#Seinan War

[falseandrealultravival]

Lao Tzu's "Destruction of the Ego" 2 (Essay)

(This is a dialogue between me and a certain woman.)

Real example(Continuing)

Me: Lao Tzu preached, "Only those who have extinguished their ego can be entrusted with the state." but there are certainly few examples of people who have practiced this. In China, Sima Qian, who appears in "Ri Ling" (Atsushi Nakajima), would be applicable. Though he was right,

Touched by the wrath of the absolute monarch Emperor Wu of Han, he was sentenced to be cut his male sex organ, which is harsher than the death penalty, and suffers a harsher life than death.

Even if you are thrown into the pit of despair and your pride as a controversialist is uprooted,

Having accomplished his task (compilation of the "History"), he "disappeared" when he was imprisoned, I can only say that he was forced to do so. However, he did not have much time left to become a politician after that.

In Japan, I think that Kantaro Suzuki, who ended the Pacific War, is doing a good job. While dealing well with the army, which refused to accept defeat, he was evaluated by those around him as ``a dull person,'' but when it comes to emergency, he can only be described as a completely different person. He took it to the end of the war in an unprecedented way. This person was from the navy and was almost killed in the 2.26 Incident. It is said that Suzuki's favorite book was "Lao Tzu". (!)　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Takamori Saigo was exiled to an island two or three times, and even tried to commit suicide with a monk named Gessho. Yes, and there were many times when he was on the verge of death. It is appropriate to compare it to an "empty jar" or a "huge bell," and Ryoma Sakamoto said, "If you hit it softly, it will sound softly, and if you hit it hard, it will sound loudly." He must have been a charming man. Saigo must have had an excellent staff officer. It was also bad for him that the chief staff officer at the time of the Seinan War was the mere ``human slayer'' Toshiaki Kirino.

What the above three people have in common is that they have all encountered situations that they cannot do anything about on their own, and have internalized that experience. "None of them are religious persons."

[hadleysmis]

Samurai are highly romanticised, so the tension in Seinan War is not bad vs bad. The interpretation might be more close to the advancement of the 'modern Japan' which separated it from the previously Feudal era.

I didn't think about it that way! But this then rises the question even further in why they chose the Seinan war would be chosen for the June Rebellion equivalence 😭

[konjaku]

黄花秋桐[Kibanaakigiri] Salvia nipponica

黄[Ki] : Yellow

花[-bana|Hana] : Flower

秋桐[Akigiri] : S. glabrescens

When I see this flower, it reminds me of the face of Kiyohime chasing Anchin while spitting fire in Dōjōji engi emaki(Illustrated legend of Dōjōji). And, when I see the name of this plant written in kanji, it reminds me of the name of a person.

Since kanjis are pictographs, namely, characters based on pictures, people who use kanjis in their native language recognize those forms and take meaning from them, will be able to understand the meaning of simple ones without properly looking at every detail. For example, 日[Hi] is sun, 月[Tsuki] is moon, 川[Kawa] is river, 竹[Take] is bamboo, 鳥[Tori] is bird, 馬[Uma] is horse, 亀[Kame](old kanji is 龜) is turtle and so on. But, on the other hand, it often also leads to misreadings.

Some may not realize that 薇[Zenmai](Royal fern) is not just a written 艸[Kusakanmuri](Grass radical) on 微[Bi](Minuteness). Some may read taiheiyō(太平洋, Pacific Ocean) even if it is written as 大��洋 or taiseiyō(大西洋, Atlantic Ocean) as 太西洋. This would happen because 大(Large, great) and 太(Fat, grand) are close in shape and meaning. Nevertheless, if they are written as 犬平洋 or 犬西洋, 犬[Inu](Dog) has a very different meaning even though the letters are similar, the number of people misreading them will be greatly decreased.

Now, the person I recall is 桐野 利秋[Kirino Toshiaki] because two of the four kanjis are the same. This is probably also to recognize the form of the kanjis. In additon, 野[No](Field) also plays a part, evoking the image of nature.

He lived from the end of the Edo period to the late Meiji period and became one of the first major generals of the Japanese Army. He was once known as a skilled assassin, but his face in the photographs that remain today does not look like that. In fact, he is said to have had a cheerful disposition. He was killed in the Seinan War on September 24, 1877, by a bullet, at the age of 38. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Hitokiri_of_the_Bakumatsu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satsuma_Rebellion

[friendlyfirestarter]

I may have replayed A Mage Reborn book 1 a dozen last times last night trying to specialize in Spiritualism and still get Enchantment to 80% before the moonvein plague, which did not work, but the bright side is I finally figured out how to romance Ilya!

So, time for a celebratory fic about mc getting burned at the stake. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The mage had always been good at rolling with the punches, literal or otherwise.

Ilya had spent a lot of time watching Mara. Sweet, sardonic Mara had this trick where she'd go limp right before being struck, roll with it to lessen the blow. Like resignation to whatever happened next. She'd seen it when the bandit had charged in to crush Mara's knee instead of a child's head, when they'd waited with held breath to see who had survived the moonvein plague, and again when Mireil had nearly finished them all at the gate. And it had been easy enough to see the pattern the last hundred times over in Leon's war.

Ilya was pretty sure Mara's blank face now was the same kind reaction. As purposfully supressed of a grimace as it had been the night before Seinan Keep.

The so-called witch was only upright because of the grip her flanking guards had her upper arm in. Her walking stave had been left cracked and abandoned on the floor when Ilya had returned to the sanctum, and right now it was tucked deep in a chest for what had been supposed to be safekeeping till Mara could reclaim it.

But, Ilya thought bitterly, thanks to Ante it was going to stay there.

The procession stopped at the base of the platform and Mara's face, always lean but now painfully thin, lolled back to take in the task ahead. Ilya had wanted to stay away, hunker down until everything was over but Saine had insisted they come, begged Ilya like if he convinced her Mara still had a chance he could convince the fates themselves. So now they were crouching in an alley, cloaks hoods over their heads as Ilya struggled to commit the face she loved to memory.

Her hazel eyes were dim, the cheek Ilya had kissed bruised a vivid purple.

With a chuckle that dissolved into a sob Ilya could practically hear the quip Mara would make under kinder circumstances.

"Saintess forgive me, the stairs will finish the job long before the pyre can even try."

Everyone claimed Mara had struck Ilya's mentor down but she couldn't imagine it, refused to believe it possible. Mara wouldn't do do that to her.

The guards hauled her up an awkward step.

Another.

Ilya asked Mara to wait, once, and she had faithfully. Then the tables had been turned when Mara disappeared for three long months into Salantir. She'd never imagined they'd run out of time so soon.

[zordonmlw7]

Gosh I think a musical about Sanzo Tsuda and the Otsu Incident would be really cool.

Nicholas II would open with a happy song about vacationing with his cousin and touring around Japan while also having undertones about how this a huge powertrip for him, getting to play in the culture of a country who is scared of him because of the military power he will one day inherit.

Cut then to Tsuda who would have a song about his slipping sanity with the chorus line providing haunting background vocals. The song would focus on his medals for heroism won in the Seinan War and how he would do anything to protect them. He then gets assigned to guard the streets that Nicholas II will go down and participates in a group number with Japanese reporters accusing the prince of coming to spy and speculating that the visit was a precursor to an invasion.

Cut to the actual incident which could be a reprise of all 3 of the previous songs with Tsuda and Nicholas singing back and forth and the haunting vocals emphasizing the same thing as Nicholas: that the Russians are subjugating the Japanese people. Tsuda then snaps and the attack happens in slow motion as a carefully choreographed dance number. Tsuda is taken into custody and Nicholas is taken to his hotel to be treated because he refuses a Japanese doctor.

Cut to then a huge group number to represent the 10,000 condolence telegrams sent by citizens and institutions that all melt away into a solo number by Yuko Hatakeyama in which she sings about the value of her life and how she hopes it can atone for Tsuda's act, ending with her suicide in front of the Kyoto Prefectural Office.

Next is another group number in which various lawyers argue about how to handle Tsuda's case. Some try to invoke Article 116 of the Criminal Code to execute Tsuda despite it not applying to a foreign crown prince while others argue for the actual charge of attempted murder which would carry life imprisonment at worst. The song is taken over by Kojima Iken, chief justice of the Supreme Court who fights back against his own cabinet and agrees on charging him with the actual crime, but does relent on trying Tsuda immediately instead of following procedure and allowing the case to make its way up the lower courts.

Tsuda gets another song in his prison cell where he laments his actions but at the same time questions whether he laments assaulting a complete stranger or merely laments doing it unsuccessfully. He wonders if he will keep his medals for heroism. Reporters arrive at his cell questioning the warden about his sanity, but are driven off and warned about the consequences of printing anything doubting that Tsuda was anything less than sane.

I feel like the court room scene to sentence Tsuda would have it's set set up and background music to make it seem like a musical number but instead its just a few quick lines sentencing him to prison for life.

Cut then to Nicholas being visited by Emperor Meiji where they sing a happy duet with the Emperor apologizing and Nicholas relishing it and promising to forgive him. Only once the Emperor leaves, he reveals that he will never forgive Japan.

Tsuda gets one last short song about how in less than a year, he's dying in prison and is still haunted by voices and wonders if he is still the hero he tried so hard to be. In his dying breath, he hopes that Japan will not be crushed by Russia.

This is followed with a reporter summarizing Nicholas becoming Tsar and advancing further east, forcing Japan to retaliate with the Russo-Japanese war, with Japan coming out victorious.

The final number would be Nicholas II during the Bolshevik revolution just before being executed. He would sing about how he did what he did for his family. How he thought he was invincible and thought he would leave his children an even stronger Russia than he had received. But all he had done was cost the lives of millions and had his family lose both Russia and their lives. And the stage would go black with his execution, ending the musical.

[whetstonefires]

#watsuki had had kaoru's father killed off in the seinan war the previous year #which looking back with more knowledge makes a lot of the story super wild #because they all treat the boshin war/bakumatsu as the 'turbulent era' with all the bloody trauma #because it's where kenshin's trauma lies

#but the seinan war killed so many more people #and a lot of them didn't want to be there #because YAMAGATA ARITOMO #organized a draft

#this is the man who got her father killed #*last year* #in a much deadlier conflict than the one treated as the Bad Old Days #and he is *in her house* #this scene is stuffed full of weird historical fiction choices aiyah

thinking about how in rurouni kenshin, the arc where they have to fight a weirdly sexy mummy and his cult to prevent the downfall of 19th century japan

opens with Real Historical Figure Yamagata Aritomo turning up to ask our Fake Historical Figure MC to help with this problem, that was 100% caused by their failing to adequately assassinate the guy they hired to do their assassinations after our boy burned out on assassinating as a profession.

and then, having been refused on account of There Is Nothing I Want To Do Less Than Get Involved, leaving and getting very assassinated.

because as a teenage american reader i (no shock) completely missed how this signaled an official break with the arc of history, because now Yamagata Aritomo was not going to be around steering Japanese politics as one of the 3 most important figures of the age for the next fiftyfour years. because he'd been murdered.

