I’m not immune to the zeitgeist of a series, as much as I try to be. I certainly notice when my opinion clashes with the broad consensus, in both directions. It happens more often with me not caring for a mass darling for certain, but it goes the other way sometimes too. You do wonder if there’s something wrong with you for a moment, but in the end I trust my instincts. There’s no copyright on bad taste – other people’s about a series I like, or mine as perceived by those who disagree with it. There’s no right or wrong to it – that’s just how it goes.
I have my own ideas about the low aggregators and general indifference towards Sengoku Youko (as I elucidated in the post last week). In the end that doesn’t matter – what does matter is that Mizukami is finally getting a decent adaptation, and that this was another banger episode. Sengoku Youko is actually pretty influential, but it very much goes in its own directions as Mizukami always does. In a Mizukami series nobody ever “just does” anything – it’s always for a reason. Something in their past always plays a part in the path they choose today. And that process is rarely neat and clean cut, because people (and katawara) are complicated beings.
Enter Zanzou Raidou (Touchi Hiroki, quite busy this season). But first, there’s the matter of Guragura-sama (Tusuoka Satoshi). The world reform siblings get a tip from a katawara friend about a monster threatening a local village, demanding human sacrifices or it will destroy the village. This was a cruel era (real or fictional), and Kami demanding sacrifices in turn for protection was more or less considered fair game. But just to protect them from itself? No, that’s out of bounds. And though it means fighting a katawara on behalf of humans (a cycle Jinka sees repeating itself despite his protestations), this is something the WRS can’t allow to stand unchallenged.
Tama demands no payment from the skeptical villagers, much to their surprise – only that each shows kindness towards someone with no expectation of reward. But she really goes off on Mokichi (Ishigami Shizuka – Takada Taiyou himself) when he curses them for arriving too late to save his mother. As it turns out they aren’t too late – Guragura hasn’t digested her yet, and once he realizes he’s no match for Jinka he regurgitates her to use as a hostage. He’s determined to attack anyway, but finds himself hesitating. All the more so when Mokichi offers to sacrifice himself in exchange for his mother’s freedom.
And then, Zanzou. We briefly checked in on him last week, receiving the assignment from the Dangaisyuu. He makes short work of Guragura-chan, but then threatens to hold the mother and son hostage himself if Jinka won’t fight him (choose to believe him or not). It’s a moot point anyway as Jinka isn’t going to back down from a fight, but it’s pretty obvious that this samurai is no one to be trifled with. He draws one of his swords, possessing spiritual power sufficient to make Jinka hesitate, and forces the latter to use several of his signature moves (you know they’re important since they have names) just to cause a stalemate. But then Zanzou draws his other sword, from which Jinka senses no spiritual power at all, and pushes him to the brink of annihilation.
What stays Zanzou’s hand, really? We don’t know the man well enough to say, yet. We only know that he kills for the Dangaisyuu to try and protect his sister Hino, and that he could have killed Jinka had he wanted. Unfortunately the Dangaisyuu are not going to leave it there – he’s ordered to fight Jinka again and to the death this time. And in order to make sure Jinka agrees, the messenger monk tells him the Yamato family will be destroyed if he refuses. Jinka professes no concern over what happens to them, having been abandoned, but that he can’t let a defeat to a human stand. Again, you can choose whether to believe him or not.
We do learn something very important about Jinka here – when he’s pushed to the brink of death, he can level up. Which he does, finding a power he didn’t know he possessed (much to the relief of Tama, and Shinsuke and Shakugan too). Hino appears to be another victim of Yazen’s experiments, and Zanzou is allowed to live to ponder that after his defeat. As for Jinka he has much to ponder too, not least whether his commitment to his principles is unshakable as he believes it to be (and consistent with the identity he and Tama have chosen for themselves.
Raikou
February 2, 2024 at 11:57 amSeems like Zanzou is going to be around for a while. I like him.
Jinka seems to have realized that he can’t keep winning all the time, and his human side is still the dominant one.
