OP: “HIBANA” by MindaRyn
It’s more than a little surreal, seeing a Mizukami Satoshi series being competently adapted by capable adults. This was something I’d pretty much given up hope on, and the Bicuit Hammer debacle made me even more fatalistic if anything. But here we are, two episodes in, and all signs point to yes. I wouldn’t call this adaptation lavish, but it’s on the right side of “fine”. The look is old-school (those Gainax explosions) but pretty fluid, the casting is mostly on-point, and Evan Call is doing his thing. When a source material is this good, that’s really all it needs to succeed.
This week brings us the OP and (gorgeous) ED too, which amps up the emotional factor even more. There are a few glimpses of what Sengoku Youko will become, but mostly it sticks with the prologue, which is basically what the first cour is. At some point the pace of adaptation is going to have to speed up, as the series has 37 episodes to adapt 99 chapters and has basically covered four so far. But I’m thinking Aizawa and Hanada (director and writer) don’t want to rush through the world building stage. Even though I think the material later in the series is the best it has to offer, I can understand the thinking there.
The focus at the start here is the monster the Dangaisyuu went to battle with at the close of the premiere. And the two monks sent to deal with it are no match for the creature called Shakugan. Fortunately for them Jinka intervenes and saves them, even carrying the pair to safety as they flee. It may seem odd for Jinka to save katawara-killing humans from a (seeming) katawara, but things are never quite straightforward with the world reform siblings.
Inga (Ono Atsushi, really great here – as usual) and Ouhou (Egashira Hiroya) are smart enough to know that Tama is right when she says Jinka saved their lives. And they agree to offer up what they know about Shakugan, which is quite a tale. She’s not in fact a katawara at all, but a human, subject to experiments at the Dangaisyuu head temple designed to create super-soldiers by fusing humans with katawara. She went berserk during the experiments and escaped, returning to her village in katawara form and exacting vengeance on the villagers who treated her as an outcast thanks to her spiritual powers (which made her a target for the Dangaisyuu Yazen (Tsuda Kenjirou – he turns up in everything if you’re patient) in the first place.
No one seems more upset about this than Shinsuke, who has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to authority figures. Inga notes the strangeness of the fact that he clearly grew up a farmer and hates samurai, yet carries two swords. But Jinka and Tama are plenty riled up too, and Jinka happily tells the monks he’s going to their head temple to exact some payback. The news that there are 300 warrior monks there doesn’t seem to faze him a bit, and Inga and Ouhou make no attempt to talk him out of it. Fighting is what they do anyway, so what would be the point?
When Shakugan (Kurosawa Tomoyo) awakens in human form, she has no recollection of anything after her time at the temple. Tama pointedly doesn’t reveal what happened at her village, where it’s clear Shakugan suffered even before Yazen bought her from her father. Jinka, in an acknowledgement that this amounts to quite a challenge even for him, tells Tama he needs to “take a little more than usual” this time, a process which Tama is clearly sheepish about and hides from view (ours too). The monks are ready and waiting, and the first major battle of the series doesn’t waste time with preamble.
If I know anything about Mizukami, it’s that he’s a humanist. Like Yukimura or Urasawa or Tezuka, he has a worldview which comes through in everything he writes – a point he’s trying to make about existence and how to cope with it. He’s not a writer who shows all his cards at the start of the game, and I think that’s more true with Sengoku Youko than any of his major series. This is all going somewhere, everything that happens matters, and the journey cannot be separated from the destination. Even at only 37 episodes this series won’t get to where it’s going in a hurry, but no step along the way is anything less than critical.
ED: “Yuuyami no Uta (夕闇のうた)” by KEIKO
SeijiSensei
January 18, 2024 at 11:08 pmWell, it might be a classic, but it’s lost me. I’m not waiting for it to get better. Both these episodes seemed pretty generic, and I hate dumb characters who spend all their time screaming.
Jindujun93
January 19, 2024 at 3:05 amFor what it’s worth, we know that this first arc will be 13 episodes long, that has already been confirmed. And that sort of pacing fits – first part is 35 chapters long (36 if you count the bonus chapter), so out of 99 total, that quota seems about right. I’m not worried about the pace of this adaption at all.
