Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun – 04

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inb4 doujins at Comiket 84

Finally, the conclusion to last week’s cliffhanger and Genpachi’s arc. Though, I can’t really call it a conclusion since it’s… Yeah…

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Demon “Brothers” // The brothers are in quotations not without reason, because they’re not really brothers. I’ve been confused for a while about the relationship between the two, but now everything makes sense. Genpachi is engaged to Kobungo’s older sister, that’s the reason why Kobungo calls Genpachi “brother.” Or… Did everybody realized it except me? I’m such an idiot. Anyhow, in this episode, the audience finally gets to see the demon brothers in lame action and the reason behind their transformations. This also gives more reason why both of them are close despite of their lack of blood relation. While what happened during their snow storm might be a disadvantage somehow, it was able to bring two people closer than before. Isn’t amazing how such disastrous events can bear fruit of something positive?

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Tragedy in a Tragedy // Finally, the reason of Nue’s death is revealed, and it’s not something pretty. I don’t get how women are so ugh in BL bait anime. Anyway, so Nue cheated with another man when Genpachi was away at war. I was going to suggest sex toys, but I guess sex toys don’t exist in this anime’s world. When Genpachi returned, Nue felt ashamed of herself because she impregnated by another man and committed suicide. I don’t know whether Nue cheated or not because she thought that Genpachi died, but she’s not supposed to do that I guess. Genpachi doesn’t know about this, and Kobungo didn’t tell him because he was super suicidal. Instead of being depressed though, Genpachi doesn’t feel anything about Nue’s betrayal. In fact, Genpachi stops being depressed and sets his sight on Shino, heh. I guess all this time, Genpachi’s love for Nue has been replaced by guilt over her death. Thinking that he’s the cause behind it, feeling guilty over it, and that guilt eats him day by day to the point where he keeps trying to commit suicide many times. Nue’s betrayal might be something taboo, but that taboo itself is the one thing that saves Genpachi from his guilt. Once again, something disastrous gives fruit to something positive. I guess this is one of those moments where the statement “everything happens for the best” should be applied?

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More on the Church Bishies // More backstory of Kaname and Riou (more to Kaname) is revealed. Kaname is a mistress’ son, so the real wife tried to kill him. I guess this is what Kaname meant when he was talking to Hamaji. To my surprise (not really, they have similar eyes), Seiran is Kaname’s half-brother – the son of the wife who tried to kill Kaname. Kaname’s sadistic, cunning, and manipulative personality makes sense now. He has been living in a harsh environment and needs to protect his life all the times. This is probably the reason why he’s not close to anybody… Until Hamaji comes in his life. So, Hamaji is that something Kaname wants to protect with his entire life, no matter what happens. I ship Hamaji and Kaname, but knowing more about Kaname’s character now, I ship them more. Heck, I don’t want them to separate. I’m glad Kaname finally finds his Lady, and he deserved to be happy with her.

If more about Kaname is known now, the same thing can’t be said to Riou. In fact, this episode just adds more mystery to his life. It’s revealed that the Dog of Satomi Clan only choose females, and yet, the Dog chose Satomi. Why, and for what reason? There’s no way Riou is a trap. Kamiyan doesn’t voice traps… Yet. Just what makes Riou special among the Satomis? I barely take any interest when it comes to Riou, but I can’t say the same now thanks to the shocking revelation about Satomi’s Dog.

Screenshots:

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If I were a 2D character, three veins would pop out from my forehead because of this episode. I see that the quality of animation decreasing, and anaaga no gusta about it. The background characters keeps getting worse, and I don’t have the power to fix it. Man, not even the background characters, the main characters are blatantly animated badly during their non-close up scenes. To make it even less amusing, this episode used still images a lot, more than usual. What about the fighting scenes? Heck, are they even fighting scenes? Everything was so anti-climatic. The fight can’t even be called a fight because it’s all about demon transforming and building burning down. That’s it. Even when Kaname killed Seiren, they didn’t show the scene AT ALL. The only good things about this episode were the backstories, the interactions among the characters, and… That’s it. The rest was just bleh. Even the humor attempts were weak. Bleh. I’m only at episode four, and I’m already frustrated with this anime. I seriously hope next week’s episode is better. Seriously.

Preview: White hair, red eyes… Inaba‘s long-lost second younger brother?

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Whoa, a non-male character, and in this anime!

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Have read 418 BL manga and continuing.
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6 Responses to “Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun – 04”

  1. Felice says:

    Kamiya has played a woman in a drama cd. He has a pretty good female voice.

    • anaaga says:

      Females or trap? I prefer trap hehe. But I didn’t know that, whoa. I should listen to those drama dc, if I can find them…

  2. Liza says:

    The only good thing about this episode, for me would have to be Hamaji and Kaname’s relationship. My shipper-ness is shipping those two together so much. Other than that…meh. It wasn’t really that awesome.

    • anaaga says:

      It suuccckkksss so bad compared to the decent episode before it. Especially the event after the cliffhanger last week. What the hell man, such a letdown

  3. Foshizzel says:

    That line on the main screenshot freaking made me laugh so damn hard! I was like poor man he is going to be sad when he discovers main kid doesn’t age T___T

    I liked that guy who killed the monk! GOOD JOB I HATED THAT BALD FREAK GUY!

    • anaaga says:

      Lol exactly like what I was thinking when I watched it. But I guess some shota yaoi could spice things up 😉

      Yeah, the monk was creepy as hell. Thank god Kaname killed him, though it’s saddening that he killed his own brother…

      And whoa, you’re still watching this anime

Leave a Reply to Felice