May 1896, the wait for the snow to melt is over and the new government army attacks. To intercept them on two fronts Ootori and Hijikata are sent out.
Elsewhere Kazama lands on a new government army ship and demands that he’s taken to Ezo, the captain of the ship doesn’t really have a choice.
Hijikata’s unit is doing well and no one’s died. But Ootori is defeated so they retreat to Daida in case the enemy cuts off their escape and regroups with everyone. Things worsened everyday. The naval battles soon began but the Bakufu ships were outnumbered and obliterated. Only their infantry remain.
During a quiet night in the office, Hijikata finally says that he’s in love with Chizuru and they share a heartwarming kiss.
The happiness doesn’t last long as the new government army attacks from behind and Ootori and Shimada are boxed in in Daiba. Hijikata immediately sets off with reinforcements. But as he charges into the enemy he is shot off his horse. He’s not dead yet and Chizuru helps him into a safe place. With a huge amount of blood loss Hijikata doesn’t look like he’ll make it, so Chizuru feeds him some of her blood and he pulls through and they retreat.
However, they meet Kazama on the way back. Even though he’s injured, Hijikata still accepts Kazama’s challenge. And so, the duel begins. It seemed even, until Hijikata’s injury takes its toll on him and Kazama is clearly on top. Even so, Hijikata fights on with the will power of a demon. Seeing this Kazama recognises Hijikata as a real Oni, as a Hakuouki.
The two ready themselves and charge for one final strike. A shock victory goes to Hijikata as he stabs straight through Kazama’s chest. But it seems he’s used too much of his energy and collapses.
The end.
So I’m assuming he died then? Certainly seemed that way… although it wasn’t completely confirmed. I don’t know about the ending, I thought it was a little rushed and it wasn’t an ‘ending’ per say. There’re so many things left unanswered. I’m guessing the Bafuku army lost then? What happens to Chizuru now? Go into hiding? Did Shimada and Ootori die? These things would’ve easily been answered if there was a 2 minute epilogue or something, or at least show us the end of the battle. I was hoping for Chizuru to have Hijikata’s child…
So many unconfirmed deaths in this series, but it seems they’re all confirmed at the end when everyone appeared in the ending scenes. Well, a tragic end for this tragic anime. The ending isn’t too bad, he killed Kazama and then died. Still, I had my hopes up for an ending where Kazama kills him and then Kazama kills everyone in the new government army. I can’t believe Kazama lost though, he’s a full Oni and isn’t injured when the fight started. Must be good old will power, the famous Shinsegumi spirit huh… he’s still dead though… everyone’s dead… well I’m surprisingly not as sad as I expected, I guess since Kazama was killed it counts as a happy ending? It was one to me, brought a smile to my face at least, so yeah happy ending.
The episode itself is quite average I thought, just the usual, they attack, they lose, they retreat etc. Even after all this war talk we didn’t get to see who actually won. Maybe they wanted to finish it there because they know they’re going to lose? So y’know, end it happy.
Anyway, here are a few of my thoughts of this episode then. So the new government army is afraid of a little snow… sounds like the UK, a few days of snowfall and everything comes to a halt. I guess there are places where it’s really bad, but still, most of the places are perfectly fine, just get on with everything normally. I’m sure somewhere like Russia has to deal with snow more than a few times and they must do fine. Seriously, it’s annoying me, everyone will get used to it.
Osen didn’t show up… she barely had any screen time… what was she there for anyway? Don’t introduce a character and then after a few meaningless chats make her disappear without any reason. So frustrating when this happens, I wanna know all the characters!
One reason I thought this was rushed was because Hijikata was shot. He hasn’t been shot before, not when he’s in battle mode, I’m surprised he slipped up like that. Chizuru also needed to relax a bit more. I don’t think a bullet could’ve killed him, not the Hijikata we know. He’s survived a bullet before he’ll survive another one. Hijikata was insensitive again, sure he doesn’t want to see Chizuru in pain, but she’ll be in more pain if he dies.
Well, we found out where the name of the series comes from. Hakuouki, pale cherry blossom demon? Something like that. I know this anime’s from a visual novel, so does Kazama call whoever’s route it is, ‘Hakuouki’?
