And so, the bubble is retired for another season…

It’s no stretch to say this hasn’t exactly been an overnight process, but I’m finally about ready to commit to Angolmois.  Is this show by any means perfect?  No, but on balance I think it does enough things quite well to be worth both watching and covering.  The mix of historical fantasy with accurate (to the best of our knowledge) history is genuinely an interesting one (and this episode exemplifies that) and as someone who finds history generally and Japanese military history specifically an interesting subject, a show like Angolmois is a rare find.

I won’t deny that when it comes to that aforementioned mix, I hope this show steers more towards the accuracy side.  But the element of Antoku’s presence has been the best flight of fantasy so far I think, both because he’s an interesting and tragic historical figure and his presence sort of makes sense within the context of the story.  I don’t know if the Toibarai would have taken in the Sou without orders from their emperor (I won’t assume that’s a no – the enemy of my enemy and all that) but his intervention certainly made Teruhi’s difficult negotiation a snap.  And the fact that she’s his great-granddaughter would, I assume, make her the legit heir to the throne in their eyes – if, of course, she were a man.

Anytime you get into “Tales of the Heike” territory things get mighty sorrowful, but it’s romantic to think that rather than simply hiding in remote valleys trying to survive, some of them actually ended up as vital safeguards of Japan’s borders.  It’s here, though, that the story veers back into more grounded historical territory, for the castle of the Toibarai, Kanatanoki, turns out to be an actual place.  It was indeed built in the 7th Century as a bulwark against foreign invasion (in those days it was China and Korea), and the ruins look quite a lot like the place depicted in this episode – a massive walled area hidden deep in the woods overlooking the gorgeous labyrinth of Aso Bay.

However, the problems this castle presents soon become apparent.  Amushi does a lap around the walls at the goading of village girl Sana (Hara Natsuko), and what he reports back to Jinzaburou convinces him to do so himself.  As puppy love blooms between Amushi and Sana (or perhaps kitten love) Kuchii is rather alarmed to note that Kanatanoki is indeed over a mile around, with four entrances.  It’s much too big for the Toibarai to defend with their meager numbers, and if the Mongols were to discover its location (which they have yet to do thanks to the nature of the bay and the wall’s natural camouflage), it would seemingly be indefensible.

Still, Nagamine and his people know the ways of the Mongols far better than Jinzaburou and his – perhaps there’s more to the castle’s defense than meets the eye.  Given the way the narrative keeps making note of the ethnic differences among the Mongol troops I can only assume this is going to be shown as a vital part of their defeat (in truth it was both a strength and a weakness), but so far, there’s been no mention of what most historians consider the real reason why the Mongol invasion failed.  But there’s plenty of time for that to change, and I plan to be around when it does.