「高所の決定者」 (Kousho no Ketteisha)
“The Decision Maker on High”
Explanations:
What is P.A.O.M.?
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When Maeda Toshiie (Toyonaga Toshiyuki) introduced himself as part of P.A. ODA’s P.A.O.M., I thought I had misheard him, and he was referring to P.A.M., P.A. ODA’s academy (their equivalent of Oxford, Alacalá de Henares, or Musashi Ariadust Academy). As for what P.A.O.M. is…well, if any of you know, say so in the comments below.
Why are Toshiie’s feet all wavy?
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A reminder from Episode 1, but that’s a signifier in the Horizon-verse that Toshiie is a ghost.
Why does Toshiie, who belongs to P.A. ODA, keep referring to M.H.R.R.?
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As I noted in of my retrospective (Part 1), P.A. ODA is in partial secession from the Testament Union, with the cooperation of M.H.R.R. Simply put, they’re allies, and since Toshiie is apparently the only person from either faction that is around, he’s speaking for both of them.
Who is Macchan?
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I referred to this last episode, so this is something of an update. There I said that Macchan was the name of Toshiie’s wife, not his maus. Well, this episode he clearly referred to his cute little floating companion by that name. Turns out his maus is his wife, who, given that she has a hitodama (usually used to signify a ghost) floating beside her, means that she’s dead as well. Apparently she’s serving as his maus in death.
The Thirty Years’ War.
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For detailed information, Wikipedia does it way better than I possibly could, so I’ll stick to listing the combatants. The short answer is “pretty much everybody.” France, England, the Ottoman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire and the Spanish Empire all took part in the Thirty Years’ War at one time or another. Currently, Tres España and England are a little behind on the whole History Recreation thing (they’re back in the late 1500’s, when the Spanish Armada went on), but M.H.R.R. and P.A. ODA are apparently “caught up” and engaging in the Thirty Years’ War at the moment.
By the way, the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire were on opposite sides of this conflict, and the Thirty Years’ War was “ended with the treaties of Osnabrück and Münster, part of the wider Peace of Westphalia.” So yeah, as wars go, it’s pretty important to the Horizon-verse. After this one ends, everything is one big, giant question mark.
Why wasn’t P.A. ODA given an Armament of Deadly Sins?
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As I mentioned in my retrospective under the Factions section (once again, Part 1), P.A. didn’t receive an Armament of Deadly Sins because of their religion, Murasai (Islam). Remember, the rest of the Harmonic Divine States represent the European nations, which makes them Tsirhc (Christian), and though they frequently fight between the Old School and the New School (Catholicism and Protestantism), they can all agree that any kind of Tsirhc is better than Murasai. How nice of them.
Why is P.A. ODA going to fight Musashi in the Battle of Sekigahara?
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Recall that P.A. ODA doesn’t just represent the Ottoman Empire. There’s also that “ODA” part of their name, which stands for the Oda clan. All nations are simultaneously reenacting World History and Japanese History, so P.A. ODA has to play the part of the Oda clan in the Battle of Sekigahara even while they’re fighting in other wars as the Ottoman Empire.
Why did Masazumi withdraw the trade alliance proposal and offer to fight for England?
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With Tres España and Toshiie butting in, it became next to impossible for England to accept Masazumi’s trade proposal that Masazumi, even if they wanted to. This put England between a rock and a hard place – they could either ally with Musashi and invite P.A. ODA’s, M.H.R.R.’s, and the rest of the Testament Union’s wrath, or reject the proposal and try to destroy Musashi…which, as was noted last episode, they aren’t currently capable of doing, meaning someone else would have to do it, which would make England look weak and ineffectual. Oh, and they also really would be weaker than they could be if they traded with Musashi. Sure, there are other options – they could refuse the proposal but reject trying to destroy Musashi – but they’re all equally unattractive, such as in the example I just gave, which would still invite the wrath of the rest of the Testament Union.
That’s when Masazumi busts in with the third option. She takes away the conflict (to ally with Musashi or not), and then hands Elizabeth a way for them to become facto allies without England overtly defying the Testament Union or anybody else. Beautiful.
Why does Masazumi ask Elizabeth to cancel her contract with Toshiie?
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This ties in closely with my previous explanation. The first and foremost reason is that if Toshiie and his ghost army are there, England doesn’t need Musashi to act as their navy. More than that though, Musashi needs Toshiie out of the picture, otherwise he’s going to just sit around and say unhelpful things like “Hey England, you know what would be fun? Sinking Musashi.” That’s not ideal, clearly.
