How would you rate episode 4 of
A Certain Dark Item ?
Mitori, our liquid metal controlling villain (whose name I admit having to look up), brings up an interesting point when it comes to the girls of ITEM. They are mercenaries working in the shadows of Academy City. Most, if not all, of what they do is illegal. They lie, steal, cheat, and torture not only for promised money, but in the pursuit of additional payouts. Yet, despite this, the five girls aren't worried about betrayal from each other in the least.
Oh, sure, Choubi is terrified she's going to say or do something to piss Mugino off and end up melted down to the molecular level, but when things go wrong, the girls stand together. They may take jabs at each other, but they don't run away or try to sell each other out. Even Choubi, a girl without superpowers who seems truly out of her depth, takes initiative to save the group. While Mugino distracts Mitori, Choubi covers herself in blood, pretends she's a corpse, and then stabs Mitori with one of her own discarded knives at the key moment.
However, this all leads to the question of why betrayal isn't a concern. What unifies this group? Is it fear? Is it that betraying Mugino, one of the few Level 5s in the city, would mark the betrayer for certain death? It doesn't seem so.
While Choubi and Saisai are too new to the group to have any deep connections, the core three seem like true ride-or-die friends. If you can sneak into the bed of one of the most powerful people in the world uninvited, and then cajole them to get up and go jogging, you're not living in a state of perpetual fear.
But maybe that's the key. While the city as a whole fears Mugino and what she can do, to the point of basically giving her (along with the other level 5s) extralegal privileges to keep them happy, Rikou and Frenda don't treat her as anything special. They see the person behind the powers—and that's got to be something precious to someone like Mugino. And as for Choubi and Saisai, they're probably just emulating the mood they see with Rikou and Frenda.
There's also the fact that Mugino asks little of the group outside of missions. She doesn't care what they do with their money or how they spend their free time. Sure, she may make you torture a man while on the clock—and even frame it like you're doing the man a favor by doing so—but if you want to moonlight working at a normal movie theater or take jobs as a forensic scientist for the criminal underworld, she generally doesn't care. Heck, even on the job she's basically a hands-off boss. She only cares that things get done. If the “how” matters enough to you for you to object to her plan, she's more than happy to let you run with your ideas instead.
So in the end, this episode is actually a Mugino character piece in disguise. It shows that, despite her seemingly detached personality and superiority complex, she fosters an environment that those around her want to protect. You get money, excitement, and a large amount of personal freedom—all while under the protection of one of the most powerful people around. What's not to like?
A Certain Dark Item is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
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