It’s funny how Senya was a character who wasn’t even present for most of the first cour of Sengoku Youko. And yet now, everything revolves around him. It’s not as though we had a huge time skip where a whole generation of characters was shifted out of the story – all  the original principals are still here at least some of the time. That’s what Mizukami Satoshi does – he loves his pathos. He has a rare deftness as finding the sweet spot for a character in the context of larger events – one that frames their entire life around the major events in the plot. Sengoku Youko and Spirit Circle are the two foremost examples (and the among the best examples anywhere).

What we’re left with, then, is like a bunch of roads intersecting with Senya at the junction. It’s not always immediately clear to what extent he’s integral, but soon enough that becomes obvious. There’s still the matter of Jinka, of course, which is where we pick up the narrative. He’s definitely out there where  Tama thought he was, but he’s behind a barrier – one which doesn’t offer any obvious means of breaching. He’s also swallowed the local sea deity, leveling up his spirit power in the process. There’s not much to be done with him at this point, but it seems pretty obvious who the one entity possibly both strong and engaged enough to eventually fight him might be.

Tama’s next stop is a visit to the venerable Hakke Neko for advice on how she might save Jinka. It must be noted here that the manga translations treated Hakke Neko as male and the subs as female – to the extent that it matters I have no idea which is correct. He’s a great and hilarious character either way but in my memory he’s a dude, so I’m sticking with that. Hakke Nekko mostly confirms what Tama suspects, and suggests that the best way to break through a “simple” barrier such as Jinka’s is a simple method – blast through it with even more spirit power. The problem is that not even Senya has that much, and none of the party knows anyone that does (and would be willing to use it)

For the nonce, though, the (almost) all-seeing cat sends Senya outside as a bodyguard. The lad has a pretty good idea why, and sure enough another mad God soon shows up, this one more powerful than any he’d faced before. And familiar too, though Senya can’t quite place him at first. With good reason – Taizan has lost a lot of weight (and height) since the last time Senya saw him. But he has gained one of the greatest seiyuu of all time in Miki Shinichirou, who immediately shows he’s the right actor to take Taizan to the many wild places he’s going to be headed.

It’s worth noting that when Senya enters the spirit world, he remains the little boy he was before the timeskip. But whatever that says about his self-perception, he’s a powerful figure in there with his retinue now totally dedicated to his cause. This time he’s able to chase out the Tribe of the Void and free Taizan from his madness without harming him – something for which the Kami is robustly grateful when he wakes up. Taizan is quite the piece of  work, but Senya is acutely aware of his massive spiritual power, which he reckons dwarfs even his own. If he ever had to take the God on for real, he’s pretty certain he’d be killed.

Taizan is in the area to get his fortune read by Hakke Neko, for which he pays with a handsome blue stone. Tama tells the kids that Hakke Neko has a thing for stones, which plants a seed in Senya’s mind. The cat stone might not have been valued by the last Kami he offered it to, but this one is all over it. Even for the potential of getting it latter, the feline fortuneteller is willing to give Senya a reading. He tells him that his main focuses should be freeing his father and settling things with the Tribe of the Void. That puts Senya on the same path as Tama – for now – as she’s off to recruit the Mountain Goddess in her quest to save Jinka Yamato. Tsukiko isn’t about to be told not to come, and Taizan too has business with that deity.

Senya’s thoughts head to very dangerous places, as they so often do, pondering the words of Hakke Neko. He measures his fate against the potential destruction of the Tribe of the Void – and against the risks to all of Japan if he defeats them and Jinka goes on a rampage as a consequence. Seeing this, Tama calls for a sanity break – a frolic in the ocean to restore everyone’s life force. While at the beach an old canine land God, Furuon (Fukumatsu Shinya) approaches Senya to inquire about whether he knows his friend Kumozou – like Senya a member of the silver-haired tribe. Senya thinks too literally when the old dog (which fox Tama is terrified of) describes a child, but a conversation with Taizen makes is clear who Furuon was really talking about.

There’s one more twist in this week’s road. Tsukiko is out for what looks to be a regular moonlit training session with Nau, bemoaning how she’s not strong enough to protect Senya instead of being protected. She’s set upon by Taizan – but it’s clear that once more, Taizan is not the one driving the car. Tsukiko resorts to “sexy swordswoman” mode to subdue her assailant, who reveals himself to be Kokugetsusai (Chiba Shigeru). If  that name sounds familiar it should – he was Jinka’s master, the man who raised him. And while his relationship with Taizan isn’t exactly clear, he tempts Tsukiko with the possibility of a special sort of training…

We keep seeing over and over that the weight of everyone and everything seems to be dumped on Senya’s shoulders. The only one strong enough, the only one who can do it (whatever the it of the moment is). Tsukiko at least strives to share his burden but Senya seems well and truly alone even when he’s with his friends and allies. All the while he attracts violence, and blames himself for the fate of those (like Furuon) caught up in it. It’s not remotely fair, but from the start of Shinsuke’s arc it’s been clear that was a major theme in Sengoku Youko. Senya’s struggle to bear all of that and still move forward is both the heart and soul of this story.