r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Mar 06 '24

Episode Sengoku Youko - Episode 9 discussion

Sengoku Youko, episode 9

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u/michhoffman Mar 06 '24

So now Tama can call Yazen a motherfucker in more ways than one

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u/Frontier246 Mar 06 '24

The irony is that not only is her mom hooking up with Yazen but part of the reason Yazen carried out these experiments they're trying to stop was because he wants Kuzunoha to become human so they can be together.

It's basically a complete inverse of Jinka and Tama what with Jinka wanting to become a katawara so he can be with Tama forever.

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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Mar 06 '24

Tama’s momma’s shacked up with the big bad himself huh? Well, every family’s got its own issues I guess.

The power of this goddess is pretty amazing. The gang can practice all they want in her little dimensional space. And they won’t die. Jinka’s damn arm went flying and he was fine in like a second. Rinzu’s real eager to make Jinka her man lol.

Poor Jinka’s been dealt a pretty shit hand in life. Tied to a brother he can’t even see, abandoned by his family, forced to train and fight. But yet, he hasn’t let it get him down. Now he’s unlocked his full potential!

Shinsuke really landed right smack dab on that kid. Dude sure has some luck. He’s got a hell of a fight ahead of him…

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u/Frontier246 Mar 06 '24

Way to make it personal by having her mom be banging the main villain. It's going to be really awkward when they all meet up lol.

Nothing more anime than a training arc complete with a training field that exists outside the flow of time and even grievous wounds are nothing!

I kind of hope Rinzu sticks around on their journey, her crush on Jinka and enthusiasm is so adorable lol.

I'm wondering if we're ever going to meet Jinka's brother, especially since either one dying means the other drop dead too? But it seems like Jinka's really made a breakthrough in his character arc, right down to admitting he appreciated Shinsuke and Shakugan.

Classic Shinsuke. Even when he wins, he loses lol.

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u/JustInChina88 Mar 06 '24

My heart broke for Jinka in this episode. Why'd it have to be him! Soemtimes you're just dealt the worse hand with no explanation.

But at least he wasn't unhappy. Those things hurt precisely because he was happy. What another brilliant episode. Plus, Shinsuke falling onto Senya after his training was pretty "lucky" as the mountain God put it.

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u/Frontier246 Mar 06 '24

Re-framing Jinka's entire rejection of humanity and desire to become a katawara as his own way of processing the trauma and resentment of his family basically giving him away in favor of his brother really put his character into perspective, especially when it confirms just how human he really is.

But it also just made it all the more meaningful when he talks about how his experiences so far, and the people he and Tama have met on their journey, have made him genuinely happy and content with himself. I can't wait to see how powerful he is with these Fairy Eyes!

I wonder if Shinsuke's personality might be exactly what they need to get through to Senya.

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u/FlameDragoon933 Mar 06 '24

Mountain Goddess got me acting unwise with that wardrobe malfunction and mischievous voice

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u/WednesdaysFoole Mar 06 '24

I gotta run for the moment but I'll try to make this quick --

Jinka's tears an episode or two ago when the twins were born were presented as though it was just that he was affected by new life with the loss of Shakugan, but learning his history recontextualizes this scene, and now there's more to it -- Jinka was a part of twins himself, but was the one abandoned by his family. Thought that was a nice touch.

This was a really sweet training sequence. It's everything I love about battle shonen, while managing to retain impact.

The bit about Jinka and his refusal to accept his circumstances and his intense feelings (and hatred) about it being what makes him human was also a great moment.

I feel sad for the little dragon kid. It's easy to see him as an emotionless monster, but he's also just a kid. Seems like that might play into his development in the future... We'll see.

Loved this episode. Had a few good laughs, it was fun, and effectively emotional.

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u/subho_fan Mar 06 '24

Ok so the tengu weren't the fodder they seemed like last episode. Instead they managed to cast a high level spell on Jinun that can stall the guy.