Another side to this question – why does Elizabeth even entertain the offer? Since Masazumi got her out of the rough spot England was in (refer to my previous explanation), she gained the right to ask for something in return. Getting Toshiie out of the picture was simply the most important thing Musashi needed at the time.
Why does Musashi want to fight for England against the Spanish Armada?
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For England, the reason is obvious – they get someone else to help them fight, so they don’t have to absorb all the potential losses themselves. If Toshiie’s ghost warriors aren’t going to do it, then better have someone else, right? Plus, Musashi itself is a seriously advanced piece of technology, and it is inhabited by warriors that either matched or bested all of England’s own.
Musashi’s reasons are a little more clever. As “England’s navy” (temporarily), there is nothing stopping England from supplying them with all the appropriate weaponry. After all, there’s no rule against a country supplying its own armed forces, is there? No matter where they hired them from.
Why does Musashi becoming England’s navy instantly resolve all issues between them?
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This whole time, England has had trouble with Musashi not because they give two shits about what Musashi is doing (defying the Testament Union, asserting their sovereignty, etc.), but because they were caught between the desires of the Testament Union for them to capture Musashi, and their own desires to manipulate Musashi to their own benefit. Now that Musashi has offered to fight for them, England gets the benefit of their martial prowess along with a convenient excuse to get the Testament Union off their backs (they’re just mercenaries!).
As for Musashi, yes, now they have to fight for England against Tres España, but rather than being forced into it, they’re doing it on their own terms. They get weaponry, supplies, they get to trade with England, and the other countries have temporarily stopped demanding they declare war / die horribly / die extra horribly, etc. It’s not a total victory for either side, but it’s certainly a net gain for both.
Why did Toshiie’s ghosts leave blue flames in the form of a Nikyou Crest when he left?
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First of all, recall that the Nikyou Crest is the symbol of the Lost Nobles, and that Masazumi’s own mother disappeared and became one. This is well known, what with Masazumi being important enough to be a name inheritor. The Nikyou Crest that Toshiie left was a dig at Masazumi’s past. He was insinuating that England is holding information back from Musashi, that there’s something they ought to know about in this Avalon…and it might have something to do with the Lost Nobles that Masazumi’s mother unwillingly joined. I’m not totally sure about that last part, so that’s more of a guess on my part.
What is Avalon?
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Avalon is a compressed dimension. It’s a pocket dimension, like the Harmonic Divine States were (before they fell), save that it’s very, very small. I mention this because the Harmonic Divine States were 1-to-1 in size, whereas this is shrunk, so that there is more space inside than there is outside. This causes the strange effects mentioned in the next explanation.
Why are their echoes of the past in Avalon?
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Like all dimensions in Horizon’s Earth, compressed or otherwise, Avalon is made of ether. Apparently, when ether-based entities (such as humans) move through it, they leave these impressions, or echoes. Think of it like a normal dimension is filled with liquid, whereas a compressed one is filled with Jell-O. If you jammed your hand into a big bowl of Jell-O, it would make a strong impression, which would stay unless otherwise disturbed, correct? It’s like that, only not cherry-flavoured.
Changelings.
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Just a quick definition, because it’s important: a “changeling” is a child (or children) that have been stolen or swapped by fairies, as a prank. Apparently Elizabeth and Mary are changelings, which means they were swapped at some point in their lives. For more on this, refer to the impressions section below!
What does England think the apocalypse will consist of?
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According to the research conducted by Elizabeth and Mary’s father, Henry VIII, the apocalypse will be a confluence of “strange phenomena” like the one we saw in this episode (Masazumi’s glove), which, when they reach a critical mass (and overwhelm the Earth’s ability to heal itself), will try to reduce everything that is made of ether – which is everything, by the way – to its base state, and in the process break it down and destroy then destroy the ether as well. Put more simply, this means that the apocalypse will be when so many strange phenomena happen that the entire world will be broken down into nothingness. I don’t know if I have explained that correctly, but the whole theory screams “black hole” to me, which non-coincidentally also screams “extremely bad news.” So yeah, that’s fun for them.
Why does Mishina Hiro call Naomasa “Sempai?”
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Naomasa is originally from Qing-Takeda, and Mishina Hiro (Toyoguchi Megumi) is clearly wearing a Qing-Takeda uniform. I assume they met before Naomasa moved to Musashi.
