#they keep talking about how destructive mizu's revenge is and it's like yeah but she should get to kill them anyway

[karinyosa]

one of the really interesting things to me about about abijah fowler is that he's irish, which i thought at first was like. they're just picking any random european accent guy to play the white guy and yknow what power to them. but no they have him talk about life under the tudors, they mention the history that ireland has at the opposite end of the imperial violence that abijah wields in the show. he always makes a point to emphasize that he identifies with the english, always uses "we" when talking about them and their conquests. abijah coming from a colonized people yet dealing out what he specifically characterizes as english imperial violence, versus heiji being japanese and heavily resenting abijah yet doing business with him and facilitating his rise to power with western weapons. they both collaborate very directly with their oppressor for money or power, at the expense of their people (however broadly or narrowly you want to define that. not only are heiji's political collaborators killed, it's also him and not abijah who tortures taigen. the saw trap guarding fowler's fortress was designed by both of them). as does the shogun; abijah providing gold makes him a "necessary evil" even though the shogun knows what he's all about and presumably knows he's power hungry, and the people who bear the brunt are anyone who happens to upset abijah at the wrong time and specifically female sex workers + their children