Nagomu and Itsuka have been searching for years, but Episode 11 of Deaimon shows they might have already found the person they need in each other.
The following contains spoilers for Deaimon Episode 11, “Is It Good,” now streaming on Crunchyroll.
In Episode 11 of Deaimon, a cold snap has both Irino Nagomu and Yukihira Itsuka trapped in old memories. Nagomu fights off an uncharacteristic fever while the snow forces Itsuka to remember the night her father abandoned her to live at the sweets shop. This episode is filled with a melancholy not often seen in Deaimon, but ends up highly effective in propelling certain relationships forward — particularly Nagomu and Itsuka’s as they’re forced to confront the past.
Through his feverish dreams, Deaimon finally reveals Nagomu’s state of mind when he made the choice to abandon the shop ten years ago and move to Tokyo. It turns out it was hardly a spur-of-the-moment decision — Nagomu knew for months that his father didn’t intend to pass the shop on to him.
Nagomu met a senpai who admired the sweets from the shop, and made a deal to bring him there in exchange for guitar lessons. His senpai liked to visit the shop when he had to make a big decision and eventually went to university in Tokyo. When Nagomu followed, he tried for ten years but failed to find his friend. When Matsukaze Kanoko visits Nagomu while he is sick, she remembers him calling out his senpai’s name in his sleep when he was ill in the past, which would lead to them arguing since it is a gender-neutral name. However, he never had any luck in locating the person who was so instrumental in deciding his future; upon waking from his fever, he decides that he might have to wait and hope his senpai will come to him next time he needs to make a decision.
Meanwhile, the falling snow has Itsuka remembering the night she was left behind by her father, who unexpectedly asked if she wanted to go to the sweets shop. She wonders how her life might have been different if she hadn’t agreed to go, because it was there that her father asked the Irino family to take her in and then left her behind with the excuse that children only drag you down.
Nagomu, barely out of bed rest, catches on to her lonely mood and wakes her in the middle of the night to go play in the snow when it is deepest, just as she’d always hoped her father would do. The two go outside in the dark to build snowmen, only stopping in the early morning. It’s an instance of Nagomu truly taking Itsuka’s father’s place; he picks up on the sadness she was attempting to hide, then does his best to counteract it by encouraging Itsuka to play and enjoy life like she should at her young age.
Itsuka may not be skilled at expressing her appreciation through words in Deaimon, but she makes her feelings known by gifting Nagomu Valentine’s chocolate the next day. She will likely never use heartfelt words to communicate her feelings, but through small acts of caring and gifts, she probably reveals even more than she means to. Even if Nagomu hasn’t replaced her father, he has become someone she wants to care for and will allow to care for her in return. A future in which they run the sweets shop together is hardly impossible, with Itsuka handling the making of sweets while Nagomu handles customer service, each playing to their strengths.
Both Nagomu and Itsuka work hard to barely ever seem vulnerable, Nagomu by playing the fool and Itsuka by carefully constructing walls around her feelings. However, in order to get close to each other, they have to allow that vulnerability. The fact that Nagomu not only picks up on Itsuka’s feelings — but knows how make her feel better — demonstrates just how far he’s come in understanding her, even when she doesn’t say anything to help clue him in.
Though Nagomu has mostly been playing the part of her brother, maybe now that Itsuka is letting some of her defenses down, she can truly accept another father figure in her life and understand that it’s okay to open her heart again to people who won’t abandon her. It will be fascinating to see what Deaimon‘s finale has in store for them.
Lara is a writer for CBR. She received a Bachelor’s of English from Millersville University in 2015.
