Ep 5. He Knows Who I Am

In Heaven's Memo Pad season 1 episode 5 titled "He Knows Who I Am," we follow Narumi Fujishima, the main protagonist of the show, as he dives deeper into the mysteries surrounding NEETs and their connection to Alice, the elusive and enigmatic leader of the NEET detective agency.

The episode starts with Narumi going to school and bumping into Ayaka Shinozaki, the school's radio club president, who enlists his help in finding her missing younger brother. Narumi agrees to help her and as he goes around trying to find clues about the whereabouts of Shun, Ayaka's younger brother, we get a glimpse into the world of NEETs - young people who have chosen to withdraw from society and lead a life of isolation and anonymity.

Things get interesting when a mysterious figure appears, asking Narumi questions about Alice and her agency's work. Narumi senses that there is something off about this guy and tries to shake him off his trail, but he persists in his line of questioning, giving Narumi some insights into Alice's past and her deep-seated hatred for the police force.

Meanwhile, Alice, who is always portrayed as a detached and emotionless figure, surprises us by breaking down in front of her client, Saito, a businessman who has hired her agency to investigate a death that was ruled as a suicide. We see a rare moment of vulnerability in Alice as she shows her human side, revealing that she too has had a brush with death in the past.

As the episode progresses, Narumi connects the dots between Shun's disappearance and his involvement with a hacking group, Blackout Alice, who have been causing havoc online by hacking into government and corporate websites. It turns out that Ayaka's brother was blackmailed into hacking into a website by one of the group's members, who was using Ayaka's nude photos as leverage.

Narumi, with the help of the NEET detective agency, goes after the group's leader, who turns out to be someone close to Ayaka. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Narumi coming face to face with the leader of Blackout Alice and realizing that they might have a common enemy in Alice, who they both seem to have a grudge against.

Overall, the episode does a great job of unraveling the complex world of NEETs and how they cope with their isolation and withdrawal from society. It also gives us some insights into Alice's troubled past and her motivations for starting the detective agency. The writing is crisp and the pacing is brisk, with enough twists and turns to keep the audience engaged. A must-watch episode for fans of the show.