It was another strong episode of Sengoku Youko, but I was a bit distracted by the unofficial news that this is apparently going to be a split cour. It was announced as 37 episodes with no mention of a split, but MAL has changed the listed count to 13 and Syoboi doesn’t show it as airing in Spring. That would suck altogether, especially since the second arc is when things get really great. But where Mizukami is concerned I always fear the worst with anime, as if a curse hangs over his work. Maybe this was the plan all along but it’s odd it was never mentioned, if so. And if not, I have a queasy feeling it might Hoshiai no Sora‘d. That would be the classic Mizukami experience.
In any event the sibling arc is steamrolling towards a climax. Tama and co. are headed for Dangaisyuu headquarters, where Yazen awaits. With Jinun and Senya sealed, Yazen offers Douren the chance to fight Jinka again by himself. The big man is ecstatic about this of course, but Yazen is anxious about having two monsters like that out of commission. Douren urges him to use the opportunity to cultivate other weapons, and Yazen makes note of his “new model” – the Ten Celestial Saints. After Douren heads off to prep himself the old man has a conversation with Kuzunoha (Yukana). Who, as we know, is both the love of his life and Tama’s mother.
Meanwhile, Jinka finally awakens in an inn with the others, and after a momentary disoriented panic he seems to be in as good a mood as we’ve ever seen him. Lost an arm? Small price to pay for ridding themselves of the dragon. Tama isn’t so sure (Yami no Kami’s invoice is never far from her mind, either). And Shinsuke is raging at himself as usual, for one more not being much use when the chips were down. Rinzu takes down everyone’s name in case she has to do a soul calling as a sort of emergency-break glass move, an extremely difficult spell Jinka is rather envious of her ability to execute (fortunately, she’s hot for that side of him just as much as the others).
Douren meanwhile has an encounter with the Ten Saints, which Yazen tells Kuzunoha is going to be over with pretty quickly. Douren is indeed powerful, perhaps the strongest among the Dangaisyuu despite possessing less spiritual power than Jinun (and the new Jinka). Why? Because what he lacks in spiritual power he makes up for in sheer martial ability. Worried that his new powers (thanks to Yazen) would make him arrogant and dull his skills, Douren doubled down on his dedication to the martial arts and continued to grow stronger. He really is quite the admirable fellow in so many ways.
As before, Team Tama walks straight in the front door. And Douren is right there waiting for them, never supposing a sneak attack might be their approach. For the first time we see the full spirit exchange between the “siblings”, and Jinka makes it very clear – if he achieves his dream and becomes a katawara, he wants to shift their relationship to husband and wife. Shinsuke is very much on guard, much to Rinzu’s puzzlement. He clearly expects someone else to join the fray, and makes no claims of lofty reasons for his involvement – he’s here for revenge, and it’s Barry he wants to exact it against.
Shinsuke can take pride for a change, because the sneak attack he was expecting comes quickly – Barry is in the house. These two only have eyes for each other, and Barry – after a long round of teasing his opponent with shikigami – lures Shinsuke into a cave leading to an underground passage, which as it turns out leads to the Dangaisyuu’s underground labs. Why would Barry do this? That’s as yet unclear, though it’s obvious that Barry has no more regard for Yazen’s new models than Douren did.
In the main event, Douren seems to have the upper hand against Jinka – six tails and all of him. Simply put, he’s the better fighter, and Jinka realizes that simply waiting for his power to overwhelm his opponent. But he does realize he can use his fairy eyes to predict Douren’s attacks, and when pushed finds that he has a new arm all of sudden (thanks to Yama no Kami. Yazen and Tama are in disagreement as to who’s going to come out on top here, and at the moment it’s looking like a pretty even match.
Raikou
March 22, 2024 at 9:44 amYeah, I was pretty surprised with the sudden split cour announcement too. But I’m hoping for the best, if this is the way White Fox going to maintain the quality.
So Jinka is into Tama. I had suspicions but this episode confirms it.
Guardian Enzo
March 22, 2024 at 10:28 amAs long as it doesn’t get cut off at the knees, but it is disappointing. I am so ready for ***-hen.
Nicc
March 27, 2024 at 6:59 amI was thinking that we may get a breather episode after last week with Jinka injured and the others having a lot to think about, but it seems that they were just waiting for Jinka to recover from his injuries and then launch another assault on the Dangaisyuu temple. Speaking of Jinka, he doesn’t seem too bothered with losing his left arm and thinks it’s a small price to pay for the Mountain Goddess’ training. It seems that nobody else in the group has the heart to tell him yet about having to pay a soul instead. Yep, he has become rather chipper now while Shinsuke just gets more dour. He’s now more like Jinka from the beginning of the series. New team member Rinzu now takes the role of the comic relief of the group. She’s still barely acknowledged by the group, but she’s got some useful skills such as an emergency teleportation spell and something to summon katawara, though Tama doesn’t want to involve them with their feud against the Dangaisyuu.
Speaking of them, Yazen knows that they’re headed their way again. With Jinun and Senya still sealed, it’s up to Douren to handle this and he wouldn’t have it any other way. This also gives Yazen an opportunity to test out some new weapons, such as the self-declared Ten Celestial Saints. They don’t exactly live up to their names as it looks like they didn’t give Douren even a decent warm up. Still, Yazen seems rather relaxed throughout and he’s lounging around while talking with Kuzunoha, or at least her disembodied voice until she decides to shows up in person. Cue Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady”.
The group arrives at the same place as the first time they assaulted the Dangaisyuu. It’s time for Jinka to get his powerup from Tama, same as before. However, it seems that he’s ready for a relationship upgrade and Tama reciprocates. There’s still the problem with the soul taking, which makes me wonder if the Mountain Goddess might end up as some kind of bonus boss to battle after this is all over. It’s a good thing that Rinzu didn’t watch all that or she would have probably turned into a pillar of sand.
Also as before, they march right to the front door. The difference is that the whole group is there this time and Douren is waiting. It’s Round 2 of Douren vs Jinka, but Jinka is different now than from the first battle. It looks like the 6th tail that showed up in the last episode is now a permanent addition. He’s getting pretty close to having 9 tails, which I wonder will be enough to compete with the likes of Jinun. As the two go at it, Rinzu why Shinsuke is looking around. He expects somebody to crash the party and sure enough Resshin shows up, or at least an illusion of him. Shinsuke goes after him and they eventually take the battle… inside? And, isn’t Rinzu supposed to be looking for Taizan instead of watching Douren and Jinka?
Speaking of the two, Douren is aware that Jinka has the advantage when it comes to spiritual power, but he is indeed the better and more experienced fighter. Indeed, even with his tiger powers, he never slacked off with his martial arts training and so even the Ten Celestial Saints were little more than cannon fodder against him. However, Jinka also has his fairy eyes and, yep, there’s something coming out from the stump that used to be his left arm. It looks like some kind of spirit arm that grew from the seed that the Mountain Goddess implanted into them earlier. Elsewhere, Barry has lured Takekichi into an underground lab where Barry has put himself into some kind of mecha. Both Barry and Douren unleash a special move as the episode ends…
Huh, so it looks like it will be a split cour, then. So, 13-12-12, then? That arrangement makes the most sense at least for disc sales. Here’s the hoping that the future air dates aren’t too far off.