#Touken talk

[ask-toukendanshi]

hi souza it's also souza. No, i'm kidding.

Does he have all his siblings with him, though? Or have some not been summoned yet?

"Ah... only us three so far, unfortunately. Or maybe it is 'fortunately', since we are at least this many together? It could be just one of us present... that'd be a bit lonely. Taikou has yet to appear. But I'm sure our master has plans for him too." -Souza Samonji (this one)

[asterparfait]

toukentober day 17: ikedaya (yasusada)

[gingermintpepper]

This is such a wild departure from what I usually post but due to the cyclical nature of my interests, I can't stop thinking about Higekiri and Hizamaru's Kemono performance in the 2020 SOGA musical because like?? LIKE??

Nevermind that I'm just very interested in the twins in general, nevermind that I've always held SOGA up as the gold standard when it comes to outfit design in the myus (which has only very recently started being genuinely surpassed with productions like Hanakage's concert outfits or Goumyu's gorgeous, gorgeous tailoring) but there's also something about the whole presentation of SOGA that gets to me. Like a lot of things concerning the Genji twins, the presentation of the play (staging, choreography, costume design) is based around the Higekiri and Hizamaru being two halves of a greater whole, meaning that they parallel each other throughout the whole two hour jaunt. Kemono is such a perfect microcosm of the mirroring they've been doing for the whole production, including them doing the same choreo at specific times, as-above-so-below imagery with Higekiri on the balcony vs Hizamaru on the center floor

But there's also the way that their crest placements have been mirroring each other's on all of their outfits and now, for this performance, they both wear it on their left breast, right sleeves in their respecting black and white.

Just UGH - Toumyu is generally very impeccable with it's sense of staging and organisation of visual themes but they really knocked it out of the park for SOGA and I just needed to talk about it a little.

[mitsukuri]

what if jikkyuu/souza/hasebe/nihongou/fukushima

[vividblaze]

The way Sohaya sneezes when making troops... 🥲💖

[kunoichi-of--destiny]

If I had a nickel for everytime I consumed a series based off of Japanese history with pretty boys, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't much but weird how it happened twice:

[zantedeschia-praesul]

//any touken ranbu rp blogs out there pls holler at us 🥹 this saniwa ia ready to open their doors to all toudans and saniwas to interact ueueueeeee

(this is a side blog btw, i will follow back via my KLK blog @vindicta-reliquiae!)

"COME FIND US BAKUMATSU SWORDS, ARUJI! We'll be waiting!"

[tiangouaway]

thoughts on touken ranbu kai so far

i've finished the four current episodes so far, and for the most part, i've enjoyed it! i'm happy to have a new anime, especially since i can't find hanamaru season three anywhere (much less with eng subs). but i still have some issues with kai, some that i hope will be addressed later on.

first off, the things i like!

the gorgeous animation! i haven't taken a lot of screenshots, but everything looks so beautiful! the first scene that comes to mind would be the opening in episode three where mikazuki and the starters watch the sunrise over the water. it's so pretty!

i love the kunihiro brothers!! i'm so glad they're all getting screen time together! the flashback to when yamabushi got injured, and after doudanuki's speech, manba wanted to get revenge on the enemies specifically for hurting his brother? I SCREAMED!!!

sidenote, this focus on the brothers ends up separating horikawa and kane-san, who instead is with yasusada most of the time. i love the hijikatagumi, but it is welcome to see them apart, to potentially introduce new character dynamics

speaking of! manba's conflict - not feeling worthy of being the attendant due to that flashback battle - is new! it's less related to him being a copy, and more of his guilt and trauma. i'm excited to see how this plays out!

the battle royale in episode four is so much fun!! the teams were interesting and i loved how they used the environment, even if it felt too... battle shounen at times imo (hachisuka and kasen fighting on the log and mutsu and kasen jumping off a cliff). always happy to hear yasusada's ora ora ora

THE SANIWA! some people online found the doll and voice creepy, and i did as well, but i fuck with it

but as for the things i dislike...

the touken ranbu animes are... incredibly repetitive. the "newest toudan still has attachments for his old master to the point where it's causing problems in the citadel" plot was in s1 hanamaru and katsugeki. the only difference in kai is that it's more personal with more fighting. what's worse is that this exact conflict has been done in s2 hanamaru (albeit less focus on souza), so kai just feels dragged out with a dash of souza ptsd and more yagen. and judging by the opening, it'll be the conflict for the entire anime...

honestly, this whole thing feels like hanamaru but more serious and prettier with the way characters have to go through the same conflicts. sayo still talks about revenge, souza is a caged bird; in fact, i'm pretty sure yamabushi and manba's dialogue in the first ep happened in hanamaru as well. i know that's a game interaction but seriously? make something new! there's dozens of new characters and we're still using the same guys? boring

i hope episode 5 has nice fight choreography at least. but still, i'm gonna keep my hopes up for the rest of the season. enjoy these screenshots of moon grandpa ft manba

HES SO PRETTY <3333333333

[intomybubble]

?????

Huhhhh? Why these historical figures?

[wolfofcelestia]

This might be old news since these were posted in 2016, but I thought these would be handy for any fic writers who use honorifics

These lists contain names/honorifics used by the swords across multiple pieces of media

[kon-konk]

Remember how I said I was thinking about how characters would react when handed a kitten?  I made some lists.  (This does not center on any particular game/series, it’s just ones I thought of while on the subject)

The ones that are wary/will say “What if I hurt it?”: B-52 (FF), Tsurugi, Higan* (Servamp), Deuce (TWST), Taroutachi (TouRaBu)

So fuckin’ excited:  Lawless, Licht, Berukia (Servamp), Namazuo, Gokotai (TouRaBu), Madara (Enstars)

Talks to the kitten as if it were a human:  Minazuki (FF), Jun, Higan* (Servamp), Mikazuki (TouRaBu), Malleus, Lilia (Bat Dad would be having a full on convo like the kitten is responding), Vil (TWST), Rei (Enstars), Mammon (Obey Me!)

Pretends they don’t like the kitten, but then you find them napping with the kitten in their arms:  Rinne (Enstars), Yumi, Sakuya (Servamp), Ace (TWST)

Treats it like you’ve given them a personal mission to protect this kitten: Brownie (FF), Shamrock (Servamp), Tsukasa (Enstars), Jade (TWST)

They’re not giving that kitten back.  This bitch has full on absconded with your kitten:  Satan (Obey Me!), Tsurumaru (TouRaBu)

Neutral/Little to No Reaction: Mikuni, Jeje (Servamp), Honebami (TouRaBu)

Not Allowed to Touch the Kitten: Jiroutachi (TouRaBu), Touma (Servamp), Floyd, Rook (TWST), Puff (FF), Owen (mahoyaku)

*I feel like Higan would fit under both.  He’d initially be worried because it’s so small, but by the end of the day he’s talking to it.

[kanesadagumi]

Watched Exhuma yesterday!

[bunathebunny]

like shipping rarepair is a hell of its own but have you tried like getting hooked on media that is only distributed in one region???

[nymphilily]

Quick shout out to my mom, who everytime I talk about a historical anime within her earshot immediately asks if it's Touken Ranbu (the sword one, as she refers to it)

[sugar-spice-and-pretty-men]

RNG is looping F88 for hundreds of time, enough to raise Kiwame Honebami and Namazuo (x2 exp) from lvl 46 to 51, and not getting a single Hakusan.

But getting Onimaru from the first F90 clear 😶

Anyway Underground Treasure Chest 24 over, got some koban and exp, time for Regiment Battle.

[mitsukuri]

they're releasing the images in random order