Plam talks... Sword Boys...
Mhm... So, clearly I am all about Touken Ranbu these days. I can't get enough of the Sword Boys. If I am not hunting for figures, I am playing the game, if I am not playing I am looking at pictures, reading blogs or the wiki. If I am not doing all that I am probably playing on my tablet at work. If not I am probably writing stuff about said boys and clearly this is exactly what I am doing at the moment.
After writing about Kogi yesterday, I spent all of the night thinking who should be the next boy I want to write about... Then I started thinking who is next in the line of the biggest favorites and I couldn't decide between three swords in particular. So instead of really choosing who is my most favorite from them I closed my eyes and choose one from them absolutely randomly.
So, crane boy, your turn... (And don't worry, the other two will follow shortly)...
Plam talks... Sword Boys...
I have a thing for shiro-kamis (white-haired boys), true, but apart from that at the beginning for me Tsurumaru was nothing more than just one of the boys I basically knew nothing about except that he is probably popular enough to get a figure. But yeah, I knew nothing and when I started playing Touken Ranbu I was too busy getting used to the game to actually care to learn more about him. Then I got Kogi and Jiji and they took all of my attention. And for some reason whenever I looked around the community people were just busy talking about other swords and stuff. So basically for a really long time Tsurumaru was just this unknown sword I didn't care about, just one of the others I knew existed and nothing more.
Then getting to know the game, naturally I got curious about sword types and special swords and stuff. Plus I wanted to try smithing a sword for real. (Yeah, I did try to smith Kogi and Jiji, but not really since I got them almost right away as gifts and I was busy playing with them so smithing was not really a thing for me at the beginning.) Going though the lists with different characters on the Wikia, I tried to decide which sword would be nice to have, entirely based on looks and there he was - Tsurumaru, with his white hair and golden eyes. And that is the first time I actually really took notice of him existing. Plus he is one of the special swords, so yeah. Perfect for my first real smithing attempt. And it actually took only four tries with the 900/900/900/900 recipe and there he was. (To be honest I expected it will be a little more difficult to get him... May be I was just lucky, who knows...)
The result - I think he is quite a catch, for a first "special" sword. (Good choice, me. Good choice!)
As a real sword through the history he has been in the possession of quite a lot of famous and well known people and families. Now he is part of the Japanese Imperial Collection, which I think makes him one of the national treasures of Japan in general. Supposedly his beauty is so enchanting that it even led to him being stolen a few times. (Including the robbing of the grave of his first owner.) I think he is the third or second oldest sword in the game so far (after Jiji, who is the oldest). And may be, because he is quite famous he is also one of the swords with longest history.
As a sword boy in the game he is quite the unique character. First of all he is dressed entirely in white, which is unusual in comparison to the other swords and quite unusual for a battle outfit in general as well. This comes from the fact that he is highly associated with the crane birds (there is a crane symbol on his sheath which is also painted in white). Tsurumaru is often describing himself as a crane and even jokes that when he is covered in blood on the battle field he looks like one. Another part that makes him truly unique and interesting is that despite his bloody and dark history he has a cheerful and playful personality. He is even known as something of a trickster around the community. He is constantly looking for a ways to surprise you or the other swords. Even during a fight one of his mostly used lines is "Hey, I am behind you!" which comes from the fact that he is trying to surprise his opponents as well. He hates boredom and if you leave him alone in the citadel he will constantly remind you how bored he is.
And I fell in love with him before I even knew it. His uniqueness. His cheerfulness. His smile. I like having him around, because he just makes things interesting. Recently I had a day when I so, so tired I just wanted to stay in one place and do nothing. The game was running on my laptop, but I had just left it like this and Tsurumaru was in the citadel. He complained and complained. And I started clicking on him, just to see how many times he will say "Waa! ...Ahahahahah! Are you surprised? Ah, no no, my bad, my bad." He didn't say it right away, tho. So I continued to click on him and when he finally did say it, I was surprised and it made me laugh. So, yeah. I like having Tsurumaru around even if it is just because he makes me smile.
I still don't know what is the general opinion about him around the community. And to be honest I don't really care. Tsurumaru will always have a special place with me because he is one of the first mystery factors I encountered playing Touken Ranbu and that I fell in love with. Needless to say I will be getting his figure as well. Still don't know if I will pre-order it or wait for the release, but I will get it. Definitely. I don't know why, but I have slight concerns about his role in the upcoming anime adaptations. He is so unique that I am worried they might change his personality for some reason. Yes, he is funny, yes, he is joking a lot. And he is indeed quite the trickster, but there is also so much more to him. And just the though that they might decide to turn him into "your-general-comic-relieve-character" is terrifying me. Guess we will have to wait and see, but, please anime staff - DON'T DO THAT!
