Warning: The following contains spoilers for Salaryman's Club, Episode 5, “Feedback,” now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Despite being set in the adult world where the characters are older and working corporate jobs, Salaryman's Club has felt familiar to sports anime fans. Its focus on the badminton competitions, as well as the characters, has made it a surprisingly endearing anime to watch. One of the main points of conflict in the series so far has been Mikoto confronting his traumatic past.
Mikoto's inability to jump backward was hindered by his past when he used to play doubles. Facing off against his former partner whom he believed would never be able to play badminton again was a huge shock to him. In this episode of Salaryman's Club, Mikoto isn't just facing his best friend in this match-up -- he's facing his past demons.
Mikoto's trauma stemmed from his high school days when he was playing doubles with his best friend Azuma Tachibana. The two had been virtually unstoppable during their time as partners. Until Mikoto jumped backward to intercept the birdie and crashed into Azuma, leading to the latter injuring his arm. Mikoto went to visit Azuma but after overhearing how he might never play badminton again, he felt so guilty that he ended up quitting doubles altogether.
Mikoto wholeheartedly believed that Azuma's injury was his fault but Salaryman's Club twists this. Because Mikoto was a child prodigy, Azuma worried that he would be holding him back so he trained himself to the point where he was overworking himself and straining his muscles. The crash was merely the last straw. After the accident, Azuma had a lot of physical healing to do but his psychological healing couldn't be complete without Mikoto and the same goes for Mikoto. A lot of the hurt that happened up until that day was because the two felt like they couldn't talk to each other. Both of them are at fault because they both ran away from each other.
Mikoto's last jump was the highlight of the episode. The way it was shot with the birdie arcing down interspersed with close-up shots of Mikoto as he begged his body to not freeze was beautifully done. Despite Mikoto now knowing that Azuma's injury wasn't his fault, he was still scared and his fear and panic were palpable in his thoughts. He just needed one more push from Tatsuru in order for him to gather enough courage to jump. It wasn't just simply the winning point in the match -- it was him finally overcoming the past and being able to look forward.
Thanks to Tatsuru, Mikoto was able to reconcile with Azuma through a joint team dinner. Through his drunken and tearful confession, Mikoto revealed that Azuma was the one who introduced him to badminton and became his first friend. A lot of what happened was due to Tatsuru -- from getting Mikoto back into playing doubles again to his triumphant comeback in the last game.
However, the after-credits seem to suggest that their new partnership may perhaps be coming to an end. Tatsuru had met Mikoto years ago when he was a child and as he carries him home, Tatsuru tells the sleeping Mikoto that he was glad he got to play with him before it was over which is foreboding to say the very least. Mikoto has more or less settled into a comfortable rhythm with his new partner but it sounds like Tatsuru might not be his partner for very long. That does leave it open for Mikoto to return to his old partner Azuma but it's unlikely that will happen considering Azuma has already found a place on his new team. Hopefully, Tatsuru's words aren't as final as they seem.
