Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – 23

Short Synopsis: An Englishmen episode. Under the lead of Kanna, they launch another surprise attack at Enomoto Good: Whoa, I never expected that the creators would go that far; great fights as well. Bad: Dammit, I was beginning to like the three Englishmen. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 At the end of the previous episode, we finally saw the Englishmen again, after having been absent for episodes. Surprisingly, they immediately launch their attack. I remember how I speculated how Queen would end up doing something stupid, but seeing all of them to get slaughtered like that was certainly something I didn’t expect at this point. The deaths could have been a bit more dramatic, but the fights definitely were impressive. Especially Hijikata vs Knight was interesting: English versus Japanese swordsmanship. The creators were brilliant in showing the differences. And regarding Kakunojou, things are worse than I thought concerning her. When Soutetsu said that she had to “guide” Akizuki, I didn’t think too much behind it, but he actually meant for her to join their side, and convert Akizuki as well. The previous episode makes perfect sense now, but I can imagine that Kakunojou is in some heavy identity struggles. Because of her sword, it’s her destiny to protect the lord’s head from Akizuki, while she actually is in love with him. To make things even better, she even converted Kanna to cooperate with her. She’s becoming like a revolutionary icon in this new suit of hers. This episode also revealed a bit more information about Soutetsu and the lord’s head’s goal. I obviously didn’t understand everything, but could it be that the lord’s head’s former subordinated went down in some war, and they’re trying to resurrect them? Apparently, they must hold some great values, as Soutetsu’s gestured that he’s planning to conquer the world with them. Well, that indeed is a goal worth of going through so much trouble. Hijikata, meanwhile, makes an interesting move. With Kakunojou gone, Akizuki stands all alone at the moment, apart from his allies back in Yokohama. Hijikata actually doubted Enomoto this episode, and he returned to Akizuki. It’s no confirmation yet that he’ll definitely join him, but it does show potential. I also liked how Akizuki stayed in the shadows for this episode, by the way. Not only am I very curious to see him action again, it also made sure that the attention was where it belonged: the Englishmen and especially Kanna. On a final note, Queen did show a potential weakness of the lord’s head before she died. Note where Kanna tries to shoot Enomoto, and discovers that all his bullets are reflected by some shield. Queen takes advantage of this by firing an arrow without Enomoto noticing, but she misses by about half a centimetre. The arrow, however, was not reflected. Does this mean that if you ambush Enomoto, you can get past that pesky barrier he keeps using?]]>