The Shinsengumi Return in Blue Miburo, Plus the Joys of New Licenses

A late addition to the fall anime season is Blue Miburo, a new interpretation of the famed Shinsengumi.

From Kodansha USA:

It's 1863, the twilight of the shogunate, and Japan is on the cusp of monumental change. The streets of the nation's capital are soaked in blood as political upheaval and rising tensions between masterless, wandering ronin and government samurai set the stage for one of the most turbulent times in Japan's history. Young orphan Nio is no stranger to the harsh realities of the world, and yet he can't help but cling to his burning passion for justice and desire to change the world for the better.

One day, he crosses paths with two men who will become central figures of the coming revolution: Hijikata Toshizo and Okita Souji, two of the founding members of a group of hated ronin known as the Miburo—who would later become known as the Shinsengumi. Inspired by the efforts of the so-called "Blues Wolves of Mibu," Nio decides to join the ranks to help carve a path to the world he wishes to see. But with new betrayals and reversals every day, will Nio be able to stay true to his conscience?

The Shinsengumi have been featured in numerous manga and anime series, most notably in...

Kaze Hikaru...

Hakuouki...

... and of course Gintama.

It should be remembered that the Shinsengumi were a reactionary force and wouldn’t be looked on with favor these days. I myself tend to forget this when I drool over Hakouki’s Hijikata or laugh at Gintama’s Kondo and Okita. Yes, they were genuine heroes to a certain side in Japanese history - but that was long ago.

Nonetheless, I’m giving Blue Miburo a try. I can’t resist the Shinsengumi in any of their iterations.

Some unexpected good things have come out of paying for streaming subscriptions. By which I mean that I didn’t expect to find anime treasures at Disney Plus or Hulu, but they’re there.

Years ago, fairly early on in my anime fandom, I fell in love with a series called Nurarihyon no Mago (English name: Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan).

I don’t even recall where I watched it. It was probably Crunchyroll but maybe it was Funimation? Or the Anime Network? Regardless, there was only one season and I figured that was all.

... Until the other day, when I was tooling around the Hulu site and decided to check out their anime catalog. For some reason, even though I knew that Hulu and Disney Plus held a number of anime licenses, I never thought to look to see if they had anything that would fill in the gaps in my personal anime wish list.

I found to my delight that not only do they have Nurarihyon no Mago but that there is a second season of it. Remember, I date back to the days of anime fandom when it was catch as catch can. Before Crunchyroll turned legit, you had to hunt and search for episodes. If you were lucky, and remembered enough of your high school Spanish, you might get by with Naruto and Bleach episodes with Spanish subs on YouTube. It was like that back then.

In other words, I didn’t think to consider that times have changed. With the growing popularity of anime in the U.S. even older series are being picked up, including the later seasons of those series that never got localized before.

So I’ve started a “Rewatching” list to add onto my “Currently Watching” page. Because not only did I find Nurarihyon no Mago but I found two other old favorites with additional seasons.

Oh, I loved Bakuman when it came out. I just fell in love with the story. I bought a gigantic box set of the complete manga. I watched the anime, the first season, all 25 episodes of it.

Then... the second season got caught up in a legal mess. The season was dubbed into English but some situation came up that prevented it from being released/distributed. At that point (this was years ago), I gave up on ever being able to watch the second season.

Until...

I was gobsmacked and extremely happy to find out that Disney Plus is streaming all three seasons of Bakuman. I didn’t even know there was a third season. I never thought I would be able to watch S2 considering its past legal situation, let alone get to watch a third season.

Bakuman is about two high schoolers who create their own manga. The Bakuman manga itself was created by Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba, the team that did Death Note, a story that is about as far from the light tone of Bakuman as it’s possible to get.

Bakuman is a gem. It shows the creative process as experienced by two young people and the challenges they face when they unexpectedly turn professional. I am just really happy that I’ll get to see the story brought to life in anime form, all three seasons of it.

Finally, from the same camp of unexpected good news, Disney Plus currently holds the Durarara!! license and I found out that Durarara!! has a second season! Really, I don’t know why they don’t publicize these new licenses enough. It makes me want to go through Hulu and Disney Plus and Crunchyroll and just look for new seasons of old anime series that I still love.

Best of all, they’re available in sub and dub. Sub (Japanese voice cast with English subtitles) is far and away my preferred way to watch anime. I wouldn’t have put it past U.S. anime streamers like Disney Plus and Hulu to just have the dub versions, but they have the Japanese versions too.

This brings me back to the earlier years of my anime fandom, before there was so much isekai and before the long-running shounen anime series I loved like Naruto and Fullmetal Alchemist concluded their stories and entered the annals of anime legend.

Not to mention that the fall 2024 anime season is a good one and I’m still watching those series too. It’s a good time to be an anime lover. :-)

Best Series of Summer 2011 - Nura S2

Yes, little Rikuo has grown up - and in a hurry. ;)

The series I'm enjoying the most this summer is Nurarihyon no Mago: Sennen Makyou, the second season of Nurarihyon no Mago or Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan.

Nura S2 turns the story from a supernatural school anime for younger viewers to an anime for older teens and a more adult audience, starting with the revelation that Rikuo's tiny wizened grandfather Nura hasn't always been the harmless little old guy that he looks like today. The Nura yokai clan used to attack humans, but a glimpse into the past reveals what made them stop.

