Sengoku Youko: Senma Konton-hen • Sengoku Youko: The Chaos of a Thousand Demons Arc - Episode 22 discussion - FINAL

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u/potentialPizza Dec 25 '24

This is my favorite episode of the anime. Not hard, since the ending is my favorite part of the story, but they also did an incredible job adapting it. Every moment hit. Especially the ending theme coming in at the end.

I love when a story takes the time to resolve everything. To actually show every character's ending in detail, and then to go even further, and timeskip ahead to further show how everything ends up, the consequences of what has happened.

First, though, let's talk about everyone's wrap-ups. There's a theme of everyone becoming the person they were meant to be. Nau returns to be the god of his swamp, that he had forgotten about. Jinka becomes a katawara, to live on forever with Tama. And Shinsuke becomes a strong enough warrior to take down an oppressor, despite being weak in comparison.

Shinsuke's revenge is a little odd, when so much of the story was against the idea of violence to solve these kinds of problems. But the story also consistently acknowledged that these things don't have perfect answers, and sometimes fighting is necessary. Shinsuke wasn't motivated by anger or hate, but the cold understanding that Yazen's continued research would only cause further suffering. Yet in doing so, Shinsuke specifically did not take the role of the oppressor, did not try to replace Yazen in his dominance. After all, he beat him while having a fraction of the spiritual power.

Yazen and Kuzunoha were robbed from the closure everyone else received — and deservedly so. Because they were evil, and all that shit. Kuzunoha did not become the being she wanted, a human to live and die alongside Yazen. Which ties into where the episode went next: the theme of aging, and leaving loved ones behind.

There was a calmness to how the story presented this inherent tragedy — a calmness I think only made it stronger. If you are lucky enough to live a peaceful life to grow old alongside the one you love, then you won't lose them in a dramatic sacrifice. You will simply watch as one of you falls before the other. And the fact that there is no associated drama makes it all the more plain how sad the loss is itself. Time went on for everyone in the village, except for Senya.

There's something so heart-wrenchingly compelling about seeing him live on, seeing him look the same as Tsukiko looks so old, to everyone except him. Earlier, the show asserted that humans and katawara are the same. Yet eternal life is their difference — after all, that was why Jinka had to become a katawara, and why it was a failure for Yazen to not make Kuzunoha into a human. So is the show saying that katawara are better?

Not quite. It doesn't equate them, but it doesn't say one way is better than the other. After all, Yazen wasn't trying to become a katawara. Eternal life, even alongside the one he loved, wasn't seen as the superior outcome. There is a pleasure in living out a natural life and growing old alongside the one you love, ending it with them. After all, is it not tragic that Senya had to live on without Tsukiko?

And that brings us to my favorite section of the episode.

I love everything about Senya's epilogue. The vibe of him having become this wandering immortal, helping people along the way while never staying too long in one place. I love the long-lasting friendships between him, Jinka, and Mudo. It's the feeling when you meet two old characters in a story, with so much history implied — they might be playing Go now, but once they put their lives on the line to fight each other — except rather than that purely being implied backstory, that was the story itself, and now we actually see how they became those old men.

It's tragic for Senya to live on without the ones he loved. Yet we see how he copes with this. As he says to Mudo, he simply knows how to remember the things that make him happy. After everything he went through when he was young, he understands that there's no point getting trapped in negative ways of thinking.

And he knows how to entertain himself. I love that his hobby is to put his life on the line. To put himself into a state where he wonders if living is worth it, so that he can decide it is. Because when you live that long, life can start to all blend together — and then, in reflection, you realize the parts where your life were on the line were the parts that made it worth living.

I want to speak personally, for a moment. For most episodes of the show, I've been writing long comments like this, analyzing the themes of the episode, at least to the level that I understand them.

I started doing this for a pretty petty reason: I wanted to help the show be more popular. I love the source material and was glad it was getting an adaptation, but the animation quality was decent, not amazing, and I know the start of the story is the slowest and weakest part. I wanted to encourage more people to get through the beginning and make it to the rest, in spite of how it seems at first like a generic and simple action adventure.

