Category: Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto

This episode definitely was different from all episodes thus far. There was almost no action, it just involved people talking and preparing for the next episode. It turned out pretty well, in my opinion. This was an excellent episode, though I do suspect that the action junkies will be put off by it.

So many things happened during this episode. The most important of them is probably Soutetsu. He’s left the Kakunojou Troupe in order to take care of a few things. He first goes to Akizuki’s home village, and there he lets the local residents bake strange kinds of vases. Apparently, they have to be just perfect, as he rejects quite a lot of them before he finds the vase he’s looking for. I don’t know how, but apparently this is the way to summon a demon. Shouten-sama and his assistant find this out as well. The question now remains: on whose side is he? This gets even more mysterious when we see him meeting up with Nakaiya Juubei, of all persons.

Meanwhile, the rest of the troupe wonders where the heck he went, and they thing back to the time at which he joined them. This provide a few nice flashbacks. It seems that Yuyama and her two companions ended up in the theatre-business, when they found that they had talent and needed money. At a certain point, Soutetsu started following them, and at one point, he asked to be their scriptwriter. Afterwards, the rest of the troupe came.

Nakaiya Juubei, meanwhile, hasn’t been sitting still himself, as he’s preparing yet another demon. With this, he attempts to brainwash Katsu, who was meeting his superior about his recently destroyed headquarter. He succeeds. Kanna plays an interesting role in this. He thinks he’s helping Nakaiya into breaking in the building and holding Katsu hostage, though it seems that his help wasn’t needed after all.

Also, I loved it when Glover gave the Japanese a handshake, and they didn’t understand what it meant. ^^

You’d wonder about the meaning of the red star. I’m not sure whether something about this has already been said in the anime, but I think it’s a crucial part into summoning the demons to the current world.

Interesting. In essence, this episode was just a combination of episode four and five. We have the same play about Hario Genba, in which now the three brainwashed goons attack, instead of Magozou. There’s another ritual, like the one we saw in episode five, we see the same guys, plotting to take Katsu’s brothel hostage, the English appear again, in all of their overconfident glory. Katsu attended the play yet again, along with H. S. Parkes and a few more of his friends (including the two guards we saw in the first episode, being attacked by Soutetsu) and Kanna Sakyou no Suke is yet again the person to save the day.

But there are differences. First of all, the first half of the episode gives some interesting background information. Both about the history of Yokohama, which seems to be quite bloody, as the history of Akizuki’s sword. Nakaiya Juubei also negotiates with Kanna. I’m not sure what he’s up to, though, as he ended up saving the day at the climax of the episode.

This episode also went a bit further than both episode four and five. In episode four, the audience never noticed that someone was trying to kill Yuyama. This time, they did. In episode five, the fighting didn’t reach its climax because of the English and their bagpipes. In this episode, it did. Also in episode five, the English may have made a lot of noises, they never really did anything. In this episode, they did. They killed every single one of the ones who held the people in Katsu’s brothel hostage, and never even tried to prevent the place from burning down to the ground. That’s another one of the differences: Katsu has now lost his main headquarter.

Also, the play was very similar to the play we saw in episode four, with a small exception: the emphasis on Nakaiya Juubei. Kakashi gets dressed up as some kind of weird parody of him. It’s definitely another one of Soutetsu’s statements.

I’m also not sure whether I liked the three brainwashed goons. It’s good that they’re dead now, as they didn’t really have any background. Nakaiya could have sent a bunch of zombies and it still wouldn’t have made any difference. But there’s one thing I do like about them: their entrance. When compared to Magozou, these guys lack any form of subtlety. They were quite funny when they just entered through the front door and their eyes began glowing during their numerous grunts, and not to mention how they appeared on the exact right moment Kakashi summoned them. ^^;

I think that one of the main themes of this anime is the relationship between the Japanese, and the foreigners. I’ve read somewhere that the Japanese are very xenophobic(I think this came from the translation notes of Popolocrois 2003, with Luna being afraid to let others find out her true form), and the way the English acted during the kidnapping puts an emphasis on this. What we’ve got here is two clashing lifestyles, who need to learn to cooperate with each other, but refuse to.