(sidebar, significant possibility shishio averted the rise of japanese fascism by accident.)

the intended audience probably got that! he's a major historical figure! it's probably pretty normal for Japanese teenagers to know he wasn't mysteriously assassinated in Tokyo in 1878!

this was a strong opening move because up until then the story operated on a basis of 'this clearly didn't happen. but apart from the weird physics. it totally could have.'

but you can't both maintain the posture that your historical fiction is canon-compliant and gin up real concern in your audience that the nation is going to be destroyed by a secret mummy man and his army of lunatics. you kinda have to pick one.

[human-antithesis]

Er hin gullna stjarna skýjar slóðar rennr rauð

Er hin gullna stjarna skýjar slóðar rennr rauð, grænt ok svart rennr þá landið þat er sér engan endi á. Á þeirri stundu, hinn dokkvi leikr vígnaðrs stafa brýst út. Á þeirri stundu, kaldir fýris garmar dansa sinn dans við anda nætur. Fylgjendr Hvíta Krists veita mér eftirfor er þeir sjá mik flýja inn í nót- tina. En þat er um seinan, hún hverfr í heiðna holl sem er þeim hulin.

Troll kalla mik, tungl sjot-Rungnis, auðsúg jotuns, élsólar bol, vilsinn volu, vorð náfjarðar, hvélsvelg himins.

(Anonymous Stanzas from Snorra Edda, Stanzas from Snorra Edda 9)

Era auðþeystr, því at ekki veldr hofugligr, ór hyggju stað fagnafundr Friggjar niðja ár borinn ór jotunheimum.

(Egill Skallagrímsson, Sonatorrek 2)

Ek ráfa um auðlegan stað einsomul. Úr fjarska heyrast oskrin, en þetta skjól skógar tryggir mik frá stríðs ræðu þeirri. Silfruð sunna leiðir mik á veg minn, norðr upp sem Ullar aksþollar hvísla birtleg orð segjandi frá rigandi hræ- mána úr ok feigð minna niðja. Fylking sú er í nóttinni ferðask ok nálgask mik, mér er boðið at fylgjask at til Yggjar brúðar, hvar sogð er sú spá af dansandi benvondum brátt rísandi. Til hjálpar þeirra er ljósið sjá nema um daga, oðru sinni á ný. Óláfr, þrænda buðlingr í þessu landi viða. Óláfr, berandi bitra stríða, þeirra er sér engan endi eigan, Óláfr, dómr nam óma at þings viðjum þar aldregi fallið hafði fyrr. Er þetta þín spásýn? Er sá hjálparlaus mergjar salr frá þangs láði lifandi, er sú biðjandi haukar ferja í lundi- num lifandi?

Vítt es orpit fyrir valfalli rifs reiðiský, rignir blóði; nú er fyirr geirum grár upp kominn vefr verþjóðar, er þær vinur fylla rauðum vepti Randvés bana.

(Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 1)

Skapt mun gnesta, skjoldr mun bresta, mun hjalmgagarr í hlíf koma.

(Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 3)

Framm skulum ganga ok í folk vaða, þar er vinir várir vápnum skipta.

(Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 4)

Vindum, vindum vef darraðar ok siklingi síðan fylgjum!

(Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 5)

Vindum, vindum vef darraðar, þars vé vaða vígra manna! Látum eigi líf hans farask; eigu valkyrjur vals of kosti.

(Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 6)

Bróðir, þér lífit, ek finn þat nú bitrleg storm ský dólgbrands dokkva safnask at Stiklastoðum.

Nú er ógurligt um at lítask, er dreyrug ský dregr með himmi; mun lopt litat lýða blóði, er sóknvárðar syngja kunnu.

(Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 9)

English: When The Golden Star Of The Sky Turns Red

When the golden stars of the sky turns red, the never-ending land of green turns black. At this time, cold winds dance their dance with night spirits. Followers of the White Christ chase me as they see me fleeing into the night. But it is too late, as I vanish into pagan castles unseen to them.

They call me troll, moon of dwelling-Rungnir, wealth-sucker of a giant, trouble of the storm- sun, delightful company of a prophetess, guar- dian of the corpse-fjord, swallower of the wheel of the sky.

(Anonymous Stanzas from Snorra Edda, Stanzas from Snorra Edda 9)

Since heavy sobbing is the cause - how hard to pour forth from the mind's root the prize that Frigg's progeny found, borne of old, from the world of giants.

(Egill Skallagrímsson, Sonatorrek 2)

I wander a forlorn path alone. From afar, scre- ams are heard, but this wooden shelter protects me from the speeches of war. The silver sun guides me on my path up north as trees whisper bitter words telling of a rain of blood and my kin to be slain. When I am approached by a band of night travelers, I am invited to follow to a place where the prophesised dance of swords will soon emerge. To help those who see the light of days a second time again. Óláfr, king in this land of wood, Óláfr, bringer of bitter wars that never end. Óláfr, impending doom to trees that never fell before. Is this your prophecy? Is the helpless hand from the sea alive, is the praying hand from the grove alive?

A wide warp warns of slaughter, blood rains from the beam's cloud. A spear-grey fabric is being spun which the friends of Randvér's slayer will fill out with a red weft.

(Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 1)

Shafts will splinter, shields shatter, the dog of helmets devours shields.

(Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 3)

Let us go forth amongst the fighters when our dear ones deal out blows.

(Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 4)

We wind and wind the web of spears and then stand by our stalwart king.

(Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 5)

We wind and wind the web of spears, there whe- re the banners of bold men go forth; we must not let his life be lost - valkyries decide who dies or lives.

(Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 6)

Brother, you are alive, I feel it now as the bitter storm clouds of blood gather at Stiklastaðir.

Now it is gruesome to gaze around as blood-red skies cover the sky; the heavens will be garish with the gore of men while the slaughter-war- dens sing their song.

(Anonymous Poems, Darraðarljóð 9)

[corey-45]

The Seinan War in a Nutshell: Reality vs. Hollywood

*Reality*

Meiji government: Times are changing, we won't need a ruling class of warriors any more.

Satsuma samurai rebels led by Saigo Takamori: You're not going to put us out of a job, pal.

*The rebels and the Imperial army fight*

*Rebellion fails, Saigo commits seppuku*

Meiji government: Success! And we couldn't have done it without our modern, state-of-the-art, European-trained army.

*Hollywood's portrayal in The Last Samurai*

Meiji government: Blah blah blah modernization blah

Ken Watanabe: Blah blah blah traditionalism blah

Tom Cruise: Hey guys, I was hired to train your enemy, but I just figured I'd join your little rebellion instead.

Ken Watanabe: LOL OK

*Samurai in outdated armor fight with the Imperial Army*

*Samurai get mowed down by Gatling guns, Tom Cruise assists Ken Watanabe's seppuku*

The Emperor: Wow, that guy was really badass, let's cut off trade with the US for no good reason.

[mr081]

“New Dawn Rising”

The Princes Leon and Saine belong to @mage-parivir

Mild and possible spoilers below (just in case). Checking out the demo before reading below is highly recommended.

Wanted to depict the avenging brother’s during the war for Seinan, standing as the new Sun king, along with the Sun’s shadow, respectively.

Hopefully conveyed Julius’s part here well enough as I was not sure how to include him without detracting from the other two.

Along with composition, there was some resolution issues but overall I’m glad with the final results.

Currently working on one for the Saintess.

[sirenalpha]

So Kaoru Kamiya is a character I have complicated feelings on and not because she's a complex character, she really isn't that complex

but because Nobuhiro Watsuki is a pedophile who has been fined for possessing cp and no you cannot separate the art from the artist because Kaoru starts the series as a seventeen year old girl who gets together at eighteen with the protagonist, a man eleven years her senior

I don't know why 12 year old me decided to get overly attached to this one character and it would have been nice to have stopped caring when the news about Watsuki came out but RK material keeps getting released that makes me even madder about Kaoru so here we are talking about it

now that that's addressed, I want to start with how Kaoru as a character came to be

Watsuki has noted that he had not decided for Kaoru to be the main love interest when he started the series and I believe that because just looking at all the characters in the manga, he seems to be good on setting up characters, but can't always follow through on them or knows ahead of time what he wants to do with them

and I do think Kaoru is well set up because her initial purpose in the manga is to be someone who is interesting enough to Kenshin that he stops wandering as Kenshin staying in place is the inciting incident of the manga, everything before that point is just the same old same old that Kenshin has been experiencing for the past ten years

so what does Kaoru have to be for her to be a character who is interesting enough for Kenshin to stay?