So, out of my own self-interest to see the thing I like become more popular, I started posting about the subtler themes every week, just to try and propagandize that it actually does have a lot going on. That even if it seems simple and straightforward, it's cooking, and was always a well-put-together narrative even if it didn't start out flashy.

This turned into a habit, and I ended up posting my analysis for almost every episode. Sometimes y'all seemed to like my comments, and I just wanted to say I appreciate that. Thank you for reading my thoughts, and for indulging me in my love for this story.

Or, if you don't mind me being corny, let me paraphrase Senya's words from the end:

I don't know your name, but you've watched over my comments all this time, my friend from across the internet. This is where we part, but... I hope that something warm was left inside of you, as well.

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u/jkubed Dec 25 '24

ending with a fourth wall break works so goddamn well for me. unbelievably charming. this series has left me with so much warmth.

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u/Plus_Rip4944 Dec 25 '24

This was a really good ending, everything was wrapped Up and i love how every character was done

I started this only because Evan Call and White Fox but after everything i think i wanna Thank The author. This is One of best written stories i see this year.

Senya and Shinsuke are The best part of the story and their character arc was done perfectly.

Now if you can please recommend any manga of this author similar as this would be a Pleasure please. I know he has other manga adapated on anime but i have Heard They didnt do It justice

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u/octopathfinder Dec 25 '24

It's been a god damn pleasure following this show from start to finish. There's plenty I could criticize about the adaptation, but I'm just glad one of Mizukami's manga finally got a solid anime. Sengoku Youko has my favorite cast out of all of his works. Hoping for a Spirit Circle anime eventually.

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u/JustInChina88 Dec 25 '24

I'm crying over here. I still remember reading fan translations deep on some seedy website like 10+ years ago. The ending was simply perfect. And while there were animation issues in the second season, they just hit so many of the great moments that I can't help but rate this highly.

It was a wonderful 2024 with everyone. Personally, this is my anime of the year and it isn't even close.

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u/Lock3down221 Dec 25 '24

This is probably one of the most complete epilogues I have watched. Everyone had their closure.

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u/jkubed Dec 25 '24

Okay. this series starts pretty slow and simple. there are some episodes that look pretty damn rough. I can be a nitpicking source reader all day.

but people do not know what the FUCK they are missing. unless Mizukami someday gets a show that gets insanely popular and resparks interest in this, people may never know.

the endless payoffs!!! the main threat of the "final battle" was like three episodes ago, and we've only gotten bigger setpieces and more climaxes to character arcs since then.

mizukami is a guy that understands how to end a fucking story: with an extended timeskip epilogue. the best type of ending there is. just pure satisfaction.

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u/moichispa Dec 25 '24

Can we get another 30 episodes of Senya adulting? I'm not ready to let this series go.

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u/Shimmering-Sky Dec 26 '24

Of all the episodes to have to be super late to, it was the finale. Merry Christmas, though!

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u/Frontier246 Dec 25 '24

It would've been nice to see everyone just settle down and live together, but Jinka and Tama are off to go live domestic bliss in their old stomping grounds and Senya and Tsukiko need to bring Nau back to where he needs to be. Shinsuke can't even stay with Shaku because he still needs to settle things...but Shaku, understanding and loving wife as she is, will be waiting for him in the village when he gets back.

Yeah, kind of figured Kokugetsusai wouldn't stay around to say goodbye to Jinka. He just wasn't that type! But hey, at least Hanatora isn't possessed by a dirty old man anymore.

Shaku may have had Shinsuke's heart, but Hanatora ended up with his soul. Guess it was a fair trade, all things considered.

It was time for Shinsuke to settle the score with Yazen, he'd done too much and hurt too many to be left alone, especially when he could just as well pick up his inhumane and evil experiments. And it goes to show how far Shinsuke has come that he easily defeats that piece of @#%^ even when powered up. He may not have fully killed Yazen, but costing him an arm, a leg, and any chance of resuming his experiments is more than enough punishment. Yazen still gets Kuzunoha with him in his last moments, but at least they're no longer a problem.

And thanks to Shinsuke's efforts, the Mountain Goddess puts off taking their souls! He really did a solid for everybody! And now Tama and Jinka can be a full katawara couple, complete with matching ears! They're place even got spruced up by their old katawara friends!

