After centuries of uneasy peace, the treaty between the Koga and Iga Ninja clans has been abolished. Two teams of ten battle to the death to determine the next leader of the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate. Already, the Iga have dealt massive damage to the Koga Manjudani 10. But those left on the Koga side are some of the most conniving the skillful in their ranks. As more blood spills into the land, Gennosuke and Oboro, lovers and heirs to the two clans, find that it might be too late to put a stop to the violence just as peace was true peace was possible. Who else will fall in this contest of warriors and demons and what will push Gennosuke and Oboro themselves to join the fight?
Well paradise looked good for Oboro and Gennosuke while it lasted. But the cats out of the bag now and pretty much everything has changed for the happy couple. Thankfully, Basilisk managed to slow down things a bit and take a look at the toll this battle is taking on them, their allies, and the world around them, while also somehow considerably keeping the kill count far lower than last weeks debut.
Sadly, amongst the list of the dead Ninjas this week was my favorite femme fatale Okoi. The sexy seductress did manage to get in a win for her team before hand and ill admit, a man being drained of blood while in the embrace of a beautiful woman…im sure some men could think of worse ways to go…ok moving on. Okoi managing to use her beauty and misdirection to kill one Iga member and almost get another was smart but again, the Iga seem to have the upper hand in everything in this contest as Nenki’s completely hair covered body was Okoi’s kryptonite and delivered one of the grizzliest kills in the show so far…ouch.
Speaking of the Iga, I feel like in a waring contest between two factions of deadly Ninjas, there should be some grey area about who to root for. I mean yeah, we’re meant to hope for the best for Gennosuke and Oboro as a couple. Their teams, however, should have equal measures good spirited individuals and detestable scumbags. Right now, the Iga seem to have the bulk of the latter as they were only too happy to instigate a bloodbath once they learned the cease fire between the Koga and Iga was over. Many of their members have either been presented as power hungry and duplicitous like Tenzen or striaight up monstrous and perverse like Rusai and Jingorou (both of whom try to have Okoi for themselves which leads to their downfall). Sure you have some Koga who definitely want some payback for centuries of wrongness like Gyoubu. But is it fair to present the Iga as the most menacing of the two factions, the more precise “bad guys”? Cause right now I wouldn’t mind if the Iga got their collective asses handed to them save for a couple of exceptions.
Back to Gennosuke and Oboro, they both took the news of the newly open hostiltiies about how you’d expect. Gennosuke went into super serious mode and even seemed to dismiss Oboro outright, while Oboro stuck to her heart and pleaded for her people and Gennosuke to stop. I like to think myself an optimist at heart so in a way, while I find Oboro’s naievete towards just about everything a bit annoying, at least one person is doing their damndest to not give into violent temptations. Then again, the action lover in me thought it was BAD ASS to see Gennosuke unleash his secret eye technique. While Oboro’s can nullify ninja powers, Gennosuke has more of a mind manipulation technique as he forced several Iga foot soldiers to off themselves before they could attack him and his men…and also the animation on his golden eyes is freaking awesome.
And while it seems like Gennosuke turned his back on Oboro, he is sticking to his beliefs himself. Which leads us into the next phase of Basilisk, which has become a time is of the essence chase sequence to get to Sunpu and get this mess sorted out with Tokugawa and Hattori Hanzo, aka the guys who put this whole thing in motion. It’s like I said about Gennosuke last week: he’s hoping for the best in trying to get the war called off, but he’s planning for the worst. If the Iga attack him and his group, they will retaliate and they wont hold back, whether Oboro is among them or not. Oboro, meanwhile, took her own drastic pacifistic measures, literally blinding herself and taking away the Iga’s greatest trump card in the war. Naturally, this doesn’t win her any favors from most of her remaining crew…especially Tenzen, who’s clear power hungry mentality is going to be the biggest problem for everyone soon, im sure. But damn, Oboro has more strength than I was willing to give her credit for. She and Gennosuke could pull this peace off…but given this is a spin on Romeo and Juliet, I think we all know how this could all end.
Lastly, before the halfway mark of Basilisk, we got a clip show…those are always fun but i cant say it should be skipped entirely. In the spirit of the clip show example of other series like Neon Genesis Evangelion or Mobile Suit Gundam 00, our recap was presented by a Ninja who’d been tracking the war since it began, who was in turn presenting it to Tokugara and Hanzo themselves. We actually learn a bit more about things going on behind the scenes, that the Koga/Iga conflict is affecting more than just two young heirs. The people supporting those heirs are starting to take shots at one another, signaling that this battle isn’t just a personal grudge trying to be settled, the fate of an entire nation is on the line in multiple ways. Should the fighting not end…oh boy, let just say things are already messy enough. Right now, a new peace settlement might be the only option. But will Hanzo ok it like he wants to or will Ieyasu keep things going to see the battle through to the end? Not bad questions to ask…we just didn’t need a clip show around them.
Right, so how about that Casualty Report and final tally for Week 2:
Casualty List:
Koga
Okoi-Skewered by Nenki’s body hair
Iga
Rusai-Drained of his blood by Okoi
Nenki-Killed by Hyouma’s eye technique
So the Iga gain a point but the Koga have started a come back of their own. The Iga still lead 5-4 but I think the Koga are about to tie things up if things look the way they do for poor Hotorubi. The race to reach peace or bloodshed continues next week on Basilisk right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
Hey, congrats dude on this 1,000th Post!
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