I knew what was coming this week, of course. But when you’ve read a really great manga that doesn’t do anything to lessen the impact of moments like this. If anything it amplifies it, taking you back to the moment you first experienced them, and adding the additional layer of motion, music and the human voice to the equation. That’s only one of many to come, some even bigger, but this was without a question the first real climactic moment of Sengoku Youko.
Life and death is very much the theme of this episode, and Mizukami explores it in many and myriad ways. The heroes are welcomed into the stone-men village by its elder (Gendou Tessha), though the appeal of the hospitality doesn’t match its sincerity. Meanwhile Yazen is debriefing Douren and Jinun (there’s a very nice afterword to this scene that was sadly cut, but c’est la view). Yazen scolds Douren for being too “flexible” in his ways, but it’s clear that the big man has no intention of being anyone but who he is. Yazen sends him on his next mission – this time he’s to be the one to try and take down Jinka Yamato. But he won’t be going alone.
The siblings and company have picked up another stray – a very pregnant woman (Yuzuki Ryouka) who was trying to travel back to her home village “three mountains over”. They take her under their protection to rest, and Shinsuke resumes his sword training (on the head of the village elder, who complains about the racket from his upstairs neighbor). Shakugan follows him and gently inquires as to why Shinsuke is so desperate to become strong, to which he replies that “the weak have no right to exist”. He recounts to her the story of his childhood training, apparently with the ghost of a dead samurai warrior. He also bemoans the fact that everyone in the party has proved their strength except him.
Shinsuke has proved himself to Shakugan’s satisfaction. Kagan – uncharacteristically assertive – makes that clear enough. He also offers to give Shinsuke some advice on wielding Arabuki, to wit that he must learn to think of the demonic sword as a person. Kagan’s words just give Shinsuke that much more reason to want to grow stronger. As for Jinka, his impulses are clearly convinced over the mother-to-be. He acts to protect her, giving her a potion to make her see the rockmen as humans, but he maintains his desire to cut his ties with humanity. A katawara, of course, lives many times the span of a human (as last week’s episode reminds us). And a human like he is would be certain to leave Tama all alone far too soon.
The arrival of Douren – with Resshin in tow – shoves all those concerns off to the side. The elder instructs his villagers to have their guests hide, but the mother is going into labor and they realize that they’d be found eventually. Again, the only option is to face their enemy. And the difference between Douren and Resshin could hardly be more stark, nominal allies or no. Douren wants only a mano a mano with Jinka, with their fists doing the talking, and instructs Resshin to stay out of the way. But for Resshin, everyone connected with Jinka is the enemy – and fair game. Even a pregnant woman (and the manga makes it more clear than the anime that Resshin is fully aware that his “enemies” include one).
Douren and Jinka are miles above anything the current Shinsuke could aspire to, that’s painfully obvious. But Resshin makes this everyone’s problem, and Shinsuke is again unable to offer much help. He moves to take out everyone that Jinka is hiding with a massive boulder, forcing Shakugan (and Kagan) to act. It takes all their combined powers to hold the rock at bay, and Shinsuke is unable to find the real Resshin among his army of shikigami avatars. Douren has honor – Resshin clearly does not. And he runs Shakugan through with his blade even as she continues to try and hold the boulder at bay. Shinsuke draws Arabuki, but the results are familiar, and all seems to be lost.
Even as new life is coming into the world, Shakuyaku and Kagan are giving theirs in order to protect it. Douren prevents Resshin from finishing off a senseless (distracted by Resshin’s attack on Shakugan and caught by Douren’s blow) Jinka, but he’s too late to do anything for Shakugan. Their final act is to become one, providing a literal shield for the two infants that will ensure that their names are not lost to the world. It’s a very poetic moment, no question about it, and the most interesting aspect of it is Jinka and Shinsuke’s reactions. For the first time we see Jinka shed tears, and whether it’s for the human or the katawara is a moot point – they acted as one, in doing so putting the lie to Jinka’s belief system about how the world works.
For Shinsuke, this is yet more reason to hate himself for his weakness. He couldn’t even sacrifice himself in the moment the way Shakugan did, and the fact that she was a person who loved him just makes his perceived failure that much more aggrieving. Both he and Jinka now face a crisis of self-identity, and in a world which has no intention of granting them the breathing room to do so at their own pace.
Nick
February 22, 2024 at 10:53 pmI loved this episode despite some subtle details from the manga missing.
Guardian Enzo
February 22, 2024 at 10:54 pmI missed that fist bump.