Impressions
Let’s start with the rest of those negotiations. This episode they basically broke down into two sides – the Tres España side, and the P.A. ODA / M.H.R.R. side. Let’s tackle each in turn…is what I would say, but I really don’t have a lot to say about the latter that wasn’t gone over in the explanation section above, so I’ll just tack that onto the end. Here we go!
Tres España vs Musashi (& a bit of P.A. ODA / M.H.R.R.)
As soon as Velasquez confronted Musashi about Mary’s execution vis-à-vis Horizon’s attempted execution from Season 1 – saying that if Musashi thought it wasn’t right to execute Horizon for the purposes of History Reenactment, why was it okay for Mary to die for the same reason now? – I realized that he had a point. Not a great one, though. There’s an obvious, albeit cold, response to his point – Mary isn’t on Musashi’s side. What England does to its own people is none of the Musashi’s concern, while what Tres España does to one of Musashi’s citizens is very much their concern. This is geopolitics here, people – idealistic concepts of right and wrong have no place in the world of realpolitik.
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Still, given that the writing was on the wall that Tenzou would save Mary way before this episode (I’ll get to that later), I didn’t expect Horizon to take the tack that she did – that if there’s any reason for an execution on the grounds of History Reenactment to be okay, it would be if the person being executed is not only okay with it, but desires it. Mary has accepted her coming death, and even desires it (because it will help protect England…and also possibly other reasons. More on that soon), whereas Horizon did not desire hers. Sure, she didn’t exactly argue against it fervently for a while there, but what she was doing then was simply accepting that the cost of rescuing her was logically prohibitive (she didn’t want people to die rescuing her). Her death itself would have done nothing positive, whereas Mary’s will – strengthening Excalibur Caliburn, and through it, England.
For the purposes of the story though, the part that shut Tres España up was when Toori outlined the criteria for rescuing Mary: someone has to fall in love with her, and then get Horizon to understand what love means. Once that’s done, Musashi will rescue Mary. That apparently convinced Tres España that Musashi wasn’t being totally hypocritical by not immediately declaring war on England, and also tells us what needs to happen. *clears throat* Time to get off your lazy ass, Tenzou! Wake the hell up and start convincing already!
Now, as for P.A. ODA / M.H.R.R.’s part in the negotiations, refer to the explanation section for the meat of my thoughts, but I’ll just say one thing here – Masazumi continues to be a badass. When faced with a situation where one country was calling for their extermination, another was calling for them to declare war on a potential ally, and their potential ally couldn’t possibly ally with them anymore, Masazumi figured out a third option that allowed them to get most of what they wanted, including their continued existence. Sure, now they have to fight for England against Tres España, but it’s not like they haven’t already fought them twice recently. Should be fun!
The Queen and Avalon
I go over the apocalypse stuff in the explanation section, so let me focus on something that’s far more interesting to me at the moment – Elizabeth and Mary’s relationship. This episode made it clear that, as twins, there was clearly one hell of a connection between the two of them. If I had to guess by the way Elizabeth was talking – and I do, oh I so very much do – Elizabeth doesn’t want to see Mary die. She is the Queen, so she is constrained by her station and the history she must help reenact, but that doesn’t mean she wants to see her sister die. I think that’s why Elizabeth is willing to use Musashi as her navy even though they openly spoke of possibly saving Mary right in front of her. Elizabeth won’t admit it of course, but I have a feeling that that would be just fine with her.
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One possible reason was discussed with that whole changeling business. As I understand it, Elizabeth and Mary were swapped, which means that the older sister is actually Elizabeth. That would also mean that Elizabeth was the one who was destined to become Mary and be executed, had the fairies not interfered – or perhaps, had Mary herself not interfered. We don’t know when the swap took place, right? Not yet, at least. But either way, it seems to me that Elizabeth feels guilty about this, for her sister who covered herself in scars slaying 300 people, and who is now going to die in her place, with Elizabeth not able to do a damn thing about it. That’s two reasons why Elizabeth might be secretly rooting for Tenzou and the others. The Trump too, if their letting Toori try to draw Excalibur Caliburn is any indication.
Tenzou (& a bit of Toori)
I enjoyed how Toori openly tried to pull Excalibur Caliburn, and then assured Mary that one of his nakama would do the job. He’s an idiot – a naked idiot…why is he naked again?? – but he’s also perceptive and smart, and knows when to give a little nudge. There, and pointing out Tenzou’s scar…he’s a good friend.
