One main event and some major exposition in Episode 15.
The episode begins with the Shinsengumi still in the midst of the battle for Koufu castle. Koudou Yukimura informs Harada and Shiranui (who have been shocked into fighting on the same side) that his newly-created rasetsu soldiers, who are capable of fighting in daylight, will be his ticket to reviving the Yukimura oni clan. He states that "a new age of demons" has begun.
This appears to be news to Shiranui, upon whom it slowly dawns that Koudou has betrayed them.
Meanwhile, the retreating Commander Kondo and Chizuru come across Kaoru. It's the first time Chizuru has seen him in boy's clothing, but she nonetheless recognizes him. Then a big exposition dump takes place. ;)
Kaoru reveals to Chizuru that: 1) he is Chizuru's brother; 2) Koudou is not their blood father; 3) he and Chizuru were split up as young children and raised in separate families for their protection; and 4) their clan, the Yukimura clan, was destroyed because they refused to overthrow the shogunate. And - Kaoru's here to rescue her. Oh - and Kaoru and Koudou are working together to destroy humanity, so that a new world for demons can be created.
Understandably, Chizuru stands there dumbfounded at first, listening to all of this - but then she rallies when Kaoru invites her to return with him. Chizuru refuses, stating that she swore to protect Commander Kondo.
Kondo intervenes and Kaoru injures him. Chizuru draws her sword and briefly fights Kaoru before Kaoru defeats her. She again refuses Kaoru's last offer to join him, and Kaoru is about to execute her when Soji Okita appears out of nowhere in his rasetsu form to save Chizuru.
His rasetsu form soon fades, however, and Kaoru is about to kill him when Kazama spears him from behind. Kaoru, as he dies, appears to sincerely reach out to Chizuru, who is moved.
Kazama tells Chizuru that Koudou has left the Satsuma clan and betrayed the demons, and for that he must be killed. Chizuru asks Kazama to give her some time to find Koudou and speak with him first, and Kazama agrees.
After the defeat at Koufu castle, the Shinsengumi move into new headquarters in Hatamoto. Chizuru visits her old Edo residence to search for clues as to Koudou's whereabouts, and goes with Harada to visit Soji, who is back to being bedridden again. The episode ends with Shinpachi and Harada leaving the Shinsengumi.
Kaoru's sudden death surprised me. You would think a long-lost (literal) evil twin to the main character who has been consorting with the enemy would be a character you'd keep around for a while. But at least the info dump facts that he revealed en masse to Chizuru means that she now knows everything about her history, her father, and his plot to destroy the human race.
Again, the mandate in this second season of Hakuouki appears to be to advance the plot by leaps and bounds in each episode. It's exciting to think that this is only the third episode of twelve, because the way the story is unfolding, it's impossible to predict what will happen next. Till next episode...
Note - The anime is numbering the season two episodes continuing on from season one, so I'm going to do the same. Episode 2 of season two therefore becomes "Episode 14."
Episode 14 opens with Soji, now confined to his bed in Edo, telling Hijikata that he objects to the recently-recovered Kondo's participation in the upcoming battle for Koufu castle. Hijikata acts tough with Soji at first, but then reveals his true feelings when he gently lays Soji's new Western-style uniform by his futon, telling him to get well and then rejoin them.
On the road to Koufu castle Kondo lingers in Hino, his hometown, while the rest of the Shinsengumi proceed on ahead. Shinpachi resents this, even though they've picked up additional troops in Hino and Kondo is set to rejoin them soon.
Hijikata and Saito discuss the Shinsengumi's situation while Chizuru listens in. Saito asks Hijikata for his honest opinion of their chances, and Hijikata bluntly replies that they will probably lose. Later that night, Chizuru has a nightmare in which Hijikata dies in battle. Upon awakening, she sees Saito going off by himself and follows him.
Saito tells Chizuru that he doesn't fear dying in battle, but what he does fear is the end of what he believed in: the old samurai warrior ethos. He notes that the days of swords and spears are over and questions what it means to be a true warrior. Chizuru reminds Saito that his sword saved her in the Ikedaya incident and that this protective act is the mark of a true warrior. The two are interrupted by Kai Shimada, who rushes in to inform them that Koufu castle has been taken by the enemy.
Hijikata holds an emergency strategy meeting in the middle of the night over a field map. Shinpachi is furious that Kondo's "dawdling" in Hino meant that the enemy got the jump on them, while Harada tries to calm him down. Hijikata sends word to Kondo, who leaves Hino and arrives at the camp at sunrise.
