Though they’ve lost valued friends along the way, the
Shinsengumi now have the location of an important Choshu Clan meeting. Kondo takes the lead as the Shinsengumi march
towards vengeance. All the while,
Tetsunosuke is still traumatized by his encounter with Yoshida. As the Ikedaya Inn becomes the stage for a
bloody battle, will Tetsu be able to face his demons and join his comrades in
time? Steel clashes and the streets run
red with blood as history unfolds. Who
will be cut down and who will live to tell the tale of a battle that will
resound throughout all of Japanese history?
And so we come to the end of Peacemaker. After 20 some odd episodes of waiting, the
action came full throttle, bloody and relentless
and…wait…waitwaitwaitwaitwaitWAIT A MINUTE.
When the hell did Tetsunosuke learn to fight like that? For the better part of this whole series,
we’ve only seen him spar with a couple of Shinsengumi members and those were
very short skirmishes. Every other time
we’ve seen him, he’s been screaming his head off, trying to hook up with Saya,
or huddled in a closet (though this week he had some reasons for that). Not once have we seen any signs that Tetsu
was progressing in his swordplay, much less that he was reaching the level of
Soji Okita. The kid takes on one of the
greatest killers of the Choshu, one on freaking one. You cant even argue that Yoshida was already
worn down by battling Okita, Shimpachi and Heisuke. No, even a hardened killer like Yoshida should
have been able to tear Tetsu apart with no problem. Tetsunosuke won by sheer dumb luck and a
solid dose of the “it’s time for the end so he need to be a bad ass”
trope. This series is already getting a
low score from me but this BS alone definitely knocks it down an extra number.
Tetsu’s sudden transformation into battle hardened
samurai aside, we FINALLY got to the good stuff I’ve been waiting for. The Ikedaya Incident is infamous as the event
the Shinsengumi are most known for and it set back the plans of the
Revolutionaries for some time. Anyone
who has seen the Rurouni Kenshin prequel, Trust and Betrayal (set during the
Bakumatsu) knows that even with Kenshin trying to reach the inn, the
Shinsengumi still came out on top. We
got to see the famous event unfold and it was worth the wait. Even the great leader Kondo got involved and
man could he tear up a room. These were
the Shinsengumi I always heard about.
Sure we’ve seen them serious in the last few episodes after losing Aiyu. But in these final few episodes you could see
why they’re called the Wolves of Mibu.
Once Kondo, Okita, Shimpachi and Heisuke got going, no one was coming
out of there alive unless they were really damn lucky. The swords clashes and the blood was spurting
like guysers. Finally, some good old
samurai action.
The character moments in and around the battle were good
too. As if to mirror last week, this
time it was Susumu’s turn to break Tetsunosuke out of his freak out (Tetsu even
looked like a wide eyed Gollum curled up in his closet). Not only did Susumu not take Tetsu’s fearful
attitude, but he also called out Tatsu as well.
As I figured, Tetsu’s older brother has always seemed the type to want
to keep Tetsu in the closet for his own safety and never see him recover. Well,
that’s selfish and thankfully Susumu saw through it and said “screw you, Tetsu
get your ass in gear”. As much as I’d
wish Tetsu would have gotten his uniform and sword from Hijikata, getting it
shoved in his face by Susumu seemed to be just as fitting. The aftermath of the battle also brought out
Hijikata’s softer side. As much as I
call BS on Tetsu’s sudden burst of bad ass, he did earn the Vice Commander’s
respect for once, something he’s longed for since the show began. I also have to admire Tetsu’s Rurouni Kenshin
stance on swords and killing, seeking to save lives rather than take them with
his sword. His promise to Saya that he
would keep up this mantra was pretty touching and a good close out on one of
the sweetest relationships in the series.
Poor Suzu though. After Yoshida
gets beheaded, the kid if Tetsu levels of traumautized, maybe worse. We’ll never see what comes of him sitting in
that dark alley, holding Yoshida’s rotting head…it’s a scary place to leave
him.
Which brings me to the start of my closing thoughts. The finale brings us to Ikedaya as the first
episode promised. However, there are a
ton of unanswered questions. So Yoshida
didn’t kill Tetsu’s parents, who did?
What role did Ryoma Sakamoto have to play in this series and how was he
connected to Tetsu’s father? What the
hell was Tetsu’s dads deal in general?
What about Akesato, will she reveal her true occupation to
Yamanami? Will Suzu seek revenge against
Tetsu even though he doesn’t know Okita was the one who beheaded Yoshida? Did that supernatural storyline really need
to be included in this show? The answer
to that last one is a definite NO. The
rest of those questions I feel might have been answered in a second season if
one ever came about. I know the manga
continued on but I doubt this Anime did well enough to get more screentime…and
that’s disappointing. Again, the curse
of Studio Gonzo comes in. Other projects
like Trinity Blood, Hellsing and Chrono Crusade suffered the same kind of
storytelling faults that have plagued Peacemaker throughout.
So where does that leave my final thoughts on this
show? When the spotlight was on the
actual Shinsengumi, it was great. Seeing
these historical figures interact with each other made me understand why they
were so feared and loved at the same time.
Having Tetsu be the audience window was hit and miss. That’s because Tetsu himself was mostly
insufferable. When he wasn’t screaming
at Hijikata, he was screaming at something else and demanding everything be
thrown his way like a brat, including the ability to kill like a bad ass. The ONLY times I ever liked Tetsu was when he
was around Saya and Susumu. He seemed to
be more nurturing than annoying around Susumu and the love he and Saya
developed for each other spoke volumes, even if Saya couldn’t speak or Tetsu
didn’t know exactly what to say. The
action was decent but was mostly saved for the end and in a Samurai drama,
that’s misleading and downright unacceptable.
There were too many plot holes that could have been filled if time had
not been wasted on pointless magical threats or characters who came and
literally did nothing to move the plot along.
I think if you’re a fan of Rurouni Kenshin or Japanese History, you
should check out the last act to see the Ikedaya story unfold. That being said, RuroKen is definitely the
better alternative to this one. The
Shinsengumi may not be present nearly as much (save for Saito who’s a main
character) but it’s a lot more fun and has a much less annoying protagonist to
guide the story along. Yeah, Tetsu can
boast he beat Yoshida but I doubt he’d last a minute against a Hitokiri
Battosai style Kenshin Himura.
Final score for Peacemaker Kurogane is…a 5/10
Next week, we’re heading back to the future, where
science and sorcery team up with a group of sexy police officers to fight
demons…should be fun right? Kia
Asamiya’s Silent Mobius begins on the Anime Corner next Monday, see ya then.
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