Hakuoki: Heisuke Part 2
Background information and links to previous posts
On to part 2 of Heisuke's path.
I really liked it! As expected, there was less REPRESSED PASSION and more innocent affection, and it went off in it's own direction instead of focusing on the war, but it was really sweet. I also spent more time than I was expecting with my hands over my mouth in surprise or horror.
** Spoilers **
I'm reminded how often the game emphasises how young Heisuke is, but afaict he, Saito, and Okita are all around 20 at the start of the game. I might look up all the canon ages at some point but right now I want to see what happens next!
Sanan calls both Chizuru and Heisuke [surname]-kun. Gotta be a polite serial killer. It is both nice and disturbing to be by Heisuke's side while he watches Sanan with a sense of dread.
SEN!!! She's been researching vampires with her bodyguard Kimiguku, and wants to tell them what she's found.
OH MY GOD.
So a while ago
moonvoice and I were discussing how the vampire serum is supposedly based on a "Western formula" for creating vampires. I said "I feel like I'd have heard about that? Actually, only if it was English speaking West, France coulda had one and I missed it"
THE VAMPIRE SERUM IS MADE FROM FRENCH "DEMONS" WHO HATE SUNLIGHT AND DRINK BLOOD
The implication is that French people just have to deal with whole clans of vampires eating them all the time.
Sanan ponders if drinking vampire blood would also make someone into a vampire.
WAIT
WAAAAIT
IS VAMPIRISM A METAPHOR FOR BECOMING WESTERN??? VIOLENT AND BLOODTHIRSTY AND ABANDONING ALL YOUR VALUES FOR SHORT TERM STRENGTH BUT IT SUCKS YOU DRY
THIS GAME
And then they find out about the limited lifespan thing and Heisuke pretends to be ok. He has a "if it's going to happen I shouldn't drag it out and make a big deal that'll just be more upsetting" approach to bloodrinking which is endearing but again, not super sexy ...maybe if he was a little subbier. His voice does this heartbreaking little crack when he apologises which always makes me wibble.
Time for the new uniforms!
Heisuke: What's up with the western style uniforms, Hijitaka, I know you hate foreigners as much as I do. And my hair is so dorky, look at Chiruzu, she's paralysed with horror!
Me: Is it racist that I find him more attractive with short hair?
Chizuru: So....handsome...
Heisuke: Oh. Um. Ok then >.>
Hijikata: IF YOU TWO ARE DONE FLIRTING, I have your orders. After that...to be honest I'm not sure it's safe for Chizuru in Edo. Not with all these serial killings.
Heisuke: Oh yeah I heard about those!
Hijikata: Men, women, children...I saw one of the crime scenes and it was pretty fucked up.
me: OH NO
Hijikata: Specifically, they were hacked to pieces. Just like those ronin in Kyoto. Sound familiar?
Heisuke and Chizuru: OH NO
So Heisuke is told to keep an eye on Sanan.
Chiruzu joins Heisuke as he tracks two errant members of the vampire corps. He is too late to stop them horrifically murdering some civilians but engages them in battle. There's no way he can fight two at once, and all looks lost when suddenly...
KAZAMA AND AMAGURI SHOW UP
...AND SAVE HIM??
Kazama: Are you complicit with these serial killings, boy? Turns out I do have a moral line, and it's murdering civilians.
Heisuke: Of course not!
Kazama: What about your boss, Sanan?
Heisuke: ...
I guess a society with a whole class of people whose social caste is "warrior" has some strict ideas about who it's ok to kill.
Unfortunately, the disadvantage of Chiruzu and Heisuke being naturally open, honest people is they are terrible at spying on Sanan.
Harada and Shinpachi return from battle sick of Kondou's crap leadership, and ask Heisuke to join them in leaving, since he has as much reason to resent the Shinsengumi as anyone. He is VERY SAD to be losing his best friends but says no. Later he tells Chizuru it's because he has someone he doesn't want to leave and your options are "Me?" and "Sanan?" lol. Picking the correct option results in some cute mutual embarassment :)
One day they are passed in the street by That Artist Who Used To Be A Shinsengumi and his wife, they seem happy if badly drawn (I am pretty sure they were added along with Souma, and will show up in his path). Heisuke angsts for a moment that he'll never have anything like that, Chiruzu says "you have me" and he cheers up a bit but changes the subject.