In the meantime, hearing the news of the castle's fall, half of the new troops desert before then, leaving the Shinsengumi at an even more perilous disadvantage than before. At the morning meeting headed by Commander Kondo, Shinpachi argues that the enemy numbers are too great and urges a retreat. Kondo questions Shinpachi's will to fight, which causes Shinpachi to lunge at Kondo. As Shinpachi is restrained by Harada, Hijikata states that he will go to Edo to seek reinforcements. When he returns with additional troops, they will attack the castle.
Chizuru runs after Hijikata as he's leaving, and Hijikata tells her to escape before the fighting begins. Chizuru refuses and Hijikata gives in, deputizing her to safeguard Commander Kondo. He tells her that her job will be to get Kondo to safety in case of danger.
While Hijikata is away, the battle begins. Even though it's clear that the Shinsengumi and their troops are outnumbered, Kondo refuses to order a retreat and personally leads a charge against the enemy. The Imperialists, who are better equipped with Western weapons such as guns and cannons, respond with an array of fire and Kondo is injured. All the men he led in the charge are killed.
Kondo finally realizes that what Shinpachi and Harada have been saying is true. In his shame, he decides to end everything with a lone suicide charge. Chizuru stops him, saying that while dying would be easier, the pain of living with the deaths that are on his conscience is more difficult than throwing his life away on a symbolic last charge and that he must live with this responsibility and truth. She adds that the Shinsengumi and Hijikata need him to live on. Kondo then abandons his suicide mission and leaves with Saito and Chizuru.
On the retreat, Harada runs across Shiranui, his oni nemesis, and the two begin to fight. Their fight is interrupted by an ominous new crew of soldiers - rasetsu soldiers who can fight in broad daylight. Their leader is none other than Koudou Yukimura - Chizuru's long-missing father.
There was more character depth shown in this episode than usual, to an impressive degree. In particular, Chizuru acted as the de facto moral conscience of the Shinsengumi. She reminds a pensive Saito that a warrior's spirit doesn't depend on the type of weapon used, but on his heart; insists to Hijikata that she will stay to protect Kondo; and finally, and with amazing bluntness, tells Kondo that he would be a coward if he went to his death in battle instead of living with the consequences of his actions. I'm not sure if Chizuru is entirely believable as a moral authority, as we've never seen her be this bold before, but perhaps the desperate situation the Shinsengumi now find themselves in is calling forth more from her. That can only be a good sign for the rest of the series.
Hijikata also seemed different in this episode: more vulnerable and human. He even displays a dry sense of humor not once but twice - when he tells Saito not to let Shinpachi and Harada overhear them discussing the Shinsengumi's likely defeat, and later when he and Chizuru strike swords in their "warrior's oath." "Neither you nor I are true warriors, so this is just a sham," he says to her, with a sad smile.
The fact that Hijikata came from a non-samurai family has been alluded to before. In a previous episode Hijikata was furious at recalling Kazama looking at him "like he could see right through me," and in the teahouse scene in season one he told Chizuru that being a samurai still felt like a dream to him, a dream he could awaken from at any moment.
Historically, the caste system in Edo Japan had the samurais at the top level, then farmers, then merchants. Kondo and Hijikata came from the farmer caste. It was only toward the end of the Edo period that non-samurais could become samurais. Hijikata's self-deprecating statement about not being a "true warrior" reflects his growing realization that the dream of being a samurai is nearly over. The era of the samurai's end - and the Shinsengumi's end - is close at hand.
One of these things is not like the others, Which one is it? Do you know? Can you tell which thing is not like the others And I'll tell you if it is so!
Did you guess which thing was not like the others? Did you guess which thing just doesn't belong? If you guessed this one
...is not like the others, Then you're absolutely right!
And here I go... with my first time blogging a series - the second season of Hakuouki.
So now, the Shinsengumi are in Edo (Tokyo). Vice-Captain Hijikata is overworking himself preparing the men to fight the Imperialists, as well as having to fight off sudden surges of bloodlust that arise due to his recent conversion to rasetsu status.
Chizuru does her usual housewife-to-the-Shinsengumi thing, coming in with tea and insisting that Hijikata eat and drink something. Hijikata intuits that she's compensating with this behavior and confronts her about it. Chizuru says she just wants to help as much as possible, seeing as how they've all been protecting her.
We then get... Hijikata touching her for the first time.
It's not much, but for this show, it's huge. Throughout the entire first season the Chizuru-Hijikata pairing was hinted at, but now it's canon. For what it's worth, it's the only pairing I would have wanted to see myself but honestly, it's hardly the passion of the ages, is it? ;) Hijikata is almost twice her age. He's dead gorgeous, but that's not the point. It's like the tea girl falling in love with the vice-president of the corporation, when there are a zillion cute guys her own age in the office who would ask her out in a second. Eh?
Nevertheless, moving on... to poor Sannan-san.