Guardian Enzo
February 2, 2024 at 12:33 pmZanzou is great, the first of many examples of the best characters in this series not even being introduced yet. It arcs upward from here.
Nicc
February 3, 2024 at 8:49 pmYep, this series is not as popular as it should be, but I’m still happy to be on board. Maybe strong word-of-mouth may bring in more viewers yet. The gang settles in at the home where Jinka and his master lived. He has been living alone since his master died and until Tama came into his life. With Shinsuke and Shakugan, that now makes it four and things are getting lively. Jinka isn’t so sure what to think about that. Shinsuke is still working hard, though Jinka isn’t exactly a helpful teacher. Shakugan is now sporting a new outfit to help accommodate her arms and she seems to have learned how to summon and unsummon her rock arms at will. I assume that she’ll able to do the same for her legs too or is working on that.
The, Jinka and Tama get word about the assassin, but there’s something else to do first. Shinsuke and Shakugan are to hold down the fort while the other two head out. Considering what comes next, it was a good idea for them to still sit at the kids’ table for now. A katawara has been threatening a village for human sacrifices and Tama once again tries to spread her gospel of kindness. As before with the bandits it’s not a captive audience, but I’d like to think that she can and has reached through some folks. A young boy escorts them to where this Lord Guragura is. I did like this exchange between the boy and the others before and during the encounter with Lord Guragura. Jinka isn’t quite as jaded with humanity as he thinks he is (Or would like to be) and does indeed find himself taken aback with having to attack the still-alive mom or the son’s attempt at sacrifice.
As it were, Jinka isn’t able to give the situation any further thought as Zanzou swooped in and easily defeated the katawara. That’s the assassin who was sent to defeat Jinka. He also has a taste for katawara (He remarks that some katawara eat humans, so the other way around shouldn’t be unusual). He does show that he’s a difficult opponent and Jinka has to pull out all of his moves to keep the battle to a stalemate. Zansou’s main sword has got a lot of spiritual energy to it, but it’s his ordinary short sword that he uses to defeat Jinka. Indeed, Zanzou leaves him be and simply walks away. He makes an excuse about his dietary preferences, and he didn’t indicate that he wanted a rematch once Jinka was stronger.
Right, the Dangaisyuu aren’t satisfied with this result and orders Zanzou to finish the job next time or his sister that they’re holding captive might be in trouble. A threat is sent to Jinka as well and regarding his family, which he claims not to care about. Still, he at least wants to reclaim his honor after being defeated by a human. The second duel isn’t going much better for Jinka than the first one until he finds a power up and manages to turn the tables on Zanzou (Granted, Jinka got hit by his own attack too). Zanzou throws in the towel and then learns that his sister isn’t being held captive and is something else entirely. As for Jinka, maybe having some human friends isn’t so bad, after all.
DFM
February 3, 2024 at 11:23 pmI’m really enjoying Saitō Sōma in this role. But I’m biased. And I’d never have guessed that was Taiyō!
sonicsenryaku
February 7, 2024 at 9:47 amI don’t want to sound like an old geezer shouting at the new generation and being like: “Y’all kids can’t appreciate shit,” but maybe there’s just something very old school in the storytelling layout of Sengoku Youko that isn’t immediately perceptible and easy to attach to by today’s anime audience. Mizukami is a very old school manga storyteller and this series just screams late 90’s early 2000’s fantasy adventure series whose appeal lies in the way with which the story takes its time to sink its fangs into you. Who knows, maybe like with BokuYaba, people will eventually start swarming to this show as well. BokuYaba took some time before people were calling it peak every episode; maybe it’ll happen with Sengoku as well
Guardian Enzo
February 7, 2024 at 5:22 pmI think another issue (at least as I see it) is that the true MC and the most engaging character (*e**a) is non-existent (or a tiny presence) for the entire first third of the series. If they were around I do think the first cour would be a little “grabbier”. Nothing against the current main three, I like them and especially with Shinsuke their arcs have a lot of development. But things level up significantly when the focus shifts and never come back down.