Testunosuke has been officially allowed into the
Shinsengumi…as a page for Vice Commander Hijikata. Despite his low rank, Tetsu is slowly guided
by a host of elite warriors, inching along the path to his goal. But more importantly, new faces enter Tetsu’s
life who will help define the path he walks: Saya, a mute girl whose life Tetsu
once saved; and Suzu, who just so happens to be the page of Toshimaru Yoshida,
the greatest adversary of the Shinsengumi and possibly the man who killed Testu’s
parents. But the most important might be
a mysterious man who reminds Tetsu of his father. Who is the gunweilding samurai who seems very
taken with the word “Peacemaker”?
The second week of Peacemaker was a little strange, to
say the least. After a decent set of
intro episodes, we continued to plod along with a teeny bit of plot progression
and very little action. We did, however,
get some solid character and history establishing moments that gave the
Shinsengumi a lot more depth and likeability.
Event Tetsu made some strides this week to become a little better…but
only when certain people were around.
Yeah, it looks like every episode is meant to start with
shouts and complaints from our “protagonist” and that’s starting to become
grating. Tetsu’s need to scream his mouth
off every two minutes doesn’t make him endearing, funny or even the least bit
likeable. Seriously, how did Tetsu’s
voice actor not lose their voice with all the screaming this kid does? That being said, I mentioned he did make some
strides to better himself this week.
Believe it or not, those strides happened because of a girl. Saya may look cute but her constantly sad
expression and her inability to speak hints at a much darker story. Her friend, Hana, almost let slip that they
may be young Courtesans in training, a sad fact of history. And yet, the girl who cannot speak is showing
Tetsu the path to become better without losing who he is. It’s a cute friendship and Testu seems to
shout a lot less, so I’ll take that.
Testu’s other new friendship this week came from Suzu,
who happens to be Yoshida’s page. Now
this is a trainwreck waiting to happen.
Suzu’s working for Yoshida because he took him in after the Shinsengumi
killed his brother. And yet, Suzu has a
hard time trying to figure out which master is the “real master”: the one who
is kind or the one who kills? Clearly
Yoshida is a dark figure with his own nefarious agenda so it’s likely he’s just
keeping Suzu around for sinister purposes the poor kid doesn’t realize. So how’s Tetsu going to react when he finds
out his new friend works for the Shinsengumi’s #1 Most Wanted? More than any of their interactions this
week, I’m looking forward to seeing how that all plays out for Tetsu and Suzu
down the line.
Looking past Testunosuke for the moment, the Shinsengumi
themselves continue to be a worthy reason to check this show out. The mini festival Kondo holds while Hijikata
is on a mission should feel out of place.
However it is good to see that even hardened warriors know how take a
break…when certain people aren’t around.
I get that Kondo is the Head Captain, but it’s hard to tell who is more
in charge when Hijikata seems to be calling all the shots and he’s just a Vice
Commander. Even Yamanami, who’s rank is
about equal with Hijikata, seems to view him as a man with the ultimate power,
one he thinks he might be abusing. They
are a complicated bunch, this Shinsengumi.
But that makes them, the central group of Hijikara, Okita, Kondo,
Yamanami, Shinpachi, Heisuke, Sanosuke and Saito, the most compelling parts of
this series, even more so than Tetsu might ever become. We even got a nice dose of history from the
Wolves of Mibu this week as Kondo reflected on how they first traveled to Kyoto
and Hijikata and Yamanami looked back on an assassination that solidified their
positions of power.
Throughout all of this, there was little action to come
out of this week. There was one brief
skirmish involving Susumu, Hijikata’s ninja spy, and some Choshu ninjas (plus
the fun Oniwanbashu name drop, again if you know your Rurouni Kenshin you’ll
recognize the name). But the biggest
action set piece was from where Peacemaker is easily the weakest. The use of supernatural elements feels
outright unecessary and out of place. It
almost feels like something that should be placed in Samurai 7, another Studio
Gonzo series based on Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Is this really going to play a role towards
the end of the show? Considering where
we know it’s heading, it’s hard to imagine magic playing a role in one of the
most infamous moments in Japanese history.
Lastly, wanted to touch on the mysterious stranger Testu
ran into. Humming the Star Spangaled
Banner (just cause?) and bearing a sleek revolver, this gun wielding samurai
seems like a fun addition. Clearly, his
mannerisms and speaking style echo what little we’ve seen of Testunosuke’s
father. Im not going to assume that
Tetsu’s dad faked his death and is masquerading as this guy. But the stranger clearly knows Tetsu’s dad,
even whispering the term “Peacemaker”, a word spoken to Testu by his
father. Like the supernatural plotline,
I wonder how much this man will play into events. However, I do think he’ll be way more important
that any magical demons being summoned in to spice things up a bit.
So far, Peacemaker is doing right by the historical
figures it’s portraying on screen. When
the Shinsengumi’s central cast is around, I’m with this show. When Tetsu is around them…it’s annoying. When Tetsu is around Saya, he’s better? It’s an odd mix to say the least but I’m
hoping with a lot of the exposition out of the way (I think) we can get to some
more samurai action in later weeks. They
cant be saving everything for the Ikedaya Incident in the finale, right?
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