They've turned my favorite character full-on creepy this season, with lizard-like eyes and everything. Sannan has gotten the idea that Chizuru's oni blood would be the best tonic for a rasetsu and comes into her room with a cheery smile. He then pulls out a knife, and Chizuru (having only just told Hijikata that she feels guilty that people are always rescuing her) gets rescued by Hijikata again.
Chizuru visits Soji Okita, who is healing from his gunshot wounds, and Commander Kondo arrives with the Shinsengumi's new orders from the shogunate. Their new name is to be the "Kouyo Chinbutai" and their next job is to take and hold Koufu Castle.
Shinpachi is not happy, seeing Kondo's excitement at being promoted if they can pull this off as unseemly and unlike their leader. Meanwhile, Hijikata orders the rasetsu unit to stay home for this battle, leaving lizard samuraiSannan unhappy as well.
What follows can only be called the "Shinsengumi Fashion Show," as Chizuru oohs and ahhs over Harada, Heisuke, Shinpachi, Saito and finally Hijikata himself in their new Western uniforms. The episode ends with the men marching off to battle toward Koufu Castle.
Well, I guess I was okay with this episode. The stakes have been raised slightly higher with the Hijikata-Chizuru pairing being established, and the show appears to be veering toward historical accuracy once again ;) - as it looks like Shinpachi and a few others may be splitting off from the Shinsengumi soon.
I have basically given up on Chizuru ever becoming more than what she is. Remember, she's an oni and potentially as powerful as Kazama. The high watermark for her, the moment where she really could have grown as a character, was when Hijikata and Kazama fought in the final episode of the first season and Hijikata was about to down the ochimizu that would turn him into a rasetsu. If Chizuru couldn't raise her damn sword then, when the man she loved was about to do something that would alter his humanity forever, in order to protect her, she's never going to. So she is who she is. I'm figuring that any expectations regarding her will only lead to disappointment, so I've given up.
The final image in the ending credits cements the canon relationship:
I think the Demon Vice-Commander deserves better. Oh, well... till next episode!
I recently had the privilege of being the copy editor for the third Gundam 00 light novel for Bandai Entertainment, thus becoming - albeit in a very small way - a part of the massive Gundam universe.
I've had a change of heart when it comes to Gundam. I used to think there were too many Gundam series and that if I began watching Gundam that I would never find my way out again. ;) But actually, Gundam is comprised of several storylines set in different time periods, and each series can be viewed independent of the others - though the more Gundam series you have under your belt, the greater your appreciation of each newly-viewed series as being part of the continuum.
I've seen Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, episode 1 of Gundam Unicorn and the first season of Gundam 00 thus far. With Crunchyroll's recent announcement that it has reacquired the original Gundam series, Zeta Gundam and both seasons of Gundam 00, I'm gearing up to dive headfirst into Gundam-watching this fall.
Some random thoughts about things Gundam...
Male-Female Relations in Gundam
I've written a little on the odd Banagher-Audrey relationship in Gundam Unicorn. In Gundam 00 I didn't find any of the male-female relationships to be very interesting, at least not in the first season. In Gundam Seed, the relationships are actually fairly mature: whatever other crises the four main characters are involved in, Kira, Athrun, Cagalli and Lacus deal with one another like adults instead of the 16-year-olds they are, an interesting reversal from the teenage angst and confusion you usually see.
The strangest - almost non-existent - male-female relationship I've seen so far in Gundam is in Gundam Wing, with Heero and Relena.
Heero is stoic. Very stoic. In fact, he really only has one expression:
Yeah - that's it, pretty much. ;)
Despite being a trained soldier from birth, able to function with 200 broken bones in his body, Heero is unable to say more than a single sentence to Relena while simultaneously looking her in the eye.
He also has his own code language. After Relena sees him coming out of the ocean where his secret Gundam mecha has just crashed, he says the following to her:
Heero: I'm going to kill you. (Translation: I think you're cute.)
At least, I think that's what he really meant. Since he only has the one expression, it's hard to tell. ;)
Heero talks tough, but it doesn't take much to bring him down. In a later conversation with Relena...
Relena: So, are you still going to kill me, Heero Yuy? Heero: . . .
By the end, Heero still hasn't said a lot to Relena, although in one amazing moment he does tell her that he admires her (and you know it had to almost kill him to say that much). It's the strangest "romantic" relationship I've seen yet in anime.
Repeating Motifs
In its 31-year history, the universe of Gundam has had several repeating motifs, like Haro the flying robot...
...who, C-3PO and R2-D2-like, appears in nearly every Gundam series. There's also a rather strange obsession with blond men who wear masks:
"But We're Fighting for Peace!"
