Hakuouki Season 2

Tues, 10th July

According to Wiki, the historical Hijikata died on June 20th that day, 1869 (no mention how). But in the anime, he seemed to have lived. His hair and eyes turned back to human. And he seemed asleep. Who wiped the tear from Chizuru's cheek? Yet his voice... seemed he spoke to her from beyond.

But going by the anime, he should still be alive. At first, I thought he died, but considering... the Rasetsu die without turning back to human (Heisuke and Sannan) and turn to sand.

Hijikata turned back to human after he killed Kazama. He didn't die and at least have a little more time left. Probably because Chizuru had given him her blood earlier, strengthening him in ways that they probably didn't realize.

I would love for Hijikata to have lived in the anime. Forever with his Chizuru.

My thoughts as I watched the final few episodes last night:

Ep 19 : The Sun's Blade

My god. It's Tsuruga-jo! Saito was there on the top deck with the Lord Katamori. I was there on that deck! Oh my god. Saito was there... They draw the top floor the same as the actual.

I can finally see what they did in those rooms. So large rooms... So, it was for practice. Training.

The moat goes around the castle. But... the moat doesn't go around anymore. It's just a short length front and back. They filled it in?

Morikawa's voice (seiyuu) cannot escape. :) Heard it right off as Lord Katamori speaks. It's Conrad's voice (Kyou Kara Maou) and the Emperor's adviser in Saiunkoku Monogatari.

Wah.. Ishida seiyuu as Masaki, is soo nice.

Seeing Saito rushing into bullet-fire. Ah, shit. How are you going to win running into bullets? *tears* He's going to die...

Ep 20: Sendai castle?

When I visited, it is no longer there. Sendai... has no castle, except the stone bases.

*tears up* Sannan-san... Heisuke...

The lousiness of the Oni is their inability to heal others, except themselves. What use is that? How powerful is that? The Oni have no right to be so prideful when they don't even have any healing power to help people. And stay aloof, mocking humans. Not helping, just staying uninvolved when they can help... (but if some of them take the side of the opposition? It works both ways...causing more harm, more damage.).

But at least, if they don't take sides, at least... help those they feel should be helped. Shiranui should have saved Sanno.

Chizuru could have saved Sannan and Heisuke just by putting her hands over Hijikata's. Tears alone, are for humans. If Oni can only cry, then they are no better than humans.

These later episodes are making me want to find out the historical truth about the Shinsengumi. Were they really heroes as portrayed? What sort of men were they? Did they really die at those places like in the anime?

Ending of Ep 21... Hijikata is very cute. Such a proud, stubbornly reserved man, hugging Chizuru by his side without acknowledging outright his love for her. :)

I love the part about the tea... when Hijikata turns into Rasetsu and leaves in the middle of a meeting, suffering in his room. Chizuru appears... so real, presenting hot green tea at his side... the cup of tea lingering even after she's gone.

EP 22 : Last episode. 薄桜 Bo Ying... means Sakura. Ying 櫻 (Chinese writing)... Ying Hua in Chinese means Sakura Blossom.  (桜) This word must be the Japanese word for Sakura.

Wow.. the way Chizuru moves aside her hair with a sweep of her hand.. and a strand of hair falling back... it's so natural the animation.

Ohh... so Hakuouki is the name given to Hijikata by Kazama. Pale Sakura Oni. Oni (鬼) means ghost in Chinese writing. I finally see the scene that was on the cover of the artbook that I didn't buy in Japan (for some reason. Why??).  It's not quite the same as the book cover (I remember he looked cool and not bloodied), but it's from this scene.

Hijikata = Hakuouki

This scene is beautiful... Kazama falling from Hijikata's blade beneath the Sakura tree. I think Kazama got tired of living as an Oni with nothing to do, and just let himself be killed. The good excuse was to go after Hijikata. And the reason he kept after Hijikata, I think was because he was jealous that Chizuru chose Hijikata over him. 

 

Beautiful scene, their hair flowing in the anime. Kazama with a smile like it went as planned.

 

Just before Kazama acknowledges Hijikata as an Oni and giving him the name Hakuouki.

 

Hijikata... died? Or only asleep? But his voice at the end.. sounds like he died. Then... the tear that was wiped from Chizuru's face? Ahh.. why must they end like that?

What happened to Shinpachi?

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In Wiki, Shinpachi and Saito didn't die, together with Shimada.

In the anime, it seems a little difficult to believe Saito, such a genius of a man who has promised to stay alive, would blindly gallop into a hail of bullets. Surely, he would have had a plan of ambush or something?

