This is not the first time an episode of Senma Konton-hen has ended, and I’ve jumped straight over to the manga to remind myself whether the adaptation skipped something. But no, the only skipping here is of time. It’s just a function of how great this arc has been that it’s seemed to fly by. That, and the fact that every episode in this arc is packed with content. That’s a Mizukami signature – his series’ doesn’t tend to have much that isn’t directly essential to the story. It should make things feel rushed but somehow it just never does.

When Senya returns, pretty beat up, from his battle with Mudou his reaction to the news of the Shogun’s death is about what you’d expect. Except for one thing – he didn’t cry over it. He wanted to – even asked Shinsuke if he cried (he did, as we know) – but can’t find it in himself to do it. Shinsuke reassures him that as soon as he’s recovered, their journey will continue. But Hanatora has a rather rude surprise for him. When she made the barrier in order to transport the Shogun’s retainers out of his palace, she needed anchors in the village to transport them – humans who’d been touched by her spiritual power. And Shinsuke and Zanzou fit the bill.

The upshot of this is, the two swordsmen can’t leave the village. “Land Gods, but without the spiritual power”, Hanatora calls them. Whether permanent or not she isn’t sure, but for now at least – they’re stuck. And that’s a problem for all concerned, Shinsuke because he has a date with Tama he can’t keep, and Senya because he’s not sure if he’s capable of continuing his journey on his own. But he also realizes what will happen if he stays in the village – what always seems to happen to him, whenever he plants his feet for any length of time. And it finds him a lot sooner than he would have wanted.

The gang of five keep showing up like bad pennies. Hanatora shows up at Senya’s side this time, and tells him that he – and only he – is capable of putting a stop to the havoc these strange hooded figures are wreaking. She gives him a special sword, a soul blade, and tells Senya that in his hands it might be able to cut the hooded five down. As ever reluctant to become a weapon, the boy girds himself for “one last time” – but the beings manage to draw him into the spirit world, where he’s set upon by five of the Mountain Goddess. But an old friend shows up too, and offers Senya some encouragement and advice about what’s really happening here.

Is the blade Senya wields imbued with the soul of Ashikaga Yoshiteru himself? That’s certainly what’s implied. Whatever the case, Teru gives the boy the strength to beat the five at their own game. He turns the table on then – instead of 5-against-1 it’s “1,002-against-5”. Cornered the five – the two of them that survived, anyway – reveal something of the truth about themselves. They’re the Tribe of the Void, and come from the distant past – journeying across time to save their race. There are two “spiritual singularities” in this world – Senya and Jinka Yamato – and somehow, they seem to be critical to the plan to save the Tribe of the Void. Also, they refer to Senya as their descendant – which explains the hair color.

Clearly, this is a battle deferred, not a battle won. And that looming over him, as well as the matter of Jinka Yamato, Senya – with Tsukiko in tow – asks Hanatora to train them so they can face those challenges. They don’t have much in the way of payment – the Goddess ominously says she’ll think of a price “later” and orders the kids to do twenty laps around the village. She also tells them their training will take about 20 years, which proves rather a shock. We don’t jump ahead quite that far – only eight years – but they’ve had a profound impact on the key players (except Nau of course).

And so another arc, another phase of the story begins. Senya and Tsukiko have certainly filled out and up (as Tama notes when they arrive in Shinsuke’s place to their date), though Senya’s katawara bemoan that he’s still a kid inside because he hasn’t made a move on Tsukiko yet. Still a kid inside the spirit world too, where he’s drawn and ends up freeing a very ungrateful Tago from a series of curses. But the big event is literally on the horizon, as this is the day Hake Nekko told Tama that Jinka would appear. The first day a new era – in 1573, the Ashikaga Shogunate having collapsed for good. And indeed, Jinka does appear right on schedule – though he too has changed a lot since the last time we saw him…