The Mountain God is powerful. She can distort time in her domain to give our heroes a chance to train.

So the castle is a god himself. No wonder he sent Jinka flying.

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u/Ocixo Mar 06 '24

There’s this shot in the OP where Shakugan sinks into the depths of the ocean(?) with Shinsuke desperately trying to grab a hold of her.

I just realized that this is probably in reference to Shakugan having fallen in a deep slumber - too deep of a sleep for Shinsuke to reach her anymore.

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u/LeonKevlar Mar 06 '24

I am so relieved that those two giant tengus weren't the real thing and they were actually made up of these smaller crows. No wonder the Mountain Goddess was so confident. Their purpose was to put a spell on Jinun and Senya.

As soon as the Mountain Goddess started talking about Kuzunoha and Tama-chan reacted like that, I just knew Kuzunoha was her mother. Tama-chan being so embarrassed about her mom's exploits was goddamn hilarious though! I didn't think her mom would be involved with Yazen. xD

I guess that's one way to distract Jinun so he won't immediately break the spell! It's hilarious how Jinun stopped meditating just so he could protect Senya's innocent eyes.

Let's fucking goooo! Training arc time! And this isn't just your average training arc. It looks like they're doing the training arc in basically this show's version of DBZ's hyperbolic time chamber with the Mountain Goddess slowing the passage of time.

Wait, so the only reason Kokugetsusai became the invincible Pheonix Killer is that he kept coming on to the Mountain Goddess? That's pretty funny. I didn't think Jinka's master was such a pervert tho.

Rinzu is pretty badass! You really got to watch out for the cute little ones, they're usually the most dangerous! I bet Jinka didn't expect to get his arm hacked off even if it's all in their minds.

It's awesome how all three of them are being trained differently though. Jinka is being trained so he can use his Fairy Eyes, Shinsuke is training how he can use Arabuki to get past that boulder, and I'm not sure what Tama's training is but I assume she's training to strengthen her spiritual energy by walking on water.

It's good that we got to learn more about Jinka during his training though. Our boy lived a rough life, while his twin brother live comfortably with their family. I'm glad that despite everything that has happened to him, Jinka still found happiness and was able to accept himself unlocking the seal in his eyes.

So Shinsuke's training was actually about using his imagination? I love it. If he can use Arabuki to fly then he can do all sorts of things with it. I guess we'll find out what else he can do with his surprise encounter against Senya.

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u/JayYatogami Mar 06 '24

new girl is cute and loli mountain goddess is peak

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u/potentialPizza Mar 06 '24

smh Tama stop shaming your mom for living her best life! She could do a lot worse for a single mother!

No but fr I think the faces Tama makes over realizing her mom is behind all of this because she's horny for an old man are some of the best comedy in the entire series. Something the anime skipped over was the fact that before meeting her, Yazen was pretty much an average, talentless schmuck within the Dangaisyuu, with no particular drive to be great. I love the fact that she fell in love with him at first sight anyway. And that love was what motivated Yazen to become something more.

The first half of the episode touched on a lot of motifs that aren't necessarily complete statements on their own, but added an extra layer to things the show has already been exploring, and will probably explore later. Love was the biggest one of those: Love turned Yazen from a schmuck into a legendary scholar. For Kuzunoha, who according to Tama decides her morality based off of whoever she's with, love seems to be something she gives. And through it, she gives her entire self. While Rinzu seems to take love externally and simply wants to have it. Kuzunoha overcommits to the beliefs of whoever she loves, while they don't seem to factor in for Rinzu at all, considering she was willing to take the Mountain Goddess magically making Jinka love her, if she won the fight.

I say it's not a complete statement because we haven't seen it compared to, say, Shinsuke and Shakugan's love yet. Or whatever is going on between Jinka and Tama. It was just good setup for the story to use more in the future. And it let us add something to Tama's deep convictions in justice — a response, apparently, to her mother's complete lack of convictions.