They return to find Sen's bodyguard asking if Chiruzu knows where Sen is, since Chiruzu sent her that note to meet up.
Chiruzu: ...what note?
Me: FUCKING KAZAMA
Everyone else: FUCKING SANAN
And they're right, they find Sanan and Sen arguing.
Me: Oh, she looks fine! Maybe he wasn't planning on harming her after all!
But then when Sen is distracted, Sanan...
KISSES HER
And when she pulls away BLOOD IS COMING FROM HER MOUTH.
Me: ...did he bite her tongue so he could try drinking demon blood??
Sanan: BEHOLD THE POWER OF A VAMPIRE. MY BLOOD WILL MAKE HER MY SLAVE, AND SHE WILL RULE WITH ME AS DEMON VAMPIRE QUEEN OF JAPAN OVER OUR ARMY OF VAMPIRE SLAVES! NOW, MY QUEEN, SHOW ME HOW THESE TWO BLEED!!!
Me: ...oh D:
San: I will...never...submit...to you...
Sanan: Interesting, your demon blood makes you able to resist a little longer. I look forward to punishing you later! But for now, my other slaves are more obedient. Kill, my minions!!
vampire minions: KILL >:D
Heisuke: These aren't Shinsengumi...have you being hurting innocent people? Sanan how could you, I looked up to you!
Sanan: Not hurting, gifting! Anyway, it seems the princess requires a lengthy courtship before she becomes my vampire queen, and what the princess wants the princess gets. Goodbye, Heisuke, my friend, you will have to become less naive if you wish to live to see me again. *leaves with Sen's comatose body draped over his shoulders*
Kazama, offscreen: *suddenly looking like not such a bad catch*
(It was only after describing this plot to a friend that I really noticed how CRAZYPANTS RIDICULOUS it all is but I totally don't care. BRING ON THE DEMON QUEENS OF JAPAN)
Heisuke kills all the vampires because he is apparently really good at swords when the plot requires it, but then angsts about the innocent blood on his hands.
They follow Sanan's trail and end up meeting back up with the remaining Shinsengumi. Hijitika shows a document detailing the new alliance being formed up north of provinces that refuse to submit to Imperial rule...drafted by Sanan. But the Shinsengumi have their orders and can't investigate...except for Heisuke, who is officially dead. Chizuru confronts Hijitika angrily, and he admits it's probably a suicide mission, but everything is a suicide mission these days. He frees Chiruzu of her obligations to the Shinsengumi so that she can go with Heisuke, and wishes them both well.
Heisuke is convinced he will die and that Chiruzu should leave and find a happy life, but she convinces him to have hope. And sure enough on their way to confront Sanan they encounter an ally in the process investigating reports of vampires...
FUCKING KAZAMA.
When he finds out Sanan kidnapped Sen in order to marry her he calls Sanan "lecherous scum" because apparently it's gross when humans do it.
Heisuke: Wait...I sense...
Kazama: Hmm. Not completely useless, then, fake. *stabs a vampire that was approaching from the shadows*
Another vampire is about to overpower Heisuke (whose swordmanship is apparently crappy again) when he is saved by...Sen's bodyguard Kimiguku!
Kimiguku she says she got Chiruzu's letters and has been scoping out the castle Sanan is holed up in with Sen, but he has made a LOT of vampires. She suggests the four of them work together and then leaves.
Kazama begrudgingly offers the advice to wait a few days: he has sent Amaguri to create a mass panic about the upcoming full moon.
Since they can't fight, Kazama and Heisuke snipe at each other.
Kazama calls Heisuke a useless puppy. Heisuke says noone respects Kazama, they just fear him, when Amaguri does all the actual work. (Somewhere offscreen Amaguri has the strange sense of actually being appreciated, if only for a moment)
Literal quote from Chiruzu: "All I could do was watch, imagining the most fitting word for their irritating relationship...was the word frenemy?"
Kazama leaves to do his own thing. He makes vague remark about Heisuke keeping Chizuru safe for him to claim later, but his heart's not really in it.