Nick
February 23, 2024 at 3:26 amThe only thing I really missed from the manga was the initial 3 pages of Shakuyaku’s trauma. That introduction alongside the chapter title really prepared me for some deep emotional moments. Mizukami is a poet as much as he is an artist. This guy knows how to set the tone for a story he wants to tell. After all, Shakugan’s sacrifice was made even more meaningful by her redemption from that unfortunate rampage incident.
Jindujun93
February 23, 2024 at 2:16 am“Shinsuke draws Arabuki, but the results are familiar, and all seems to be lost.”
Interestingly enough, even though he does draw Arabuki, it’s not actually the sword that blows him back this time, but rather the explosions from Resshin’s charms.
But god. What an episode. Missing fist bump aside, I really don’t think I would have changed anything about how they adapted this. Just… a day after watching the episode and I’m still processing that (and that’s even though I read the manga over half a dozen times by now, so I’m very familiar with all of these events), simply because the material got elevated that much.
Raikou
February 23, 2024 at 10:00 amI did say previously that got a feeling that Sengoku Youko would be pulling Gurren Lagann twist, but certainly not Shakugan’s death..
(also one episode early).
This is a great episode. Shinsuke would despise himself more with this incident. Hoping that he would not go berserk and lose himself.
Nicc
February 24, 2024 at 9:46 amWhew, what an episode. It aired on National Cat Day in Japan and we may want to cuddle up with a cat after watching this episode. Indeed, life and death was the theme in this episode. The village elder welcomes them into the village, though I don’t think that mud balls with muddy water would be appetizing even for Shakugan. Shinsuke has gotten used to being around katawara now, even being able to play with some stone kiddos. Meanwhile, Douren officially gets his orders from Yazen to go after Jinka. The buttoned-up Jinun and the free-spirited Douren are quite the contrast.
The mountain village gets an expected visitor, a pregnant woman who’s passing through and collapses. She’s trying to head back to her home village, but it’s very clear she’s due at any moment. It’s Jinka who helps to take her in and even goes an extra step to make sure that everybody looks human to her. Later that night, Shinsuke is doing more sword practice, practicing so much that he’s got blisters on his hands. I used to have calluses in my right hand from carrying my school bag. I never used the school lockers and so it was a heavy bag. The things we could get away with when we were younger…
Shakugan joins him as he’s training on the village elder’s head (The other two are close by too). He’s still struggling to make himself useful and he reveals that he learned some swordplay from the ghost of a dead samurai. That’s the explanation on why only his downward swing has strength. Right, he has proved himself to Shakuyaku’s and Kagan’s satisfaction and Kagan gives him some advise on how to treat that demonic sword. It looks like that ship between the two of them is about to sail and maybe for Jinka too? He does mention earlier that one of his motivations to become a katawara was to be able to stay with Tama as a human won’t live that long. That got me wondering if a human-katawara hybrid like Shakugan would live longer than humans, but not as long as a true katawara. Writing that hurt a bit knowing what came next.
The next morning, the group gets together what to name the child if it’s a boy or a girl. The chosen names sound familiar… That’s also when Douren arrives at the village and along with Resshin. While they’re instructed to hide, the group figures the best way to go is to just face their enemy. Trying to hide may create unnecessary collateral damage too. Douren wants to fight Jinka one-on-one and instructs Resshin to stay out of their way. He intends to “speak” with Jinka with the language of fists. I remember Yazen instructing Douren to take out Jinka only and not the others. As you said, Resshin has got other ideas.
Douren and Jinka get into one heck of a battle and Jinka even starts enjoying it. The both of them are speaking to each other very clearly. I really liked the thick lines that were drawn for this battle. Resshin figures out where the rest are hiding out and sends out a giant, guided boulder at their direction. It takes Shakugan all she’s got to stop it. Resshin fools everybody with a bunch of shikigami lookalikes and stabs the vulnerable Shakugan. Shakuyaku and Kagan summon up whatever power they’ve got left to stop the boulder for good. They give up their lives just new ones – they’re twins – are born. Douren calls off the duel and it’s all over. Frankly, I’m not sure who could work well together with a loose cannon like Resshin.
We’ve never seen Jinka cry before and Shinsuke, who already has plenty of resentment about his circumstances, adds yet more trauma. This is the kind of trauma that can lead someone to go down a dark path. I don’t think we’re getting a villain origin story here, but he’s never going to be the same. I also want to praise the writing as there was never a moment when it looked like Shakugan was being “fridged”. I’m really looking forward to see how the series goes from here.