Well, that was OK. I’m still here, and on balance this episode was definitely more appealing for me than the last two have been. I still find Nippon Sangoku to be grounded in a sort of reactionary wish fulfillment. Nostalgia for a “better” time when men proved their worth on the battlefield, Japan was strictly isolationist, and traditional values prevailed. That’s pretty much the guiding principle of the xenophobic movement in Japan and has been for decades, since Mishima and before.
Still, when it gets silly and focused on the strategic side of things, the series remains fun. Having executed the man who took a fall for her, Ohga is now conveniently back in the saddle in Seii. The downside of course is that her best strategist is now dead at her hand, so one has to assume the new plans aren’t going to be of the same standard. The idea for now seems to be to lure the enemy into sending a massive force from Osaka (under Denki’s command) and relying on the climate to do the Russia-Napoleon/Hitler thing.
Of course things are not rosy on the planning front in Yamato either. Both Ryuumon and Kaku are down for the count – though the General is at least conscious. Kaku apparently had a viking buffet of ailments and OD’d on black market meds, which the doctor believe caused his acute collapse at least. It seems pretty clear that Aoteru is lined up to take over Kaku’s role, but we’re not at that point yet so I think Kaku has a revival and one more round in his future.
As for that master plan he thought up, Aoteru’s audience with the Emperor is the key to it. The zaku at the door try to keep him out, but eventually Denki shows up and greases the wheels. I have no doubt Denki genuinely does respect Aoteru’s capability, but he has no doubts that he can use him towards his own ends. In this case to leverage Aoteru’s request for reinforcements to Fukui as a means to get Ryuumon removed from command and replaced with himself. Except Aoteru isn’t here to do that – he petitions the Emperor for a full withdrawal. He doesn’t seem to have coordinated any of this in advance with Kaku, so the latter is placing the fate of Yamato on faith that this young upstart will figure things out on his own.