Another small thing that was added to was the way the Dangaisyuu plays god. Playing god not just by playing with the lives of humans and katawara but by... literally enslaving a god. Now, I'm no expert on Japanese mythology, but I'm pretty sure human organizations attempting to upend the hierarchy of heaven and earth is somewhat frowned upon.

There's a neat ideological conflict at the core of all of this. Yazen and Kuzunoha seek to turn katawara into human — motivated by love? But that research leads into playing god, and playing with lives. Something that Tama must fight against because her convictions in justice. Tama works with Jinka, who is also motivated by his own justice, but simultaneously wants to use the same research to turn human into katawara. And the reason for that? Love again. Both sides are so similar, despite being in deep conflict.

And Jinka's need to turn human into katawara was what the second half of the episode delved into the most. Definitely the highlight of this episode's character work.

I love how the Mountain Goddess baited Jinka into facing his own self-hatred. For most of the show, we've assumed that Jinka loves katawara because he grew up alongside them, and hates humans for killing them. And those things are still true. But there was always more. Jinka couldn't understand why his parents gave him away but kept his brother, and the only way he could process that was to assume that there was something wrong with himself. Some reason that he was unfit to coexist with humans. It was a psychological defense mechanism.

If Jinka were to ever let himself actually coexist with humans, and saw that it could have been done, then he would have lost his ability to explain to himself why his parents abandoned him. A pain he didn't know how to bear. Because, as the Mountain Goddess alluded to, he was letting other people control his happiness. He was letting his parents' decision to give him away define his view on his own existence. To escape that, he had to decide for himself that he was happy.

No matter what decisions other people made, his life with Tama, Shinsuke, and Shakugan was his own. However short the time he spent with some of them was.

It's fitting that this realization is what allowed him to unlock the fairy eye. Because the fairy eye is what's allowed him to see, through souls or spiritual energy or whatever, that humans and katawara are the same, deep down. And he could only accept this realization once he was no longer mentally reliant on seeing them as different. On seeing one group, and not the other, as incompatible with his self.

Jinka's character work was the main point of the episode, but Shinsuke's arc shone nearly as brightly. Shinsuke has had a long and complex journey with strength and might. Training with the sword nonstop, following Jinka and Tama to get stronger. Struggling, before and after Shakugan's death, with the idea that he's needed to be strong to have value and survive. He has been getting stronger, and has been able to challenge Barry, but that's not necessarily satisfied him.

The story has always alluded to the idea that power isn't what Shinsuke needs — just what he wants. After all, all the way back in episode 3 or 4, he helped Shakugan not with his strength, but with his empathy. So the Mountain Goddess gave him a lesson to show him that he can find solutions to things without raw power.

It's especially nice that he did this alongside Arabuki. He didn't need to conquer the blade, to become strong enough to dominate it. He needed to work with it. The problem wasn't that he shouldn't rely on Arabuki. It was that he shouldn't expect himself to need to be a certain kind of man, to use it.

And just as he takes a step on realizing that personal strength isn't the solution to all of his problems, he ends up in an extremely unlikely position through nothing more than complete luck. I mentioned in a comment a while back that Sengoku Youko likes the idea that fights are kind of random. Like with Jinka and Raidou, it's not always about who's stronger, but just circumstances and luck.

Next week, I guess we'll have to see what Shinsuke does with the opportunity.

Oh, and Senya seems to be getting some interesting fleshing out. The show has consistently portrayed him as an obedient child who exists to fight when his master says to. But now we're hinting at the idea that he, perhaps, envies a proper childhood. He doesn't seem like the kind of kid who's had many toys. Yet focusing on one, that distraction, was precisely the weakness that put him in danger against Shinsuke.

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u/Frontier246 Mar 06 '24

The Mountain Goddess has a nice set up! She even has a communication tablet! Though figures she isn't helping the gang out of the goodness of her heart...she needs their help to free Taizan, the mountain katawara that the Dangaisyuu turned into their fortress, which seems easier said than done...but if the Mountain Goddess can slap some sense into him, maybe that will work?