The same theme of rushing into a hail of bullets is prevalent in this anime... Hijikata later rushes in as well, on top of a horse! Of course, he got shot. Would a military genius ride high on a horse waving his sword arm into a hail of bullets?

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Hijikata's Kiss:  Hijikata's hairstyle actually looks like Sebastian's in Kuroshitsuji.

 

Hijikata looks more like Sebastian in Kuroshitsuji here: 

 

Chizuru's Kiss:

 

 

Every time I watch an anime like this, it always surprises me how far the characters have come from Episode 1. The change is truly amazing, just like real life, but fast forwarded. Only thing is, in Hakuouki, they don't age. Their age don't show on their faces regardless of how much they have been through, how sick they are, how little sleep they get, how the years pass.

Their faces still look same as in episode 1, but change is there. Their clothing, their hair, longer faces, strain under their eyes, less happy, more serious as the episodes progress. The strain can be seen heavier and heavier on them.

Then when they look back in flashbacks, it's amazing how far they have come, how much they have gone through... as though in years, even though it's just been in episodes. I feel as if I have gone with them for years, as they have. Wow.

I don't know how the animators/creators do that. And it gets the heart going, filled with the pain of the years that these people (these characters) have gone through. I guess it's because of the heart motions that create this magic of time in years as we follow the episodes. When the heart and emotions are involved... it feels like a long time.

Hijikata Vampire (Rasetsu) once more: 

By this time, Chizuru has come to enjoy it, I think. :) The camera shows her closed eyes and a breath that sounds like pleasure as Hijikata begins to suck.

 

Hakuouki Reimeiroku 薄桜鬼 Ep 1 (Season 3)

http://www.anime44.com/hakuouki-reimeiroku-episode-1

(Update: faster here: http://www.animecrazy.net/hakuouki-reimeiroku-episode-1/)
(Update: It seems the first anime link does not include Saito speaking at the end of Ep 1 of Reimeiroku).

Currently, it is un-subbed (no English subs yet). But I still watched to its end because... I needed to see.

Ahhh... I finally found the name to the face of the handsome man I saw on an artbook cover in 2009 at a Japanese bookstore in Shibuya (I think it was Shibuya).

Hijikata. The man who caught my eye on the top floor of that bookstore (can't recall the name). Samurai in western uniform, long-hair, sad, cool look, standing with his sword drawn among the fall of Sakura petals. Didn't know who he was, didn't know the anime (I guessed must be anime or manga).  Couldn't fully read the Japanese writing on the cover that looked like Chinese. Read the first word as "Bo" which I felt was incorrect, and the last word was "Gui" (ghost). Didn't know what was the middle word in cursive (even if it were not, I still wouldn't know).

(I did guess that it probably has something to do with the Shinsengumi, since the fashion style looked familiar to that time frame. I had watched Peacemaker Kurogane previously. Present time looking up in Wiki shows it's not anime, but a game. From the game, it was adapted into anime and manga.).

Certainly, the Japanese pronunciation would be different. I didn't know what it was, and felt one day, I would know which anime the artbook came from and who was on the front cover.  Maybe I could look it up when I returned to SG, although it is difficult without the Japanese name and just front cover. (In hindsight might be possible using just the 2 Chinese words).

At that time, didn't have much money left for shopping, except enough for maybe just 1 or 2 more items before I have to stop. That was the extent of the allowance I set aside for shopping, which wasn't much and I hadn't bought much. 

This book I had to buy. There were 2 books of different covers I think and I chose the one that I felt was more beautiful.  (Now looking at what I bought, seems I didn't choose the cover that first caught my eye. And it does not seem that it is Hijikata as I just watched in the anime.).

It is still unopened because I love it as it is. Strangely, I don't feel like opening it. To keep it as it is, is to preserve it in its original form, untouched, forever perfect.

I couldn't buy both books with different covers, unless I abandoned the Taki and Tsubasa meant for the past love. In the end, I sacrificed my side in order to bring back the Taki and Tsubasa for someone whom I needn't have sacrificed for. 

2850 yen. Approximately based on today's rate, around SGD 45. I think the rate has been around there since 2009. 1 yen = 15+ SGD.  So, it's still pretty expensive. But if sold at SG, probably above $70. Yet, the airfare has also to be considered in the cost. So, not really saving.

This first pic was taken on the $99 foam mattress on top of my bed that's going to be dismantled tomorrow to make way for the new Franc Franc bed coming tomorrow. I took pics of the whole mess of my bed as well.

