I was surprised to see Christian references pop up at the end of the episode, until I realized that Japan’s seclusion of course only started with the Tokugawa period. Before we already saw Oda Nobunaga as very interested in other cultures, and now it turns out that one of Sasuke’s brothers has taken up Christianity (or at lest, now is the first time I noticed).
In any case, this episode marks the start of the cooperation between Hashiba and Sasuke. Surprisingly Hashiba is a lot more open now, I have no idea whether him killing Oda Nobunaga had something to do with that. The new alliance seems to go against that of Akechi Mitsuhide (who also pulled an interesting act to paint Oda Nobunaga’s castle white, the opposing colour of Sennou Soueiiki’s preference). And to think that that old guy of episode two is returning, this definitely is turning out to be interesting.
For these past two episodes, I’ve also been surprised at the role of the soundtrack in this series. It’s still Bee-Train like in the way that it’s completely unconventional, but most bee-Train series have always had powerful soundtracks with a lot of presence. This one doesn’t, and only pops up every now and then. Overall, it’s not OUtani Kou’s best work. That award goes to either Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino or Haibane Renmei.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Actually Nobunaga was the most western interested Emperor/leader or whatever in Japans History… he did a lot of reforms based of what he saw from the west, and always had a strong interest in western things…
Kou was really amazing in the two shows you mentioned as well as Shadow of the Colossus. Hope he pulls through in this work.