first, she has to be a swordswoman, it's non-negotiable, being a swordsman is the basis of who Kenshin sees himself as, it's central to his character arc as it is the site of his guilt, and the manga itself is asking what is the purpose of the sword (violence) in the New Era, there is no way Kenshin stays unless he sees a potential answer for his guilt for what to do in the New Era

that means she has to have a privileged background to have been able to learn to be a swordswoman, naturally that means samurai as it was the warrior class of the Edo period even if most samurai at the end of the period were bureaucrats it's still the class Kaoru would have been most likely to have received martial training of any kind

it also means she would have also had to be old enough to have been born samurai and to have enough mastery that her word on what wielding a sword means has some kind of weight of experience backing it

second, the fact that Kenshin will only stop if someone has a potential answer for his guilt on how to use a sword or stop using it and live in the New Era and that Kenshin has taken a vow to not kill tells us what kind of swordswoman Kaoru has to be, she has to have not killed and also have a fighting ideology against killing which now means she can't be too old

she has to be young enough that she didn't fight in the Bakumatsu or any rebellions after it as well as young enough to not remember any of the fighting well for it to be more realistic that someone who is a swordsman and also supposed to have some mastery hasn't killed anyone when a war was going on

third, she has to be in need of help because that's how Kenshin meets people, he either rescues them or fights them and if he is to stay she can't be too antagonistic towards him

so her privileged background is now tragic which I think is part of how Watsuki ended up with 1878 for the setting, it has to be after the last episode of violence of the Bakumatsu which is the Seinan War in 1877 anyways so then you just have Kaoru's father who is also her teacher fight and die in that war so she's now vulnerable to attack/manipulation due to her landownership and naiveté which Kenshin can defend her from and she's also grieving and lonely which is a reason for her to ask him to stay

and that's how you sort of have to have her at 17-18, if you push the setting back farther to age her up it becomes a problem as when the manga is set is extremely important to the story it's telling, it can't be that far away from the Bakumatsu, Kenshin also starts getting very old + wandering for a longer time compared to 10 years which is a nice round number and 28 is already pushing it for the protagonist for a shonen manga, and if you leave it in 1878 if you start pushing her towards 19, 20, 21, you start getting to her being 8-10 at the end of the Bakumatsu and being old enough to remember it better and getting too close in age to other characters when part of the point with the differences in ages in the protagonist group has to do with what age they were when they experienced the war

it's all fine in my opinion for Kaoru's character set up until the plan changes and she becomes the love interest

beyond Kaoru and Kenshin's age gap being creepy, changing Kaoru into the love interest causes narrative problems both for Kaoru as a character based on the set up she was given and for the narrative as a whole because of what the character in the position of Kenshin's love interest would have had to fulfill for it to be a satisfying narrative vs societal and genre conventions

I think Watsuki decides to make Kaoru the love interest during the Kyoto Arc and finalized it by the end of the arc

my reasoning for this is because Kaoru changes from the Kyoto arc to the Jinchuu arc and not in a good way

the change is obviously not how much interest Kenshin and Kaoru show in each other though Kaoru's is far more obvious, she was shown as crushing on Kenshin from the beginning of the series and Kenshin sticks around because of her and they have their hug when Kenshin leaves for Kyoto, that's why she's the obvious option to become his love interest for the third arc, she's the only one important enough to Kenshin for the arc to work

the reason I say it's not finalized until the end of the Kyoto arc is because that's when Kaoru goes from a fighter or at least a potential one or in addition to being a damsel in distress (because I'm not saying there isn't any defaulting to misogynistic tropes common to media where boys are the target audience when it comes to how she's written in the first two thirds) to just a damsel in distress

her only real battle is in the Kyoto arc against Kamatari, but she's introduced with a bokken in hand and attacks both Kenshin and the Hiruma brothers, and by the time the battles start in the Jinchuu arc, Kaoru either isn't there or she stands in the back with Megumi doing color commentary, and she never really even attempts to fight off Enishi

this is a problem thematically when you take Kaoru's set up as a character into consideration

part of Kenshin's choice in atonement and the theming of the manga is that you have to help the people in front of you and part of how Kenshin does that is by making them better people in the sense that he encourages them to improve the skills that they use to help other people

Megumi is the outlier as she's the healer of the group, but getting her away from Kanryuu so she can go back to working as a doctor and get better at it is how she helps people and what Kenshin encourages her to do to atone and be a better person

for Sano and Yahiko, however, they are fighters so their fighting improves so they can better defend people from harm so that is what should have happened with Kaoru, but it doesn't, Kaoru's skills never improve over the entire course of the manga because she's set up as Yahiko's teacher which I actually don't think should keep her from learning more and improving, but does so anyways so her peak as a fighter hits in the second arc when everyone else's correctly lands in the third

it weakens the message of the manga to have a major character, the literal second character introduced in the series, regress like this on one of the manga's central themes

what's worse is that a peak achievement set up was given to her, to use a Kamiya Kasshin Ryu succession technique in a real battle as she admits she's never done it, but instead it's passed over her to be given to Yahiko which just feels like misogynistic insult to a poorly written theme injury

and if you argue as I have seen that she wasn't set up to be a fighter maybe she was set up to be a teacher so Yahiko using the technique is her triumph, I once again point you to the fact she was literally introduced bokken in hand and attacking Kenshin

being an assistant master/instructor could be taken away from her character and still make the inciting incident work but taking away being a swordsman could not, and it's actually worse for her on a thematic standpoint to say her talent was teaching and not protecting others, at least she goes from needing Kenshin to rescue her to defeating Kamatari without him before regressing but as a teacher she never progresses, never has more than one student

so Watsuki thematically weakens the narrative of the manga by not completing the character arc Kaoru should have had based on her set up by officially turning her into Kenshin's love interest because he's then less interested in what makes this the best choice for the story he's telling than what is the love interest supposed to be according to societal and genre conventions

I'll be honest I think choosing to make Rurouni Kenshin a battle shonen manga was ultimately to the story's detriment in a lot of ways but specifically when it comes to Kaoru, I think it's a big reason making Kaoru the love interest becomes such a problem

because it's a shonen manga that already has an older protagonist and is already considered too mature for a younger audience, I think Watsuki pulled back from what it could have been and Kaoru took the brunt of it, Watsuki wanted a happy ending for Kenshin and for that happy ending to be suitable for a younger audience

and so any concern for Kaoru fitting the narrative thematically and have a satisfactory character arc as the character important enough to be introduced second, to be the cause of the inciting incident of the entire series is set aside, the goal instead becomes how to make her a good wife for Kenshin because that's the ending love interests get in shonen manga with happy endings and it's only narratively satisfying on a very shallow level where you’re saying all the other stories say it's a good ending so it’s a good ending, not if it's the right ending for this particular story

so she stops fighting after the second arc when if she were to follow the path of the other characters she should have continued to progress in her swordsmanship and potentially move on from Kenshin as the others do even if it makes for a less happy ending for Kenshin in terms of genre and societal conventions

that's one option for keeping Kaoru thematically consistent where she never becomes the love interest and I think that would be the easier fix to pull off if anyone wanted to do it in an adaptation

the trickier way is to have Kaoru stay thematically consistent and be Kenshin's love interest because instead of fixing just one third of the story, you have to redo the whole thing

Kaoru cannot be as young to start the story, and not just because it’s gross and concerning in light of Watsuki’s pedophilia, but because to be a proper love interest that thematically aligns with the plot of the manga Kaoru has to carry more weight as a character which means she needs to be older and have more experience both as someone who remembers the Bakumatsu to some extent and as a swordswoman

She needs that experience because she needs to be on par with the villains and other allies of the series, her fighting ideology needs to be treated as seriously as the others because the manga is about questioning what the purpose of violence is and in canon, Kaoru’s ideology on how to use the sword as a way of life and to preserve life rather than as the art of killing is the only one that Kenshin outright dismisses not once but twice saying he wishes it was true rather than seriously engaging with it like the others (and by engage I mean fight stubbornly against either by wielding a sakabatou when everyone says to abandon it and kill or fighting Shishio to his end or changing Aoshi’s and Sojiro’s minds even Sano and Yahiko get shades of it)

the protagonist and therefore the series does not treat it as a serious position despite Kenshin also desiring not to kill again and as just a flight of fancy that Kenshin would like to be true and it’s so easy to do that because Kaoru is young and has no true or comparable fighting experience even though the philosophy she abides by actually comes from her father who was a veteran and killed in a war

Kaoru and the manga taking her own beliefs more seriously and defending them against Kenshin’s dismissal would put her into conflict with him, but I don’t see that as a bad thing, I mean they had conflict in canon with Kaoru following Kenshin to Kyoto for one thing, but if Kenshin and Kaoru are in conflict it puts Kenshin in a more interesting thematic and ideological position because now he not only is fighting his demons aka the villains of the series/one time antagonists he convinces to find an optimal solution for his atonement, but also has Kaoru pushing and arguing for him to be an even better person than that, Kenshin’s solution and the themes of the manga will be interrogated from both sides rather than just one side which should elevate the themes of the manga if written well unlike in canon where Kaoru’s shift to a love interest devalues the themes as she regresses in her character arc

Additionally, if Kaoru is in that sort of conflict with Kenshin, she’s more important to him, in canon Kaoru’s kind of just an oddity to him, Kenshin BSODs over her but is that just because she’s nice to him? That she lets him live out a fantasy of having a safe normal life? Honestly half the time I think Kaoru was meant to symbolize idealism and pragmatic pacifism or maybe even just the New Era and not be an actual character with dimension and beliefs and Kenshin getting with Kaoru is just to affirm that either pragmatic pacifism is good or that moving forward into a New Era is good, but it’s cheap when Kaoru could have been better used

For example, at the end of the manga, Saitou an antagonistic minor character rejecting Kenshin’s offer for a midnight duel is the sign that Kenshin is no longer a hitokiri because he was an antagonist that strongly believed it was impossible for Kenshin to put down his sword and change who he was and stop killing and that he would always be a hitokiri and that he could see that in Kenshin, Saitou’s disagreement with Kenshin was taken seriously by Kenshin and the manga due to having a similar experience of the Bakumatsu, still being a man that killed with a sword, and his ability to see and bring out Kenshin’s killer instinct

But why was such a pivotal moment, the thing that signaled hey Kenshin’s character arc really is complete, given to a MINOR CHARACTER?

If Kaoru had had more weight thematically and had been in conflict with Kenshin arguing with him that he hadn’t left behind his killer instinct as much as he would have liked to believe the whole time, wouldn’t it be better for Kenshin’s character arc, Kaoru’s character arc, their romance, and the themes of the manga for her, the love interest and second introduced character, to say you’re no longer a hitokiri to Kenshin’s face rather than minor character Saitou just standing him up?

Instead in canon, Watsuki doesn’t even stay with Kenshin and Kaoru when they’re alone after Kenshin announced he’d killed his previous wife and instead follows the rest of the group to the kitchen and that’s after when I think he decided she would be the love interest

I don’t think Watsuki had the chops for writing a thematically consistent romance for Kenshin which is why he never properly set up a character for it  whether that was Kaoru or someone else and also failed with the romance he did write between Kenshin and Kaoru in canon

All in all, Kaoru in the manga is an underutilized and underserved character with an underwhelming romance no matter how much I like her personality and what she could have been as a love interest or otherwise

[genshinarchives]

so- i have an important inquiry to make; where do you find all the research on the japanese terms and objects you use for your villainess story? i've always been very interested in it and i really need to amp up my research for it and you seem pretty smart about it soooo

Ah- I got all of that information from the (physical) books in my personal library! From reference books, history books (on the Bakumatsu, Meiji and Taisho periods), autobiographies of World War II Japanese bombers, as well as novels such as Memoirs of a Geisha, The Courtesan and the Samurai, Shipwrecks, The Shogun’s Scroll and the Young Samurai series. Any information on Japanese folklore is found through the references provided at the bottom of Wikipedia’s pages. The political and war advice are taken from the political historical Korean dramas Six Flying Dragons, Haechi, The Crowned Clown and My Country: The New Age.