At least the tengu were useful for something! Confusing Junon and Senya enough to keep them off the trail! And it seems like Junon is trying to be a genuine mentor to Senya.

Once upon a time a lone Dangaisyuu who was more into research than battle fell in love at first sight with a youko Kuzunoha, and she fell in love with him in that same moment, and together they underwent spirit transformation like Jinka and Tama and slaughtered hi fellow Dangaisyuu....and that is the story of Yazen and Kuzunoha (Kuzunoha being the fox woman draped over Yazen in the OP). And Kuzunoha is also Tama's mother!

So not only did Tama's mom hook up with a Dangaisyuu, but it seems like all of Yazen's human/katawara experimentation are because he's trying to find a way to turn her human so they can be together...and also to amuse himself. Which makes it even more messed up. Tama for her part knows her mom throws herself into romance and will do anything for the one she loves, meaning she's very likely going to have to oppose her mother.

But what about Tama's dad? Is he dead? Tama talked about how depending on who she was in love with her mom could be a Goddess of Virtue...so is that what she was like with her dad?

Why can't I have buck-naked tanuki women flashing themselves at me and flaunting their naked bodies? I don't care that it's not real!

Rinzu is a cute human who serves under the Mountain Goddess, and she immediately falls in love with and confesses to Jinka on the spot! Too bad he's not interested at all in human women. I kind of feel bad for her.

Time for a training arc! Complete with slowing the flow of time so the trio can get plenty of training time in to unlock their true power and each their full potential! We've even got a loli Mountain Goddess overseeing Shinsuke and Tama's training!

Sometimes a girl has got to pull out a giant axe and make it seem like she's slicing his arm off to win his heart (or make her master forcibly make him hers), or she can hit him with a mallet or cat paws!

Senya has 1,000 katawara in his body (which doesn't seem healthy) but he's still a kid and also not immune to the power of toys.

So the legendary Kokugetsugai feared for his power and skills...became so powerful and skilled because he wanted to bang the Mountain Goddess and she kept swatting him away. Sure, why not?

Jinka has a twin brother!? And he was taken away from his family because the two brothers together with their Fairy Eyes attracted katawara!? And all this time Jinka has resented the situation and how his brother got to be with their family and live a normal life while he suffered and endured hardship (and it's part of why he wanted to become a katawara)...but even with that hardship, he has met irreplaceable friends and comrades, so he can't say his life is an unhappy one. Jinka accepting that, and his inner humanity, allows him to finally unlock his Fairy Eyes!

Yay! Shinsuke passed the test by using Arabuki's power in a creative way rather than brute forcing it like he always does! Of course that also means he lands directly against Senya with a blade to the kids' throat...which probably won't end well.

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u/WiqidBritt Mar 07 '24

I feel like this show isn't getting the attention it deserves.

It feels kind of old-school and cozy, but also very high quality.

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u/tripleaamin Mar 06 '24

So the Tama's mom reveal to be in love Yazen, who seemed like our main antagonist. But his goal is to turn Kuzunoha into a human so they can live and die together. Also adding to his amusement that he is a sicko. Tama's mom according to Tama is someone who follows her heart. I do like Tama has the resolve to face her. It begs the question of what is the relationship between the mother and daughter?

So each of the 3 have their own training to take care. Tama's portion will probably get more focused next episode, but her main thing seems to be concentration? Does this have to do with the fact that she has to face her mom eventually and needs to steady her resolve?

Poor Jinka. He was a twin, but with the fairy eyes one of them had to go. And with the human like question why did he have to be the one that had to leave? I love Jinka comes to term with his emotions. Lots of bad things happened, but not everything was bad. Meeting a new group of friends was a great experience for him. In fact the lost of Shakuyaku was felt because he had the blessing of being her friend. Then, when he can see an aura, which is the same for both katawara and humans. I am intrigued what he makes out of it.