Heisuke and Chizuru walk through abandoned streets, not knowing if everyone is in hiding or...worse. As night falls the vampires come out and they have to hide.
They talk around their feelings.
Heisuke: But what if I reach for you, and turn to ash in your hands?
Chizuru: Then I will grasp onto you even more tightly.
He lets go of the doubts that have held him back from telling her he loves her. They have a really lovely first kiss.
They arrive at the castle, and it is coated in a foul miasma that is never explained but certainly adds to the atmosphere.
Sanan appears and says some unbelievably creepy things about feeding Sen his blood every day. He tries to play on Heisuke's memories of him as a friend and mentor, sneaking closer and closer like a snake. But then Amaguri's riot breaks out and he has to go deal with it. Thanks Amaguri!
Heisuke and Chizuru meet up with Kimiguku, who shows them a secret entrance she found. Within, they find a grisly trail of dismembered vampires.
Chizuru: Who better for us to see than...
Their old buddy Kazama!
The four of them go to confront Sanan, who is sitting in a darkened hall with a comatose Sen by his side, blood dripping from her lips.
Sanan rants about how he is a True Vampire now, and more powerful than even a demon.
Kazama: You have no idea how powerful I am.
Sanan: Then you are worthy of drinking some of my blood and becoming a guardsman for Vampire Japan :)
Kazama: I beg your fucking pardon
Sanan: Oh, and I guess you can come too, Heisuke.
Heisuke and Sanan fight.
Sanan: Your sword fighting has improved! But you're still limited by human techniques.
Heisuke swings towards him and Sanan puts up his bare arm, the sword slicing through bone and sinew...which then reform around it, trapping the sword.
Sanan: NOW YOU SEE THE TRUE POWER OF THE DARK SIDE.
Heisuke, weaponless, is knocked to the ground. All looks lost.
Kazama, who has grabbed Sen: Do not underestimate the power of a true demon!
Sanan: :D
Chizuru: Why is he...KAZAMA GET AWAY FROM SEN
Kazama: Wha- *is stabbed by Sen*
Sen goes full demon and has nothing but death in her eyes. She gleefully licks Kazama's blood from her hands.
Sanan: It seems your hypothesis that demons are stronger than we "fakes" has been proven wrong by the evidence :D
Me: Oh don't start trying to charm me with science now, you creep.
Chizuru: Sen, break out of it!
Sen: ...wait, what? Where am I?
Kimiguku: Stay back, Chizuru. It is my responsibility to deal with her, one way or another.
Sanan: WHY ARE YOU NOT OBEYING ME. KILL THEM.
Sen swings for Chizuru, and Kimiguku jumps in front of the blade. She talks about what a good princess Sen is, while Sen stares at her with tears in her eyes.
Sen: This can't be failing...it must be because she drank some of Kazama's blood!
Kazama: Or maybe you're a FAKEY FAKE who is no match for a real demon :P
And then somehow Sanan gets the upper hand again, and stabs a prone Heisuke through the chest.
But then...Heisuke heals around it, trapping Sanan's sword, giving him the chance to swing upwards with his own sword and kill Sanan.
Heisuke: I guess I learned something from you after all.
Sanan has a long death scene that was probably meant to be heart-wrenching but I was too busy thinking DIE QUICKER YOU LECHEROUS SCUM
All the demons have healed up but Heisuke's looking a little worse for wear.
Chizuru: Are you ok, Heisuke?
Heisuke: With you by my side, nothing can stop me. And if I end up becoming a blood crazed monster, I'm sure Mr Sour Demon over there will take me out.
Kazama: Don't drag me into your death wish, you little insect. Just...go heal yourself at the magic spring in Chizuru's home village. Or just die, it's not as if I care either way.
Chizuru: OMG THANK YOU FOR FINDING THAT OUT FOR US.
Kazama: I didn't...I just want to make sure there aren't any fakes walking around, ok?
Heisuke: Look, I'm only going to say this once, but...*blushes* thanks.
Kazama: What was that? I didn't hear you :D
Heisuke and Chizuru go to say goodbye to the Shinsengumi. Hijikata gives them permission to leave, quietly glad that someone will survive the coming defeat. (He also has a limp that keeps him from the front lines and yet manages not to become a vampire serial killer, Sanan)They bid a bittersweet farewell to their friends.