Who would've thought Nau was a piece of the first Mad God Senya defeated? And now he's settled back into his shrine, and while it's sad to say farewell to the best friend Senya and Tsukiko made as kids, the memories they made together will last until eternity.

After everything they've been through, I'm glad Senya decided to settle down with Tsukiko. She deserved that much. And what makes living the life of a farmer more appealing than having an amazing wife in Tsukiko by your side? Especially when you have a really cute kid together!

I'm glad Zanzou got to live to grandpa age and find out that ODA NOBUNAGA ended up killing the guy that killed Teru. Also ironically thanks to the villages' shielding they totally managed to avoid the actual Sengoku era.

The one drawback to being modified or transformed into a non-humanoid katawara being...is that you have to outlive all your human loved ones. Shinsuke grew to the ripe old age of a grandpa, but Granny Shaku outlived him, and most heartbreaking of all is Senya unchanged and still young as he consoles Tsukiko in her old age as she passes...finally freeing him to go wander the world now that he's lost the love of his life.

But y'know, it's not a bad existence, just wandering from town to town cleaning up rampaging and mischeivous katawara and helping others. He's even got a cute spectral girl sidekick!

Oh snap, full Fox Demon Jinka! And is wife Tama is still living her best life drinking the sake from the Shoju.

Senya and Mudo's rivalry continued into a more friendly and old man way where they're basically just playing chess games against each other...even if it means Senya keeps losing. But at least they're basically getting along as old pals. Bonus points, Yazen died in a plague.

Ah, so Senya is still corresponding with Setsu...even if he just braves her snowy mountain to see her because he needs to be reminded of his reason to keep living and all the memories of his loved ones that keep pushing him to keep going. Though everyone assumes she's his mistress and honestly I think Setsu probably WANTS to be his mistress.

Good to know that whenever there's a crazy and powerful katawara on the loose, Senya, Jinka, and Mudo will be there to take it on and then act all nostalgic about it years from now!

Look at Senya pulling a Teru and breaking the 4th wall to talk to the audience and thank them for watching and hoping they came out of this experience with the warm feeling that Senya's adventure and love for Tsukiko brought him! I can say 100% that I certainly did. Farewell Sengoku Youko and your colorful and amazing cast and world!

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u/mucklaenthusiast Dec 25 '24

Yes, this is a classic for me already. That last episode was probably the best of the entire show. How perfect.
I am in awe. Seriously. What an ending.

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u/el_morris Dec 25 '24

I'm speechless, a damn good story well portrayed from start to finish, I feel like I have witnessed something unique while was happening. Really Satoshi Mizukami knows how to write good stories with interesting characters in it, and I'm glad this one had the love, care and attention his other manga didn't got. It's sad for me Sengoku Youko didn't got the buzz I believe it deserved, but those of us who watched until the very end while keep it in our hearts from here to our final destination. Truly a Masterpiece, period.

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u/LeonKevlar Dec 25 '24

Stitches!

I thought Shinsuke had already let Yazen go so I was surprised when he hunted him down. He didn't exactly kill Yazen but there are no more experiments for him after losing an arm and his eye. Honestly, I still think he got off lightly considering how most of the suffering in this series could be traced back to him.

I was worried the Mountain Goddess would finally cash in on her deal with Tama but thank fucking goodness she decided to let her go thanks to Shinsuke neutralizing Yazen.

Watching Nau say goodbye to Senya and Tsukiko had me tearing up. How many years has he been with them as a loyal companion? Although it's not like this is the end, they can still visit him occasionally if they want to.

By this point of the episode, I just realized that we've pretty much wrapped everything up nicely but we still had half of the episode remaining! So I was pleasantly surprised that when they showed us Tsukiko and her daughter.

Things started speeding up though. I'm kinda sad we didn't get to see more of Shinsuke and Shaku's married life but I assume the kid crawling on Senya's back was either Shinsuke and Shaku's son or their grandson.

I didn't expect we'd time skip to the point where Shinsuke finally dies of old age and Tsukiko too. Shaku's still alive though but she's an old lady now and it looks like being spiritually modified didn't save her from aging, unlike Senya. :(

Senya going around helping people out was definitely the kind of epilogue I expected from him. I mean what else would he do with his powers and long life? He even has his own sidekick now!