The Onigasaki Clan is heavily inspired by the Oda Clan of the Sengoku period, and Riku Onigasaki is based off Nobunaga Oda, and Tatsuya Onigasaki is based off Toyotomi Hideyoshi. A lot of the events that happen and will happen in the story are based off true historical Japanese events, such as the Ikedaya Incident and the Satsuma Rebellion/Seinan War to name a few.

I basically read a lot of books!

[hadleysmis]

巨人傳- 西南戦争

Kyojinndenn- Seinan War

What is interesting about using the Seinan War as the screen equivalence of the June Rebellion in the Shouwa Movie of Les Misérables (Kyojinndenn), is that... I didn't root for either side.

First thing's first, what is the Seinan War? Well, to put it shortly, it was the last proper rebellion from the Samurai clans against the Imperial Japanese Government. Before this war, the Samurai class were being abolished, and thus the Samurai fought to keep their power.

However, this didn't work, and the Imperial Japanese Government took full of control of the country. This was seen as the 'final curtains', if you will, of the feudal system.

Feudal. The system in which a minority of the 'superior class' exists, wherein the lower class individuals, like peasants, worked for them.

Imperial. The government which wished to conquer East, Southeast Asia, and beyond.

Ryouma's (Marius) grandfather was a Samurai, and he sticks to his bloodline duty and fights in the Seinan War. He survives, Chiyo (Cosette) is by his injured side after he's brought to her by Oonuma/Sannpei (Jean Valjean), and he promises her he will never enter another war again.

Now, the "never do war again" part could be alluding to the rising tension as the movie was made in 1938 (and also to some historians state that 1937 was the beginning of World War II given what (Lugou Bridge incident) Japan did to China); so it could be some sort of a stance in the looming or already begun war.

Even if the Second World War had not begun, the Second Sino-Japanese War had. So it might be in reference to not desiring the said war.

However, it is romance-based of Chiyo and Ryouma, and it does not linger long on the consequences of the wars. Instead, it is used to show how much Ryouma and Chiyo cared and loved each other.

But if we take a step back for a second consider the bubble of the Seinan War... Were we supposed to root for Ryouma?

If we think about who lead the war, it was Saigou Takamori (西郷隆盛). He has shrines and statues dedicated to him (you can see it on his wikipedia page in Japanese), and thus is safe to say he is held somewhat highly. He embodied Bushido, and showed honour in the system that relied a lot on loyalty. So it's understandable why he was pardoned after his death by the Imperial government, as he showed the masculine, ideal way to fight for a cause and die in your stern belief.

So, then we must wonder if it was pro-Samurai, and thus used as the equivalence of June Rebellion.

The June Rebellion's equivalence never has to be exact to make its point. Kundan portrayed the Quit India Movement-- a fight which was successful, and also had actually planning and a National committee which predated the event by many year and thus was not as sudden as the French event-- it still portrayed the themes of June Rebellion. And, oh, you knew which side to support.

Or with the official Korean translation of the English version of the musical using terminology from the years after the liberation of Korea from the Japanese Empire. Even though this version focuses on pride of the National identity and the anger against the colonisation in history, it still portrays the June Rebellion equivalence because there is a side that is being treated unfairly, and a side which abuses its power.

Not to mention many Koreans bringing up events such as the Gwangju Uprising as a direct parallel to the June Rebellion. Gwangju Uprising being yet another student protest which demanded democracy, but was brutally suppressed by the military government.

There are many instances where the equivalence is not exact and precise, but due to the themes, it makes it good, or perfect. It's okay to talk about colonisation in Les Mis-inspired story. It's okay to talk about another student uprising in another context to the French history.

But if we were to choose any period in Japanese history to parallel this event, would people truly choose the Seinan War?

I think this whole thing boils down to what we think the June Rebellion is about, and what makes a good adaptation of the battle. Whether it be a war or an uprising or a battle or a rebellion, the themes in play seems to be the most important component.

So, when it comes with the choice of using Seinan War to tell the tale of Les Misérables, I must admit, I am still scratching my head about it.

[nurvuss]

I Watched the First Episode of Every New Spring 2021 Anime Airing on Crunchyroll

Hey, are you like me, and feeling like you're not getting the most out of your Crunchyroll subscription? Sure, there's stuff on there that you know you like. But whenever I look at the big long list of simulcasting shows, my eyes glaze over and I don't even know where to begin.

I wanted to change my habits and see if there were any shining gems that I should be watching. So, as per the title, I watched the first episode of every new Spring 2021 anime on Crunchyroll. And guess what? There’s a lot of crap! But indeed, there’s some stuff that’s worth your time.

Some clarification: I've only watched shows that began their first season in April 2021.

Backflip!!

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The Lowdown

As Futaba Shotaro comes to the end of middle school, his interest in baseball has begun to wane. Soon he notices the Ao High Boys Gymnastic Club and becomes enthralled, especially after seeing them perform. Once he learns they're down two members, he chooses to sign up and pursue the art of gymnastics. The club is also joined by Misato Ryoya, a star solo gymnast looking to expand his technique through teamwork.

Our Thoughts

Pretty formulaic shoujo sports anime: you've got your himbo, your thug, your ladies' man, your stoic guy, with Shotaro rounding out the cast as the shy and awkward audience surrogate. It looks wholesome enough, and the choreographed routines employ CG in a way that's quite convincing without being hideous.

Who It's For

Fans of  FREE, or Yuri!!! on Ice, or any similar shows about cute boys who succeed at athletic feats. 

Borscht Rating

Burning Kabaddi

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The Lowdown

Legendary high school soccer star Yoigoshi Tatsuya has given up on sports! That is, until he's blackmailed to join the high school kabaddi team, under threat of his online persona being leaked to the entire school. Although Tatsuya initially writes kabaddi off as stupid, the unexpected happens as he begins to have fun.

Our Thoughts

Kabaddi is kinda like competitive tag, or dodgeball but with your body instead of a ball. Burning Kabaddi is basically the shounen alternative to Backflip!! above, replete with nosebleeds, pratfalls, and dudes punching each other. The main cast don't seem to like each other very much; that probably changes as the show goes on but at first blush it's a dynamic I always find annoying.

Who it's For

Fans of Haikyuu!!? Maybe?

Borscht Rating

CARDFIGHT!! VANGUARD overDress

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The Lowdown

The newest series based on Bushiroad's collectible card game, featuring character designs by the beloved collective CLAMP. Petit middle schooler Yu-Yu just doesn't know how to say no. As his older students dress him in drag to use as live makeup practice, he suffers a panic attack and flees into the streets. After being accosted by a pickup artist, he's befriended by Megumi, who invites him to witness a Cardfight match at the local abandoned amusement park. However, Yu-yu is too shy to tell Megumi he's actually a boy…

Our Thoughts

What an unexpectedly weird concept for a show about a card game. Our hero spends the whole episode in drag, whimpering and simpering at the sight of any conflict. Then they show off the latest series of cards, which all seem to be giant buff knights with names like "Bad Steve" and "Violent Bruce". Your guess is as good as mine.

Who it's For

Cardfight!! lovers, Japanese gender studies majors, or the most desperate fujoshi. 

Borscht Rating

Cestvs: The Roman Fighter

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The Lowdown

The year is 54AD, and Nero has taken the throne as the youngest emperor of Rome. At the bottom of the population, Cestvs is a young slave training to be a colosseum boxer. Reluctant, his only choice is to fight or die.

Our Thoughts

Seeing Nero depicted as a gentle little twink is pretty funny. It's also pretty funny that the central character is named after a Roman boxing glove. The animation style transitions to some very uncanny CG when a major fight takes place, and I didn't like that one bit! This seems like a pretty average tournament anime but with a historical setting. It's currently unknown if any of these dudes are fucking each other. I'm gonna say probably.

Who It's For

The venn-diagram of Greco-Roman history buffs and lovers of tournament series?

Borscht Rating

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro!

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The Lowdown:

Hachioji Naoto is a nerdy, introverted student who spends his time studying and avoiding socialising. When pages from the fantasy manga he's drawing fall out of his bookbag, they catch the attention of a younger student named Nagatoro Hayase. Nagatoro begins to tease Naoto for his otaku interests and awkward demeanour, peppered with some suggestive flirting.

Our Thoughts:

What would you do if a younger girl flirted with you? Would you cry? Piss your pants maybe? Maybe shit and cum? Don't Toy With Me… attempts to barely conceal its BDSM fantasy with its comedic elements, but it's incredibly apparent as Nagatoro always wipes away Naoto's tears as a sort of aftercare. It's like a lighter, comedic version of Aku no Hana, but lacking any of the ponderings or danger that made that work so special.

Who It's For: 

People who search Pornhub for "bratty sister femdom".

Borscht Rating:

86 Eighty-Six

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The Lowdown

The Republic of San Magnolia and the Giad Empire, have been at war for nearly a decade. Using advanced military technology, the frontlines are fought by giant mecha drones called Juggernauts, controlled remotely by Handlers. Major Vladilena Mirizé is one of the military's most talented Handlers in the 1st District, and one who is constantly teased by her peers for the humanity and empathy she shows her squadron. The government line is that drone warfare has kept casualties to zero, but unbeknownst to the public these "drones'' are piloted by 86ers—the lowest class of citizens, forced to live in military internment camps in San Magnolia's 86th District.

Our Thoughts

This is incredibly my kind of thing. We've got a dual narrative being set up here: Vladilena as the kind, reluctant officer of a fascist regime, and the Bad Company-esque antics of her new ragtag squad, Spearhead. The first episode is split pretty evenly between the two, with each story converging at the end as Vladilena "meets" Spearhead for the first time through her comms station. It's an explosive and enticing first episode, and I can't wait to watch more of it.

Who It's For

Fans of Fullmetal Alchemist, Psycho-Pass, Gundam, or any number of anti-imperialist war stories.

Borscht Rating

Fairy Ranmaru

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The Lowdown

In a quiet corner of the city sits Bar F, a modest drinking establishment staffed entirely by five hot young men. Unbeknownst to the general population, these men are a crack team of fairies sent to the human world to gather the latent energy of "attachment". They do this by solving the problems of young women, taking their hearts in the process.