But of course, everything comes back around to Tenzou. Honestly, I thought it would take a little more prodding for him to jump on the swiftly developing man-up-and-save-Mary bandwagon, so finding out that he was already planning his attack was an excellent surprise. But mostly it was the symbolism of the scar on his back that made me smile. I had thought that Mary completely healed it, but she left a little of the scar, and that says something huge. To me, it says she’s a lot like Horizon was back in Season 1. She might not want to admit it – for the love of her country and the love of her sister, in Mary’s case, rather than the logic that Horizon leaned upon – but Mary really doesn’t want to die. That was both a token to leave with the man she was coming to love, but also a call for help. Answer her call, Tenzou!
Looking forward
And it looks like he shall. On the last day of the festival, Tenzou will make an announcement, and if I were a betting man – and I’m not when we’re talking about cards, but very much am when we’re talking about everything else – I would say we would see that daring rescue Tenzou is cooking up shortly thereafter. Can’t wait!
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – A freaky 4-way debate ends w/ a Seijun win, Toori thrusts at a sword, & Tenzou finds his resolve. It makes sense in context! #Kyoukaisen
Random thoughts:
- I love their flustered chibi chat avatars. Seriously, where can I get one of those?
- Maeda Toshiie’s (Toyonaga Toshiyuki) “Israfel” ability is the latest in a long line of seriously overpowered abilities. Seriously, an undying ghost army? Screw the Armaments of Deadly Sins, give me that one!
- Yeah, that tension they had going on? Gone as soon as Toori rolled in. Which is probably good, because that situation was getting really bad, really fast.
- Someone commented about Horizon’s hammerspace malfunction last episode, saying that it had been cut. I’m glad they kept it in, because that was hilarious! Hatton’s jaw dropping + Asama’s excuse were great! Poor Asama ^^
- Get the hint, Masazumi. Elizabeth isn’t all that fond of you 😛
- An exact quote of what I said during a particular part of this episode: “Why is Toori rubbing up against a sword naked?! Tooooorii!!” And then I laughed a lot!
- Ten bucks says Mishina Hiro (Toyoguchi Megumi) ends up being evil, or at least nuts. I mean, that’s clearly a mad scientist coat she’s got on there! Naturally, I could not be more excited at this possibility.
- I still really like Yoshinao. He’s funny to be sure, but I love how he smoothly covers up him having discovered Tenzou’s plan to attack the Tower of London by saying that it’s plans for a date…and then offers some advice on how to make sure the attack succeeds. He really is looking out for his people, every single time. Wonderful. Good luck, Tenzou! You’ve got friends in high places.
Full-length images: 32.
Preview
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I truly remain in awe of how much effort you put into these posts.
Mishina looks like she’ll be a lot of fun.
*bows* domo, domo. I do it so you don’t have to. Literally, in your case XD
Blessed Lord almighty, I almost died of a heart attack when I saw Toori *on* that sword. Need.
Brain. Bleach. Now.
One aspect I love about this series is that the characters are not honest to God morons. Everyone has an alternate side or ulterior motive (or being Toori). This doesn’t always make them sympathetic, but I appreciate how the storytelling and plot isn’t necessarily held back because someone was too dumb to connect Points A and B, requiring someone else to do it for them. (Again, unless they’re Toori, who I’m half convinced is a secretly a Chessmaster in disguise.)
Case in point, Toori casually calling Tenzou out on the latter’s planned raid on the Tower of London. Alone. (Well, with his Grade A titanium pair.) Then look at the King’s horrified expression, which quickly snaps a 180 once Tenzou says it’s for a “date”. He’s now perfectly OK with the plan, even offering “pointers” for the route, with everyone perfectly clear on what they’re talking about, but still able to BS their way out of any responsibility if Tenzou gets caught.
Actually, it was the King who said that the map was for a date. He was perfectly okay with the plan, and knew what it was the whole time, he just can’t be officially aware of it…but unofficially, he doesn’t want Tenzou to fail. Maro maro is maru~! ^^
But yes, I agree. I like that nobody has to hold the Idiot Ball (trope!) in order for the plot to move forward. Everyone knows the stakes, and is generally working at 100% to avoid getting brutally killed as part of some complicated political gambit. Compared to most stories, it’s a nice change.