We flash forward to a time and place far from the worries of war. Heisuke is healed, and loves to lie in the sunshine on the grass of their new rural home. Instead of hearing how things fared for their friends (spoilers: badly), there is a nostalgic memory of happier times.
And then they lived happily ever after,
THE END.
So yes, I was so busy trying to figure out how the demon rivalry would work I was sideswiped by the unexpected Kill Your Father hero's journey.
In general I was happily surprised by it going in it's own direction from the other two, despite having many broad strokes events in common.
Instead of trying to tell the story of the war from the point of view of someone who was, if anything, invested in the "bad guys" winning, they created a whole separate plot.
It never got very sexy, but it wasn't trying to be.
And instead of INTENSE MUTUAL PINING they both basically knew they were interested in each other from early on, it was more a matter of it being the wrong time to take the next step, and not being sure if the "right time" was something that was even possible. I feel like it got a bit repetitive but suspect that might just be that the emotional button being hit over and over didn't do as much for me this time.
And I mean...repressed passion and mutual pining is more my usual speed, but it was still just really nice, and certainly wasn't lacking in it's own form of bittersweet longing. Also I really loved what equals they both were, comparatively speaking. She was still The Girl, needing protection and doing more of the emotional labour and other Girly Tasks, but they mostly felt like buddies.
And now, god help me, though literally nobody wants it (Sanan got more votes): Okita.
There better be a hell of a heart of gold hidden under all that jerk.
Also, I did look up the ages, I added it to the background post but for anyone interested:
Heisuke: 20
Saito: 20
Nomura: 20
Okita: 20-22, implied to be the same age as Saito eg 20
Yamazaki: 21
Souma: 21
Harada: 24
Shinpachi: 25
Sakamoto: 28 (I carefully avoided learning anything else about him so he remains a mystery)
Hijikata: 29
Itou: 29
Kondou: 30
Sanan (Actual name Yamanami): 31
Inoue: 35 (THIRTY FIVE??)
I'm feeling very old now.
Next: Okita Part 1
This entry was originally posted at https://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/673128.html. There are
comments.
On to part 2 of Heisuke's path.
I really liked it! As expected, there was less REPRESSED PASSION and more innocent affection, and it went off in it's own direction instead of focusing on the war, but it was really sweet. I also spent more time than I was expecting with my hands over my mouth in surprise or horror.
** Spoilers **
I'm reminded how often the game emphasises how young Heisuke is, but afaict he, Saito, and Okita are all around 20 at the start of the game. I might look up all the canon ages at some point but right now I want to see what happens next!
Sanan calls both Chizuru and Heisuke [surname]-kun. Gotta be a polite serial killer. It is both nice and disturbing to be by Heisuke's side while he watches Sanan with a sense of dread.
SEN!!! She's been researching vampires with her bodyguard Kimiguku, and wants to tell them what she's found.
OH MY GOD.
So a while ago
moonvoice and I were discussing how the vampire serum is supposedly based on a "Western formula" for creating vampires. I said "I feel like I'd have heard about that? Actually, only if it was English speaking West, France coulda had one and I missed it"
THE VAMPIRE SERUM IS MADE FROM FRENCH "DEMONS" WHO HATE SUNLIGHT AND DRINK BLOOD
The implication is that French people just have to deal with whole clans of vampires eating them all the time.
Sanan ponders if drinking vampire blood would also make someone into a vampire.
WAIT
WAAAAIT
IS VAMPIRISM A METAPHOR FOR BECOMING WESTERN??? VIOLENT AND BLOODTHIRSTY AND ABANDONING ALL YOUR VALUES FOR SHORT TERM STRENGTH BUT IT SUCKS YOU DRY
THIS GAME
And then they find out about the limited lifespan thing and Heisuke pretends to be ok. He has a "if it's going to happen I shouldn't drag it out and make a big deal that'll just be more upsetting" approach to bloodrinking which is endearing but again, not super sexy ...maybe if he was a little subbier. His voice does this heartbreaking little crack when he apologises which always makes me wibble.
Time for the new uniforms!
