Sengoku Youko: Senma Konton-hen – 16

While this was generally a(nother) superb episode of Sengoku Youko: Senma Konton-hen, I want to call special attention to the music. Evan Call, American though he is, is no stranger to anime. His soundtrack has been superb throughout Sengoku Youko’s run, but this was about as prominent a role as it’s played in an episode. That this ep was strong as it was overall from a production standpoint is a very positive indicator as we go into the home stretch. Every episode is kind of a blockbuster the rest of the way, either emotionally or visually (and sometimes both).

That’s the point, really. As I’ve said many times the magic of Mizukami Satoshi is his ability to deliver sweeping action stories that are intimate and personal. I’ll allow that his greatest masterpiece, his magnum opus Spirit Circle, is more straight up intimate and personal. But Sengoku Youko is more representative of his work as a whole. And to take a detour such as this in the middle of the climactic battle, to deal with the personal side of all this for two secondary characters, is a classic Mizukami move. And making it this memorable even more of one.

The title of this episode is “Kumozou and Dousuke”, and this is their elegy. Those are their real names of course – ones Douren never abandoned, even as Jinun did everything in his power to forget his own. There is still the matter of Banshuou and Mudou to consider, and the young dragon is certainly hyped for it (even for him). But one gets the sense that Banshuou never takes it remotely seriously. He is after all so powerful that Hanatora, a land God herself, says she’s no match for him. But all Banshuou seems to want is for Mudou to quieten down so he can watch the two old Dangaisyuu rivals settle things at last. He pulls up a seat and does everything but break out the popcorn.

Kumozou and Dousuke are from the same village, as we already knew. Dousuke never seems to quite surmount the obstacle that is Kumozou, no matter how obsessively he tries. Eventually Yazen gives him a tome about boxing, a western sport many in Japan would probably consider a martial art. Dousuke takes to it like a duck to water, and it soon becomes a part of his combat repertoire. He can’t wait to try it out on Kumozou, the one rival he lives to fight. But when Kumozou returns from his latest assignment – protecting a small village – he’s a changed man. Dousuke may be as naive as it gets as to the reasons why, but he can certainly see that something is fundamentally different.

This is where their shared story gets really tragic for me. Kumozou loses Chiyo, the village girl he fell in love with, when a katawara whose brother he killed forms an army and attacks it while he’s away. Kumozou blames himself for not being strong enough to intimidate any potential attacks. He shows up back at the Dangaisyuu temple and asks to be readmitting, citing his need to become more powerful. And he brings someone with him – the newborn Senya, who Chiyo saved by hiding him in a pot. And of course, Senya is his son.

Kumozou tries to leave that behind name, dead with the woman he loved, but Dousuke (now Douren) will have none of that. These man choosing to let Yazen do what he did to them is one thing. But for Jinun to allow it to be done to his son undercuts a lot of the sympathy I’d otherwise feel for him. But that decision set off the chain of events that is Sengoku Youko. And that chain leads us to this battle between the two of them, which in itself seems misguided to me. Jinun may not be truly dancing to the Tribe of the Void’s tune here, but if that’s, why are these two fighting so seriously now?

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4 comments

  1. J

    Also another special mention to that ex-Toei animator Shigeyasu Yamauchi who helmed this episode after his stellar work on the 6th episode of this season. Spectacular stuff that feels suitably old school in a good way.

  2. Yeah, Yamauchi is a big name but basically retired at 71. For him to come back to work on this one is a measure of how respected Mizukami is in the industry.

  3. Douren getting his win over Jinun was great. I had not read the manga, but it was clear that the story would have Douren triumph over him. And with this, Jinun is probably freed from the Void People’s grasp.

    It seems The Void people’s plan is literally getting derailed with all the developments of Jinun choosijg to fight Douren, Senya becoming a thousand-handed kannon, and Banshou-ou taking this form.

  4. N

    Most of Douren’s and Jinun’s battle took place in the background where other battles were swirling all around them. They even sometimes paused when something else got their attention, such as a mecha showing up. We did get the occasional look, but their battle was treated like the undercard.

    It may be a tad late, but it’s the main event in this episode. After trading numerous blows, both are aware that it’s now the 12th round and that the fight will be ending soon. Oh yeah, and the undercard this time is Banshuou vs Mudou. Right, it wasn’t really a fight as Banshuou was more interested in getting a ringside seat for Douren vs Jinun than to pay attention to Mudou. Banshuou eventually got Mudou to buzz off by having him fight with clones of him and Senya from when they fought eight years ago.

    I did like how we got more about the history for the both of them and how that led to this moment. We go back when they were still Dousuke and Kumozou with the Dangaisyuu. Kumozou is now strong enough to be sent out on missions on his own. Dousuke isn’t quite there yet when it comes to being able to go out on missions or to beat Kumozou. With no other opponents to spar with, that’s when Yazen gives him a tome about boxing. Yep, it turns out that boxing fits him like a glove. Kumozou returns from his mission and Dousuke wants to show off his new pugilistic prowess (Yazen wants the mission report first, though), but it’s clear that there’s something different with him.

    First, he pretty much checks out when he’s sparring with Dousuke and the report that Yazen wanted to see was almost entirely about a woman he met at the village where he was sent out for the mission. Yep, he got it bad and enough that he wanted to leave the Dangaisyuu to be with her. Surprisingly, Yazen allowed it and he leaves. We don’t know how much time passes, but we later see Dousuke battling with the tiger katawara that he’ll be fused with in the future. This also explains how he got that scar and how me met the sake monkeys for the first time.

    Unexpectedly, he sees Kumozou back at the temple and carrying a child. Right, we learn that the village that he was living at was attacked by an army of katawara while he was away and as an act of revenge. Amongst the dead was his wife, Chiyo, who hid their son. That is Senya and Kumozou returns to become even more powerful and more feared. That worked as his name sparks fear in the present day. That was also how the Four Beast Generals were born. Back in the present, both of them unleash their ultimate moves and it’s Douren who’s still standing when the smoke clears. It’s his win and it looks like the influence by the Void people on Jinun has been broken too. Indeed, it’s still not clear why Jinun/Nadare wanted to have this battle now. This also means that Banshuou will be satisfied now, but Mudou is clearly overmatched if Banshuou decides to take this seriously.

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