The Fable – Season 1 Episode 11 Recap & Review

The Fated Day

Episode 11 of The Fable begins with Fable telling Yoko why he wants to help Misaki. Yoko says she’d like to help Fable assist Misaki too and asks him what he can do. Meanwhile, Takahashi arrives at Kojima’s place with food. Kojima tells Takahashi he and Sunagawa will be discussing a Misaki-related deal. Moreover, Kojima wants Takahashi to keep a close eye on Misaki. 

Kojima says if things don’t go well, he’s certain someone will leave the negotiation meeting with wounds. Kojima says he has more work-related plans in store for Misaki. He also plans to start a bigger business in the future. Kojima hands Takahashi a model gun and tells him to bring it to the negotiation meeting. Meanwhile, Fable’s busy working on ammo for his weapon. 

Suddenly, Misaki calls Fable and tells him she may not come to work tomorrow because she’s ill. Misaki wants Fable to inform her boss (Prez) about her dilemma. Fable brings up the handkerchief and job situation to Misaki. He thanks Misaki for helping him with those situations and says he’d like to show his appreciation to her. Fable says he’d like to take Misaki out to eat, but Misaki says he doesn’t have to do that. 

Instead, Misaki suggests Fable draw a picture of herself. Fable says he’ll bring the picture to her tomorrow but Misaki says she won’t be home until the next morning due to undisclosed reasons. Fable looks at his weapon and says she’ll be home tomorrow. He arrives to work the next day and Prez tells Fable what happened to him. Fable tells Prez Misaki won’t be coming into work today because she’s ill. 

Then, Kainuma asks Fable if Misaki’s alright, but Fable refuses to communicate with him. Then, we cut away to Sunagawa and his hitman. The hitman gives Sunagawa a device that emits a mosquito tone. The hitman says it emits a sound only people 25 and above can hear. Since Kojima’s young, he won’t be able to hear anything.

The hitman shows Sunagawa a pen that’s linked to the device. He wants Sunagawa to signal him with the pen when he’s finished discussing things with Kojima. The hitman promises to exterminate Kojima and Takahashi. Meanwhile, Misaki calls her mother and tells her she found a job that’ll help pay off her father’s debts. She ends the call and Kojima calls her seconds later. He demands Misaki come outside with an erotic outfit when he arrives. 

Meanwhile, Fable returns to the garage and notices Yoko’s there. Yoko hands Fable a few plastic balls he needs for his mission. Fable looks at his phone and notices Kojima, Takahashi, and others are near Misaki’s place. Remember, Yoko gave Takahashi a watch with a GPS device attached to it in episode 10. Fable says he wants to track them down immediately and suggests Yoko prepare herself swiftly. 

Eventually, Kojima picks up Misaki. Elsewhere, Yoko suggests Fable deal with Kojima before he reaches Sunagawa. Fable says it’d be easier to eliminate Kojima and Sunagawa’s groups the old-fashioned way. However, Fable argues it’d be better to deal with the groups at their underground location since no evidence can get out. 

Yoko reminds Fable that if he or Misaki dies, then news about their deaths wouldn’t leak out either. Fable tells Yoko she doesn’t understand what he’s saying and starts the car. Meanwhile, someone visits Takeshi at the hospital. The man’s not happy he got Fable involved in some nefarious things. Eventually, Sunagawa and Kojima’s group meet at their agreed location. Fable and Yoko arrive there too, but from a different location. 

Meanwhile, the man tells Takeshi to refer to him as Fable. For these articles moving forward, we’ll refer to this man as “Fable Two.” Sunagawa has his men check Kojima, Misaki, and his other subordinates. Then, Sunagawa asks everyone to head to the second floor. Sunagawa plans to chat with Kojima alone. Also, Sunagawa asks one of his men to have Misaki demonstrate her skills to him. 

Kojima grabs Misaki’s bag and tells Sunagawa he’s bringing Takahashi to their meeting. He doesn’t want someone to shoot him from behind when they finish negotiating. Fable arrives at a facility called Two-Story Ironworks. He tells Yoko this is where Kojima, Misaki, and Sunagawa are located. Fable Two asks Takeshi why he got Fable involved. Takeshi tells him that he’s in a tight spot and ensures Fable Two that Hiroshi doesn’t know anything. 

Takeshi tells Fable Two that he’s willing to deal with any punishment he’s willing to hand to him. Then, we cut away to Sunagawa’s meeting with Kojima. Sunagawa tells Kojima Misaki’s a great candidate and Kojima tells Sunagawa that he can use Misaki until she’s wrecked. Next, Sunagawa’s henchmen bring Misaki to a room and plan to do nefarious things with her. 

Meanwhile, Yoko tells Fable she’s a great distance away from Two-Story Ironworks. Fable tells Yoko he’ll enter the place through the second floor. Meanwhile, Fable Two asks Takeshi to update him on Fable’s reporting and investigating affairs. Takeshi doesn’t respond and Fable Two assumes Takeshi’s surprised that Fable Two discovered the two’s secret collab project. 

Fable Two tells Takeshi that he knows things have spiraled out of control since Takeshi was hospitalized. Takeshi begs Fable Two to inform him about everything. Meanwhile, Sunagawa and Kojima discuss Kojima’s business plan. Kojima argues why he’s in the right. Sunagawa brings up Kojima’s senior and questions Kojima about his senior’s disappearance. 

Kojima says he doesn’t know what Sunagawa’s talking about. This irritates Sunagawa and almost triggers him to signal his hitman to shoot Kojima. Meanwhile, Sunagawa’s henchman tells Misaki to remove his clothes and perform an erotic deed to him. Misaki cries and refuses to perform the deed. This encourages Sunagawa’s ally to rip Misaki’s clothes off. 

Sunagawa’s other allies discuss Misaki’s situation. One of them is against the treatment Sunagawa is putting her through. This confuses one of his allies, making him wonder why his coworker is a pure-hearted yakuza member. Meanwhile, Sunagawa’s ally attempts to violate Misaki. He tells her only bad people prevail in this world. Fable arrives and knocks him out. 

The episode closes with Fable telling Misaki and the gentleman only the strong prevail. 

The Episode Review

The Fable may be one of Tezuka Productions Studios’ best works yet. Although the animation and visuals aren’t up to snuff with other popular anime, the story-writing here continues to please. This episode contained great tension, dialogue, and a dose of comedy. From Kojima and Sunagawa’s discussion to Fable’s internal switch methods, fans will love how this episode’s genuine tonal shifts. 

Additionally, fans will be upset that Fable can’t murder Kojima and Sunagawa. Kojima and Sunagawa show no care for human life and many would argue these two deserve some form of punishment. From Kojima referring to Misaki as “merchandise” to Sunagawa telling his ally to do as he pleases with Misaki, it shows that the old yakuza lifestyle remains intact with these two. 

At the same time, one of Sunagawa’s ally’s comments about Misaki’s treatment shows that not all yakuza want to follow that old path. Hopefully, he, Takahashi, and the other yakuza who lean toward the pleasant Taihei lifestyle will survive.

This episode has some issues though despite its fantastic offerings. For instance, it’s a little odd that Fable Two knows what he knows about the situation. While this makes sense, given his relationship with Fable, the story hasn’t delved into his character enough to warrant him being this mastermind. Therefore, it’d be great if future chapters expand upon his character, giving fans an idea of who he is and what type of scenarios he went through to achieve feats like this.

Besides that and this series’s usual bland imagery, this was a great episode of The Fable.