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「美濃動乱」 (Mino Douran)
“The Mino Disturbance”
“Women are not tools of conquest.”
-Niwa “Scorekeeper” Nagahide
You don’t hear that said often in anime, where the work acknowledges the equality of women. As I’ve said before, I don’t consider labeling myself as a feminist, but one need not be one to appreciate such a fresh statement in what’s often a sexist medium (how sexist is up to debate). Almost every character in this show has exhibited some sort of strength that’s not tacked on. It is integral to their characters, whether it’s Scorekeeper’s order, Katsuie’s restraint, Monkey’s willingness to die, or Nobuna’s Ambition ultimate dream.
The events that triggered their personalities have thuroughly impressed me thus far. Instead of the genderbending being a purely fanservice modification, that aspect of the show is explored in the anime as a true ‘what if’ scenario. What if a female Daimyo came to power? What if we have to marry against our own will? What if the people we love are doomed to be distant from us? All of these questions get explored thuroughly, not just by one or two people, but various parts of the cast. Although Azai (Saiga Mitsuki) is a despicable character, he makes fair points concerning the reality of relationships in the political sphere. In a more realistic and strategic perspective, Yoshiharu could be at most a male concubine for Nobuna, whilst she saves her own hand for political gain. On the other hand, it’s ironic that Azai states that Nobuna must throw away any happiness she has as a woman, for the prime inner reason why Nobuna desires to save her father-in-law is her position as a caring daughter. Yoshiharu’s reasons for following Nobuna follow the same pattern: it’s not because he’s a guy who wants to protect a girl, but rather he’s a visionary from the future who believes in Nobuna’s “dream”.
Despite these powerful words and statements, some of its effectiveness is lost due to what seems to be a bad case of plot armor. At this rate, none of the Daimyos are going to die, nor any of the main characters, and most definitely none of the women. When Yoshiharu was on that raft and Goemon happened to deflect three arrows with her ninja skills…that’s when the armor became most apparent. Although the scenes themselves may be filled with tension, without the knowledge that SOMETHING could go fatally wrong…the tension isn’t at its fullest potential.
While we’re on the topic of tense scenes, I would like to briefly mention the pacing. Personally, I found this to be a non-issue until this episode, during the clash between the Mino rebellion and the Oda forces. Although 20 or more seconds would’ve sufficed, the clash lasted 10 seconds or so. Due to all of the investment in focusing on the buildup, the actual excitement of the event…felt rushed. Although it might be reasonable to attribute this to a low amount of episodes, it’s still an issue that has to be addressed. The conclusions these past few episodes have felt like quick and dirty conclusions to the conflict built 20 minutes before. Hopefully this isn’t a trend for every episode, but if it truly is a one-cour show, it’s a sort of necessary flaw that’ll have to be dealt with, lest the show decide to cover less material.
These flaws shouldn’t hamper too much from enjoying the plot. If you’ve been following this show thus far, expectations for this show have been met, if not exceeded. The fanservice is regulated, the tension is there, and history has been changed. Although veteran Sengoku watchers may find this a bit repetitive, I vouch again to the line said by Scorekeeper: there’s some surprises that make this show different from the rest.
Historical Notes: Spoilers Possible
PS: tourisugari, if I got the pronounciation wrong again, let me know! ^^’
Full-length images: 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 16, 17, 18, 25, 27, 28, 32, 34, 36.
Preview
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Goemon super cute kawaii ninja especially that 1st scene, good episode though
I was hoping this would be more of a harem, but right now that obviously isn’t the case. Nobuna has completely taken the spotlight. Which is a huge disappointment considering how fine all the girls are in this show.
Hoping other girls get some screen time too.
This is just the 3rd episode, give it a little more time, maybe they will progress to harem. But, cause the title is Oda Nobuna, maybe the focus is her?
If you’re looking at this show purely for a harem/ fan-service fill experience, I suggest you look elsewhere. The harem aspect in this one is pretty mild in this series, imo. It definitely won’t be the main focus/attraction of the show, that’s for sure.
Isn’t polygamy legal in this age? If so he can have atleast a few wives. But i bet they cop out and only stick with nobuna.
https://randomc.net/image/Oda%20Nobuna%20no%20Yabou/Oda%20Nobuna%20no%20Yabou%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2036.jpg
I can’t for the life of me link together what she reminds me of… and it’s driving me insane!
This along with Binbou and Sword Art are my top 3 favourites of this season.
Let me take a stab. Edward Elric – FMA
Kinda looks like Hikaru from Hikaru no Go (female version)
Monkey is a little dense huh? Quite blur to the feeling of Nobuna…
Azai’s appearance reminds me of Assassin from Fate/Stay Night
In all seriousness, dat feel when Viper was about to ‘die’ almost made me cry. Also Nobuna bringing her army to save ‘Saru’, come on man TAKE THE HINT!!
