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「やさしいおじさん」 (Yasashī Ojisan)
“The Gentle Uncle”
This was all in all, a stunningly gorgeous episode. I felt as if I were walking through an art museum exhibit most of the time. It was completely aweing of how fluidly the animation styles changed from one scene to the next, highlighting the intensity of a particular moment in addition to the prowess of the art team involved. Thankfully, this is not one of those series that is all show but not substance- there is that in spades as well.
It really hit me, seeing the fear, the raw emotion in the early scene with Tokiyuki’s brother and Tokiyuki’s reaction to his brother’s fate, that this series carries the pathos of history which the textbooks do not. As outlandish as the comedy breaks are, sensei does not fail to drive home how brutal this history is. In a struggle as bloody and with as high stakes as this one, the power-greedy ones will stop at nothing. This includes the Hojo boys’s uncle, Muneshige, who sells out his own nephew to the Ashikaga, who then behead him, child though he is. Absolutely gutting. The history books gives us the names, dates, events, but the look of terror on the brother’s face, and the devastation in Tokiyuki’s reaction upon the news remind us that these were children involved, children who had their whole world, their whole families ripped from them. Children swept up in the war games of adults.
Speaking of games, I found it clever how the theme of dice games was carried throughout the ep, first through the anachronistic Settlers of Catan style dice board game hilariously introduced by Yorishige-dono. These types of humorous anachronistic cameos are one of the essential components of this series, one that endears it very much to me. It was supremely artful how this metaphor was carried beyond the joke, into the more grave context of Munashige’s schemings in playing the game of chance in betrayal. Finding that ruthlessly offering his nephews head won him no special favors and his friends fast departing (if there are any flags he’s hoisting, they’re red ones), he now turns his attention towards capturing Tokiyuki to cash in on the prize. The moves of a desperate gambler can be easy to read (and having spotty foresight abilities also helps) and Yorishige uses this as an opportunity for Tokiyuki to get rid of a threat and recruit some retainers.
The perspective recruits are also children, both skilled at fighting, but dubious at signing the dotted line. Who can blame them- it would sound outrageous to anybody to join up with an heir whose house was just wiped out. It doesn’t take long to win them over once they see the skilled allusiveness of their future master-to-be. Together, they fight- the two new faces to create an opening and Tokiyuki to take advantage of that.
And it has taken no time at all to win me over (since like the first 30 seconds of last week’s premiere) and I hope the same can be said for you! I really am sincerely glad to see that the excellent production qualities were not limited to just the premiere, and here’s to another week of eagerly anticipating the next episode.
End Card
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