Our Thoughts

Hubba hubba, a little something for the ladies! It's Weiẞ Kreuz with a bar instead of a flower shop, fairies instead of assassins, and some pretty revealing outfits. There's definitely a little Persona 5 inspiration here too, from the punctuating phrase "Take your Heart!" to many of the visual cues. Make of that what you will.

Who It's For

Fans of Weiẞ Kreuz, slash fic authors.

Borscht Rating

Farewell, My Dear Cramer

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The Lowdown

Onda Nozomi was once the star player of her middle school football team. Completely unmatched, she no longer plays as there's no opponent she deems to be on her level. Meanwhile Suou Sumire far outpaces her teammates, causing her frustration. By a twist of fate, these two girls find themselves joining the scrappy Warabi Seinan High School FC as they begin to learn the value of teamwork and friendship.

Our Thoughts

I don't know sports. And I really don't know football. I had to look up what the title meant, and now I barely know who Dettmar Cramer is. I'm really not the best person to judge this, but it seems like a pretty good female-driven sports anime. 

Who It's For

Fans of Ace o Nerae! or other sports manga/anime about those ever burning bonds between young teammates.

Borscht Rating

Gloomy, the Naughty Grizzly

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The Lowdown:

Pitty lives with his pet Gloomy, a massive pink bear. Can a boy and a bear truly get along?

Our Thoughts:

This is a series of minute-long gag episodes in which Gloomy mauls Pitty and blood squirts everywhere. It's definitely meant to be a morbid parody of Sanrio or San-X; it might be a Rilakkuma parody in particular? Gloomy is the kind of thing you might laugh at if it came on in between shows, but it's pretty slight to go through the trouble of putting on.

Who It's For:

Gag anime fans with one minute to spare.

Borscht Rating:

Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway

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The Lowdown

After a night of drinking in Tokyo, slovenly salaryman Yoshida encounters a teenage runaway sitting under a lamppost. She offers to sleep with him in return for letting her spend the night in his apartment. Yoshida refuses her offer but allows her to stay. The next morning the girl, Sayu, reveals she's travelled all the way from Hokkaido, sleeping with random men in return for lodging and money. Feeling responsible for her safety, Yoshida agrees for Sayu to stay indefinitely in return for handling household chores.

Our Thoughts

This is kind of the inverse of Koikimo (see below), but without a scumbag character and from a male perspective. It's not nearly as nauseating as that show, but it's still a fantasy about living with a busty teenage girl.

Who It's For

Libertarians.

Borscht Rating

I've Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years And Maxed Out My Level

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The Lowdown: 

Office lady Aizawa Azusa dies of overwork in her early 20s, and finds herself standing before a lecherous goddess. Allowed a wish as compensation for her untimely demise, Azusa wishes for an endless life of leisure. The goddess reincarnates her as a 17-year-old immortal witch in an RPG-coded fantasy world. Thrilled, Azusa lazes about, brewing potions for her neighbouring villagers, and kills a small amount of slimes each day to supplement her income. After doing this every day for 300 years, she inadvertently finds herself at Level 99. Her peaceful life is soon upended as adventurers and dragons come from miles around to challenge the legendary witch.

Our Thoughts:

I'm not really an isekai fan, and that goes double for series which aren't set in an RPG, yet use RPG mechanics. Levelling up, grinding stats, min-maxing, as if it's a part of the fabric of the setting. I don't get it. I like watching numbers go up as much as the next dork, but I don't need to watch numbers go up in absolutely every piece of media I consume. Just play a fucking video game, Jesus Christ almighty.

I thought this might be setting up a fun series in which a layabout is reluctantly called upon to undertake a dangerous quest, but I don't think that's what's going on at all. When the red dragon Laika wrecks Azusa's house, she transforms into a cute young girl and the two begin living together, teaching each other the pros and cons of hard work and slothfulness respectively. The trajectory of the series might be as laid back as its protagonist in the end, which, ultimately, would be fitting.

Who It's For:

Isekai fans, slice-of-life fans. The twain have met!

Borscht Rating:

Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood

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The Lowdown

In alternative history Japan the Meiji Period continued well into the 1930s, and the ongoing Tokugawa Shogunate has brought technological prosperity to the nation through a magical energy source called the Dragon's Vein. Sawa Yukimura runs a bookshop where she lives with her little sister by day, but by night she's an assassin for Nue, the shogunate's secret police. As the terrorist group Kuchinawa deploys transforming beasts in an attempt to topple the shogunate, Nue springs into action with their own abilities.

Our Thoughts

There are a lot of concepts competing here, and a few too many flashy transformation sequences for my taste, but I'm really into it! Nue are made up of sex workers and street musicians, often overlooked and therefore easily able to blend in. There's a supernatural Standalone Complex vibe to how the team operates, and they're almost assuredly on the wrong side. Worth a shot!

Who It's For

Fans of alternate history science fiction, Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, Demon Slayer.

Borscht Rating

Koikimo: Koi to Yobu ni wa Kimochi Warui ("It's Disgusting to Call This Love")

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The Lowdown

Amakusa Ryo is a womanizing salaryman concerned with nothing but his own base desires. As he slips on the train station stairs one morning, he's saved by the swift action of Arima Ichika, a kind-hearted high schooler. When it turns out Ichika is friends with Ryo's younger sister Riou, he decides she's his soulmate, and begins to pursue her no matter how many times she refuses him. Comedy ensues!

Our Thoughts

Yeah, OK groomer.

Alright look, Korikimo is written by a woman and told from Ichika's perspective, so this is obviously meant to be a lighthearted "older man" shoujou romance. As an older man, all I saw were the adventures of a paedophile and the teenager he's stalking. Fuck off.

Who it's For

There's probably other stuff like this, right? If you like that, here you go.

Borscht Rating

Let's Make a Mug, Too

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The Lowdown

After the death of her mother, Himeno and her father relocate from bustling Tokyo to quiet Tajimi City in Gifu Prefecture. The former salaryman opens a quiet cafe using the remarkable mugs made by his late wife, while Himeno follows in her mother's footsteps and joins the school pottery club. Although her first project ends in disaster, Himeno makes fast friends with the eccentric pottery enthusiasts who make up the club.

Our Thoughts

It's no Eizouken, but I guess it's probably not meant to be. I'm not a big iyashikei genre fan, but if that's your thing, you might enjoy the wholesome non-adventures of three girls trying to make a mug. It's worth noting these episodes are only about 12 minutes long, with the remaining runtime segmented into live action episodes where the voice actresses tour Tajimi and unconvincingly pretend to be interested in Gifu's famous mino-yaki pottery. I think this must be a tie-in with a local tourist board. 

Who It's For

People who enjoy stuff like Aria, actually.

Borscht Rating

OddTaxi

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The Lowdown

In a Tokyo populated by anthropomorphic animals, a solemn walrus named Odokawa spends his nights driving his cab around the bustling metropolis, spending his free time drinking with his pals. Odokawa soon finds his quiet life disrupted by a caper involving a missing girl, some crooked cops, and the animal yakuza. 

Our Thoughts

A deft blend of working class slice-of-life with mystery, cute animals, and striking visual design. OddTaxi might be the sleeper hit of Spring 2021.

Who It's For

Fans of existentialist film noir with absurdist comedy, Polar Bear Cafe, walrus lovers.

Borscht Rating

Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won't Lose

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The Lowdown

Suehiro Maruo Sueharu Maru has his heart set on Shirokusa Kachi, the hottest girl in school. When she begins dating a young actor, Sueharu confides in his childhood friend Kuroha Shida, who's openly in love with him and he rejected in the past. Kuroha suggests the two get revenge on Shirokusa by pretending to be in love. Will Sueharu fall in love with Kuroha for real, making her dreams come true?

Our Thoughts

Give me a fucking break.

Who It's For

I don't know and I don't care.

Borscht Rating

SD Gundam World Heroes

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The Lowdown

The newest instalment of the SD Gundam media-mix franchise. In a world populated by super deform mecha, a burning meteor lands in the middle of Captain City. From it launches a terrible mechanized beast: Naughty Lion. When the police are powerless to stop it, a crack team led by Zhuge Liang Gundam and Liu Bei Gundam sorties to bring Naughty Lion to justice. When the beast stops rampaging, it transforms into Sun Wukong Gundam, a youthful amnesiac mecha horrified at the destruction he wrought. The Three Kingdoms Gundams welcome Sun Wukong into the fold to make sense of this mysterious event.

Our Thoughts

I'm an 80s kid, I know a 30-minute toy commercial when I see one.

No, seriously though, I'm aware of SD Gundam's merchandising—they're cute designs, and I even used to have a bunch of the gum rubber mini figurines. I've played the SD Great War Super Famicom games, they're fun! This is a vehicle to get kids hyped up about the latest toys, which are...based on  a hodgepodge of Journey to the West and Romance of the Three Kingdoms this year? There's even a little SD Guan Yu Gundam with a big long beard!

I kinda wanted to like the idea of a bearded robot, but the mechas are super busy and overdesigned. I guess there's only so much you can do to make your next series of toys bigger and better, so these guys are all decked out in gold accents, capes, horns, and antlers, and half the time I couldn't parse what I was seeing.

I'm so glad I don't have to watch any more of this. 

Who It's For

Very, *very* young mecha fans.

Borscht Rating

Seven Knights Revolution: Hero Successor

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The Lowdown

Long ago, the Dark God Nestra ruled the world through fear. Standing against him were the Seven Knights, seven brave warriors chosen by the Light Goddess Serrass. With their powers combined, Nestra was defeated and the lands returned to peace. Hundreds of years later the wicked Physis Cult seeks to revive Nestra, summoning undead beasts to ravage the countryside. With the Seven Knights long dead, the Granseed Academy has risen to train the next wave of heroes to combat this threat. Using special cards, the students of Granseed are able to call upon the power of the Seven Knights to guide them in battle.

Our Thoughts

As soon as the opening started with its transforming heroes and lovingly depicted weapon cards, I realised this must be based on a mobile game. Indeed, this is based on a free-to-play gacha from Korean developer Netmarble. Even before I was able to confirm this, Hero Successor failed to draw me in, eschewing details on the nature of its world in lieu of a glamourised marketing push for its source material. What's here is incredibly slight, and likely to be of little interest to anyone who isn't deep into this game.

Who It's For

Seven Knights whales, I guess.