Still can’t get over the quality animation… so vivid…
Show Spoiler ▼
as retarded as this sounds. Its actually true.
From my Sengoku Basara knowledge, Azai should get married to Oichi. No equivalent character has shown up so far, but I thinking Kichou could fit the bill.
Shotas
Oichi will arrive in the future, but it is a very very big surprise. :))
nobukatsu have an army full of girls?! yay >:)
can i rank the girls?
1. nobuna
2. katsuie
3. nagahide
4. mitsuhide
5. ~nothing follows~
Same as mine! XD although for me Katsuie and Nagahide are tied for 2nd XD
Nobukatsu harem in the preview
@Zanibas – Thanks for continuing to cover this, and please continue the spoiler historical references. I think it adds a nice touch to the review. FWIW – I don’t think that the Mino-Oda battle needed to be drawn out much longer. I viewed it as the final step to the serious battle against Imagawa. The entire focus of Ep 03 was that if Nobuna sent aid to Saito, Imagawa would invade a defenseless Oda. Well, Nobuna really did it to save Yoshiharu, but the result is the same. Very much looking forward to next Ep..
With three Eps viewed, this is definitely one of my favorite shows this season, and one I think most people didn’t expect to turn out as well as it has so far. The vast majority of previews I read were “What! Another Sengoku gender swap, time-travel anime! PASS!” Ironically, I have yet to read a preview that states “What! Another futuristic mecha anime with all (or nearly all) female pilots! PASS!” Seems to be more of those around.
Goemon’s stuttering is great as a running joke. I LOL’d at the “So you can do what – 30 characters at most?” line in Ep 01. Great character. Everything I liked in Ep 01 is still there.
Still, there are a few things I would like to see or could be improved. I agree the pacing could be better – particularly towards an episode’s end. I also agree that the endings seem more episodic rather than a step leading towards the next Ep in a story best viewed in whole rather than parts (ex. Fate Zero). It seems we won’t get much character development (or background) other than Nobuna and Yoshiharu. This really needed 24 Eps to be done right. Some extra time could also be alloted to battles as well. Small final complaint: Maybe just me, but I hate music used for comedy situations. Its just bad and the change from previous background music far too garish.
@Zanibas
I agree they could use some work in the pacing. Though for the Plot Armor part for the characters would it be fair to compare them to when they historically would have died? Also I think Saru is also starting to realize that his actions are starting to slowly change what he knows about the time period.
Yes, but they also don’t get injured, bruised, tired, etc. Not a single scratch to be found. Also,
Show Spoiler ▼
Loving the series very much so far, keep going 🙂
I was hoping that Saru would have use more game knowledge to bail himself out of this one, rather than Goemon’s ninja moves.
As shown in the previous episode, Saru is not only a Nobunaga’s Ambition nutcase, but played other games like Voyage (iirc thats the english name, correct me if I’m wrong. PS: Loved that game). There should be other games that give detailed geographical information to allow Saru to get out of sticky situations like this instead of what they’ve pulled.
Why…why does Mitsuhide remind me of Kugimiya Rie characters? :X
Every time i look at her, i picture she saying something with Kugimiya’s voice. 😛
—
Loving the show so far.
Goemon is my Imouto. :3
That’s because Akechi Mitsuhide shows some traits of characters voiced by the Queen of Tsundere:
1. Flat-chested with a child-like body (although she is not insecure of these facts)
2. Waist-length hair
Akechi Mitsuhide, so far has not displayed traits 3-5 usually associated with “Shana Clone” characters, but if she falls in love with Sagara, we might see those come up. =)
You don’t need to look hard to find works that depict the equality or even superiority of women over men nowadays. Recent anime has been replete with strong female and weak/idiotic/submissive male characters.
Just looking over the shows being covered here at RC, there is Accel World, AKB0048, Eureka Seven AO, Fairy Tail, Hyouka, Jinrui, Kokoro Connect, Horizon, Moyashimon, Total Eclipse, Oda Nobuna no Yabou, Rinne no Lagrange, Sword Art Online.
All of those shows feature female characters which are equal or even stronger/more competent than their male counterparts.
If anything, I would say there is “reverse sexism” going on nowadays (I realize I use the term incorrectly – sexism is sexism regardless of which gender it is directed at, but whenever the term is commonly used, it it always assumed it is directed towards women). I can count the number of shows nowadays with strong/competent male characters on my fingers.
You have gotta be kidding me. You would have to be completely blind to deny that the common belief is that men are superior over women.
Ugh.
Instead of generalizing and relying on “common belief”, you could provide some specific examples like I did…or do you believe that “male superiority” is something so intrinsic to anime that you don’t need to prove it even when faced with evidence pointing to the opposite.
Not exactly sure why Darklord got a lot of negative votes – pretty sure someone cheated because he actually states his argument with some support. It’s wrong to argue using the common belief without actual research or scientific study. You can’t use conventions as evidence. What’s widely accepted by the majority is not necessarily scientifically proven.