Again, a few new names:

Karasuma Kurouta: He’s the guy with the beak-like head accessory.

Ryuu Kaien: He’s the small guy, incredibly fast, white hair.

Hajizuka Genzai: He’s the huge guy. These three were seen at the beginning of the episode, where they were recruited for Nakaiya Juubei. Suddenly, the supernatural element also returned to the series when they were possessed by another inadequately sealed demon. This caused them to lose their mind, become loyal to Nakaiya Juubei and increase in both power and speed.

Hata Meifuu: he’s under the service of Nakaiya Juubei. He’s some kind of shaman, able to use supernatural powers in such a way that he can try to manipulate the inadequately sealed demons.

A few more things I found out after watching episode 3: Katsu actually holds a very important position. He’s just an unfortunate bystander who got involved with the story as he happened to be near the Kakunojou troupe often. Akizuki’s current mission is chasing after those demons, Shouten-sama probably gave him this mission. But what does Sakamoto Ryouma have to do with this?

Just as with Asatte no Houkou, I’m beginning to see a pattern. First, we have an episode which introduces the new characters, new bad guys, et cetera. The episode afterwards features the climax of that episode. I’m not sure whether this is a good idea, though. I think that an irregular pacing is better for series as Bakumatsu.

Also, one thing that’s been irking me about this series is its bad guys, and most especially the goons who get sent after Yuyama and Akizuki. They just lack depth and background. All we know of Hario Genba was that he once killed Yuyama’s parents, though what he did afterwards never becomes clear. Magozou is even worse, as we never really get to know him. I think that’s a pity, as it really would contribute to this series.

This episode wasn’t really anything special, apart from a number of small details. I liked how Soutetsu actually was discovered, and how H.S. Parkes sent out his English guards in order to scare away the three attackers. Notice how the Japanese officials are enraged by this? Should provide good material for in the future. Still, Parkes’ Engrish is too evident. And why was Nakaiya Juubei suddenly so gloomy at the end of the episode?

The cliff-hanger also was interesting. It’s obvious after you see it, as Kanna Saikyou no Suke does have English connections (after all, he was appointed to Katsu by Parkes).

Seriously, that was such an awesome episode. Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto makes a good chance of becoming this season’s best anime if this quality remains at the same level. This episode focused on Akizuki’s past a bit, but mostly on Saigo Magozou’s (not Takamori, apparently, the two of them have the same last name. Does that mean that they’re related?) attempts to assassinate Yuyama. I’m not sure why, tough. Apparently, Yuyama stands in Nakaiya Juubei’s way in some kind of manner.

But first, another name. Ever since the previous episode, the official site has been updated to include Katsu’s bodyguard. His name is Kanna Sakyou no Suke.

We start the episode where we left off the previous time. Magozou has been surrounded by both Akizuki and the troupe. Now, he uses some kind of explosive to create a smokescreen and escape. Benimaru and Kobako then arrive, and thank Akizuki for what he did in the previous episode. The latter, however, just walks away.

We then switch to the next day, in which the troupe is performing a play in front of an audience. And seriously… they’re good. Akizuki and Soutetsu have a little talk, which forces Akizuki to remember his old master, Sakamoto Ryouma again. At least, I think that’s him. Ryouma also mentions Katsu for a bit.

We then switch to Nakaiya Juubei and Magozou. It seems that the former has acquired the building plans for the theatre, which will prove to be a great advantage for Magozou. Back to Akizuki, he’s training for a bit until Kobako arrives with an invitation of some sort. I think that Katsu asked him to deliver this, which would suggest some connection between the two. It seems that Katsu also is getting worried about the fact that Akizuki’s still living on his memories of Ryouma. We see the flashback of his assassination again as well.

We then switch to the troupe again, performing a play about Hario Genba. It’s very interesting to see that Soutetsu actually wrote a play about the history of the members of the troupe. Ah well, it’s a good source of inspiration (^_^). Magozou, meanwhile, is wrapping some cloth around his gun, while eating a bit. I’m not sure for what purpose that is. To conceal his weapon? To add extra firepower? In any case, it seems that he’s already sneaked into the theatre, waiting for the right opportunity.