The 2nd and 4th pics taken at the kitchen window. The 3rd pic and last pics on the washing machine top that's near the kitchen window. All for the light.

I have not seen this selling in Kinokuniya in SG.

In SG, such artbooks sold by Kinokuniya are expensive. While browsing the bookstore, it occurred that I could get cheaper here at the source (Japan). So, the purpose was set as I started looking around for anime artbooks to see what I might find, perhaps not available in SG.

Found a Taki and Tsubasa calendar book for my past love, considered whether to buy it with the tight budget I had, whether worth sacrificing for the person, decided to sacrifice the amount of money for it, then went upstairs. 

Was in the back of the topmost floor, almost disappointed at not being able to find any artbook, when that man on that front cover stopped me. Didn't know which anime it was, but had to buy it. 

Why is it, I always take a while to find out the identity of the men I love? City Hunter and now him. Starts with just a picture, an illustration, don't know who he is or where he comes from. But I will, in time. 

Some time back, was at Central 2nd floor where an anime theme shop recently opened. From there, I bought a Kuroshitsuji T-shirt. And saw the familiar gang that the handsome man I saw in Japan belongs to. It seems the handsome man is among them, though I couldn't be sure since the artbook illustration was more beautiful.  But the overall artwork seems to be from that anime (that I didn't know about). 

I asked the young woman staff who was attending to me, what anime it was. She said the name, even spelt it out to me when I asked. And yet I couldn't remember after that. So... it passed. 

Then recently, my past love has been sending unhelpful e-mails to me, and a few days back sent this one about a prequel to an anime called Hakuouki Reimeiroku. And something about a movie going to be done. I didn't care for it. But this morning, feeling in the mood, had a closer look at her e-mail.

Somehow wondering if it could be that anime with that man, I pasted the name into Google, and viola.

I read some of what it was about in Wikipedia and thought the story was unique and interesting. Somehow, the Japs always come up with such cool ideas I could never think up [such as the Rasetsu, whatever that means, and the wanting of some royal being wanting to capture a girl instead of another who has the protection of a bodyguard (sexy idea)].  And I saw a few Seiyuus (voice-actors) I know in the cast (that's how I saw Shinichiro Miki as Hijikata and definitely had to see.).

At the end of this first episode, it would seem the man I am looking for (who seems to match the front cover of the artbook I bought)... is not Hijikata... but someone else. This man: Who is he? 

Currently, there is only Ep 1 of this prequel, said to be Season 3. So, I will need to look at Season 1 from the start to know who he is.

While watching Hijikata, I thought Lee Min Ho's face is like Hijikata's, like anime. That's why the Japs like him.

But also, while watching, I felt I still like the Hijikata and Souji in Peacemaker Kurogane anime.The Hijikata there is more manly and sexy, with a fearsomely sexy voice unlike this one voiced by Miki Shinichiro and looks feminine type.

The Souji in Peacemaker is sexier with his fragile-looking willowy figure and girlish voice that incites the possibility of yaoi with Hijikata (more fun). This Souji in Hakuoki makes no impact at all. Just a young punk like the rest with a pale no-impact voice.

Also, of course, in Peacemaker Kurogane, there's the pig Sanzo, that I almost expected to see in this Hakuoki.

Update: Just realized. Hakuouki is 薄桜鬼. The prequel is called Hakuoki Reimeiroku. What's Reimeiroku?

Looked up Season 1. Part 1 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5E_BZLwPFo
Follow up with this full version since the uploader for the above link didn't upload further. http://www.animeshippuuden.com/hakuouki-episode-1/

Strange: In Wiki, it says the anime was first released in 2010. But the bookstore was already selling the artbook when I was in Japan in 2009. So the artbook I have... is based on... ? The game? (disappointed).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haku%C5%8Dki 

Ep 2 (part 2):  Take out your sword leh. She wears pants but she falls like a girl.

http://www.animecrazy.net/hakuouki-shinsengumi-kitan-episode-2/123279

Ep 3: http://www.animeshippuuden.com/hakuouki-shinsengumi-kitan-episode-3/

Ep 5:  http://www.animeshippuuden.com/hakuouki-shinsengumi-kitan-episode-5/
Wahh... Okita is so cool. His stroke so beautifully executed in the rescue of Chizuru in the garden washing sake bottles when approached by the sly Itou.

Later, what Saito says, applies to SG. "A group grows and expands when people with various ideas gather together. But it will fall apart from the inside out if you force diversification.". There is now a rift between Singaporeans.