Heisuke: What's up with the western style uniforms, Hijitaka, I know you hate foreigners as much as I do. And my hair is so dorky, look at Chiruzu, she's paralysed with horror!
Me: Is it racist that I find him more attractive with short hair?
Chizuru: So....handsome...
Heisuke: Oh. Um. Ok then >.>
Hijikata: IF YOU TWO ARE DONE FLIRTING, I have your orders. After that...to be honest I'm not sure it's safe for Chizuru in Edo. Not with all these serial killings.
Heisuke: Oh yeah I heard about those!
Hijikata: Men, women, children...I saw one of the crime scenes and it was pretty fucked up.
me: OH NO
Hijikata: Specifically, they were hacked to pieces. Just like those ronin in Kyoto. Sound familiar?
Heisuke and Chizuru: OH NO
So Heisuke is told to keep an eye on Sanan.
Chiruzu joins Heisuke as he tracks two errant members of the vampire corps. He is too late to stop them horrifically murdering some civilians but engages them in battle. There's no way he can fight two at once, and all looks lost when suddenly...
KAZAMA AND AMAGURI SHOW UP
...AND SAVE HIM??
Kazama: Are you complicit with these serial killings, boy? Turns out I do have a moral line, and it's murdering civilians.
Heisuke: Of course not!
Kazama: What about your boss, Sanan?
Heisuke: ...
I guess a society with a whole class of people whose social caste is "warrior" has some strict ideas about who it's ok to kill.
Unfortunately, the disadvantage of Chiruzu and Heisuke being naturally open, honest people is they are terrible at spying on Sanan.
Harada and Shinpachi return from battle sick of Kondou's crap leadership, and ask Heisuke to join them in leaving, since he has as much reason to resent the Shinsengumi as anyone. He is VERY SAD to be losing his best friends but says no. Later he tells Chizuru it's because he has someone he doesn't want to leave and your options are "Me?" and "Sanan?" lol. Picking the correct option results in some cute mutual embarassment :)
One day they are passed in the street by That Artist Who Used To Be A Shinsengumi and his wife, they seem happy if badly drawn (I am pretty sure they were added along with Souma, and will show up in his path). Heisuke angsts for a moment that he'll never have anything like that, Chiruzu says "you have me" and he cheers up a bit but changes the subject.
They return to find Sen's bodyguard asking if Chiruzu knows where Sen is, since Chiruzu sent her that note to meet up.
Chiruzu: ...what note?
Me: FUCKING KAZAMA
Everyone else: FUCKING SANAN
And they're right, they find Sanan and Sen arguing.
Me: Oh, she looks fine! Maybe he wasn't planning on harming her after all!
But then when Sen is distracted, Sanan...
KISSES HER
And when she pulls away BLOOD IS COMING FROM HER MOUTH.
Me: ...did he bite her tongue so he could try drinking demon blood??
Sanan: BEHOLD THE POWER OF A VAMPIRE. MY BLOOD WILL MAKE HER MY SLAVE, AND SHE WILL RULE WITH ME AS DEMON VAMPIRE QUEEN OF JAPAN OVER OUR ARMY OF VAMPIRE SLAVES! NOW, MY QUEEN, SHOW ME HOW THESE TWO BLEED!!!
Me: ...oh D:
San: I will...never...submit...to you...
Sanan: Interesting, your demon blood makes you able to resist a little longer. I look forward to punishing you later! But for now, my other slaves are more obedient. Kill, my minions!!
vampire minions: KILL >:D
Heisuke: These aren't Shinsengumi...have you being hurting innocent people? Sanan how could you, I looked up to you!
Sanan: Not hurting, gifting! Anyway, it seems the princess requires a lengthy courtship before she becomes my vampire queen, and what the princess wants the princess gets. Goodbye, Heisuke, my friend, you will have to become less naive if you wish to live to see me again. *leaves with Sen's comatose body draped over his shoulders*
Kazama, offscreen: *suddenly looking like not such a bad catch*
(It was only after describing this plot to a friend that I really noticed how CRAZYPANTS RIDICULOUS it all is but I totally don't care. BRING ON THE DEMON QUEENS OF JAPAN)
Heisuke kills all the vampires because he is apparently really good at swords when the plot requires it, but then angsts about the innocent blood on his hands.
