And so, the second half of Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto starts. And as usual, I had a great deal of trouble understanding it. As expected, we’ve got another aftermath here, after the huge events of the previous episode. We first see Ebisu’s funeral, while Akizuki starts getting really mad at Soutetsu, seeing as he failed to stop the lord’s head yet again.
For the largest part, this episode focused on Kanna, who’s become the leader of the four Englishmen we saw in the previous episode. This was after a conversation he had with Parkes, which I didn’t understand too well. But it did reveal some interesting things about Kanna’s past. It seems that he spent a part of his childhood in Japan, in which children kept picking on him. I’m suspecting that he originally was English, and he came to Japan as a child, along with his mother. The children didn’t exactly like outsiders, so they picked on him, probably with his mother as his only comfort. Then, at a certain time, some bastard took her away from him, and he ended up with Parkes.
The biggest mystery of this episode, though, was what Enomoto was up to. It seems that he ordered some kind of battle to be executed, but what does France have to do with this? Seeing as they sailed away on French ships at the end of the episode. In any case, it’s something that Soutetsu is after. Also, why did Kanna and his chess pieces raid the French ship, near the end of the episode?
There also were some interesting developments in the troupe. Juubei is dead once again, so they’re posed to the same question as episode 9. This time, however, Kakunojou does something interesting: she leaves the troupe and goes to Akizuki. I’m not sure of the exact reason, but I think she wants to be with him. When she’s left, the rest of the troupe gets an interesting message from Soutetsu. Unfortunately, we have to wait for the contents of that message till next week. 😉
Judging by the rules set by this anime, the next episode should be another great one, after this episode. Sounds interesting. :)]]>
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – 14
All you need to know is that in the upcoming war, the French were on Enomoto’s side (made up of people from the old government), and the British were on the side of the new government.
Jules Brunet, the guy in your last screencap, was the guy in charge of the French military aid to Enomoto’s forces. Currently they are all heading north because the forces are being pushed in that direction by the new government troops (led by people like Saigou Takamori).
Going by history, Enomoto intended to set up an independant republic in the North of Japan and call it the Republic of Ezo. This is where Soutetsu’s statement that he wants to see the establishment of a fine country comes in. I have to rewatch this part too.
If you noticed carefully, the letter sent by Soutetsu has Kakunojou’s name on it.
Parkes was more likely questioning about Kanna’s loyalty either to the Japanese or the English… I suspect that his mother is Japanese while his father an English… And that he spent some time before in Japan before being brought to England along with his mother, which was seperated from him later on.