A conversation between Nakaiya Juubei and TB Glover later, we switch to the next day, where it seems that the troupe will be performing for a huge play. It is here where Magozou will be attempting to try his luck, as everyone will probably be too busy with making the show run in order to pay any attention to other things. Akizuki, however, also seems to be present. An interesting note: either the troupe has hired extra actors, or it consists out of more than just the characters, important to the story. I’m guessing the former, as at one point, the stage is filled with lots of people at the same time.

Both Akizuki and Soutetsu are keeping an eye out, while Magozou waits for the right moment, at a spot right above the stage. Unfortunately, he waits too long, so Akizuki finds him first. And this is where things really turn awesome. Especially because the play below is just continuing like nothing happened. Magozou attempts to escape, but then runs into Soutetsu and shoots Kakashi no Keishin’s shoulder in the process. He eventually ends up right next to the stage with no sign of his pursuers and a clear shot of Kakunojou, when suddenly the stage gets filled with numerous extras, playing for government officials and other people, who all obstruct his view of Kakunojou.

He then turns desperate, and he runs on the stage himself, putting on an act of his own. Akizuki then rushes in and kills the guy, and the audience loves this, thinking it’s all part of the act. Magozou, however, has one trick left up his sleeve: a number of bombs, hanging from the ceiling. He attempts to shoot them, though Kanna no Sakyou Suke prevents this.

Kkunojou attempts to thank Akizuki, though he walks away again. Once more, he wasn’t able to protect the ones who hired him. I think his problem is that he doesn’t know the meaning of teamwork. For as far as I know, he’s been doing everything on his own, and he never considered the help of others. The fact that they actually did try to help him didn’t appear in his mind.

Another thing: the supernatural elements. For the past two episodes, there has been absolutely nothing supernatural appearing, even though this forms a large part of the story (the red star, the unsealed demon). I’m suspecting that this will turn into an important focus later in the story. I actually like how the creators did this.

Ooh, that was another great episode. But first: a few names, taken from the official website. I knew that learning Hiragana would come in handy some day.

Akizuki Youjirou: he’s the main character of this story. Has a strong sense of justice, and seems to have some kind of mission to stop some kind of mission, planned by the bad guys which involves supernatural beings.

Yuyama Kakunojou: she’s the main female character. She’s a member of the theatre group. When she was young, the guy from the previous episode killed her father, a wealthy merchant and her mother. She then fled along with either her brother or best friend and the old guy. She appears in this anime in two forms: a normal form, and a performing form, in which she wears a wig. I can imagine that more people would have trouble recognizing her.

Ibaragi Soutetsu, otherwise known as “Sensei”. He’s probably the one who founded the theatre group, and he handles the management, writes the scripts, and seems to be a very talented swordsman as well.

Shiranui Kozou (I could have sworn I heard this name before… must be my imagination): he’s probably one of the main actors in the theatre group. It seems that he takes the lead in their missions as well, due to his large amount of charisma.

Ebisu no Zukin: He either was Yuyama’s brother or best friend when they were young. He used to be very protective of her, what ended in him getting buried under a pile of burning woodblocks. His face was ruined, that’s why he always conceals his face. Because of that, his personality turned from protective to rather scary and to-the-point. His parts mainly are the one of the side-characters or villains.

Kakashi no Keishin: he forms the muscles behind the theatre group. He moves the heavy pieces of theatre equipment across and under the stage, and we saw him even work as a temporary personal elevator for Akazuki in the first episode.

Zagashira: he’s the old man who used to be very close to both Emusu and Yuyama. He took care of them when Yuyama’s parents died, and finally he came in contact with Ibaraza, and the three joined his theatre group, looking for revenge.

Benimaru: he’s the young boy who’s with the theatre group. He, along with who is most probably his sister, takes care of the small jobs who have to be done, as getting visitors into the theatre, handing out pamphlets, playing as extras and handling the small pieces of decor.

Kobako: most probably Benimara’s older sister. Quite cheerful, as well as her younger brother.

Nakaiya Juubei: probably the main bad guy for now. He has some kind of affinity with spirits, and some kind of history with Akizuki.

