Yes, worlds are definitely colliding here. There are a ton of moving parts in the Kyoto Arc, no doubt about it. It does remind me of Chimera Ant in that way (it’s probably better to say the opposite, actually). The plot is bigger than the screen or any single episode can hold. There are times when major characters disappear for extended stretches. But you don’t miss them, because this is a story full of characters who could headline a series in their own right.
The centerpiece will always be Kenshin of course. And the most important members of his circle are finally back together (well, most of them – Sano is wandering around lost with Ryouga somewhere). This is a complicated moment – by following him, Kaoru and Yahiko have done the exact opposite of what he wanted. Hiko Seijuurou can sense this of course, and he’s as far from a fool as it gets. He seizes the opportunity to send Ken off to fetch water, which he does after offering a bit of lip (this is a side of Kenshin’s personality we haven’t seen in anyone else’s company, and that’s no coincidence).
Hiko is information mining here, plain and simple. A chance to find out who Kenshin really is now from people who obviously know him very well indeed. There’s not a diplomatic bone in his body – he even calls Yahiko “wappa”, which is a very nasty way to refer to a young boy. But he gets what he’s after, a picture of who his apprentice became after he dropped out of the world’s view. And in truth, it’s exactly what he would have wanted for Kenshin. He’s using his sword in defense of the helpless, and not in the service of authority. He pegs the truth of it entirely – Kenshin is atoning for who he was when he veered off the Hiten Mitsurugi path as well as embodying the tenets of the school.
Seijuurou agrees to teach this Kenshin the ultimate technique of Hiten Mitsurugi, and doesn’t mess about either. As Ken follows him Kaoru finally musters the nerve to address the elephant in the room – is he angry that she and the boy have followed him? Ken pauses for a pointedly long time, and just as pointedly declines to turn around. “Half” he finally declares. And that the other half is relieved. He admonishes Kaoru to be careful with Shishio’s forces about, and sets off after his master without so much as a backwards glance.
Misao and Yahiko have taken to each other like a duck to water. They share an unbridled enthusiasm that would make Billy Mumphrey proud, and a very similar view of the man they admire to the point of worship. But when Yahiko remembers what he needed to tell that man – that he’d seen Shinomori Aoshi in town – Misao is understandably beside herself. He had no clue there was any connection there of course, and from her reaction he correctly deduces that Misao is part of the Oniwabanshuu. But Kaoru finally asserts herself here – Misao helped her find Kenshin, and that’s a debt she has to repay.
Meanwhile that Aoshi is making his move. He sends a note to Nenji requesting a secret meeting, and the old man immediately scolds him for not coming to the Aoiya. But Aoshi makes it clear that he has no intention of involving Misao in his life in any way. He cuts straight to the point – he tells Nenji he wants help locating someone, and you sense Nenji knows who before he ever hears the name. This is a test for the old man, and he clearly feels uneasy about who the young man before him has become. He doesn’t deny that he spoke with Kenshin, but lies and says he has no idea of his whereabouts.
I haven’t loved every casting choice in this reboot, but I’m fully on-board with Chiba Shigeru as Nenji. He wouldn’t sound out of place in the original cast, and that’s high praise. He goes from extreme to extreme in this role, as Nenji can be a bit of a comic relief character. But when he tells Aoshi that he’ll destroy him if he soils the name of the Oniwabanshuu by becoming a slaughterer, you don’t doubt him for a moment. His impulse is good here, no question about it. But unfortunately the result if anything makes things even worse by driving Aoshi straight into Shishio’s arms.
It’s Soujirou who entreats Aoshi to play ball again, but with him are Anji and two of the Juppongatana we haven’t met before – Kariwa Henya (Ohsaka Ryouta – another bit of re-casting I suspect I’ll like) and Iwanbou (Yamazaki Takumi). Aoshi re-states his lone wolf intentions; Soujirou offers him the carrot of Shishio’s intelligence network. Aoshi agrees to meet with the man in question, who’s in the process of showing off (to us) one of his sword techniques – “Homuradama”, which seems to spontaneously set the body he’s bisecting aflame. The unflappable Shishio seems amused more than anything at Aoshi’s demeanor, but makes it clear that even if they can’t be partners, they do share a common goal.
Shishio, is, if anything, a practical man. Loners like Aoshi might not be good fodder for an organization but his skills can still be useful. But since Houji has no information on the target, it falls to Soujirou to cut to the chase – Nenji is their only lead. And that makes an assault on the Aoiya with torture to follow the obvious tack to finding Kenshin. Aoshi seems distressingly unfazed at the idea – “broken”, indeed. But Shishio is right – collecting broken people and re-purposing them for his ends is the essence of what he does. For Aoshi, it’s hard to see a path back to the light from here – to agree to this he’s more lost than Nenji can even imagine.
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