First Impressions / Nobunaga the Fool

「塔 THE TOWER」

Episode 5 was a fairly predictable episode as well as a much-needed transitional episode. It’s a given that the West Star eventually needed an introduction, so what better place to start than by killing off Nobunaga’s father? From here on out we can expect more interesting developments to happen on a macro scale–Nobunaga is finally free to lead the Oda to victory against the West and neighboring provinces, using a concrete goal of revenge as his ambition. All in all, not too surprising (even the ‘plot twist’ wasn’t too twisted), but there were some interesting isolated developments that deserve a note.

First off, I’ve underestimated Mitsuhide’s cunning as a character. This makes him simultaneously one of Nobunaga’s most useful retainers, but also one of his most dangerous ones. If Mitsuhide willed it, Nobunaga could have easily died from real poison, leaving the Oda clan to be assimilated by its neighbors. However, it was a real twist that Mitsuhide used such tactics to preserve Nobunaga’s life, however great the miscalculating cost. Instead of a man of mere words and diplomacy, we can see that Mitsuhide fully is capable of executing plans that have very real consequences. This is important as a development to his character, since beforehand, he was simply a cog in the machine to allow the plot to move forward. Now that we see some action to his words, it is easy to see Mitsuhide playing more important and pivotal roles in deciding the outcome of Nobunaga’s life.

Second, we’ve finally been introduced to a very interesting conflict that Knight Caesar brings to the plot. It’s all standard for there to be an antagonist to Nobunaga’s efforts, but it’s a twist when that antagonist is clearly lusting over his sister. In fact, it’s such a disturbing development that I have no idea what fate will befall Ichihime in the future. It makes me cringe at the thought of Caesar doing anything to such a calming character, but it does make the conflict a lot more interesting. With Caesar having the blood of Nobunaga’s father on his hands, Nobunaga can only become more enraged and passionate if Caesar threatens one of the few people that Nobunaga isn’t a dick to.

From here on out, the stage is set for the plot to accelerate to a much more exciting level. With Nobunaga finally free to release his rage, what kinds of successes and failures will he have in his blind rage towards Caesar? What other antagonists will come to further infuriate him and his plans? It’s been a long wait, but I think Nobunga the Fool is about to finally show the best of what it’s made of. After all, the next episode is finally one not based on a card–could it possibly mean that some of our characters will finally break free from the dictation of fate (aka away from those nasty tarot cards)? Let’s tune in next week to find out!

 

Preview

29 Comments

  1. @Zanibas: Strength, next week’s ep title, is another tarot card that represents one’s inner strength and courage to overcome any obstacles.
    Of course, we’ll have to wait till next week to see which way it faces.

    I think the show will go through all the Major Arcana tarot cards, and possibly some Minor Arcana, over its 24 ep run.

    zztop
    Reply

      1. It’d be interesting to see what they name 2 of the 24 episodes, since there’s only 24 major arcana. Like you said zztop, they might use minor arcana. I’m just hoping they don’t use the 2 eps for recaps.

        I thought the same randomstroller. Either that or The World, since it signifies the end in major arcana.

        Wizard_Marshall
        Reply

  2. The Tower in tarot represents sudden, chaotic change originating from a great, unexpected disaster.
    The reversed Tower lessens the upright Tower’s negativity, signifying one’s foresight to reduce or avoid future destruction. Or at worst, gaining a last minute epiphany.

    The death of Nobuhide at Caesar’s hands has undoubtedly thrown the Oda clan and family into chaos and despair, but it also brings about a symbolic ‘changing of the guard’from conservative to more progressive ideals within Owari’s politics.
    Nobuhide’s fatal encounter with Caesar made him realize the wisdom of his son’s words on his deathbed, and has entrusted Nobunaga his firstborn heir to change Owari with his progressive ideals.

    Applied to Mitsuhide, the reversed Tower illustrates his strategic foresight to both protect Nobunaga from harm and increase his reputation at the same time.

    What Mitsu miscalculated was the Tower did NOT mean disaster befalling Nobunaga, but disaster befalling Nobuhide!!

    zztop
    Reply

    1. I loved the part when Nobuhide gave Nobunaga a lecture on why he needs to do more than just go out in his flash mech & kick ass in order to be a good leader. Still waiting for the moment he’ll stop being a dick. Somehow,I doubt his father’s death will serve as the catalyst for that but it’d be a good place to start. I’d rather it happens gradually.