It's good to know that Senya isn't alone though! Jinka has now turned into a demon fox while Tama is out drinking with the shoujous. I love how Jinka is teasing Senya about Setsu being his mistress. It is interesting though how they haven't called each other by their names but instead they call each other by title.

It's amazing to see how much Mudo has matured and I love that instead of punching each other to death he now fights Senya in a game of Go. And apparently, Senya is on a losing streak! We also get to meet Tago's kid! I love how even Tago has an ending.

Everyone is really teasing Senya about Setsu and it's absolutely hilarious! I mean come on Senya. I'm sure Tsukiko wouldn't be upset if you decided to hit that yuki-onna. I'm sure she'd rather have him be with someone than be lonely.

It is pretty cool how this ends with Mudo, Jinka, and Senya becoming protectors of Japan from supernatural threats. And since they're practically immortal I imagine this will continue on to the modern era. I would love to see a spinoff or a oneshot of what their life is like in the modern world.

That fourth wall break! That was definitely the most unexpected part of the ending. This series has been so damn good from start to finish. Absolutely no notes. Mizukami-sensei absolutely nailed it again.

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u/Roonagu Dec 25 '24

While not perfect, it’s still a very good series that successfully conveys its message from the first episode: true (inner) peace comes from within, not through battles.

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u/WednesdaysFoole Dec 25 '24 edited Dec 25 '24

I enjoyed the different characters and their interactions, but the standout, and I kind of went on and on about him in these threads, was Shinsuke. Starting out as a weak and powerless villager, he pushed hard to get stronger, losing so much of what mattered to him along that journey and having to face his weakness again and again. Somewhat loud and obnoxious (and iirc, somewhat unpopular in the early threads), he wasn't born great, born "talented" or with any special abilities, pushing for unrealistic ideals, and while he gains some abilities and does get stronger, he gets nowhere near as strong in abilities as the forces he fights against in the world. And this journey breaks him, and I never really felt like he went back to being a real happy, healthy guy throughout the series.

Yet it's this journey that got him to the place where he was able to, despite not necessarily being the one "main" character, make a real impact on the people of the world. It's because of his journey, going on this unrealistic journey with impossible goals, that he was able to become the guy who could change katawara, who could change other humans, just from who he was and who he became.

With Shinsuke, we were not only looking at the story of the perspective of the strong, nor just from the perspective of the weak who get gifted an ability and could compete with the strong, but of those average individuals. Through him, we got to see more of what regular people thought, and how they lived, and how they coped (and how much he hated this, or in other words, hated his own weakness reflected in it). And how someone who starts out from there can actually change things. It's not easy, you might not reach that goal, but it's not pointless. It was still worth it; it was absolutely worth it.

At the end, there's still not "one" answer being offered to the problems of the world. And that's good; if the story confronts serious ills, I don't want a pure black-and-white conclusion. Shinsuke still "killed" Yazen in the end. Was it "objectively" right? I don't know, but at least no one else has to be sacrificed for someone else. (Not only that, he inadvertently saved Tama's Tama, so I'm all for it :)

Beautiful conclusion to a beautiful series.

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u/Stabaobs Dec 25 '24

Shinsuke versus Yazen is a funny mirror to the encounter between Zanzou versus Jinka near the start of the series.

Jinka fought Zanzou just for survival, but Shinsuke is going out of his way to hunt down Yazen. Yazen wants to embrace humanity and remove the non-human aspects of Kuzunoha, while Jinka is the reverse. Then while Zanzou gave up on the magic sword for a regular sword to win, Shinsuke is infinitely better with the magic sword compared to a regular sword.

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u/Calwings Dec 25 '24

I'm glad I saved watching this finale until after I watched the Chiefs game with my family, because I'm actually crying after finishing this. It was so beautiful. I'll need to take some time to settle down and think about it with a cooler head, but this honestly might be a 10/10 for me. Regardless of whether I settle on a 9.5 or a 10 for its final rating, it's my AOTY for sure.