And yes, I include Toori in that! He may be an idiot, but he’s not stupid. He knows exactly what’s going on most of the time, he just prefers to play the idiot (trope!), because nobody expects the idiot to be anything like competent…frequently, to their detriment.
Except that idiot can be competent when needs be (Recall S1 Episode 11)
The title “Impossible” really really fits him well
Man I used to think this show sucked but these posts have really helped me appreciate it. Good job Stilts!
I probably would have liked the LN if I read it first but a lot of the explanation stuff is kind of glossed over in the anime. These posts fill in those gaps.
Glad to hear it! That’s why I do it, after all : )
Great episode as usual! Only… lol Toori. I’m expecting some awesome fights in the future!
Can’t….wait….for…more…
This episode was just full of win, esp. Tenzou at the end. 🙂
The only worst thing about this series, alongside Kokoro Connect, is that you got to wait for a week.
Anyway, back to Maeda and his clan, now that you mentioned that they Murasami (~Islam), his SERIOUSLY OVERPOWERED ability is aptly named. In Islam, Israfel is the angel that’ll bring upon Armageddon upon His command. So being able to call upon infinite legions of the undead is reasonable =)
Oh… Forgot to add a bit more on the angel Israfel… Israfel would also be the first to be resurrected and be commanded to signal the start of the day of judgement… So yea… Maeda’s ability is aptly named
P.S. though in Islam, we call angels as malaikats though
Commenting so more people read these, uh, comments. Interesting info to know! Thanks c2710 ^^
too bad the anime didn’t include the bit about “the clothes idiots can’t see” in reference to Toori’s nudity in an official meeting XD
Now that you mention it… You could be on to something…
He’s an emperor (well, close enough)… It could be his NEW clothes…
Its just that us mere mortals can’t see it!
At long last, salvation!
For God´s sake! Musashi doesn´t have it easy no matter what they do or where they go, everybody wants them dead and buried.
I know, right? No matter what they do, someone wants to stick their nose into it and kill them all.
Of course, they have openly said they want to take back all these weapons of mass destruction, and kind of sort of conquer the world…
But still! Haters just be hatin’, ya know what I’m sayin’? XD
Toori’s pretty much been naked throughout this season, and you know what, it still cracks me up, would not be surprised if he kept his birthday suit on for the rest of the season. Also, MORE TENZOU YEEEEAAAAAAHHH, I love how everyone is supporting him on getting Mary. Cannot wait for next week, seriously WHY DO WE WAIT A WEEK FOR THIS >M<
Stilts, even after reading your summary, I am quite confused about the role of Toshiie. Let’s review the facts:
– The Holy Roman Emperors of the time were from the House of Habsburg (also royal house of Austria), hence staunch catholics. It is not clear whether M.H.R.R., or at least its student council, represents the side of the Emperor or the side of the Protestant Princes.
– The Ottoman fought the Poles during the war, who were allied of the Habsburg. So, P.A.ODA should be pro-protestant and anti-Emperor.
– However, in this episode Toshiie claims to have inherited the name of the “Mercenary King Wallenstein”, aka Albrecht von Wallenstein, who fought for the Habsburg!
Your explanation doesn’t clear the confusion on the relation between P.A.ODA and M.H.H.R., since you first say “simply put, they’re allies”, and then you say “the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire were on opposite sides of this conflict”.
Second point: Sekigahara. The battle was fought between the Toyotomi loyalists (western army, led by Mitsunari Ishida) and the forces of Ieyasu Tokugawa (eastern army). One essential point you did not explain in the retrospective is that Mikawa is the home province of the Tokugawa – Motonobu Matsudaira (Horizon’s father who died back in ep 5) is the previous name of Ieyasu! So, Horizon and Musashi clearly represent the Tokugawa Shogunate in the history recreation. It is arguable whether the western army represented the Oda clan – after all, both Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Ieyasu were general in Nobunaga’s army. The Maeda clan itself split between the two sons of Toshiie and fought on both sides at Sekigahara (Toshiie died a few years before)!
Final point: I guess I am looking for a spoiler from novel readers here, but… is P.A.ODA supposed to be the Big Bad (trope!) of the setting? After all, if they have to complete the recreation of the Senkogu jidai before the Peace of Westphalia, Sekigahara should be the final battle – resulting in Musashi’s victory… Plus, Oda Nobunaga tends to be the evil guy in pretty much all period pieces (I mean, just look at Senkogu Basara…).