      MgMaster
      Reply

  5. That expression showed by Nobunaga when he saw his father killed was really scary. I expected him to go crazy and hunt that sonofabitch caesar for killing his father. My guts is telling me Ichihime might die at some point while Caesar tries to get her (I really hope that isn’t the case) . Mitsuhide is looking more and more like Lelouch with each passing episode (his reaction when he realised his mistake is very Lelouch-ish)

    Karlma
    Reply

  7. This episode was weird. I feel like they put in a couple scenes and nothing happened for some reason. Himiko made a big deal about Nobunaga not talking to her in person about properly controlling his power. When they finally meet for the ceremony……….they barely do anything. They don’t even talk about they just do the ritual and leave…..i mean you’d EXPECT there to be some kind of dialogue at least during the scene. It almost felt pointless.

    Are these robots made of blood? If that giant sword actually hit Nobunaga’s father i think his body would be a bit more messed up lol.

    And yeah the problem with Mitsuhide’s plan i think was that he decided to wait too long. I mean his plan to get Nobunaga support from the advisers makes sense but you also gotta consider that you are possibly letting the majority of your men get slaughtered just so that you can gain leverage. I’d say had Mitsuhide let Nobunaga come to the fight sooner his father wouldn’t have died and they could have possibly won by fighting together but by the time Nobunaga showed up his father was already severely wounded.

    leatherhead333
    Reply

    1. Mitsuhide didn’t know that Caesar would barge in the fight after all. No one expected that, not even Jeanne. In the perfect scenario, Nobu would have saved the day and gained the favor of the the others. And I’m sure he took into account that this plan would lose some men since it’s a big battle against a force as powerful as Takeda. It’s impossible not to lose men in such a fight. Sacrifices are necessary, is what I think he’d reply back.

      belatkuro
      Reply

  10. I really want to see ranmaru shine!!!!!! I have been reading up on joan of arc and damn I really want this show to display how great she was and who knows she might take nobunaga down a peg or two.

    hoshi
    Reply

    1. Actually this incarnation of Joan of Arc has got 3 major stories to back her up with with possible endings/paths. One being branded a Witch and executed after a long war, Mori Ranmaru the attendant to Oda Nobunaga that fallowed him into death. And finally the one they have been hinting at from the start and even injected into her name is Kaguya-hime, in this case instead of being found in a bamboo plant but rather a spaceship from and orbiting plant crashing into a bamboo forest. (The fallen star).

      Ani_BEE
      Reply

  13. Unless they’re planning on a very significant character shift from history, it is highly unlikely Caesar would actually mistreat a captured Ichihime – he was a notorious womanizer but this was achieved mostly through personal charm and a tendency to lavish gifts. He was also famously merciful to his political enemies (possibly too much so, as people he spared were among the conspirators who assassinated him).

    It’s not like Caesar is the only one spending a lot of time watching Ichihime or extravagantly praising her beauty. Mitsuhide seems to spend a lot of time looking at her (he just doesn’t monolog) and Leonardo declared her “Venus” on sight.

    It will be interesting to see what elements of history are carried over. Does Mitsuhide betray Nobunaga at some point? If so, why? Because Nobunaga starts listening to Jeanne more than him? Because Ichihime is married off to form an alliance when he secretly expected to be in a position to ask for her hand? Does Caesar turn coat and march on Camelot as he marched on Rome in real history? I’d originally anticipated Caesar starting as an antagonist but eventually switching sides and becoming an ally. That seems somewhat less likely now, though when Arthur’s invasion arrives in force Nobunaga may decide he can’t afford to refuse.

    Mahavira
    Reply

    1. If they do follow the actual history, the betrayal of Mitsuhide (the infamous Honno-ji incident), will be almost certain to happen. However, the series will have to create its own reason for Mitsuhide’s betrayal since its still unclear till this day what were his actual motives for doing so. But I won’t be surprised if his betrayal is somehow linked to either Jeanne or Ichihime.

      Euzio
      Reply

      1. Well, they’re obviously going to diverge somewhat because they are not going to have Mitsuhide’s betrayal work any more than Jeanne is going to be burned at the stake (Caesar may be killed by Brutus, mind) as this seems to be a case of “in this lifetime we’ll get it right”. How far is the question – we’ve seen shows like Nobuna no Yabou where the protagonist was able to reconcile Nobuna(ga) and Mitsuhide before it came to Honnou-ji. Alternately there could be a lesser diversion from history and the betrayal happens (for whatever reason – someone really should have asked him why before killing him, though it would have denied us any number of supernatural sengoku anime and manga) but is foiled.

        Mahavira
        Reply

  14. Anyone played Persona?

    “The Fool Arcana does not mean it that can be taken lightly. The Fool is number zero. It is the void from which all other things begin.”

    And as they also say in the game, infinite possibilities.

    Animas
    Reply

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