In a beautiful two-episode flashback arc, we see Rikuo's grandfather Nura in his youth 400 years ago in Kyoto, courting a young human girl, Princess Yo, who possesses magical healing powers. Yohime is captured by a powerful female demon, Hagoromo-Gitsune, and Nura goes to rescue her with his Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

This Nura (whom Rikuo's night self is the spitting image of) exudes testosterone with each move of his sword and glint in his eye as he holds Yohime captivated with a mere look. After the first innocent season of Nurarihyon no Mago, this switch to a more adult feel is a little surprising but very welcome. There were hints of Nura's sex appeal in the first season when Kana, Rikuo's school friend, kept getting flustered around Night Rikuo (not realizing he was simply Rikuo in his night yokai form), but S2 takes it to another level entirely.

After the flashback arc, the story continues in present day, with old Nura testing Rikuo's strength by beating him up and throwing him around the yard. Rumor has it that Hagoromo-Gitsune has reawakened in Kyoto and Rikuo, feeling his oats, wants to go there to fight her.

Grandpa, wisely recognizing that Rikuo isn't remotely ready yet, sends Rikuo to Tono Village, a hidden yokai village where he can train and gain strength. In Tono Village, Rikuo is able to maintain his Night Rikuo form even in daytime.

So the story is now emphasizing Night Rikuo over young Rikuo, and while young Rikuo is a nice enough kid his grown yokai self is another animal altogether. Let's just say that we fangirls now have a bishonen to watch in an anime that didn't look like it would be giving us anything like that.


I should add that Nurarihyon no Mago - both seasons - is worth watching as well for the engaging supernatural universe it presents, gorgeous visuals and production quality. Even without the extra added bonus of a sexy yokai leader, it's great fun and I would be watching it regardless. If you're in the mood for a good supernatural samurai story, look no further. :)

Anime Summer 2011 Watchlist

Having read the always-awesome Moetron's seasonal visual guide and anime listing for summer 2011, I've got only one new must-view series for summer: the second season of Nurarihyon no Mago.

Other series look promising: Dantalian no Shoka, Sacred Seven and No. 6. The problem (and what a great "problem" it is to have) is that my schedule is already full with continuing series from spring 2011: Blue Exorcist, Hanasaku Iroha and Steins; Gate, not to mention the usual Bleach and Naruto Shippuuden. I've got too much good stuff on my plate already.

There are also some good OVAs coming out this summer: Hakuouki has a five-episode OVA series and the long-awaited Saiyuki Gaiden OVA series will see its second and third episodes released.

There are simply not enough hours in the day for anime viewing. ;)

Nurarihyon no Mago

Continuing with my tradition of watching new anime series that almost nobody else seems to be watching... ;) I thought I'd write a little about Nurarihyon no Mago.



First, this show has three names: Nurarihyon no Mago, NuraMago for short, and Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, the last courtesy of Viz Anime.

The manga has been running in Shonen Jump since 2008. As being published in Shonen Jump would imply, Nurarihyon no Mago is a shonen story, albeit a rather soft-sided one.

Rikuo Nura is a 13-year-old boy who is three-quarters human and one-quarter yokai. He's the designated heir apparent to his grandfather, the reigning Nurarihyon, or leader of the clan. Rikuo only wants to be a normal human boy, but circumstances begin to draw out his yokai self, a heroic figure who only comes out at night... imaginatively named "Night Rikuo." ;) Both normal Rikuo and Night Rikuo are pictured above.

As for Night Rikuo, you gotta love a man whose hair stands out at an exact 90-degree angle to his head, and which doesn't move in the slightest even during fierce battle scenes. Though the most likely explanation for the hair, unfortunately, is that underneath it is probably a head like ji-chan Nurarihyon's head:



In any event, Rikuo is a surprisingly (for a shonen story) drama-free kid: no tragedies in his background. Also, he and his family live in an enormous temple along with about a hundred cheerful, colorful yokai who come in all shapes, sizes and configurations, all of whom are devoted to Rikuo. Among them is a bishonen yokai whose head floats above his shoulders:



Gotta have at least one of those. ;)

Two of Rikuo's yokai servants disguise themselves as middle-schoolers, and attend school along with Rikuo to safeguard their master. One of them is Yuki Onna, a female. Yuki gets clingy with Rikuo, but she has competition: Kana, Rikuo's childhood friend, and Yura, an onmyoji, whose life mission is to wipe out all yokai. All of them are members of a "Paranormal Patrol" put together by one of Rikuo's friends, who is of course unaware that Rikuo himself is a yokai.

Rikuo, of course, sounds like an average 13-year-old boy, but Night Rikuo's voice is... well, he sounds like a man at least, but maybe not quite the way you would expect. As a hero, you're sort of expecting him to sound like this:



But instead, he sounds like this:



... Which sort of makes sense, as both Rikuo and Night Rikuo are played by Jun Fukuyama, who played Lelouch. Still, it's like expecting Ichigo and getting Yumichika instead, and I'm not the only one in the anime blogosphere who has found the casting choice a bit strange. I've seen comments saying that Night Rikuo sounds a little... gay... not that there's anything wrong with gay, of course, but it just isn't quite what you expect here. ;)

I looked up Nurarihyon no Mago in Wikipedia and discovered that there are about eight million characters in the storyline - mostly members of numerous other yokai clans that will be introduced eventually. The series is currently set for 24 episodes, but I expect there'll be at least another season after this one, since there seems to be more than enough material for it. In short, I'm enjoying Nurarihyon no Mago, and if you're in the mood for a kinder and gentler shonen fantasy story, you might enjoy it as well.