After writing about Kogi yesterday, I spent all of the night thinking who should be the next boy I want to write about... Then I started thinking who is next in the line of the biggest favorites and I couldn't decide between three swords in particular. So instead of really choosing who is my most favorite from them I closed my eyes and choose one from them absolutely randomly.
So, crane boy, your turn... (And don't worry, the other two will follow shortly)...
Plam talks... Sword Boys...
I have a thing for shiro-kamis (white-haired boys), true, but apart from that at the beginning for me Tsurumaru was nothing more than just one of the boys I basically knew nothing about except that he is probably popular enough to get a figure. But yeah, I knew nothing and when I started playing Touken Ranbu I was too busy getting used to the game to actually care to learn more about him. Then I got Kogi and Jiji and they took all of my attention. And for some reason whenever I looked around the community people were just busy talking about other swords and stuff. So basically for a really long time Tsurumaru was just this unknown sword I didn't care about, just one of the others I knew existed and nothing more.
Then getting to know the game, naturally I got curious about sword types and special swords and stuff. Plus I wanted to try smithing a sword for real. (Yeah, I did try to smith Kogi and Jiji, but not really since I got them almost right away as gifts and I was busy playing with them so smithing was not really a thing for me at the beginning.) Going though the lists with different characters on the Wikia, I tried to decide which sword would be nice to have, entirely based on looks and there he was - Tsurumaru, with his white hair and golden eyes. And that is the first time I actually really took notice of him existing. Plus he is one of the special swords, so yeah. Perfect for my first real smithing attempt. And it actually took only four tries with the 900/900/900/900 recipe and there he was. (To be honest I expected it will be a little more difficult to get him... May be I was just lucky, who knows...)
The result - I think he is quite a catch, for a first "special" sword. (Good choice, me. Good choice!)
As a real sword through the history he has been in the possession of quite a lot of famous and well known people and families. Now he is part of the Japanese Imperial Collection, which I think makes him one of the national treasures of Japan in general. Supposedly his beauty is so enchanting that it even led to him being stolen a few times. (Including the robbing of the grave of his first owner.) I think he is the third or second oldest sword in the game so far (after Jiji, who is the oldest). And may be, because he is quite famous he is also one of the swords with longest history.
As a sword boy in the game he is quite the unique character. First of all he is dressed entirely in white, which is unusual in comparison to the other swords and quite unusual for a battle outfit in general as well. This comes from the fact that he is highly associated with the crane birds (there is a crane symbol on his sheath which is also painted in white). Tsurumaru is often describing himself as a crane and even jokes that when he is covered in blood on the battle field he looks like one. Another part that makes him truly unique and interesting is that despite his bloody and dark history he has a cheerful and playful personality. He is even known as something of a trickster around the community. He is constantly looking for a ways to surprise you or the other swords. Even during a fight one of his mostly used lines is "Hey, I am behind you!" which comes from the fact that he is trying to surprise his opponents as well. He hates boredom and if you leave him alone in the citadel he will constantly remind you how bored he is.
And I fell in love with him before I even knew it. His uniqueness. His cheerfulness. His smile. I like having him around, because he just makes things interesting. Recently I had a day when I so, so tired I just wanted to stay in one place and do nothing. The game was running on my laptop, but I had just left it like this and Tsurumaru was in the citadel. He complained and complained. And I started clicking on him, just to see how many times he will say "Waa! ...Ahahahahah! Are you surprised? Ah, no no, my bad, my bad." He didn't say it right away, tho. So I continued to click on him and when he finally did say it, I was surprised and it made me laugh. So, yeah. I like having Tsurumaru around even if it is just because he makes me smile.
I still don't know what is the general opinion about him around the community. And to be honest I don't really care. Tsurumaru will always have a special place with me because he is one of the first mystery factors I encountered playing Touken Ranbu and that I fell in love with. Needless to say I will be getting his figure as well. Still don't know if I will pre-order it or wait for the release, but I will get it. Definitely. I don't know why, but I have slight concerns about his role in the upcoming anime adaptations. He is so unique that I am worried they might change his personality for some reason. Yes, he is funny, yes, he is joking a lot. And he is indeed quite the trickster, but there is also so much more to him. And just the though that they might decide to turn him into "your-general-comic-relieve-character" is terrifying me. Guess we will have to wait and see, but, please anime staff - DON'T DO THAT!