Sengoku Youko: Senma Konton-hen – Episode 04 Review

「千夜と月湖」 (Sen’ya to Tsukiko)
“Senya & Tsukiko”

Worlds are colliding. It’s fitting that the two best shows of the season should overlap, with the Ashikaga Clan of Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi making an appearance in Sengoku Youko. A couple of centuries-plus have passed and they come off a lot better here (one of them anyway). There’s something of a BokuYaba–Tengoku Daimakyou dynamic between these two series, where the one started off as the better anime but I always felt the other would eventually surpass it based on the manga being superior. Tengoku clung on stubbornly, its adaptation was that sublime, before the sheer magnificence of BokuYaba’s second season material finally overtook it.

Will the same happen here? I kind of expect it, because as much as I love The Elusive Samurai (and Heavenly Delusion) Sengoku Youko is better. And we’re really headed into a massively killer stretch, starting with its Kyoto Arc. And Askikaga Yoshiteru, the bloke we met briefly at the end of last week’s episode, is a big part of it. He takes an immediate interest in Shinsuke and his party for reasons that are not immediately clear. What is immediately clear is that Teru is a bit of an odd duck (and keeps trying to fly like one). He’s read Shinsuke’s letter to Raizou (who was out and about) and gone into the city himself to fetch this crew.

Teru seems most interested in Senya, who he can see is ill at ease in the world. Eventually he comes to fetch the foursome in the morning, ordering them to swallow talismans of concealment and follow him into the dry garden. There he asks a rock for passage into the Realm of Darkness, where they’re met by Hanatora (Itou Shizuka), who he introduces as the local land God of Kyoto (and with whom he seems very friendly). She thanks Senya for having put down the part of her that had been turned into a mad God, and asks him not to blame himself for what’s happened.

Whatever his ultimate aim is, Teru pointedly takes interest in Senya’s existential discomfort with himself. Tsukiko, Nau, and Shinsuke are basically passengers during the trip to the other world. Teru and Senya have a philosophical debate over many things, among them the boy’s own nature. Senya argues that the power of the World of Darkness should never be used in the affairs of men, but Teru protests that humans fight and kill each other with or without those powers – when an arrow pierces your heart, you’re just as dead. Senya despairs that he’d hoped he could jettison this power he could become human, but if conflict is human nature, what’s the point?

Is there more to Teru’s interest in Senya than compassion? Perhaps – but it seems very clear that the compassion he displays is genuine. He asks the shirodouji (“pale boy”) if he’s not in fact human, when in fact he looks like one to him. “I’m a monster.” Senya replies. Nonsense, says the Shogun – you’re just a pale little human with katawara inside him. And as if to prove Senya’s humanity, Yoshiteru asks Tsukiko into the palace and she emerges dressed in fine Egyptian raiment. On the subject of hearts being pierced, it’s clear how Senya feels when he looks at her.

That trip into Kyoto is, without question, the happiest we’ve seen Senya (which is without question what Yoshiteru’s intentions were). In Tsukiko, Shinsuke, and Nau (whose affection for the trio is now beyond dispute) Senya has something like a family. Tsukiko herself is swept up in the moment, thanking Senya for saving her village. When he protests (as always) that no, he deserves no thanks but instead derision, she insists that he’s a good boy. “Ii ko, ii ko!” she says resolutely. Then, grabbing his hands, “Iko (Let’s go)!”. That’s as Mizukami a scene as it gets – combining deep character dynamics with a dad joke.

Sadly, the magic is shattered when Tsukiko is swept up by something else entirely (a dragon). Mudou is still after his showdown, and Tago (in league with the daimyo Matsunaga Hisahide) is still stirring up trouble. Mudou takes Tsukiko to Matsunaga’s villa, where Tago compliments her wardrobe and Mudou notes that she reminds him of his older sister. Back at Nijo Senya rails against his hated powers, which draw conflict to him and now once more quail at the thought of taking on a dragon. Teru counsels patience – if it’s a fight Mudou wants, he’s not going to harm a hostage for no reason.

Now, at Senya’s low ebb, Shinsuke finally reveals the true self he hides beneath his “senbei” demeanor. He has the knowledge to teach Senya how to communicate with the thousand katawara inside him. In fact, Hanatora reveals that he goes into the spirit realm to train with his sword every day, telling no one. And he counsels Senya that while he may strive to force his katawara to follow him, the truly powerful spirit warriors are those who develop trust with their katawara (it’s not hard to imagine who he has in mind). Senya curses his nature, Shinsuke his weakness – but they need each other, and now Shinsuke is the one who can help the boy start to see the path to his future open up before him.