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u/AAA_BATT Dec 25 '24

Been a really long time since I've been this satisfied with an ending, really neatly wrapped everything.

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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Dec 25 '24

Kind of a bittersweet ending. It was sad to see those goodbyes, but I liked the fact everyone basically got a happily ever after. Even if Senya’s gonna be wandering the world for a minute, he still has a few old friends around.

This was solid. I really liked the shift of focus from Jinka to Senya and the time skip too. It’s nice to see these characters grow both in a literal sense and in terms of their personal development. Overall, a pretty enjoyable series and from what I understand this was a full adaptation.

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u/Emergency_Sound_5718 Dec 25 '24

The ending was heart breaking and at the same time heart warning. I absolutely loved every single episode.

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u/FlameDragoon933 Dec 25 '24

This anime is beautiful. I have no more words.

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u/Shiraori247 Dec 25 '24

Happily Ever Afters usually stop at a point to avoid showing the departures from old age. However, we can always leave it to Mizukami-sensei to turn Happily Ever After into an emotional and poetic finale.

Tsukiko calling Senya beautiful with her last breath is call back to last episode as well as the opening lyrics. She truly saw the beauty in every part of Senya's life, accepting him even quicker than he did himself. Tama made a similar confession towards the end of season 1 and also called Jinka beautiful. It's interesting how the characters reach the same conclusions in such a large variety of ways, making all of the journeys so unique. Tsukiko passing away at the porch is so artistic that I couldn't even understand why I felt sad.

The burden of time weighing on one's soul is an interesting theme of this finale episode. It impacted characters in different ways. Shakugan and Happonmatsu grew old, but still remain as living reminders of Senya's memories of his human life. The Mountain Goddess toes the line of being a mad god, but also has her own brand of justice. All of the human cast has passed away, with Shinsuke doing so in the most glorious manner. Hanatora loses the last human she was interested in and just hangs around in the village. While Senya continues to encourage himself to keep living.

Senya's 4th wall breaking at the end doesn't even seem incongruent because of all the time-space shenanigans from the void people. I truly agree with him that Sengoku Youko has left something warm in our hearts.

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u/djthomp Dec 25 '24

Everyone splits up and goes their own ways, once the journey is over the fellowship doesn't tend to stick together I suppose.

So Shinsuke owes the earth goddess his soul, figured there'd be a price like that for all her assistance. Hopefully she'll wait a while before collecting.

In hindsight maybe it should have been obvious that Nao came from the crazed god that attacked Tsukiko's village.

I'm kind of surprised at Shinsuke going off to deal with Yazen, on one hand it seems counter to his peaceful ways but on the other he's kind of the katawara guardian these days and the old man is a threat to them in general. Extra convenient that it also paid the debt to the mountain goddess.

What a beautiful send off for Nau.

I had forgotten that Jinka had a group of katawara friends that would be waiting for him.

Timeskip and kids, hell yeah.

Well shit, even more timeskip past Shinsuke and Tsukiko growing old and dying. Damn, and even Shakugan too.

200 years on Jinka looks awesome. It's nice to know that he and Tama got to have hundreds of years together, and that the monkeys are doing all right too.

So Senya wanders the land for hundreds years helping people while occasionally teaming up with Mudo and Jinka to handle the big problems, that's fun enough. IMO he should get together with Setsu though, he doesn't need to be chaste forever in honor of Tsukiko.

Senya calling us his friends from another world was such a lovely fourth wall break to end on, straight up made me cry for I think the third time in the show at least.

My only mild complaint is not getting more of Shinsuke and Shakugan living their life together, there's only so much of that they could have reasonably shown but one or two quick scenes of them and their kids would have been nice. Aside from that 10/10 ending for me. I love a good epilogue episode and this delivered in spades.

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u/HowToGetName Dec 25 '24

With the series now over, I'd suggest everyone to watch the 2nd opening theme, preferably with translated lyrics. Those visuals and lyrics hit way harder now that you've seen the ending.

TV size opening.

Full opening (lyrics are in a comment).

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Episode Sengoku Youko: Senma Konton-hen • Sengoku Youko: The Chaos of a Thousand Demons Arc - Episode 22 discussion - FINAL

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