is that…when you lose your Qian, you tend to lose the memories that you don’t want to keep the most. Basically, you only regain and keep the ones that are most treasured to you. That also explains why Ookuma kept the memories of his past life down to the last bit of Qian he had, even forgetting the comrades and Kaname that he knew in Kong. However, he also forget why he had to challenge Qing Sun, but he wrote down notes on what he have to do in case he forget – smart! While Qing Sun have no idea who he is or why this furry bear keeps challenging her.
Ookuma jumped into another battle with Qing Sun – and this time, he’s using his trump card: a super badass mecha suit. Basically his last ace up his sleeves since this is potentially his last fight – and lesson. The suit is absolutely amazing, but it certainly doesn’t fit his vibes since it is quite…tall. It looks like an entirely different character from the short-legged bear we saw in previous chapter. But still, this does prove his resolve to give his all. And the ensuing fight was very, very well done. The animation is smooth, the choreography was excellent. And the reference to boxing was nice. And this is also where we realized our grave mistake in our prediction – which followed the usual trope, while the series turn us on our heads by dropping a huge revelation.
Ookuma jumped into another battle with Qing Sun – and this time, he’s using his trump card: a super badass mecha suit. Basically his last ace up his sleeves since this is potentially his last fight – and lesson. The suit is absolutely amazing, but it certainly doesn’t fit his vibes since it is quite…tall. It looks like an entirely different character from the short-legged bear we saw in previous chapter. But still, this does prove his resolve to give his all. And the ensuing fight was very, very well done. The animation is smooth, the choreography was excellent. And the reference to boxing was nice. And this is also where we realized our grave mistake in our prediction – which followed the usual trope, while the series turn us on our heads by dropping a huge revelation.
Ookuma threw a backhand punch, which knocked Qing Sun down. But she got up, and hit Ookuma with the identical move. And that’s when Ookuma’s memory rushed back…to when he was teaching his daughter the one-of-a-kind punch that noone else knew. At that moment, the viewers realized a cruel truth: Qing Sun is none other than Ookuma’s daughter. They both went to Kong, and is fighting for a chance at a 2nd life. Qing Sun was using boxing because that was what her father taught her all her life, not because they were rivals in previous life. Ookuma wasn’t trying to prove his boxing is superior, he was trying to make Qing Sun’s boxing even more superior than his – because he want her to win the Ringing Fate and achieved her chance at another life. He’s giving her all his Qian to help her the best he could to ensure she is strong enough to win, and has enough Qian to advance.
No matter what, Ookuma had already planned his fate. He felt that it was his responsibility that Qing Sun didn’t have a happy and full life, and that he was a useless father in his past life, and the only thing he could be proud of was that he taught her how to fight. He held all of his emotion inside, he never said a word to Qing Sun – because Qing Sun didn’t remember him, which makes him think that her memories about him wasn’t something she wanted to keep, as we mentioned above. So, he bit his tongue, grit his teeth, and prepared to give his all for her.
Kaname was desperate to save him, but it was futile. Ookuma’s made his choice, there is nothing that can change that. No matter what, he will keep challenging Qing Sun, improving her technique, and then lose. If so, we can deduce that Ookuma actually might not lose in some of the fights, but he lost on purpose to give Qing Sun more Qian. Because truly, nothing is as powerful as a father’s love for his daughter.
No matter what, Ookuma had already planned his fate. He felt that it was his responsibility that Qing Sun didn’t have a happy and full life, and that he was a useless father in his past life, and the only thing he could be proud of was that he taught her how to fight. He held all of his emotion inside, he never said a word to Qing Sun – because Qing Sun didn’t remember him, which makes him think that her memories about him wasn’t something she wanted to keep, as we mentioned above. So, he bit his tongue, grit his teeth, and prepared to give his all for her.
Kaname was desperate to save him, but it was futile. Ookuma’s made his choice, there is nothing that can change that. No matter what, he will keep challenging Qing Sun, improving her technique, and then lose. If so, we can deduce that Ookuma actually might not lose in some of the fights, but he lost on purpose to give Qing Sun more Qian. Because truly, nothing is as powerful as a father’s love for his daughter.
This episode perfectly encapsulated Ookuma as a character. While we only knew him for a short time, his impact on the viewer as well as Kaname was immense. She has lost a mentor, and her (newly found) father figure since she came here. Eden and Tim also lost a close friend. Although they both understand why he did what he did, it is still a sad story. There is no winner in Ookuma’s tale – except the love for his daughter. He has sacrificed his life for her twice. But because in the first life, he wasn’t able to give her a happy life, so he is giving his all for her 2nd chance. Absolutely beautiful episode, and it is enough to bring tears to one’s eyes. I’m not sure if they will completely remove Ookuma from the series, but I feel like it’d be a good idea to do so, because bringing him back would undermine his sacrifice. So I’m really curious on how Kaname will develop from now on.
=Aaron=
=Aaron=
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