SENGOKU YOUKO

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ActionSengoku Youko
ANIME ActionSengoku Youko: Senma Konton-hen

REVIEWS

• 

  Sardinyas

  80/100
  Hatred: the downward spiral towards the loss of the self

  __SAFE ZONE__

  A Sengoku Youko adaptation is something that I was afraid of, I love Satoshi Mizukami's works but after what I saw from Hoshi no Samidare... I didn't even dare watching it. Fortunately, this was a very pleasant adaptation, there were even some nice little extra details like Shinsuke's scenes in the first episode.

  There is CG - like all of Satoshi Mizukami's anime - but differently from Planet With's (and what I saw from Samidare's) it wasn't unpleasant to the eyes. I'm not against the use of CG as long as it blends with the scenery and the lighting, and I think that's what happened in Sengoku Youko.

  The story is "on your face" with its thematic (I personally don't dislike it, but if anyone wants to know...), it is a Battle Shounen so that's a given most of the time. This arc is the weakest of all of them, but it's already very good and ends in a hook that lets you wanting more.

  __SPOILER ZONE__

  “It started by trying to find a way to survive, but over time we ended up questioning what is a human and what is a katawara.”

  Jinka, the protagonists of this first arc, is a person with a clear philosophy of life and objective: he hates his own humankind, and moved by hatred he fights to become a Katawara. Throughout his journey, Jinka encounter all kinds of humans and katawaras, all which teach him the beauty and ugliness of both sides, but unfortunately Jinka still falls into a terrible rage which leads him to the separation of mind and body. The story revolves around dualities: the equal and the other; hatred and love; reason and emotion.

  Jinka’s hatred for humanity in interesting as he himself is a human, but he never calls himself one, preferring the title of “Sendou”. In other words, Jinka shows his blind hypocrisy as he accuses humanity of being evil but excludes himself from it by trying to become a Katawara. Looking at that, we could say that this isn’t about hating the different – because Jinka isn’t part of the “different” - but about abandoning/losing the self.

  That hatred started when his parents abandoned him for being a “cursed twin” but was fully triggered after humans killed the katawara that befriended him, that’s the point where Jinka directed the fault of those killings on all humankind and gave birth to the desire for a “global” revenge.

  Although the main trigger is the drive to “bring justice to the oppressed side” (in Jinka‘s view, at least), the root of that hatred lies in his own personal emotions by a projection of his childhood - which is a parallel to the human-katawara duality as well (Jinka parallels the “oppressed” side and his brother the “oppressor” side) - where he utilizes everything else to justify a generalized and unproportional hate towards one social group as a whole.

  Jinka’s error, aside from that generalized hatred, is his one-sided position in the fact that while he condemns the whole humankind for the atrocities of particular individuals, he doesn’t do the same to katawaras. Jinka repeatedly supports katawaras when they harm humans, that is another fact which shows that his motives for hating humans isn’t for “justice”, but a personal grudge.

  On the other hand, we have Tama, the other protagonist who is completely a pure soul. She is the only character without grudges, she just loves every soul and wants to reform the world into a better place. She contrasts Jinka in the reason why she fights: not out of hatred, but out of love. Tama wants the world to be a peaceful one, where everyone can have compassion towards each other.

  It’s interesting that despite those different views, Jinka still helps Tama on her quest. Of course, he has the excuse of “just wanting to fight humans”, but deep down he still has a sparkle of love inside him.

  "There is no horizon, no end! No humans, no katawara, no vendetta, no hatred! We are free! Strenght, weakness, and obsessions are all pointless in the great sky!"

  His hatred begins to change after meeting Shinsuke and Shakugan. The first one which is a human without negative emotions or actions for the katawara-kind, the second one being a hybrid being who conserves both souls and both kinds in a singular body.

  Shinsuke parallels Jinka in his quest for power and, later, for revenge as well. They both hold a certain grudge to “oppressors”, but while Jinka generalizes it to a whole kind, Shinsuke’s view is more grounded and contrasts Jinka’s: he perceives that every side has “oppressors” and “oppressed”, no matter if they are human or katawara. Of course, despite his view being less hateful than Jinka’s, Shinsuke still suffers heavy consequences for his pursuit, but on a lesser scale than what happens to the protagonist.

  Shakugan also has parallels to Jinka, as she is someone who was also abandoned by her family. She went berserk and made a massacre out of revenge, which is a feeling similar to what moves Jinka, but Shakugan regrets it from all her heart and show us the meaninglessness in taking revenge.

  They both help to shape up Jinka’s mindset (and their selves as well) and help him to perceive that not all people from that side are bad, and later, the Mountain Goddess helps Jinka into awakening his fairy eyes, which he uses to see the “aura” of every being and finally perceive that humans and katawaras are the same deep down.

  Not just on the protagonists, but even the antagonistic side also has a "good" and "bad" side as well. You have Higan, who represents the bad type of cohexistence - the one where one devours the other, differently from Shakugan where both of them have equity - but you also have people like Douren, someone who is friends with katawaras, being basically a cool uncle with some faults and not an evil person at heart.

  In the end, it's not a question of what you are or where your are, but "who" you are. People are complex and unique, there are all sorts of them in all kinds and places.

  But despite his growth as a person, Jinka is unable to fully stop the hatred that moves him, and from that comes the greatest turn of events that made me fall in love with Sengoku Youko. After all the development Jinka went through, he suddenly spiraled into an enormous power born from his rage and, with that, he shattered his mind from his body. His emotions took control over his reasoning, he was ultimately consumed by his hatred and became a zombie who seeks nothing but destruction, his “self” is almost completely erased by his hatred.

  I find it brilliant how this arc ends. It’s unprecedented and anticlimactic, you accompany Jinka throughout his Journey just to watch him fall back down again in the end, but that bitter taste is the cherry on the top that strengthens the message in a bold way, letting the viewers experience that in first person by the protagonist’s point of view.

  I admit that I preferred if they adapted the story as a whole in a single go, but the way the arcs are divided works as well. Sengoku Youko: Yorinaoshi Kyoudai-Hen is just a piece of this magnificent story, but as a stand-alone, it is well rounded in its thematic.

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