Borscht Rating

Those Snow White Notes

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The Lowdown

Sawamura Setsu mourns the death of his grandfather Matsugorou, a talented shamisen player who refused to pass his secrets on. Not knowing what else to do, he leaves his remote village for Tokyo, taking nothing but his shamisen along with him. Soon he finds himself wrapped up in the complicated life of aspiring actress Yuna and her scuzzy rockstar boyfriend Taketo. When Setsu opens for Taketo's band, he stuns the audience with the raw emotion of his playing. However, his heart is still tumultuous. 

Our Thoughts

An entertaining first episode of a speciality music series, which is the kind of thing I have a place in my heart for. I couldn't shake the feeling of some latent misogyny that suggested the role of a woman is to inspire a tortured artist, but I might be wrong. The final few minutes take a twist by introducing Setsu's weird, horny mother who seems to have her own personal SWAT team, and it looks like the series becomes a more conventional high school anime from episode 2 onwards. Don't know about that!

Who It's For

Fans of Kids on the Slope, Sound of the Sky.

Borscht Rating

Tokyo Revengers

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The Lowdown

Former delinquent Takemichi is unsatisfied with the way his life turned out, living alone in a paper-thin apartment and working a minimum wage job under a boss who doesn't respect him. When watching the news one evening, he learns that his highschool sweetheart Hinata was killed, alongside her little brother. On the way to work the next morning, Takemichi falls in front of an oncoming train and wakes up 12 years in the past. Armed with foreknowledge, he attempts to turn his life around and save his onetime lover.

Our Thoughts

This is drawing from a lot of sources; the whole train sequence is lifted straight from Gantz, while the story itself initially seems like a Life on Mars kind of deal. In fact, Tokyo Revengers sees Takemichi jump back and forth between the present and the past, seemingly making small changes until he achieves his desired outcome. It feels like a very video gamey depiction of time travel, and one that's not super interesting.

Who It's For

Steins;Gate fans, maybe? Delinquent manga (Shonan Junai Gumi, Crows, etc.) fans, maybe? It's pretty self-serious compared to any of those.

Borscht Rating

To Your Eternity

Show Link

The Lowdown

An immortal being in the form of an orb falls to earth and becomes a stone. Years pass, an ice age sets in, and a white wolf stumbles onto the tundra and dies. The orb, able to take the form of anything that leaves a strong impression on it, transforms into the wolf and slowly learns how to use its newfound ambulatory body. The creature treks back through the tundra where it meets a boy living alone, after the rest of his village left in search of a better life. The boy recognises the wolf as his beloved pet, Johann, and the two begin living together in the harsh, lonely wastes.

Our Thoughts

I'm being a little coy with the synopsis here, and there's a major shake-up at the end of this debut episode. This one's based on a manga by the critically acclaimed Yoshitoki Ooima (A Silent Voice), and it's a depressing, compelling, and exciting start to a series. Lots of potential here!

Who It's For

Fans of NieR, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, Last Exile, Kino's Journey.

Borscht Rating

So, there you have it. I'm hoping this will be of use to anyone who experiences a similar sense of dread when faced with so many choices. Maybe we’ll do this again during the Summer 2021 anime season.

Also, please don't get mad at me if I'm snarky about your new favourite show! It’s just TV and I'm a big idiot anyway.

[shinsengumi-archives]

Semi-Historical Saitou Page from the Old Site

The original page is no longer available, so I’m adding it to the archive.

--------

Most of the following below was written almost two years ago except the last few paragraphs. This is really more of a fangirl approach to history which I still add anyway because fans provide fuel for interest, whether they are fiction fans or history fans.

What's he really like? Well not as hot as RK Saitou but then again it's not fair to compare the two. I have grown a healthy respect for the historical version. The San-ban-tai Kumichou went through several name changes mostly because of the line of his work as a spy, first he was Yamaguchi Hajime, then Saitou Hajime (Shinsengumi), Inouhe Denpachi and finally Fujita Gorou. He was born to Yamaguchi Yuusuke and Masu. Well as most significant life starts out a bit shaky, he is rumored to have killed the son of a Retainer to the Shogun and thus left Tokyo, his hometown. He left behind his mother and father and his siblings Katsu (sister) and Hiroaki (brother).  He also had a nice named Yuki.

He met Kondou (soon to be Commander of the Shinsengumi) in Tama and later on joined the Shinsengumi as a troop captain. He is described as a very good swordsman on par with Okita Souji who during the time was the best swordsman in the Shinsengumi. In history just like in Anime and the movies he did command the third troop and was trusted by Hijikata, so much so that he gave him the assignment to spy on Itou Kashitarou. Itou's group defected from the Shinsengumi and created what is considered to be one of the worst internal disturbance in Shinsengumi history. Historical Saitou fought valiantly in Toba-Fushimi, during the Seinan wars and the Boshin wars. He became part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. It is believed that it was Toshiyoshi Kawaji, a native of Satsuma who recruited Saitou into the TMPD. After serving the TMPD (and rising up in the ranks) he finally retired and became a Museum guard, teacher and traffic enforcer in a girl's school where his wife Tokio also worked.

There is also a rumor that before Tokio Takagi (his wife), he was involved with a woman older than him named Yaso during the war but she died. It is unclear whether she died of illness though. His marriage to Tokio Takagi was arranged and it is said that the Daimyo himself was the sponsor for the marriage. He had three sons named Tatsuo, Tsutomu and Tsuyoshi. The youngest, Tatsuo was actually adopted.

Correction on Tatsuo's adoption 9/8/04: There are new findings that Tatsuo was not actually an adopted son, he is actually the biological son of the Fujita's however he was adopted "out" of the family to the Numazawa family. It is believed that Tatsuo was adopted out to help preserve the Aizu as the Numazawa's were retainers and Tokio and Hajime had strong ties with the Aizu clan. However there is debate if this was the only reason. There might've been more to the adoption, it is most probable that during the time Saitou Hajime (Fujita Gorou) was a prisoner of war the Numazawa's probably helped him during the time. The Numazawa's approached the Fujita family and probably asked the Fujita's to bear a child for them to adopt, citing Hajime's indebtedness while he was a POW.

Personality wise there is not much said or known about the man. Again it is rumored that there are family records and Shinsengumi records which are still in possession by the family and has not been made public up to now. We do know that he is fond of drinking (which ultimately led to his death - he died in a Seiza position by the way), a very quiet man as described by his brother in law and washed and stretched his fudonshi everyday. For those who do not know what a fudonshi is, it's underwear. Now don't laugh, this is actually a very good thing, because it points to cleanliness. Now who wouldn't want an intelligent (yes he must be intelligent because he served as a spy), skillful (fighting skills) and CLEAN man? Ladies?

I don't care much for the facial features of the real Saitou Hajime. Some say that he has a face only a mother could love but I'll let you be the judge of that. He was rather tall almost 6 feet. Some say he was "stocky" but later on put on some weight (later in his Museum guarding days). A couple of other downsides was that as I've mentioned before he drank quite a lot and there is an account that he is fickle when it came to women (I'm still waiting for more info on this). So there you have it a no holds barred low down on the real Saitou Hajime.

How did Saitou Hajime die?

Well he never did in the world of Anime, Manga and Fiction (at least my fanfiction ^_^ )... But for the curious let me detail to you what happened in history.

September 28, 1915, Saitou Hajime died at the age of 72. As I wrote earlier he was fond of drinking and this is the cause of his death. As he realized that his time was near, he asked his family to move him to an alcove, there he sat "Seiza" and awaited his death while his daughter-in-law Midori (Tsutomu's wife), continuously removed phlegm from his throat by chopsticks and some cotton balls. Note how he died in "Seiza", this means sitting on your heels with your back straight, this requires continuous presence of mind and discipline as it is a formal way of sitting. He did all this until the moment of his death, this not only pointed to his self-discipline and control but also his awareness of the Mugai Ryu. Mugai Ryu is his swordsman style and it advocates to continuously challenge oneself. Being in "Seiza" until death shows his dedication as a Mugai Ryu swordsman.

Let's sum this up... Obviously what I wrote above is just a short summary and highly incomplete history on the real man. My focus has always been Saitou Hajime in popular culture since my first love will always be RK Saitou. However if you love RK Saitou then you owe it to him, and his creator and yourself to know about the real man. And maybe you can use what you know in history to give RK Saitou or any other fictional rendition of the wolf more depth. Oh don't get me wrong RK Saitou is deep but only if you read between the lines....

Takagi Tokio (Fujita Tokio)

Recently the Shinsengumi community has had a flurry of information relating to Takagi Tokio, Fujita Goro's wife. Takagi Tokio is an adopted daughter of the Kurasawa family and had a brother named Morinosuke.  She was once a lady in waiting of Teruhime, wife of Matsudaira Katamori in Aizu.  Later on she would meet Saitou Hajime and marry him have three children and live their lives in Tokyo. In Tokyo she would become part of the Normal School for Women through courtesy of her cousin Takamine Hideo. She worked there as a dorm mother. Later on in life, after Fujita Goro's resignation from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, he will join Tokio teaching in the same school, today known as Ochanomizu. She also worked in Yasuda bank. I would recommend that you find out more about her.

Addendum: 02/19/2006

There's no English book out yet for Saitou Hajime, however there is one for the Shinsengumi by Romulus Hillsborough ISBN: 0804836272. Some would regard his work as having leanings but that's what we have and I think it is good that he considered it more like historical fiction.

Shizuko Akama wrote several books about Saitou (i.e. ISBN: 4404025998 and ISBN: 4404026269). She is a life-long researcher of our wolf! Some would regard her work as having the elements of historical fiction. To be quite frank, I think that's good to bear in mind.

Try to get a hold of Remembering Aizu by Shiba Goro. It's good but keep in mind that the author is too close to the subject as well. Think of Nagakura's book (wrote it himself) where (it is said that) he's described himself a bit too good.

My favorite Saitou Site on the web is 1to5.net and the old 3-hajime site. You'll have to use a Japanese translator like nifty or babelfish.

Visit ShinsengumiHQ for more info as well.

[prancing-uboot]

Satsuma Dads Timeline

You know how Golden Kamuy is an awesome manga full of amazing (and super-hot) characters and a great main storyline? So what do I do with it? Naturally I obsess over those two old gremlins: Koito Heiji and Hanazawa Koujirou the fathers of Second Lieutenant Koito and Ogata.