They follow Sanan's trail and end up meeting back up with the remaining Shinsengumi. Hijitika shows a document detailing the new alliance being formed up north of provinces that refuse to submit to Imperial rule...drafted by Sanan. But the Shinsengumi have their orders and can't investigate...except for Heisuke, who is officially dead. Chizuru confronts Hijitika angrily, and he admits it's probably a suicide mission, but everything is a suicide mission these days. He frees Chiruzu of her obligations to the Shinsengumi so that she can go with Heisuke, and wishes them both well.
Heisuke is convinced he will die and that Chiruzu should leave and find a happy life, but she convinces him to have hope. And sure enough on their way to confront Sanan they encounter an ally in the process investigating reports of vampires...
FUCKING KAZAMA.
When he finds out Sanan kidnapped Sen in order to marry her he calls Sanan "lecherous scum" because apparently it's gross when humans do it.
Heisuke: Wait...I sense...
Kazama: Hmm. Not completely useless, then, fake. *stabs a vampire that was approaching from the shadows*
Another vampire is about to overpower Heisuke (whose swordmanship is apparently crappy again) when he is saved by...Sen's bodyguard Kimiguku!
Kimiguku she says she got Chiruzu's letters and has been scoping out the castle Sanan is holed up in with Sen, but he has made a LOT of vampires. She suggests the four of them work together and then leaves.
Kazama begrudgingly offers the advice to wait a few days: he has sent Amaguri to create a mass panic about the upcoming full moon.
Since they can't fight, Kazama and Heisuke snipe at each other.
Kazama calls Heisuke a useless puppy. Heisuke says noone respects Kazama, they just fear him, when Amaguri does all the actual work. (Somewhere offscreen Amaguri has the strange sense of actually being appreciated, if only for a moment)
Literal quote from Chiruzu: "All I could do was watch, imagining the most fitting word for their irritating relationship...was the word frenemy?"
Kazama leaves to do his own thing. He makes vague remark about Heisuke keeping Chizuru safe for him to claim later, but his heart's not really in it.
Heisuke and Chizuru walk through abandoned streets, not knowing if everyone is in hiding or...worse. As night falls the vampires come out and they have to hide.
They talk around their feelings.
Heisuke: But what if I reach for you, and turn to ash in your hands?
Chizuru: Then I will grasp onto you even more tightly.
He lets go of the doubts that have held him back from telling her he loves her. They have a really lovely first kiss.
They arrive at the castle, and it is coated in a foul miasma that is never explained but certainly adds to the atmosphere.
Sanan appears and says some unbelievably creepy things about feeding Sen his blood every day. He tries to play on Heisuke's memories of him as a friend and mentor, sneaking closer and closer like a snake. But then Amaguri's riot breaks out and he has to go deal with it. Thanks Amaguri!
Heisuke and Chizuru meet up with Kimiguku, who shows them a secret entrance she found. Within, they find a grisly trail of dismembered vampires.
Chizuru: Who better for us to see than...
Their old buddy Kazama!
The four of them go to confront Sanan, who is sitting in a darkened hall with a comatose Sen by his side, blood dripping from her lips.
Sanan rants about how he is a True Vampire now, and more powerful than even a demon.
Kazama: You have no idea how powerful I am.
Sanan: Then you are worthy of drinking some of my blood and becoming a guardsman for Vampire Japan :)
Kazama: I beg your fucking pardon
Sanan: Oh, and I guess you can come too, Heisuke.
Heisuke and Sanan fight.
Sanan: Your sword fighting has improved! But you're still limited by human techniques.
Heisuke swings towards him and Sanan puts up his bare arm, the sword slicing through bone and sinew...which then reform around it, trapping the sword.
Sanan: NOW YOU SEE THE TRUE POWER OF THE DARK SIDE.
Heisuke, weaponless, is knocked to the ground. All looks lost.
Kazama, who has grabbed Sen: Do not underestimate the power of a true demon!
Sanan: :D
Chizuru: Why is he...KAZAMA GET AWAY FROM SEN
Kazama: Wha- *is stabbed by Sen*
Sen goes full demon and has nothing but death in her eyes. She gleefully licks Kazama's blood from her hands.
