Overview
Joji wears an eyemask and a nose ring and is ranked above Togo Shiba and Shuji Mashiro. He is annoyed. That is the printed file. Part 2 puts him in the Irishima tense while the bureau has not finished becoming an army and the Enchanted Blades have not been forged. He is not the lab. Hasumi runs the tests that fail until a civilian looks. He is not the partner. Mashiro argues about stolen rock and dies later to Ariu. Joji is the senior: already tired, already above the two, already in the room when a princess and a vein are the agenda.
The archive keeps the page because a past-tense Shiba without a boss is a sitcom. Shiba is loud on purpose. Mashiro has Akuu and a Kunishige sword at eighteen. Someone has to be annoyed at both of them while the island rises. Joji is that someone. Recaps that skip him are skipping the bureau’s middle: not a director, not a partner, a rank.
The rank
Above the partners means he can tell them to sit down and they have to hear it. It does not mean he can stop Shiba from believing Kunishige’s eyes are the only way to make Datenseki into a blade. It does not mean he can stop Mashiro from opposing the walk into the shop. Rank in this book is often a person who is correct about procedure and late about history. Joji’s annoyance reads as that lateness in a face covering.
The talks
Chapters 117–121. Hiroto. Yoshinojo. Giyu. Chiaki. Hasumi’s failed lab. Mashiro’s objection. Shiba already sure whose eyes to hire. Joji is annoyed in that weather. The war happens anyway. The rename to Kamunabi happens anyway. In the present tense he is not on the leadership table with Kasen and Ichiki. The past tense still needs him, or the partners float. See Part 2.
Notes
Joji (丈治). Eyemask. Nose ring. Annoyed senior. For the partner who dies later, see Mashiro. For the lab chief who resigns, see Hasumi. Official chapters: VIZ / MANGA Plus.