That being said, man. Both the OP and the ED made me feel all kinds of things. The moment I saw a certain somebody show up in the OP, I knew right away you’d include the shot of him in your post here, haha. Now I’m already excited about what kind of OP will await us for the second arc, when we get so many great new characters – and until then, I’ll thoroughly enjoy this first arc. I’ve waited so long to see my favorite Mizukami manga animated, and now it’s finally time – no way I’m not going to completely savor the experience.
Guardian Enzo
January 19, 2024 at 6:16 amThere was no way I wasn’t including that shot, lol.
Soph
January 21, 2024 at 3:42 amAhh I’m so looking forward to part two!
Nicc
January 19, 2024 at 7:57 amThis was a solid 2nd episode. We’ve get to see the OP for the first time too and it’s a good one. The top OP of the season for me so far is from the 2nd season of “Mashle” and it’s appropriate for Mash to groove to a banger.
The battle with that monster is a bit much for Jinka to handle in his current state and so everybody beats a hasty retreat. The two monks are also brought along as they find a small hut to take a breather. Their lives saved, the two monks owe Jinka and Tama a favor and so they now talk about the creature named Shakugan. It’s some strange timing that I watched “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” over the weekend as they both tackle a similar topic. (I’ve been planning to watch my disc for a while and I just decided to do it on Saturday). As you said, Shakugan is not a katawara and instead a product of experimentation on a human. Something went wrong with Shakugan and she went on a rampage, which included destroying the village who treated her as an outcast.
Jinka and Tama are about to head out to find Shakugan, but it appears that she found them first. Undergoing the spirit transformation this time, Jinka defeats Shakugan and she returns to her human form. It is indeed interesting to consider just where Shisuke got his daishō pair from and considering his dislike for the samurai. They refuse to let the monks take her back to their temple. They practically invite Jinka to their temple as he is planning for the aforementioned payback. It looks like Jinka and Tama just picked up another tagalong with Shakugan.
Shakugan herself has no memories of any of this and the last thing she remembers is being sold to a monk. However, she is able to guide the group to where their temple is. With 300 monks waiting for him, Jinka is going to need a bigger power-up than usual. Apparently, the act for that is also more embarrassing to Tama than usual. Jinka heads off to the temple where he is greeted by the monks. As per Tama’s instructions, Jinka is just there to teach them a lesson, but perhaps he may have to get a bit more serious, after all.
Raikou
January 19, 2024 at 11:31 amWhy do I get the feeling that this series..is going to have that ‘Gurren Lagann’ twist?
(I’m just guessing. I’m anime-only exclusive here).
Guardian Enzo
January 19, 2024 at 1:17 pmStick around and find out. The only thing I’ll say is that it’s three cours, and IMHO the first is the least great of the three (though still pretty great).
Nick
January 19, 2024 at 3:55 pmA competent review that doesn’t just say “it’s generic” “Shinsuke is weak” “Inuyasha copy”… this is certainly a rare occasion. You might be the only reviewer I’ve read who noted that Shinsuke isn’t just loud, but is a representation of a peasant fighting against feudal classicism in Japan.
In an era where studios try to jam pack everything into the first episode, I’m glad White Fox stuck to the original script and allowed Sengoku Youko to develop properly. I sure hope the trend isn’t going to succumb to the 3 second attention span audience because we have enough of the “actually generic” power fantasy stories around.
Guardian Enzo
January 19, 2024 at 6:02 pmI do think people have become conditioned to expect generic because that’s what anime spoon-feeds them constantly. It’s understandable but it does make it harder for series that go deeper to be accepted, especially when they superficially resemble a formula.
Lurk-chan
January 23, 2024 at 1:35 pmOh wew, I don’t know why, but that OP hit me hard!
Seemingly sent me back 20 years, and could’ve easily been in something like Inuyasha or Code Geass back at the time! (The song has this distinct early 2000s feel to it, for a lack of better term).
Loving the series so far, and am excited for more!
Guardian Enzo
January 23, 2024 at 3:45 pmYou’re not the first person to say that OP reminded them of Inuyasha. The adaptation general does have a very noughties feel to me, in a good way. But SY gets much deeper than Inuyasha does, IMO (and I like Inuyasha a lot, I practically grew up on it).
The ED is the one I really love. It’s gorgeous.