Sanan: It seems your hypothesis that demons are stronger than we "fakes" has been proven wrong by the evidence :D
Me: Oh don't start trying to charm me with science now, you creep.
Chizuru: Sen, break out of it!
Sen: ...wait, what? Where am I?
Kimiguku: Stay back, Chizuru. It is my responsibility to deal with her, one way or another.
Sanan: WHY ARE YOU NOT OBEYING ME. KILL THEM.
Sen swings for Chizuru, and Kimiguku jumps in front of the blade. She talks about what a good princess Sen is, while Sen stares at her with tears in her eyes.
Sen: This can't be failing...it must be because she drank some of Kazama's blood!
Kazama: Or maybe you're a FAKEY FAKE who is no match for a real demon :P
And then somehow Sanan gets the upper hand again, and stabs a prone Heisuke through the chest.
But then...Heisuke heals around it, trapping Sanan's sword, giving him the chance to swing upwards with his own sword and kill Sanan.
Heisuke: I guess I learned something from you after all.
Sanan has a long death scene that was probably meant to be heart-wrenching but I was too busy thinking DIE QUICKER YOU LECHEROUS SCUM
All the demons have healed up but Heisuke's looking a little worse for wear.
Chizuru: Are you ok, Heisuke?
Heisuke: With you by my side, nothing can stop me. And if I end up becoming a blood crazed monster, I'm sure Mr Sour Demon over there will take me out.
Kazama: Don't drag me into your death wish, you little insect. Just...go heal yourself at the magic spring in Chizuru's home village. Or just die, it's not as if I care either way.
Chizuru: OMG THANK YOU FOR FINDING THAT OUT FOR US.
Kazama: I didn't...I just want to make sure there aren't any fakes walking around, ok?
Heisuke: Look, I'm only going to say this once, but...*blushes* thanks.
Kazama: What was that? I didn't hear you :D
Heisuke and Chizuru go to say goodbye to the Shinsengumi. Hijikata gives them permission to leave, quietly glad that someone will survive the coming defeat. (He also has a limp that keeps him from the front lines and yet manages not to become a vampire serial killer, Sanan)They bid a bittersweet farewell to their friends.
We flash forward to a time and place far from the worries of war. Heisuke is healed, and loves to lie in the sunshine on the grass of their new rural home. Instead of hearing how things fared for their friends (spoilers: badly), there is a nostalgic memory of happier times.
And then they lived happily ever after,
THE END.
So yes, I was so busy trying to figure out how the demon rivalry would work I was sideswiped by the unexpected Kill Your Father hero's journey.
In general I was happily surprised by it going in it's own direction from the other two, despite having many broad strokes events in common.
Instead of trying to tell the story of the war from the point of view of someone who was, if anything, invested in the "bad guys" winning, they created a whole separate plot.
It never got very sexy, but it wasn't trying to be.
And instead of INTENSE MUTUAL PINING they both basically knew they were interested in each other from early on, it was more a matter of it being the wrong time to take the next step, and not being sure if the "right time" was something that was even possible. I feel like it got a bit repetitive but suspect that might just be that the emotional button being hit over and over didn't do as much for me this time.
And I mean...repressed passion and mutual pining is more my usual speed, but it was still just really nice, and certainly wasn't lacking in it's own form of bittersweet longing. Also I really loved what equals they both were, comparatively speaking. She was still The Girl, needing protection and doing more of the emotional labour and other Girly Tasks, but they mostly felt like buddies.
And now, god help me, though literally nobody wants it (Sanan got more votes): Okita.
There better be a hell of a heart of gold hidden under all that jerk.
Also, I did look up the ages, I added it to the background post but for anyone interested:
Heisuke: 20
Saito: 20
Nomura: 20
Okita: 20-22, implied to be the same age as Saito eg 20
Yamazaki: 21
Souma: 21
Harada: 24
Shinpachi: 25
Sakamoto: 28 (I carefully avoided learning anything else about him so he remains a mystery)
Hijikata: 29
Itou: 29
Kondou: 30
Sanan (Actual name Yamanami): 31
Inoue: 35 (THIRTY FIVE??)
I'm feeling very old now.
Next: Okita Part 1
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