The Bakumatsu was an era in which the souls of young men burned with anxiety for their country’s future. Takasugi Shinsaku, a soldier of fortune from Choshu, sneaks aboard a government ship with his comrade Katsura Kogorou in search of a mysterious “timepiece” with the power to manipulate time that he fears the government wishes to keep for themselves. Rather than allow such power to fall into the wrong hands, Takasugi plans to destroy the artifact, but having obtained it, the artifact is quickly stolen, forcing the pair to follow the mysterious thief to the seat of government in Kyoto. – MAL
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Episodes: 12
Source: Game
Episode Summary: Shinsaku and Katsura are out on the night sea to obtain a treasure sought by the Tokugawa Shogunate. This treasure is said to grant its owner power over time and space, but Shinsaku wants to destroy it so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands and create a power imbalance. Though their stealth skills leave something to be desired, they do eventually abscond with the treasure. That is, they nearly make a clean getaway until a mysterious female ninja grabs the item from under their noses, using it to escape into the time stream right before the men are discovered and targeted by cannon fire. Undeterred, they make a second pass at bungling the shogunate’s plans, but after walking in on a mysterious sleeping man trapped in the basement of the enemy fortress, it feels as though something about their world has changed.
The horizon is now dominated by a strange conglomeration of threatening architecture, and Shinsaku and Katsura’s clothing has undergone a transformation as well. They quickly discover that they’re in an alternate time stream from their own, in which the Tokugawa fell and the subsequent power vacuum was filled by someone with decidedly sinister motive. Shinsaku’s first inclination is to go on the offensive, but he soon discovers that his opponents possess the power of various figures from throughout Japanese history.
Impressions: Though I consider myself basically knowledgeable about various aspects of Japanese arts and media, I’m admittedly not as fluent when it comes to Japanese history. Call it an oversight on my part, but most of the actual Japanese or Asian history classes did not intersect very cleanly with my college degree requirements, so what I know of Japan’s past is mostly due to its relation to the development of theater, film, or literature. This generally means that anime focused around specific periods or events in Japan can be difficult for me to follow, even if the subject matter is only tangential to the historical context. I get lost in the details, even if they don’t matter all that much. This is the case, even when the purported focus is more on hot guys than stimulating historical analysis.
This series, based on an otome mobile dating game, is ostensibly about a young woman, some hot guys, and their adventures in traveling through time; my understanding is that the potential relationship options are all well-known historical figures from throughout history. The story as it’s set up in this episode is actually a lot less straightforward than that, so while I would have expected a frothy mostly-inconsequential romp with a bit of historical flavor, the end result not only takes on the sci-fi subject of time travel (along with all its inherent complications and consequences) but assumes a certain familiarity with the Tokugawa Shogunate and Shinsengumi that seems more vital to the plot than anticipated. To a history buff, this might be just the thing to pique their interest; to someone like me going in with a deficit, it’s a bit of a hurdle.
The series removes the female self-insert focal character typical of the genre, allowing Shinsaku and Katsura to serve in the pivotal role of uncovering the plot. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, in many cases the young women who populate these stories aren’t often allowed to actually do much (though there are definitely counter-examples). Whatever role they play, I typically don’t find them to be very interesting or admirable. On the other hand, without that type of person at the center, the mostly uninteresting male characters are left without a star to orbit. If the writing and characterization are enough to keep things interesting (and that’s a big “if”), it doesn’t matter all that much. Unfortunately I wasn’t exactly wow-ed by this initial outing and I don’t necessarily trust that to change, so I was admittedly left to ask myself “what’s the point?”
There are also some pretty obvious aesthetic issues with this episode. I hate to harp on stuff like this because I know that anime production resources aren’t always as available as we’d like them to be; it’s easy to say “wow, that animation is lazy” until you come to realize how strenuous and difficult the process is (and how little the animators are likely being paid to do it). That said, the characters are off-model a good fraction of the time, and that gets to be difficult to watch. It’s especially problematic for a series that partly hinges on the attractiveness of its cast, because it removes even that basic level of appeal; if the visual style were above-average it would be easier to look past the dense historical material or the goofy plot setup.
One thing I did like was the design of the “castle” (really a fortress or, honestly, a mountain) looming over the city in the alternate timeline in which our heroes find themselves. There was something very haunting and surreal about its mish-mash of architectural styles and conglomeration of physical components that did a good job of setting the atmosphere. I think if I had to name something that this episode did well, it would be the manner in which it defined its strange setting. While the overall visual rendering wasn’t exactly stellar, at the very least it clarified the characters’ separation from their home timeline well.
I appreciate the fact that there seem to be a lot more anime properties aimed at women as of late. While I don’t need anyone else to validate my fandom for me, it is nice to be recognized as part of the overall anime-viewing audience. That said, most of these types of series don’t seem to be given the type of loving care as similar series aimed at male fans, or at least the proportion of really stellar genre examples is still much lower. This episode exemplifies that tendency pretty well. Still, I think there may be the seed of a good premise here for certain types of alternate-history fans or fans of the Shinsengumi, so despite its issues it might be worth a watch for some.
Pros: The alternate-timeline has a surreal quality.
Cons: The visual quality is below-average. Some familiarity with Japanese history is helpful.
Grade: C-