I apologize for any vagueness. I’m not a light novel reader, so I can only extrapolate from what I hear in the episodes + at other sources. Still, let me see if I can chew through this for you:
First of all, recall that though they’re recreating history, things don’t go exactly as the originally did. How could they, right? Different people, different technology levels, different terrain, etc. They try their best, but with all the changes + the egos of people like Innocentius who want to grab more power, things don’t always go smoothly. Also, there’s the fact that England and Tres España are “behind” and fighting the Spanish Armada, when both France and England engaged in the Thirty Years War as well. History Recreation is fraught with problems in Horizon’s Earth, clearly.
Now, it’s mentioned in source materials (see my retrospective, Part 1, Factions) that M.H.R.R.’s “Emperor-President, Rudolfini II, is currently under house arrest for the purpose of history recreation,” and that their “citizens follow both the Old School (Catholicism) and the New School (Protestant), which coexist in a delicate balance.” Hence, it’s reasonable to assume that they represent both…though I’d be more inclined to say that the represent the Catholic Hapsburgs, due to the mention of the Emperor.
As for the Ottomans, they certainly did fight the Poles, so they were against the Habsburgs. So P.A. ODA and M.H.R.R. are fighting each other in the Thirty Years’ War at this very moment moment.
However, recall that the Thirty Years War is for the purposes of History Recreation, but is not necessarily reflective of those country’s true allegiances. They have to fight each other, but that doesn’t mean they want to. So think of it like this…even as the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire fight one another, M.H.R.R. and P.A. ODA can still be allies. After all, Tres España and England are sharing information with one another on the apocalypse, even as they’re about to go to war. It’s a strange world.
Now, as for Toshiie’s Wallenstein name, it’s possible that he’s in a way part of both P.A. ODA and M.H.R.R. Things are getting weird there, I’ll freely admit, but that doesn’t invalidate the seeming paradox of the two countries fighting each other while still being allied.
As for the Battle of Sekigahara, I have to admit that I threw that in there without adequately researching it, as Japanese History isn’t terribly interesting to me (I’ve always preferred my history to be more global). Here though, I can comfortably fall back on what the characters said – Toshiie unequivocally said that P.A. ODA and the Far East would fight one another in the Battle of Sekigahara, so it’s clear that the Far East (which includes Mikawa) is to represent the forces of Tokugawa, while P.A. ODA will take the other side. The reason for that could be as simple as P.A. ODA being west of the Far East, and the United States of India not wanting to do it so it fell on P.A. ODA. Probably not, but who knows! I’m sure we’ll find out later…though it’ll probably be seasons hence.
For your final point, despite not being a light novel reader, I can partially answer it. First of all, the Kyoukaisen light novels aren’t anything close to done (or even half way done, from what I hear), so nobody has a blue who the Big Bad will be. However, I very much doubt there will be one at all. Horizon’s Earth isn’t one of black and white, or good and evil, of good guys and bad guys. Musashi aren’t even necessarily the good guys – they’re trying to steal WMDs and take over the world, for the gods’ sake! No, they’re just our guys, and the antagonists are just the people who aren’t our guys at the moment.
Also, a note: it’s not even certain that Musashi will win the Battle of Sekigahara. Tres España certainly doesn’t look like they’re going to take a dive for England in the upcoming Battle of the Gravelines, after all.
So, to answer your question, no, P.A. ODA probably aren’t the Big Bads of the series. And Oda Nobunaga isn’t always evil! Look at Oda Nobuna, which is airing right this moment. A little different story, there : )
Edit: I write too much, even in comments. That is all.
“Hence, it’s reasonable to assume that they represent both…though I’d be more inclined to say that the represent the Catholic Hapsburgs, due to the mention of the Emperor.”
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“So, to answer your question, no, P.A. ODA probably aren’t the Big Bads of the series. And Oda Nobunaga isn’t always evil! Look at Oda Nobuna, which is airing right this moment. A little different story, there : )”
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might want to spoiler tag that last line
Added some spoiler tags for you, Dynellen.
And to respond to one of your spoilery things:
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One thing I wonder though…
Will Tenzou lose his hat and actually reveal his face to Mary?!?!
Now THAT, my friends….would be an eye opener….both literally, and figureativly.
1.Wallenstein! 20k dead is mere fraction of his power as he can summon a million of them… It seems everyone wants to stop England from forming alliance with Musashi, which leads exactly to that as England decides to say “screw you all!”
2.Tenzou, you go save your girl! Mary needs to be saved! And this will complicate things diplomatically even more!
