I suppose by Sengoku Youko standards this was a relatively sedately-paced episode. A shit-ton of stuff happened with a lot of characters as always, but thing moved along more or less at a brisk walking pace. It’s nice to get what almost amounts to a breather episode. I can only imagine what things would have been like had the production committee got its wish and made this a two-cour adaptation instead of three.
In this series characters tend to stick around. They drift in and out of the narrative (apart from the inner circle) sometimes, but they ultimately have important roles to play because Mizukami’s writing style is very much “waste not, want not”. We saw a lot of faces we hadn’t seen much of lately this week, starting with Tago. He shows up with a breech-loading rifle (advanced weapons technology in the Sengoku Period) he absolutely didn’t plan to shoot Senya with before Senya accidentally broke it. Senya detains him to ask if he’s seen a dragon around anywhere (Tago is something of an expert), and agrees to lead the lad and Nau to one if he gets repaid for his firearm.
Who knew you could dowse for dragons? But it works, somehow. Tago leads Senya and Nau to a cave wherein are a dragon – though not the one he’s looking for – and Douren. The dragon is Mudou, and the pair of them are recuperating after taking a beating from Nadare protecting the shoujou (ook), the sake-making monkey katawara first on Douren’t speed dial. The Tribe of the Void attacked with Banshuou to draft the monkeys into their katawara army, and Douren took one for the team to give the others a chance to escape.
It can’t escape notice – it certainly doesn’t escape Senya’s – how different Douren’s reaction was from Jinun’s to seeing him as a young man almost at adulthood. Douren breaks down in tears, which in turn moves Senya to tears. In truth he was much more a father to the boy than Jinun ever was – certainly he showed far more concern for him as more than a weapon. It is what it is, and Senya has clearly forgiven his father for his failings as a parent. But it’s nevertheless a reminder of what a bro Douren in. Which is, in part, why Mudou ended up as his student.
We get that backstory, as Douren and his disciple have to give themselves time to heal up anyway. Mudou may be the world’s worst listener, but his fight with Senya left him convinced he had to get stronger. So he searched the land for someone to teach him, pretty fruitless as everyone he meets is weaker than he is and he can’t see past that. Eventually a renowned swordsman gives him some advice. Don’t bother with blades, as you’re already stronger than any of them. And find a teacher who’s compatible with you. Which the straightforward and action-loving Douren indisputably is.
Meanwhile, Shinsuke is revelling in his newfound freedom. A little too much, in fact, which Hanatora is enjoying considerably more than Tsukiko. Of Senya there’s no news, but the trio does hear word of a series of katawara kidnappings by a cloud. That pretty much narrows down the list of suspects to one, and Shinsuke – even buzzed – sees the true explanation for what’s probably happening. He’s determined to visit the village where Shakugan rests anyway, but this news lends a certain urgency to the matter. What better target for someone kidnapping katawara than a village of katawara?
Unfortunately the trip arrives too late – Banshuou has been to town, and taken everyone in town with it. Including Shakugan, newly liberated from her rocky imprisonment. The child leader of the Tribe of the Void is quickly building up his own thousand demon army to rival Senya’s but he’s making enemies at an astonishing rate. Now Ssnya, Douren, and Mudou have an appointment at the cloud – and that’s exactly where Tsukiko, Shinsuke, and Hamatora are headed too. To the head temple of the Dangaishyuu, in fact – the birthplace of both singularities at the heart of the Tribe’s quest, and the seeming eye of the hurricane of fate.
Bel
October 18, 2024 at 8:53 pmI really like this episode, even if it’s mostly setting up for the main event. I didn’t expect Dangaishyuu to make an reappearance in the story. When Nadare launches the attact on Dangaishyuu, it certainly feels like a case of “reap what you sow”. And Shakugan is back, even if she’s on the other team right now. It’s like the story has come back to full circle, and the audience is rewarded for their patience. It’s quite brilliant.
Guardian Enzo
October 18, 2024 at 10:01 pmWhat you’re describing is very much a Mizukami trademark. You can trace threads throughout the entire series with him.
Nicc
October 19, 2024 at 7:23 amI figured that here will be a good one to get back to posting. I had a fun time up in BC and it’s been a while. I remember making plans in 2019 to visit in 2020. 2020 didn’t work out for many reasons. Canada is famous for lots of things like fries smothered with cheese curds and gravy, ketchup chips (I brought back some bags), and Timbits. Nowadays, we just head up to Richmond, BC to eat. Shopping used to be more important in earlier trips due the lack of Asian stores or supermarkets down here. That’s different now as we’ve got a lot more options now. 99 Ranch Market moved up here as did Seafood City. Daiso also has locations here now. Heck, T&T Supermarket is opening up two stores here soon. So, it’s all about the restaurants now and watching French-dubbed, English-language TV shows (Nobody’s speaking French in Richmond, that’s for sure) and movies at the hotel. I had a fun time watching “Thor: Ragnarok” in French. Everybody really does sound more sophisticated in French, including the Hulk. Now, back to the show…
Yep, this was pretty much a set-up episode as it decided to bring everybody back, including characters we haven’t seen since the first cour. The Void people continue to gather their army as Senya tries to track down dad, whom are also being tracked by Shinsuke and Tsukiko. They’ll certainly meet again at one place, but not quite yet.
As Banshouou moves around, we see some familiar faces. We last saw Douren lying unconscious when he fought against Jinka back in the first cour. I’m glad to see that he made it out and we also see an older Mudou. They’re enjoying some sake with the sake monkeys when the Void people attack, including to scoop up everybody. Mudou is no match for Nadare and Douren did take one for the team to allow the others to escape. The Void people did take some of the monkeys, but everybody else managed to escape. It’s a close call as the Void people may have taken in some really strong minions in Douren and Mudou.
Elsewhere, Senya is trying to find his dad when here comes Tago again. It seems that he’s got himself a rifle which he really wasn’t planning to use it against Senya, right. I wonder if it may have been easier to just steal a new one considering all of the warlords were using firearms at this point. Right, Taro agrees to help Senya find a dragon if he repay him. Well, Senya didn’t specify which dragon and Taro leads him to Douren and Mudou, who are licking their wounds in a cave.
I wasn’t expecting that reaction from Douren, which moved Senya himself to tears. It seems that Mudou became Douren’s student and we see how Mudou’s defeat eventually led him there. Yep, he got the right advice to find the right teacher and not just whoever is the strongest person around. At another place, Hanatora/Kokugetsusai, Shinsuke and Tsukiko are trying to track down Senya. Shinsuke goes back to drinking again (I was a bit too amused with the idea of a daikon youkai. Fall is good excuse for having oden anyway) as rumours spread about cloud that has been kidnapping katawara. That’s also when Shinsuke shows some of his bloodlust when he thinks about what’s been done to the captured katawara, which I don’t think Tsukiko has encountered before. He wants to visit Shakugan for the first time in a while to give her an update and introduce her to Tsukiko.
Indeed, what he doesn’t know is that the Void people have already been there and scooped up all of the katawara, including Shakugan. He only finds out once he gets to the village as the Void people have already made their way to the main Dangaishyuu temple to assault. The good news is that Shakugan is free as the Void people figured out how to undo the curse, but the bad news is that she’s on their side. It does look like the main event will be coming soon.