It's probably the most niche pairing ever, and I thought it was just me fixating on that one panel where Tsurumi mentioned they were close friends from Satsuma. But the more I read about the history of Satsuma and the times they lived in, the more I’m becoming convinced that there’s so much of their story written between the lines and that their relationship and tumultuous past is what actually caused and keeps together most of the GK plot. But nobody else seems to see it!

So what do I do with that? I spent my nights in front of my crazywall of historical research, trying to recreate an entire universe of events 50-years before the gold plot starts, just to be able to present to you:

The Satsuma Dads Timeline 

or

Why you Should Care for Heiji and Koujirou

~1850

Koujirou and Heiji* were born around 1850** in Kagoshima.

Heiji might have been older then Koujirou, but not more then 5 years. They were both sons of high ranking samurai (noble bloodline), serving the Shimazu clan.

* Most likely they went by other names in their youth and then changed them a bazillion times to make stuff confusing, but let's skip that.

** That would make them around the same age as Tougou Heihachiro and Nogi Maresuke ** - the chief players in the Russo-Japanese war for the navy and army. Both share a lot of biographical motives with Koujirou and Heiji and Noda might have modeled them a bit after them so I'll include the parallels where possible. I'm not sure Nogi even exists in the GK universe or was he replaced by Koujirou completely. Tougou was recently confirmed to exist. He was also a Kagoshima-boy, and grew up in the same circles so it's impossible that he and Heiji didn't know each other from childhood. 

1856-65

Koujirou and Heiji train in the same gochu in Kajiya-cho*. Gochu was a Satsuma-specific education system, relying on small neighborhood study groups in which the older samurai spent a part of their time teaching the younger everything they knew. Starting from penmanship and Confucian doctrines and ending with swordsmanship, and the unstoppable Jigen-ryu.

Teenage Heiji develops a Koito-crush*. on Saigo Takamori (20 years his senior) and follows him around like a lost puppy. Koujirou makes fun of him, but in reality he feels a bit jealous.

* Kajya-cho was a Kagoshima district known now as "Home town of Revitalization" as most of the influential Satsuma leaders of the Meiji Revolution came from there. That also meant that they directly taught the younger generations as part of the gochu. For example Tougou also came from that area. I'm not that sure Heiji and Koujirou were actually from Kajiya-cho, but it being 3km downhill from the Nanshu Cemetary would fit in nicely to the place where Tsurumi and Otonoshin first met so it's likely.

** Gochu was a completely male oriented environment, so homoerotic relations bloomed and were even encouraged (think ancient Greece), hence the term "Satsuma habit" was later used as the synonym of homosexuality in Japan. But for them then it was just a natural thing they sometimes did, and not really an orientation. Koito Otonoshin crushing on Tsurumi might be a bit old fashioned but it's just a Satsuma thing, so of course his dad is cool with that.

1866-67

Both go to Kyoto to serve Hisamitsu Shimazu and there they experience the tension of the Bakumatsu period first hand. They soak up the patriotic moods of the Sonno-Joi fraction, they hear of the the assassinations by the Shinsengumi, they feel a revolution brewing. Being a hot-headed youth in those times made keeping out of trouble very difficult.

1868-69

The Boshin War breaks out. Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa fight to abolish the Tokugawa shogunate. Heiji and Koujirou join up and dispite their young age are given officer commissions*. Coming from a long line of Satsuma’s military commanders it is what they were raised up to do. This war however is nothing like the stories they grew up on. Instead of swords it relies more on modern weapons guns and artillery. What was supposed to be a short battle with the Shogun's forces, turns into a lengthy nationwide campaign of crashing shogunate loyalists long after the Shogun himself resigned. Koujiro and Heiji fight side by side and survive all the way to see the end of it in Hakodate. 

* Only the oficers wore the super cool Satsuma black koguma wigs and I definitely do need fanart of that.

1870

Heiji and Koujiro come out of the war victorious. Most of the positions in the new government are taken by Satsuma and Choshu men, so practically any career path is open to them. Koujiro stays with the Imperial Guard while Heiji joins the Imperial Naval Academy in Tsukiji, Tokyo. They compete for the most ridiculous facial hair* and spend their off nights “drinking green liqueurs under red lanterns”

Ogata's grandfather fought** on the other side for the Mito clan (the last shogun was from the Mito-Tokugawa branch). After the defeat his family falls into poverty. They sell their daughter to an okiya because they cannot support her ***.

* The Haitourei edict from 1871 allowed samurai to cut of their chonmage and encouraged them to experiment with western haircuts.

** I’m guessing he was active in the Boshin by the fact that he had an old gun lying around.

*** This "Ogata's mom comes from a fallen samurai family" theory has been going around but I'm not super sure about the time frame here. Usually maiko get promoted to geisha when they're 20-21. That means to already be a geisha when she gave birth to Hyakunosuke she must have been at least 12 when she was sold. That's quite late for a geisha to start her education. Or I might be wrong about Hyakunosuke's birth date, but I'd really like it to be 1879, so I'm in a pickle here.

1873

Heiji finally finds the guts to propose to Yuki, his Kagoshima sweetheart. They marry and a son is born to them - Heinojou *.

Koujirou's family chooses a wife for him **. She's from a good family, likely Choshu to have some useful connections. Heiji comes to their wedding in his fancy navy uniform to congratulate them and say goodbye. He'll be going to study abroad in the France ***. Koujirou feels like it's his funeral wake.

* Heinojou's birthdate is the first solid date we have for them from the canon, so I'm basing the whole “born in the 1850s” on the fact that the expected age of a man to marry was their early 20s.

** Arranged marriage was the most commonplace in Japan then. The families picked the brides because they were most likely to spend more time with her then the husband, taking care of the house and such. 

*** In 1871 Tougou went to study abroad with 14 other cadets to Greenwich Naval Collage and that would fit so nicely. The problem is that they went 1871-1878 and Heinojou was born in 1873 *shakes fist*. There were also individual exchange programs though and since in canon Heiji is mentioned to have some french friends I figured he was sent to France.

~1876

Koujirou is stationed in Tokyo, while his wife stays in Kagoshima, taking care of the family home. He begins an affair* with Tome**, a geisha from Asaskusa. With Heiji gone she's the only person he can open his heart to.

After abolisment of the clan system and privileges of the samurai, the dissatisfied Satsuma samurai quit the Imperial Guard en-masse and go back to Kagoshima to gather around Saigo Takamori and brew a rebelion. Koujiro - by then a major - is faced with a choice: to go back with his childhood friends, or to stay loyal to the government. He chooses his career.  

* I'm guessing he must have been married already when the thing started, because marrying a geisha wasn't that unheard of and wouldn't really cause a scandal or hinder his career. All three of the Meiji prime ministers Hirobumi Ito, Taro Katsura and Yamagata Aritomo ended up marrying geisha. So Tome being a geisha was not a problem - Koujiro already having a wife was.

** Tome is a random name that Ogata used in his Sugimoto self insert fic. I love the headcanon that it's his mom's name. Because of course he makes everything personal.

1877

In January the Seinan War breaks out. Koujirou fights against his clansmen and his former war comrades *. By September most of them are dead. He is there at Shiroyama where Saigo makes his last stand. Heiji is never going to forgive him that.

When he comes back to Tokyo, Tome doesn't ask, she understands and prepares him angler nabe while he sulks.

* Koujirou's situation is by no means an unusual one. Many of the Satsuma samurai landed lucrative jobs under the new administration and didn't share the dissatisfaction of their disenfranchised clansmen. Even Saigo's own younger brother Judo stayed as a lieutenant-general in the Imperial Guard.

1878

In May, Okubou Toshimichi, the lord of home affairs, who took personal command of surpressing  Saigo's rebelion is assasinated, branded in Satsuma as traitor.

Koujiro is not welcome in Kagoshima anymore*. His wife moves to Tokyo to avoid harassment. Keeping his affair with Tome is becoming more difficult. Especially when he learns that Tome is pregnant **

In December Heiji comes back to pick up the pieces.

* Both Okubo and Saigo Judo moved their families to Tokyo because of this situation, so I'm guessing that was a thing. They received some backlash from their compatriots but eventually things normalized (for Judo at least, because Okubo was, you know, slashed up dead in an alley). By 1898 Saigo was acknowledged by the government as a tragic hero and bygones were bygones. Yet Heiji still talks with the Satsuma dialect, while Koujiro doesn’t even have a trace of it left.I wonder if he still used it when talking to Heiji.

** Geisha were not supposed to have sex with their patrons. The fact that she chose to give birth to Koujirou's son tells that she dared to hope that he'll at least acknowledge him.

1879

In January Hyakunosuke is born*

* Ogata's birthdate is a shot in the dark. He could be anywhere between 1878 and 1883. I just really like the idea that he was born right into the middle of such a chaos.

EDIT: GoldenKamuyHunting pointed out that Ogata had to be born after 1881, since Noda placed him as Older than Usami. This ruins the timeline a bit, and I’ll have to think of the way to reorder it to fit. For now, treat the 1879 as canon-defying :(

~1881

After pressure from his parents and from Heiji, Koujirou comes clean and learns to make his official family work. Koujirou's legitimate son, Yuusaku is born*. 

From now on he effectively ghosts Tome. Her mental health** begins to waver. Tome quits being a geisha and moves back to her parents in Ibaraki ***. 

* Also a shot in the dark. This would make him 23 when he died and 2 years younger than Ogata.

** Before the 20th century the white makeup geisha wore was made out of lead, making them more likely to develop lead poisoning, the first symptom of which is the decline of intelectual ability. Fun fact: lead gets passed down in breastmilk in quantities super-harmful for the baby, so if we go with the theory "Tome went crazy because of lead poisoning" than that would explain so much about Ogata...

*** This is likely due to her health, not due to giving birth. She could have just sent Hyakunosuke to her parents and kept working. God knows how they made ends meet after that. Before they were be so poor that they had to sell their daughter. Now they were much older, she was sick and unable to work, and her child was another mouth to feed. Not to mention the cost geisha education was worse then US collage loans so she most likely had a large debt she barely started to repay. Was Koujiro at least decent enough to pay child-support? Oh god *realises* it was Heiji who was paying them, wasn’t it? *heart breaks*

1886

Heiji and Yuki's second son, Otonoshin is born, 13 years after the first. What's up with that, Heiji?

1887

Koujirou goes to Germany* to study military tactics.

Hyakunosuke (8) feeds his mother rat poison. Koujirou doesn't come to the funeral.

As a result Hyakunosuke is brought up by his grandparents alone. He likes his grandma. They might instill in him the same kind of dislike for the new government as in the case of Kadokura. They definitely install a dislike for his deadbeat dad.

