Whatever else one wants to say about this adaptation, it was brought to you with love. It couldn’t be more clear that the team at CloverWorks really cared about The Elusive Samurai. Everything was more than it needed to be – cleverer, weirder, more bombastic. This was an anime that had a budget I’d call modest more than voluminous, but it still managed to look interesting from start to finish. And you can’t pull that off without huge talent and total commitment – either one on their own is not enough.

This finale was everything the NigeWaka anime is. Fourth wall breaking, anachronisms, inside jokes. Starting with an Evangelion intro card, which seems to be a nod to the inconclusive nature of the ending (if one can call it that). We got Yorishige referencing that something couldn’t be changed because it was already shown in the OP. And then nothing says a “read the manga” ending like having the actual manga appear at the end. But is that really all there is to it? We can’t know the answer yet, but it’s hard to be overly enthusiastic.

That OP gag was a reference to armor, which Tokiyuki was being forced to wear for the first time. Again, he’s trying to impress the Kamakura Party as a commander without revealing his identity (and that’s not even the biggest reason he doesn’t reveal it). But as the narration tells us even a child’s set of armor in those days was crazy heavy, and that’s a lot to ask for a 10 year-old to carry it around all day. Not to mention this boy’s calling card is his elusiveness (hey, it’s the title). Eventually it’s Shizuku who provides the solution, as she’s used her thinking around corners to have the armorer cook up something lighter and more mobile (which would actually become the trend for armor).

If this is where the anime ends, it would certainly be sadly ironic because after all, this is where the main story really begins. Once you get past simple survival – which was something of a miracle in and of itself – for Tokiyuki it’s all been building up to this. Which means it has for Yorishige too. I suppose Tokiyuki could have chosen to walk away from all this, taken the tonsure at a temple somewhere and hoped to pass his life undiscovered. That’s what many survivors of defeated clans have done in Japanese history, and I’m sure Suwa-san wouldn’t have stopped him.

Tokiyuki, for better or worse, chose a different path. And it leads to war, any way you slice it. That war begins with a strike on the provincial capital, though that’s largely meant to draw out Sadamune’s forces. Shoukan sees through this, and plans to hit Yorishige’s forces from the rear. But Tokiyuki has always known that his destiny was to face Shoukan again, and it’s he – and the Elusive Warriors, and the Kamakura Party – who shoulder the responsibility of dealing with him. And their strategy – the “Flaming Holy Pillar of Suwa” – is one only Yorishige and Tokiyuki (and Matsui Yuusei) would come up with.

This, then, was the Nakasendai Rebellion (read up if you don’t mind spoilers), and it would echo across Japan as one of the monumental events of its time. In far-off places men like Kitabatake Akiie would watch on with interest, knowing that in time they would be caught up in its backwash. This was a far larger, more complicated struggle than simply Houjou vs. Ashikaga (World is Dancing gives considerable hints of this). But the genius of Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi is in humanizing it by focusing on the very personal aspects of the conflict, namely the title character and the man who deposed his family and chased him from his home.

But that’s as far as we get with it here, sadly. Not that there was any other path to be taken – the anime has barely used a quarter of the manga material. And at no time showed any interest in rushing things or skipping material – each season has used just over thirty chapters. That just gives you an idea of how embryonic the story is where it leaves off here. It would be nice to think it might receive a full adaptation, but eight cours of anime for a completed manga seems like a longshot at best. Matsui is a big name without a doubt, but NigeWaka is a mid-level commercial success, not a kaijuu.

Still, I don’t see any reason to totally give up hope. The anime gives mixed signals almost to the point of trolling, but its disinterest in offering anything conclusive might betray possibility. There’s also the fact that just this week, Shueishia announced that Matsui-sensei would be serializing a new Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi series based on “recently discovered historical documents about the life of Houjou Tokiyuki”. It’s not entirely clear if this is the short chapter called “Aeba Myozurumaru Letter” he included with the final volume, but it seems to be a totally new project. Maybe that matters and maybe not, but having something ongoing to promote certainly doesn’t hurt the chances of at least one more season.

This is a mixed feelings situation for me if ever there was one. It’s a shame NigeWaka isn’t as popular as it deserves to be, but at the same time, how can one not be ecstatic with the adaptation it received? Even if it winds up only being two seasons, what seasons they are – it’s truly one of the best manga adaptations of the decade and frankly exceeded my expectations in almost every way. And even if this really was a read the manga ending, it’s a hell of a great manga so that’s no hardship. Iza!