Hidamari no Ki, Part 4

Here is the final installment of Hidamari no Ki: episodes 20 to 25. The chaos of the Bakumatsu reaches its climax with the overthrow of the Shogunate, an event that has decisive consequences for Manjirou, Ryouan, and the men and women in their lives. In particular, Manjirou confronts the ronin who have dogged his steps throughout the series: the assassins Toubei and Otojirou. If the first half of the series belonged to Ryouan, the second half, and the last five episodes in particular, are Manjirou's.

If these concluding episodes seem rushed, it's partly due to the headlong pace of events that take place in the background. By the early 1860s, the relationship between the Shogunate bureaucracy and the Imperial Court was openly antagonistic. Various clans used the banner of Sonnou Joui to further their interests at the expense of the ruling Tokugawa. In the Kimon incident, the Choushuu clan raised the banner of revolt in Kyoto. This led the Shogunate to dispatch punitive expeditions against Choushuu. The first, in 1864, ended inconclusively. By the time a second expedition was dispatched two years later, the Choushuu forces had modernized with Western weapons. The Shogunate army was decisively defeated, fatally weakening its prestige. Shortly thereafter, the Shogunate regime fell, without much of a fight.

Hidamari no Ki is, of course, the story of Ryouan and Manjirou, and they are the only two characters whose fate the show spells out. The historical characters mentioned in these last five episodes met various ends:

• Katsu Kaishuu remained loyal to the Shogunate but survived to serve the new Imperial regime. He eventually became a count.
• Saigo Takamori led the Imperial forces in the war against the last rebellious remnants of the Shogunate. In 1873, he left the Imperial government and later ended up leading a rebellion of disaffected samurai against the new regime, during which he was killed.
• Sakamoto Ryouma was assassinated in 1867 by members of the Mimawarigumi, another of the special samurai squads formed by the Shogunate.
• Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last Shogun, disassociated himself from any efforts to restore the Shogunate regime and lived a quiet life in retirement. In 1902, he was named a prince of the empire.

This group of episodes introduces one last significant character, Aya, sister of the ronin Otojirou. She was played by Neya Michiko, who has had featured roles in many shows. She's probably best known for Melissa Mayo in the Full Metal Panic franchise and Riza Hawkeye in the original Fullmetal Alchemist. She also played Lena in Fire Emblem, an Orphan release.

In preparing this last group of episodes, certain aspects of the show have really stood out. The opening credit sequence, which I've seen perhaps a hundred times now, is a masterpiece of music and composition. It starts out tranquilly, as a solo piano piece, surveying the massive camphor tree that stands as a symbol for the Shogunate. It takes an ominous turn, as images of Ryouan's battle against the cholera epidemic, and Manjirou's numerous sword fights, are played over the tree. Then, the three principal women characters - Oseki with a serious expression, Oshina with a melancholy look, and Okon with her enigmatic smile - are shown against the trunk. They give way to the banners of armies, which fall over and fade away to foreshadow to ultimate fate of the Shogunate. This sequence never gets stale.

Another noteworthy aspect is the different way Ryouan and Manjirou interact with the women in the show. Superficially, Manjirou seems the better man. He treats women with respect and reserve, putting them on a pedestal, while Ryouan is a womanizer, a patron of geishas, and an unfaithful husband. Yet Manjirou's stubborn honesty inflicts unhappiness on all the women with whom he becomes involved (Oseki, Oshina, and Aya). Ryouan may be a playboy, but he genuinely likes women, and he helps the nighthawk Okon achieve the only truly happy outcome in the series.

As a bonus, this set of episodes also includes a short special on the real locations used in the first two episodes.

The staff for the show remains the same. Sunachan translated the dialog, songs, and signs. Yogicat did the timing. I edited and typeset. banandoyouwanna, Nemesis, and VigorousJammer did QC. Skr encoded the workraws, and M74 the final raws. An anonymous benefactor bought the R2J DVDs, an essential foundation for making the project feasible.

We're not quite done yet. There's a batch torrent in the works. It will incorporate minor fixes in the first handful of episodes, mostly terminology that needs to be made consistent. I doubt there will ever be a Blu-ray release. Hidamari no Ki was made with digital animation long before HDTV. It's simply not that popular in Japan, and of course, it is virtually unknown in the English-speaking world.

You can get the fourth installment of Hidamari no Ki from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. Watch it, please, and then tell your friends about it. This show is not to be missed.