3.So, secretly everyone was researching how to stop Apocalypse – and now, Musashi is invited to the club.
4. TOOOOORI! …. words fail me. Somebody smack him! (I am looking at his sister and Horizon…)
As Suzu would tell you, “p-physical c-c-comedy is H-Horizon’s j-job!”
Found something interesting; I don’t know if anybody else brought this up before.
The reason why, despite shooting Toori with an arrow, Asama (and Masazumi) knew he would be alright and bluff accordingly was actually because of Toori’s ability as a shinto disciple, described here.
Then the skill and Toori nudity is explained by the myth of the goddess Ame-no-Uzume.
Only instead of a beautiful goddess, we have a smart idiot.
Should give to Toori the name of “Oda Nobunaga”, nicknamed “the fool” but he was a great strategist
Check out http://kyoukaisen.tumblr.com/post/30235167611 for the full version of the dakimura scene, including some emperor’s new clothes.
“Who is Macchan?”
http://kyoukaisen.tumblr.com/post/30464632481 She is/was his wife who serves as his maus in afterlife.
Thank ya. Fixed that in the post
@Stilts: SO who is the real boss on board Musashi? I am taking it that Toori is king. The king guy is someone sent by the testament for provisional rule and as Sovereignty has been proclaimed he is now nothing?? Horizon is the ruler of Mikawa not Musashi right? So besides Futayo she is basically a queen of no one and no land?
Yoshinao (aka Maro Maro, the heart king lookalike xD) is the king of Musashi. When Torii’s party of rescue Horizon won against the ones who didn’t want to rescue her because it would bring danger to Musashi, Maro Maro appointed Torii and Horizon as his two viceroys, a subtle way to make Torii the boss. Maro Maro is still the king in name and is the one who deals whith the Testament Union.
And that’s how our bucket, sword in stone and android flirting mc goes around the world showing how nudity is beauty.
What LoL said. Yoshinao is still the King of Musashi, while Horizon is more of the ruler of the Far East (which includes Mikawa and Musashi). Functionally though, Toori has most (though not all!) of the powers of a king, due to the fact that he’s the highest ranking student. That means his contemporaries are people like Elizabeth and Innocentius.
Think of it like this – whereas all authority in England is concentrated into a single person, Elizabeth, in Musashi it is split out into three people – Toori, Horizon, and Yoshinao. Thinking of it like this, Toori would be the Prime Minister (has most of the day-to-day power, even if he lets Masazumi deal with most things), Horizon is a figurehead (though she has the potential to wield real power), and Yoshinao is something like a one-man Supreme Court (he holds the power to veto decisions made by the students, something unique to him among rulers on Horizon’s Earth…though that’s only because most rulers have no need to veto themselves!).
Make sense?
Even if she cannot fight nor has any unique abilities, Masazumi still being the most badass character in this series~! (at least for me)
But her jokes are weapons of mass destruction.
https://randomc.net/image/Kyoukai%20Senjou%20no%20Horizon/Kyoukai%20Senjou%20no%20Horizon%20II%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2029.jpg
That Aoi Torii, trying to do Pole Dancing Exhibitionist using Excalibur Caliburn
P.A.O.M. is just another name of P.A.M.
And the link between P.A. Oda and M.H.R.R is more related to the feudal Japan clans they represent. P.A. Oda is the Oda Clan and M.H.R.R is the Hashiba/Toyotomi Clan.
That awkwaed moment when a sacred armament of deadly sins falls on the floor in the middle of “peaceful” negotiations. Let the priestes handle it. – priceless
And bam is not a weapon, is a pillow with a blade on its top xD
I just catch up with Horizon and this is getting better and better. So few Futayo and Kimi until now but I discovered how awesome is Neito 🙂 Thanks Stilts-nii for your hard work.
The whole naked Toori thing is pretty awkward stop it already.
lol you can’t, his naked antics refers to his contracted god Ame no Uzume no Mikoto, who actually, is famous because she tear off her clothing in front of the other deities to lure Amaterasu out of her hiding.
and he’s sexy
WowowowoW wow!!! Thanks so much for the Q&A style info…BUT YOU FORGOT AN IMPORTANT ONE!!!!