Hario Genba: he’s the guy with the scarred face who was killed in the previous episode. At one time, he lead some kind of army and killed Yuyama’s parents. When Emusu tried to struggle against him, he made a careless mistake and his face ended up being halfly burned. It seems that he either worked for Nakaiya, who became sick of him and sought a way to kill him, or he was working for someone who got in the way of Nakaiya, thus forcing the latter to kill him.

Kawai Tsuginosuke: I had to think for a while before I found out who this guy is. He was the samurai who was sitting right next to Nakaiya Juubei, wasn’t he?

Kotoha: a newly introduced character this episode. Her role will probably come later in the anime, and she seems to be connected to the person below. Looking at her clothing and way of talking would suggest that she works at some kind of brothel, though I could be wrong in this. The end of the episode also shows that she knows the theatre group.

Katsu Awa-no-kami Kaishuu (Katsu Kaishuu): another newly introduced character, he’s got his own troubles, as he needs a bodyguard around him. Because of this, he’ll probably get involved with Akizuki and the others.

Saigou Kichinosuke Takamori (Saigo Takamori): the sniper who was partially responsible for killing off Hariwa Genba. He’s hired by Nakaiya, and during this episode, we see him attempting to kill Yuyama. This means that Nakaiya has some kind of grudge against the theatre group, which hints at some kind of history between the two parties as well.

Sadly, even more characters were introduced this episode, but the creators didn’t find them important enough to give them a place on the website. Thankfully, their names did appear on the screen as they were introduced. At least. For some of them. -_-

Koma no Shouten-sama: a very old person, probably a master in martial arts. That, or he is very knowledgeable. The fact that Akizuki refers to him with “sama” and not “sensei” makes me suspect the latter. I suspect that Akizuki served under him at some point.

The name of Shouten-sama’s assistant/bodyguard shall forever remain a mystery, though. If I had to guess, it’d be Shinza, though that was just a random word Shouten-sama used when he looked at him. Anyway, Shinza seems to be looking over Shouten-sama. It’s clear that he’s an old man, and quite respected as well. This indeed suggests that he hired some kind of help or bodyguard.

Katsu gets a visitor during this episode. His name also is displayed, but in kanji and katakana combined. He seems to be a foreigner, named H. S. Parkes. He comes to deliver Katsu a bodyguard, as apparently, he’s in danger. Whether this is because of Nakaiya or another person, I don’t really know.

The name of this bodyguard is never known, even though his role in this anime will probably be rather large, as he’s quite skilled. His character also seems interesting, with the one eye missing at all.

Then, during one explanation, another person gets shown: Saigoukichi no Suketakamori. He either sent the bodyguard to Katsu, or he forms some kind of threat. (Yes, I’m watching this anime without understanding any word of the dialogue. Nice, isn’t it? ^^;)

A thing I liked in this episode was the way the bodyguard was introduced. Firstly, H. S. Packs appeared on the screen, and only when the bodyguard appeared, the background music took a turn towards a very serious, suspenseful tune. It’s also a nice touch to see the enemy sniper actually practicing his aim at the sea. This would suggest that one of his future missions involves sniping people from a boat. At least, if he somehow manages to escape from the cliff-hanger. Things looked pretty hopeless when he was surrounded by both Akizuki and the theatre group.

Anyhow, it’s great to see that finally people other than myself are starting to blog about this series. I really began to find things strange when I appeared to be the only one to talk about such a high-quality series for more than a week. Ah well, once the first subs start appearing, I’ll believe that this series will be gaining popularity fast. But still, this series doesn’t deserve to be carried in such low-quality raws. It’s very ironic: the show with the best production values of the season gets to be packaged in the lowest quality video files. (^^;)

I don’t get it. I simply don’t get it. This is a samurai show with awesome production values. The music is stunning, the animation is gorgeous, the story is full of potential. People were anticipating this.

Why the heck am I the only one who even mentioned something about the first episode? Okay, this show is not the best of the season, but it doesn’t deserve this amount of negligence. Especially when you see hundreds of people just lining up to blog a show like Kanon. Well then, time to give this show some more love. I’m going to need a bit of help from the Japanese-understanding people, though. Lots of hard dialogue. ^^;

We start with a very smart use of the recap of the previous episode, as it seems to be Okuzuki’s (the main character) dream. After the end of the previous episode, fire broke out and the main character fainted. The theatre-people then brought them back to their base. I have no idea what they call themselves, unfortunately.