Does anyone else think that the Cherry tree at the ending scenes reminds you of the cherry tree from Da Capo? That’s if you’ve seen Da Capo. The resemblance is quite obvious I thought.
Another ending I was sorta hoping for was Hijikata dying from the bullet, unlikely, and then Chizuru going crazy and killing the enemy with her demon powers. But I guess that’s too much to hope for haha.
The series overall has been quite good. Had boring spells but that’s normal. This anime has mainly been rather depressing. Most of the first season wasn’t, but at the end it was a little, and then the second season hit home with the tragedy. In that regard the series has done well in showing us the sadness. The bad parts of the series was that there’s been too much unfinished ‘business’ and too many things were vague. I don’t know if that’s what the series was going for leaving cliff-hangers to leave us with hope that the uncertain deaths were not actual deaths or something, but either way, I don’t like it.
Apart from that and a few rushed parts I found the series enjoyable to watch. It even had me emotional at parts, that’s the trait of a good story. I think if anyone wants a good emotional story I would recommend giving this a try. Another good point of this anime is that it follows an actual historical war time. So maybe you’re interested in the events of that time period and see how this anime links in. A good fictional story makes historical events even more exciting, one good example that I know all too well is Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Okay, to sum up, a good anime based on historical events, was vague and boring at times, but was also very emotional at its best. I liked it and hope you did as well.
7 comments
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January 4, 2011 at 1:41 am
Neo-Shonen Fujoshi
Jiraiya – lol!
Yes, I agree that a lot was left hanging – Osen simply disappeared in this second season, and Kazama’s oni clan with all its rules etc. was never really shown to us. Surely there were more oni in his clan than just the two they always showed him with – ?
Still, the second season was way better than the first season – though more tragic, of course. 😦 This second season was both sad and beautiful to watch.
January 4, 2011 at 2:31 am
Lucretia
Yeah, most of the time the saddest things are the most connecting and have the most impact. Which is obviously good, this series will leave a lasting impression but yeah, whilst it was good here, it needs to tie up so many loose ends but i doubt there’ll be a third season, no more story to show, unless they wanna show us the rest of the fight with the story around Ootori or something like that.
January 17, 2011 at 8:40 pm
Hanna
I also didn’t really like the ending. EVERYONE. DIED. But I tried to convince myself that Hijikata was still alive, for these reasons (wishful thinking?):
1. When the Rasetsu die, they turn into dust. This was seen with Amagiri’s unnamed oppponent and also Heisuke/Sannan. Hijikata didn’t turn into dust! So maybe he’s still alive. (But then again, all three of the above died in their Rasetsu forms. Hijikata was in his “normal” form. So maybe this point is invalid).
2. Chizuru felt someone wipe away her tears! Maybe it was Hijikata! I’m thinking that Hijikata touched her face while lying in her lap, and the reason she saw a vision of him standing up was because she was remembering how he usually looked. But that doesn’t mean he died!
3. Kazama called Hijikata an Oni! Doesn’t that mean that he now has special Oni powers and isn’t a “normal” Rasetsu anymore?
Anyways, I also realized that the producers left out the fate of one very important character: Shinpachi. The last we see of him is giving a casual goodbye and promising to meet again (after he helps carry Hijikata back). I smell a plot hole!
January 19, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Lucretia
Interesting reasons, gives hope, but I’m not that optimistic… but yeah, the fact that they left so many un answered questions could maybe suggest a new season, though i highly doubt it.
Shinpachi’s an odd one, i assumed he died somewhere fighting, seems the most plausible, but yeah, definitely something odd
February 15, 2011 at 9:11 pm
hakuouki123
i want more!!! is there gunna be a movie???
February 15, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Lucretia
Unfortuantely I doubt there is, though I have no idea. But a movie would probably be just redoing both series in an hour or so rather than an extension of the series. I would reccommend you to have a look at the visual novel if you haven’t already. That’ll probably go into more detail about the characters and maybe read some of the actual history.
If there’s anything about a movie I’ll post about it.
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