Why is that weapon that was recovered from the tres espania dude so DAMN UGLY!?!?! I mean wtf is that supposed to be?? Some sort of gourd instrument?? Perhaps a giant bottle/can opener?? Or maybe one of those electric sanders that are used for corners?? All i know is that is season 1 i was cringing everytime he swung that thing like he was dueling with a sword..looked like he was swinging around a va ume cleaner. And there was a blade on it too!?!?!?! I never noticed that shit!!! I was just as suprised as the shrine maiden when she almost cut herself wit it……………oogly weapon rant over…fer now
that is supposed to be a gunblade.
I want the ost to be released already, The bgm that used in Avalon was great. hopefully we’ll get more awesome tracks during the armada battle.
Tenzou-sama is going to rescue all power. Going all out to save the beautiful Mary.
The Queen and Mary were a little tenderness, how sad it’s all over as it is now. It is a great suffering not being able to save the life of your sister.
The Testament is simply cruel, make exactly the same mistakes that were committed by humanity in history, guided by selfish desires to return to the past, sacrificing the happiness and progress of the new generations.
Points of note I gleaned from this episode:-
Velasquez was comprehensively crushed by Horizon’s ‘logical’ counter punch towards his weak argument on the reasons why Musashi should immediately declare war on England. I guess he should leave the politics to the pro’s like Seijun and Innocentius, and just focus on the paperwork (as the secretary of the Tres Espana Student Council).
Just how overpowered are P.A. ODA, when Wallenstein/Maaeda Toshiie, a mere secretary of the Student Council, has that sort of power? He’s practically a one man army (well, technically a man who commands an undead army) with that power.
It still saddens me to see how some people still label Toori as just another perverted, idiotic male main character. I’ve always felt that his perverted idiot persona is a real part of who he is, yet underneath it also lies the brains of a smart and perceptive person. His entrance plus his idiotic antics was timed to perfection to distill the poisonous atmosphere permeating the dinner party after the Tres Espana and P.A. ODA representatives came crashing.
Poor Asama was forced to become the target of everyone’s ridicule by taking the fall for Horizon’s faulty extradimensional storage space. Horizon should probably install a lock for her secret repository to avoid another incident like that. And I just had to lol when Asama proclaimed an Armament of Deadly Sins is just a dakimakura. I wonder if pictures of Asama sleeping, in her nightwear while hugging Lype Katarripsi will start popping up on pixiv soon..
I wonder if Elizabeth’s act of hitting Seijun on her head three times with a sword-like piece of her headgear wasn’t just because the Fairy Queen wanted to show her annoyance with Seijun. Seijun had showed who was the better politician in their sparring debate previously, and her cunning ploys during the dinner party did put Elizabeth and England in an uncomfortable position, albeit briefly. It isn’t unusual if Elizabeth wanted to reprimand Seijun a bit by giving her a few taps on the noggin. I wonder if that act has any connection to how the queen IRL knights someone by tapping a sword three times on them, albeit on their shoulders..
All I can think of when I saw Maeda Toshiie’s ability is screaming Lich King to me.
– Gotta hand it to Kimi. That girl can keep cool and calm in any situation. When everybody else looks surprised in their chibi avatars, hers is still smiling.
– I may be thinking about it too much but…Tres Espana had a pretty good opportunity there to ruin Musashi by exposing Horizon’s “pillow” as a weapon. I’m guessing they still wanna play fair. That Diego guy even redirected the attention from Asama’s suspicious pillow explanation back to the main topic of Musashi not waging war with England.
– Naked
– Naked Aoi is back to strike fear and pole dance around swords. That scene was a little weird. Trump was just watching Aoi do that to Excalibur
– It’s pretty nice seeing Yoshinao like that. This is the guy who last season was so resentful of being in Musashi and here he is unaffected by Aoi’s naked streak, and covering up and even helping out in Tenzou’s plans. I guess the gang’s antics have rubbed on him.
– And yes it’s your time to shine Tenzou!
Saber just called, she wants her Excalibur back – and thoroughly cleaned…
More likely Sanitized than just cleaned X_X
id say more like sterilised.
I think everyone knew exactly what Asama’s “dakimakura” was. They were just letting her get away with the lie because it wasn’t important right now…the negotiations were. Also, see: the Rule of Funny (trope!).
I laughed XD
How awesome is this? The official Horizon website provides some of those cute chibi avatars: http://genesis-horizon.net/special/120729_icon02.html
I’m pretty certain Toshiie Maeda was referring to the Academy, P.A.M.
I swear the only thing that’s keeping me in watching this show is Toori lol, gotta love that man’s antics!