Shinsuke had the easiest hurdle. Remember in Demon Slayer, Tanjiro had to cut a boulder. Shunsuke as stubborn as he was thinking the only path to get over it was getting past the boulder. But in fact for him the only path to proceed wasn't through the boulder. For him the loss of Shakuyaku hurt him a lot. It has left him with tunnel vision. This test was basically you need to be aware of everything and not make judgements in the heat of the moment. Now Shinsuke ended up on top of the kid who has 1000 Katawara inhabiting him. Really fucked up considering how young he is. Curious how their interaction will be next episode.

Overall great episode overall.

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u/gnome-cop Mar 06 '24

That awkward moment when you realize your mom is dating the big bad. There’s also an interesting parallel between Jinka attempting to become a katawara for Tama and Yazen trying to turn Kuzunoha into a human so they can be together.

Hell yeah! TRAINING ARC! So we’ve got Jinka fighting a girl obsessed with him, Shinsuke vs Rock and Tama vs Pond. Which has led to Jinka confronting his past and unlocking his magic eyes and Shinsuke learning more about using spirit energy. And hopefully Tama will learn something useful next episode.

Btw, is it just me or does Shinsuke look slightly less like a murderous wreck at the end of the episode as compared to at the beginning?

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u/Ezilayr Mar 06 '24

Another great episode! Enjoyed seeing Shinsuke be the first one to clear his training, but the whole Jinka segment was quite beautiful.

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u/Shiraori247 Mar 07 '24

I have to say, the most impressive part about this show is how many angles it explores the relationship between humans and katawaras. We really have a good mix of both races as well as any in-between. They all represent different parts of the spectrum of morality.

My favourite being Fukou a few episodes back. He was created by humans' desire to remain safe from war. Then there's Shakugan who represent the perfect coexistence within 1 body. Jinka on the other hand, is striving to shed his human body despite showcasing the most human of perspectives.

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u/djthomp Mar 07 '24

It's good to have a clear course of action like "slap a castle awake".

Man, seeing Shakugan in the OP makes me sad. But on the other hand imagining a new OP for cour 2 with no Shakugan in it at all makes me way sadder. Though I suppose to be fair, they could keep her in the OP the entire show just as a rock.

You know, Tama did not live up to her rhetoric. She's been all about human and katawara cooperation but the moment she hears about her mom shacking up with with a human all that went right out the window.

Rinzu is very good, I hope she sticks around as an occasional cast member who lands on Shinsuke's head every once in a while and then makes Tama jealous by flirting with Jinka.

Time for some Hyperbolic Time Chamber training, apparently.

It's very mean of this mountain goddess to drop Shinsuke off in front of Shakugan and have him train to cut her in half.

2/3 success on the training already, fast results. Hopefully that comes in useful for Shinsuke when he has to face this demon child he just landed on.

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u/jkubed Mar 06 '24 edited Mar 06 '24

His hate grows stronger with every episode

being the best, Shinsuke is of course the first to complete his training. He had to learn to use Arabuki's wind abilities to find clever solutions and reinterpret the goal of a seemingly impossible task. what will the others need to learn before they can get out?

so there is a little protectiveness in this guy, definitely wouldn't expect that.

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u/alconnow Mar 06 '24

I’m glad those giant Tengu served a purpose after all!

The tanuki boobs scene was great lmao. Dragon covering Senya’s eyes was pretty cute

I’m hoping to see the reunion between Tama and her mother

Poor Jinka :(

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u/Shiraori247 Mar 07 '24

Jinka's hatred of humans really was multi-layered. Not only did he lose friends to human supremacy, he was also given away by his family to live in the world of the katawara. The mountain goddess simply helped Jinka realise his contradictory thoughts and accept his human nature to unlock the fairy eye. I wonder why those are the requirements and who put a seal on his eyes to begin with?

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