One thing I didn’t recognize during the previous episode was the fact that the main female character wears a wig when she performs. Because of this, I thought that they two were different women. ^^; Anyway, Okizuki wakes up, and plans to leave, like he did in the previous episode. The theatre-people try to stop him, but to no avail. The masked guy seems to be the one who saved him from the fire.

The theatre people wonder what to do now, though “sensei” reckons that he’ll be back. We then see a conversation between what’s likely to be the two bad guys for now, after which we switch to the scary guy from last episode. It seems that he’s hiding along with the police force. Not sure what he told them. He heads out for a small stroll, probably because he can’t forget what happened the night before. He walks around a bit, and soon he sees Okizuki. He follows him to a small temple, at which there are no people and a fight begins. The guy has some strange powers. He uses his sword to slash through ground and air to create some kind of shockwave. The battle is short, but Okizuki does discover that the weakness of this attack is water.

Back to the theatre people. They’ve got a small conversation, though I don’t know what exactly it was about. The masked guy seems to have found some information about the scary guy, though. Then, Okizuki returns. It seems that he knew that these people have some kind of grudge against the scary guy as well, and therefore he seeks their help. Or it may be another reason I didn’t pick up. ^^;

We then switch to that evening. The scary guy is heading out again, but this time the people from the police he was hiding with come along with him. I’m not exactly sure what hteir mission is, but the scary guy probably joined them because of the rather well-sized cannons they were carrying with them. The theatre people plan to ambush them, and are hiding in a forest where they predicted the scary guy would pass.

Then, this series is really starting to get awesome hen the old guy tells a bit about the background story he shares with the masked guy and the main female character. The latter two were the children of a rather important sea merchant. I think they’re siblings, though the masked guy could also have been this merchant’s novice. The old guy was probably one of his most important and trusted accountants. It seems that the merchant, his wife and the three were rather close together.

Until the same scary guy arrived, and killed both the merchant and his wife and set their building aflame. The scary guy then went after the main female character, and the masked guy tried to protect her. As he was just a kid, this obviously wouldn’t have a chance of success. But then a wall collapsed on top of the scary guy and the masked guy. The masked guy’s face was totally scarred, forcing him to conceal his face continuously, while the scary guy just got an injury to the left part of his head.

The old guy then decided to take care of the main female character and the masked guy. They joined the theatre group, led by “sensei”. It’s now pretty obvious why they’re trying to assassinate the scary guy: for revenge. The scary guy approaches the group, and when he’s almost there, another band decides to attack them. They’re skilled enough to keep this police busy for a time, which gives the scary guy enough time to carry out his plan: just blast everyone, friends and enemy, away with one of the cannons.

It seems that the scary guy has had some kind of history with Okizuki, as he knew that he’d appear in order to keep the number of casualties as low as possible. The cannon gets destroyed and Okizuki leads the scary guy to a field of rice. As this is covered in water, his power doesn’t work. A great battle follows, as the theatre people show up as well in the rice field. They’ve painted their faces and actually show off some of their acting. I think that this is their way to show their opponents that they’re serious.

The fight really was awesome. It was full of strategies used, combined with an awesome soundtrack, animation and art. If this continues, this show has the potential to become amazing. In the end, the guy gets beaten because he’s distracted by a gunshot, fired from an unknown person. Later, this gunshot seems to have come from a subordinate of one of the bad guys.

I’m having a bit of trouble to find out what exactly the relationship of Okizuki is to the main storyline. It seems that he and the bad guys have some kind of history, and the previous episode showed that he’s out to kill certain demons who appear, but apart from that, I didn’t manage to pick up anything. It’s also a bit of a pain that I don’t know the names of the different characters. I hate referring to “the masked guy”, “the old guy”, “the main female character” and “sensei” in this way.

Overall, this series needs more love. Seriously, someone has to sub this. The second episode also was even better than the first episode, so if you’ve seen the first episode and liked it, you haven’t seen anything yet. ^^