* Japan sent most of the promising officers abroad to soak up the knowledge how to run a modern nation. The army was mostly modeled after Germany (the Japanese were impressed by their recent victory against France) so it's the safest bet that Koujirou went to study there sometime in his life. In 1887-88 Nogi and Soroku Kawakami were sent to Germany. So it still depends if Nogi exists in GK universe and Koujirou just tagged along with them, or are they completely interchangeable.

1888

A new division is formed in Hokkaido. Tasked with guarding the north and developing the land.

1889

Heinojou (16) passes the Naval Academy entry exams with highest marks, determined to follow the footsteps of his father.

1894-95

The first Sino-Japanese war breaks out.

Heiji and Heinojou take part in the Battle of Yalu River. Heinojou is stationed on the flagship Matsushima under admiral Ito Sukeyuki. Matsushima gets badly damaged. 57 men die (including three officers) and 54 more are wounded.

Heiji silently watches his son burning from his ship. Comes back a wreck of a man. Gets awarded a title of Baron under the kazoku system *.

No clue what Koujirou could have been doing then. It’s likely that he was part of the army that conquered Port Arthur (back than still called Lushunkou) the first time around in only 3 days **.

* I need to double-check that with the raws since I'm not sure Tsurumi calling him "lord" is meant to imply he had a noble title, or if it's just a honorific. Many of admirals had titles so it would be highly likely someone with a lineage and a service record like Heiji also got one.

** this experiance would make him a pefect choice for later leading the operation in 1904 so this would make a lot of sense, but it would also be a pretty heavy take, since that would mean he was present during the Port Arthur masacre. And as a senior officer too, so it’s hard to find any excuses for him if that was the case. Did witnessing the atrocities there influence his later opposition to the Japanese expansion into Manchuria? Was his instruction for Yuusaku not to kill anyone motivated by trying to protect his son from sharing his guilt?

1895

Tsurumi comes back from the war and joins the 7th (actually more like he’s demoted out of the 2nd). By then Koujirou is the head of the division *

* I’m guessing Tsurumi had to have enough time to work on him, to be able to learn all about the Koito family troubles and come up with the plan how to use them. Did he get into Koujirou’s confidence? Or was he just reading his private letters?

1900

Heiji stays in Kagoshima and spoils/neglects his second son. Tsurumi "accidentally" meets Otonoshin and they visit Saigo's and Heinojou's graves.

Later that year the whole Koito family moves to Hakodate and Heiji takes control of the Ominato torpedo division *.

* The Ikazuki was a new class of light destroyers specifically made not to repeat the tragedy of too large and too slow Matsushima. No wonder Heiji was willing to move across the country for that.There were 6 of them made in total. Cool factoid: One of those destroyers sunk after a crash with a civilian steamship off the coast of Hokkaido in 1909.

1902

Ogata (24) joins the army and specifically volunteers for the 7th division planning god-knows-what. By conscription he would have landed in the 2nd (Kantou region). 

Koujirou doesn't acknowledge him. Tsurumi does.

The Great Hakodate kidnapping takes place. Koujiro sends his best intelligence officer from Tsukisappu to help his friend and keep things discreet. Afterwards Heiji learns to appreciate the son he has left.

Later that year Otonoshin passes the exam to join the Army acedemy.

Fresh out of the academy Yuusaku (21) joins the 7th division. His father, plagued with guilt and bad life choices instructs him not to kill people and not to sleep around.

Yuusaku meets Hyakunosuke. Hyakunosuke tries to get him to kill people and sleep around.

1904-05

The Russo-Japanese war.

In February the war starts with Japan launching night torpedo attacks on the Russian fleet stationed inside Port Arthur. Heiji leads the third destroyer squadron aboard the Sazanami*. They continue the attacks over the next months trying to impose a blockade. After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the victorious Japanese Combined Fleet effectively traps the remaining Russian warships inside Port Arthur. The Russians can't get out, the Japanese can't get in. Heiji can only wait and watch as the Japanese Army struggles to capture Port Arthur by land.

Koujirou leaves the 7th division behind when he is promoted to a member of staff of General Nogi’s 3rd Army. They land in Incheon in April and reach Port Arthur in August to start the siege. It is a drawn out blood bath. After wasting tons of lives in pointless assaults, the Japanese realize quite late that the key to victory lies in capturing the 203 Hill overlooking the harbor. Koujirou is made chief of staff for this operation.

In October they get the news that the Russian Baltic Fleet has left Tallinn and is on its way to reinforce the besieged Pacific Fleet. The race starts. If Koujirou fails to capture the hill before the Baltic Fleet arrives, the Japanese Fleet will be annihilated, and Heiji along with it.

In November the 7th division arrives in Port Arthur. They don’t get special treatment from their former commander and they’re sent head first to the 203 Hill. They capture it on 5th December, only after the artillery stopped caring weather they hit their own or not**. From their new position they destroy the whole Pacific fleet.

The death toll is 80 000 soldiers. More than half of the 7th is gone. Among the fallen are second lieutenants Hanazawa Yuusaku and Nogi Yasusuke - general Nogi's only remaining son (the first one died earlier in the same war).***

Hyakunosuke thinks that the losses wouldn't have to be this high if they just had more snipers like him. But nobody listened.

*  All of the Ikazuki-class destroyers were quite active during the war. I placed Heiji on the Sazanami just because there’s the most info about what she did and when.

** The winning strategy was implemented by Kodama Gentarou. He was sent to Port Arthur with the authority to replace Nogi. He had enough guts to sacrifice soldiers falling to friendly fire in one coordinated assault instead of bleeding them out by continuous suicidal frontal assaults. He didn't officially replace Nogi though, and he let him take the credit for the victory, because they were friends. It's a really cool story.

*** Interesingly enough Yasusuke, was also shot in the back of his head. His father when he saw his body asked only “Was it after he had completed his task, or was it before?”

1905

The 7th move on to Mukden. Koujirou and Nogi along with them. 

In May the Baltic Fleet arrives. Without Port Arthur, they try to get to Vladivostok to resupply. Tougou's fleet intercepts them in the Tsushima strait and despite their smaller number, crushes them decisively. Heiji's destroyer Sazanami, captures the destroyer Buyini with the wounded admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky **. 

In September the Treaty of Portsmouth is signed. The Trans-Manchurian Railway gets handed off to the Japanese. Later Koujirou strongly opposes the plan to develop it ***.

** Heiji's torpedo division was also responsible to delivering the finishing blow to the flagship Knyaz Suarov. Later this was written on Knyaz Suarov's last moments "While she had a gun above water she fired, and not a man survived her of all that crew, to whose stubborn gallantry no words can do justice. If there is immortality in naval memory it is hers and theirs". Gives me the chills.

*** Did he see that it would lead to more war? Mantetsu was the reason behind the Manchurian Incident in 1931 and later for the breakout of the second Sino-Japanese war, where a really ugly face of Japanese imperialism saw the light of day. So, was Koujirou a good guy all along? This I hope will be explained in the manga.

1906

In January Nogi returns to give a victory report to the Emperor *.

Koujirou "commits seppuku" by his son's hand. "Writes" a sappy goodbye letter to Heiji (probably also by Ogata's hand).

Heiji gets seduced by his son's dashing young commander and does some stupid-treasonous things for him, convinced that Central Command was to blame for pushing Koujirou to suicide.

In November Mantetsu is established.

* Nogi breaks down while making the report and asks to be allowed to commit seppuku for allowing such high casualties. The Emperor forbids him. Nogi waits 7 years until the Emperor dies and commits seppuku on the day of his funeral.

Disclaimers

I would say half of this consists of what already is in GK canon (even if it’s written between the lines) or history. The other half are my free guesses for what I personally think would make a better story ;)

I tried and tried to do thorough research, but in the end I’m just a humble fangirl, and not a historian, so if there’s something I got wrong, missed or misinterpreted please correct me - learning history is a never-ending story.

Sorry for linking directly to the scanlations. Support the manga by buying the volumes if you can.

This list will most likely be growing since I will eventually figure out what Koujirou did during the Sino-Japanese war, and I’m only starting digging in to the details of the Boshin War, so I’m sure I’ll expand upon that.

If anyone ever wants to use this information for a fic, please do. Copy it all if you want to. I don’t mind the slightest. I’ll love you to pieces for writing anything for them at all!

[pmk-love]

Speaking of Ginnosuke, you know, that little page Tetsunosuke actually meets in Ezo and who’s a reflection of who he was when he was younger?

Turns out he was a historical person as well, and he indeed was Tetsunosuke’s ‘kouhai’ as he was part of the remaining Shinsengumi pages but was younger than Tetsu. According to this site:

Tamura Ginnosuke (田村銀之助)

Ginnosuke TAMURA (born on August 30, 1856 and died on August 20, 1924) was from Iwakitaira Domain and a member of the Shinsengumi.

In 1867, he joined the Shinsengumi at the age of 12 with his older brothers, Ichiro TAMURA and Rokushiro TAMURA. He served not as a regular member but as a pageboy to the commander, Isami KONDO and the vice commander, Toshizo HIJIKATA, but soon, the Boshin War broke out. He followed the Shinsengumi and moved to Aizu through Nagareyama after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. It is said that he was too young to join in combats (such as the Aizu War). When Old Shogunate military joined with the Takeaki ENOMOTO fleet in Sendai, he also joined them and headed for Ezo (inhabited area of Ainu).

In the Hakodate government (the short-lived Republic of Ezo), he belonged to rikugunbugyonami (military police) headed by Toshizo HIJIKATA and served as a pageboy to the President Takeaki ENOMOTO. He was also adopted into the family of Saemon KASUGA, the leader of the army. During the Hakodate War, he was treated as a noncombatant and learned French from an interpreter, Masachika TAJIMA.

When Toshizo HIJIKATA was killed on May 11, 1869 and Saemon KASUGA was killed on May 12, he was recommended to escape from goryokaku (the main fortress of the short-lived Republic of Ezo) by the president, Takeaki ENOMOTO and the head of the military police, Keisuke OTORI. However, he refused the offer outright. On May 18, the Old Shogunate military surrendered to the new government. After that, he served the Meiji government and joined wars including the Seinan War as a military officer and he also served as a development commissioner.

He attended a meeting where the participants talked about historic events in 1920. Some stories about the Boshin War told by him have been handed down for generations.

He died in 1924. He died at the age of 69.