Although to begin with, sexism is too broad of a topic to argue. You need to define which aspect of sexism exactly the choices of female/male roles contribute to. But then again, what was given was a sound opinion. I just don’t like how it was ridiculed for being a different one with a fallacious statement even though it makes sense.
While I appreciate getting some more decent female characters lately, there is still lots of sexism to go around in most of the show you mention. And if you think a few strong female characters make up for all the tons of stereotypical weak ones, you are very much wrong.
Maybe there is a trend more towards equality now, but we’re still far from reaching that state.
It’s not “a few strong female characters”, it’s far more that the number of “strong male characters”. Also, there are plenty of stereotypical weak male characters as well.
Again, like I told the poster above, you could provide some examples of shows with strong male characters and “stereotypical weak females”.
Just to clarify though, I’m talking mostly about the last 5 years, which is when I saw this trend starting to emerge.
Although I can’t speak for all the shows, since I haven’t seen all of them, I don’t believe any of them have specifically made the effort to point out and antagonize sexism (at least in a female sense). The formula that’s refreshing here is:
Party A does a sexist thing => Female Party B calls out that shit without tiptoeing.
Yes, there are strong female leads and reverse sexism, but that doesn’t change that the industry as a whole is still stereotyped and generates sexism. Dekinai is an obvious example, as well as Dog Days (?), Campione, Ebiten, and Aestetica. Famiglia (though it’s supposed to) also lacks a backboned female lead. Kokoro Connect, due to recent episodes, also wavers on your point (I’m trying to avoid spoilers here). Also: merchandise and fanworks.
But the point of “what kind of sexism” exists wasn’t my point. My point was about the anime directly antagonizing a sexist scenario with a female defender. That honestly is something you don’t see every day.
for god sake don’t compare this fluffy harem anime with real historic sengoku facts,if you do then please tell me how nobunaga and everyone else turned into girls,just watch and enjoy.
1) It’s not a fluffy harem (if we’re going to use harem = 1 boy + many girls). At best it’s a harem where the main female lead almost cuts your head off.
2) What’s wrong with looking at the parallels of a historically based anime with actual facts? What part of this post did I stuff historical stuff down your throat anyways? Spoiler tags?
Also, you’re missing the point. Just because I point out the historical connections doesn’t mean that history actually has a female Nobuna, Katsuie, etc. etc. You’re supposed to know that’s the fictional part of the story. There’s no harm in pointing out the historical ties the authors WANT people to notice.
3) If I just watch and enjoy, there wouldn’t be a blog post in the first place :P. I’m enjoying this anime much more because I understand how much they’re messing around with history.
I, at least, appreciate the historical comparison. Keep it up!
Bashing a “what if” historical fiction saying “This is not true history” is absurd and silly.
Comparing it with actual history and analyzing it, are not.
But the thing is, most of the historical stuff is in spoilers, so you don’t even have to be bothered by it: it’s not for you, it’s for those who appreciate a historical supplement.
Honestly, I have no idea why you claim this show is not for me. I’m fully enjoying the show AND your comparison analysis sounds interesting to me.
Sorry, I misinterpreted your comment then :S.
In that case…yay!
Love how Nagahide gives the score to almost everything. Lover’s Spat in front of other Daimyo? 5 Points!
Nobuna is too bitchy, dropped. Knew this season was going to be crap like the last 2, now to start Mushi-Shi.
sadly no female will die in this anime
show us imagawa’s head next episode and believe me Odan Nobuna will become anime of the season :p
Fate change, way to go Viper! You survived.
Hope the next general falls so she can become Jigoku Shoujo.
https://randomc.net/image/Oda%20Nobuna%20no%20Yabou/Oda%20Nobuna%20no%20Yabou%20-%2003%20-%20Large%20Preview%2001.jpg
Nagahide <3
This is jst getting better and better!!! Give me the next episode now!!! ><
Btw when will the Miko girl appear?
I’m falling so hard for Katsuie right now, and not just because she has two of the biggest reasons a man can be happy.
Is that Sephiroth?!
This show just keeps getting better…who wouldn’t thought it would be able to keep up with its momentum 3 episodes in. I’m pleased.
Also, I would like to add that I rather liked the way they consistently portrayed Yoshihari as a hopeless soldier since the real Hideyoshi was said to be one of the worst warriors of his time though he was one of the greatest generals.
Superub……..
This is getting more interesting with the passage of each episode. I eagerly look up for the following episode. Great job. Keep the good going.
I love this series. I like all the gals in this series, all of them are really cute and beautiful.
There is a very thin difference between commenting one as a sexist and a woman as being bold. We should be clear in mind about the difference between the two. The characters in mentioned here cannot be commented as sexist ones. I enjoy this show thoroughly though.