At one point in Gundam Wing, Quatre, one of the five Gundam pilots in the series, argues that he and the other pilots are fighting to achieve peace.
The biggest motif, or rather theme, of all of the Gundam series is the horror of war and how to achieve peace. The built-in conflict here of course is that Gundam is a shonen mecha story, meaning that it's all about exciting mecha battles and violent fight scenes.
In science fiction, there's always the one enemy that the heroes can kill with impunity. It's the pod people, or the replicating robots or some other soulless entity. In horror, it's zombies. In The Lord of the Rings, it was the Orcs.
But in Gundam, nobody kills anybody else with impunity. And no one dies without consequence. Every death in the world of Gundam has an effect, whether it's shown on live television across several planets or takes place alone in space with no one to see. Every act has its attendant fallout, sometimes positive and sometimes horrific.
And war is always shown to be more than just the battlefront. There's the history between the warring nations, between the colonizer and the colonized, or the different ethnic groups involved; and endless political maneuvering with secret negotiations, backroom deals, betrayals, factions splitting off, people switching sides, etc.
What Gundam does best is to present all of this: the battles, the deaths, the politics, the triumphs, mistakes and changes of heart, and let the viewer decide for himself or herself whether the characters involved made the right decisions. The viewers, like the characters, always start out believing they know who the "good" guys and the "bad" guys are, but their opinions - also like the characters' - inevitably change by the end of the story. Gundam shows that war, like life, is a gray zone with few clear-cut choices; and in the end, all a person can do is to make the best decisions based on his conscience and the information available to him at the time.
And based not only on his conscience, but on his heart, which sees beyond sides. Gundam skirts the line of reason with its espousing of peace on the one hand and its fiercely exciting violent mecha battles on the other, but its heart is in the right place. No one can watch Gundam Seed and be unaffected by its portrayal of the effects of war; how violence and death lead to vengeance, which leads to revenge, which leads to further payback, and mistakes made in anger, and then more people getting hurt and dying. Gundam doesn't present clear solutions for the problem of war, because there aren't any. War comes from the wounded human heart, which must heal on an individual basis.
So amidst the clashing mechas, the casts of characters too large to keep track of everybody, silly Haro, and mysterious blond men in masks, something else is going on under the surface of Gundam. It's the message that it may be a contradiction in terms to fight for peace - but that sometimes it's the only thing you can do. And that the best reason to do so, is to protect others.
Which is a very typical reason you find in Japanese anime for the heroes to fight.
I'm proud to be a tiny part of the Gundam universe. Gundam is good for you. ;)
Hakuouki Hekketsuroku, season 2 of Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan, started on October 2.
For a change of pace, I've decided to blog this season of Hakuouki episode by episode. So, I'll begin by detailing what new things happened in episode one of Hakuouki's second season.
...
...
...
... And actually, that about sums it up. Because the first episode of season 2 was a clip episode.
Not the first 6-7 minutes, like you get with Bleach sometimes - but the entire episode.
So basically, Chizuru recounted everything that happened in season 1, and then the episode was over. Well, for my first series-blogging post, this was remarkably easy. ;)
Despite this bizarre beginning, I'm planning on sticking with this. Just FYI, the subs were often late for Hakuouki's first season - as late as a week sometimes, meaning a new episode would get uploaded in raw while we were still waiting for subs to come out for the previous week's episode. So it may take some time for each post, but I will be blogging this season of Hakuouki - including clip episodes and whatever other surprises might come along. :)
Edit: My mistake - there actually was a first episode with all-new content. It aired on October 2. The recap episode is apparently "Episode 0" and the new-content episode is "Episode 1." Somehow I missed that there was an Episode 1 out until now.
True to form, the raw of Episode 1 has still not been subbed seven days later. Again, I will start blogging this series - just as soon as I can understand what they're saying. ;)
Tokyopop's Hetalia: Axis Powers, vol. I manga is No. 1 on the New York Times manga bestseller list!
I was the copy editor for this volume, and my thanks to Tokyopop editor Cindy Suzuki for giving me a credit in the book for my work. To be honest, it actually was a lot of work - as you'll see if you read it. There were numerous historical references to be checked, as well as country profiles to read through carefully and a lot of footnotes to proofread. But it was a labor of love for me - as I'm a big fan of Hetalia - and Tokyopop did a beautiful job with the production and final product. (I'm looking at a copy of it right now.)
I've added Hetalia: Axis Powers, vol. I to my Amazon store in the sidebar, along with other books I've worked on recently, including the third volume in the Eureka Seven light novel series and the third volume in the Mobile Suit: Gundam 00 series, both for Bandai Entertainment. Feel free to visit my store and take a look!
And for all you Hetalia fans... don't forget about international Hetalia Day (U.N. Day).
