Sengoku Youko: Senma Konton-hen – 15

Great events we are powerless to impose our will upon happen, but life does go on. This is an anime and manga website (mostly), and writing about them is what I do. With respect to what’s happening in the world there’s not much I can do about it, so I may as well keep writing. One of the powers of narrative fiction is to allow us an escape from all that, and I’m grateful to have anime to help that process for me. It’s not important in the larger scheme of things I suppose, but that doesn’t make me love it any less.

Love is certainly how I feel about the works of Mizukami Satoshi. And part of the reason for that is that (as I noted last week) Mizukami always comes down on the side of decency, without exception. It can be hard to believe that decency will win out in the real world, and in Mizukami’s it sure as hell ain’t easy either. But the effort is never wasted. Those who pursue it reap rewards simply by doing so – they know the difference between right and wrong, and could no sooner ignore their inner voice than the sun could rise in the West.

Shinsuke has a lot of skin in the game here as this mega-battle plays out. Senya is effectively like a son to him (Senya didn’t get especially lucky in the birth father department, but he’s had some wonderful surrogates). He and Tama and Jinka go way, way back, as do his ties to the Dangaisyuu. And then there’s Shakugan. He’s in love with her, of course – that’s a given. But she also represents everything he ever hated about himself. The Shinsuke that was always a day late and a dollar shot saving people, the failed hero. Tama suggests they find a way to get her to Senya to free her from the Tribe of the Void’s control, but Shinsuke has been carrying this for too long to let anyone else be the one to save her.

Besides which, as Shinsuke says – “Who do you think was the one that taught Senya Spirit World Observation?” This is another example of Mizukami writing a gorgeously poetic scene that works equally well as prose, hot on the heels of Senya’s thousand-armed Kannon transformation last week. We’ve seen Shakugan’s origin story before, we know what she suffered through in her village. But here, Shinsuke is everything he dreamed of being as a young man and never was. A heroic samurai, riding in on a white horse to save the day. Why? Not because that’s how he longs to see himself, but because that’s how Shakugan sees him.

If that ain’t beautiful character writing, I don’t know what is. Senya has one of the greatest arcs in manga, but Shinsuke isn’t far behind him. He’s the patron saint of simple decency, this guy. A grinder who does the hard jobs without a lot of flash or recognition. But saving Shakugan isn’t the central fight here, and that’s still ongoing. Nadare and Douren continue their mano a mano, as Senya keeps trying to save everyone single-handedly (well, thousand-handedly). Tsukiko’s arrival has certainly caught him by surprise, almost as much as the left hook that lays him out like a Thanksgiving feast.

At this point Hanatora steps in and makes an executive decision that Senya needs some downtime. Frankly, it makes a nice change from his constantly getting everything dumped on his shoulders. Hanatora immerses herself in the battle with suspicious abandon, in fact. And Tsukiko’s Gourd (via Kokugetsusai) makes a powerful tool in trying to subdue the controlled katawara without killing them. Hanatora orders Nau to get Senya safely to the woods (with the Shinsuke group and the shoujou), and then return to help her. And having gotten the monkeys to safety with Tago’s help. Mudou returns to the fray itching to release some of his pent-up shounen energy.

And he’s gonna be needed. That’s because the Tribe, having played all their other cards, have no choice but to call Banshuou in under “full squash” orders. But not to be left out, the Dangaisyuu and their mecha-monk unleash a “Wind God” attack and blow Banshuou to the four corners of the valley. But that’s not the end of things, because all it serves to do is reveal the cloud katawara’s true form – and he looks like a real badass. Mudou is happy to have the chance to fight him, but it’s clearly going to take a lot more than this baby dragon to match up with Banshuou 2.0.

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3 comments

  1. R

    I’m glad for more Shinsuke screentime.

    So are we in the final fight now?

  2. Don’t think I should answer TBH.

  3. N

    C’est la vie. Shinsuke’s group arrived in the nick of time as it was getting too much for Senya to handle on his own. First, we’ve got Shinsuke seeing Shakugan again for the first time in years. Tama was hoping that he wouldn’t have to see Shakugan like this, but he’s not upset. Indeed, Shinsuke always saw himself as a little too late or not having the power to change the circumstances. Tama wanted to take Shakugan to the already very occupied Senya, but he’s going to do it himself this time.

    Yep, it seems that he’s the one who taught Senya the Spirit World Observation technique. And to think it may been born from when Shinsuke started talking to Arabuki and left us wondering if he was really communicating with his sword or just talking to himself. That was indeed a wonderful scene where he showed up to her as a samurai on a horse and because that’s what she saw him as. The spell is broken and even her expression goes back to her goofy self. Her battle is over now and it seems unlikely she’ll be re-engaging. I wonder if this will feel like a fever dream to her when she wakes up.

    However, everything else rages on. Tsukiko gives Senya a Bright Noa-worthy strike that lays him out. Oh yeah, and she also introduces herself to Setsu and makes it clear who’s No. 1 to Senya. Hanatora also helps out and puts him to sleep. Senya will be benched for some much-needed rest. It’s also about time to pull away the rescued katawara away from the battlefield, especially now that the Void people are using their final ace in the hole and ordered Banshuou attack. We see an unlikely team-up between Tsukiko and Mudou to rescue the remaining katawara. Tsukiko has mastered using that gourd to convert the energy that’s controlling the katawara into a field of plants whole Mudou does what he does best and beats them up.

    Outside of the battlefield, Shinsuke is working on freeing the katawara as Hanatora brings them in. Yep, Tama is worried about what exactly Shinsuke offered Hanatora to get her to work this hard. Man, it’d be a bummer if none of the couples got together because souls had to be traded for favors. Also, the Dangaisyuu made themselves helpful for a change as they used a wind god to blow away Banshuou’s cloud form. He still reformed and condensed himself into what appears to be final form, but at least he can be fought on the ground now. After fighting small fry all day long, Mudou wants to fight a real opponent, like his master Douren is still doing. Douren and Nadare seem to be fighting on equal footing and something will have to break that stalemate. Mudou has certainly leveled up since his duel against Senya, but will it be enough against a god?

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