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langwidereI don’t think that I’ve looked at my 'reading list' once since I’ve opened this blog. I’ve visited people’s DW accounts, of course, but I’ve never technically patronized my 'circle.' Ooops! The point: I missed it. I’ll get on that, though :[
But, my breathtaking selfishness aside, Happy Toshizou Hijikata’s Hair Day! I think it’s really amazing that so many Americans are willing to put aside their differences on this most special occasion to commemorate something that’s near and dear to every patriot’s heart: Toshi’s beautiful, beautiful hair. Yes, Toshizou died a painful, untimely death because he was a total dumbass, and he apparently enjoyed killing his own men when they annoyed him, and he relished torturing enemy agents in unthinkable ways — but Jesus Christ, did you see that hair?
In Hakuouki, the writers understand that Toshi’s hair is his most precious and important virtue. When he’s bitching about something, his hair is sympathizing with his subordinates. When he’s snarling, his hair is grieving. When he’s fighting oni like an oni-fighting machine, his hair is also fighting oni like an oni-fighting machine — because it is Toshi’s hair, and Toshi’s hair is nothing if it is not a metaphor for a big, sharp sword (see example #2 below). That’s the reason there are so many extended shots of the back of his head; it’s far more emotional than the front. Without further ado, I give you:
It is, of course, the outrage the renegade oni commits against Toshi’s hair that gives him the strength to fight on, in the face of such critical disappointments:
How inspiring!
So, this episode was really good, even darkened as it was by the terrible deaths of some guy, and some other guy. How sad! Toshi really distinguished himself as the acting leader of the Shinsengumi when he… uh… um… did stuff, and we found out that Okita’s tuberculosis may not have been cured when he became a zombie. Also he was shot with silver bullets, which put a real crimp in his style and took him out of commission for the entire finale. Also Chizuru decided to stand by her man instead of sensibly saving herself from being raped to death by horned monsters. (She’s smart like that.)
The turning point in the series — and indeed in the historical record which motivates it — is the acquisition of firearms by the enemies of the bakufu. For modern Westerners, guns vs. swords looks like this, but for men like Hijikata, earning the right to kill your enemies in battle was a privilege afforded only to gentlemen. Yuck! So getting shot at by some asshole who may not even have been wealthy enough to belong to the samurai class would have been a terrible, unforgivable insult. In fact, it enrages Toshi so much that he almost develops a facial expression:
Which is unseated in its magnitude by the facial expression he almost develops while attending the burial at sea of Dead Guy #2:
On the positive, Toshi did learn how much fun it is to dig in the dirt with a big stick:
Of course, there will be a season two! Rejoice! In which Toshi will be dressed up like Liberace serving in the French Foreign Legion:
And he will smile at us again:
How exciting!!
(I think they got the timing right in that scene, so that Toshi doesn’t look quite so much like he’s getting the stick slowly pulled out of his ass on camera.)
I also really liked the sequence in which the blond oni (can’t remember names, sorry) incited Toshi to become a zombie. They framed the event in a way that made it look as if Toshi’s reaction to being abandoned by all his allies, unmanned by his lack of familiarity with gunpowder-based warfare, and deprived of council with his superiors, was to take refuge in the mythical possibilities of supernatural intervention. Which is, you know, shockingly plausible. People do that all the time. Even in the Real Times in which we live, such abominations as the Psychic Friends Network would not exist if the occult didn’t have a special appeal to people at the end of their tethers. I would’ve given the show even more credit for portraying such a potentially retarded extra-textual element in a way that was not overtly ridiculous if I thought it was in any way deliberate, and not the result of the plot stumbling drunkenly over some accidental realism in the middle of the night while it was looking for a place to pee.
So, I have to say that I absolutely love this show. I don’t know why. But, I think I’m going to put it on my iPod and buy the artbook(s). (SORRY, MOM.)
10 out of 10, where "10" represents Toshi’s hair.
ETA: Changed the title. Turns out I used that one before. (Oops!)
But, my breathtaking selfishness aside, Happy Toshizou Hijikata’s Hair Day! I think it’s really amazing that so many Americans are willing to put aside their differences on this most special occasion to commemorate something that’s near and dear to every patriot’s heart: Toshi’s beautiful, beautiful hair. Yes, Toshizou died a painful, untimely death because he was a total dumbass, and he apparently enjoyed killing his own men when they annoyed him, and he relished torturing enemy agents in unthinkable ways — but Jesus Christ, did you see that hair?
In Hakuouki, the writers understand that Toshi’s hair is his most precious and important virtue. When he’s bitching about something, his hair is sympathizing with his subordinates. When he’s snarling, his hair is grieving. When he’s fighting oni like an oni-fighting machine, his hair is also fighting oni like an oni-fighting machine — because it is Toshi’s hair, and Toshi’s hair is nothing if it is not a metaphor for a big, sharp sword (see example #2 below). That’s the reason there are so many extended shots of the back of his head; it’s far more emotional than the front. Without further ado, I give you:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
It is, of course, the outrage the renegade oni commits against Toshi’s hair that gives him the strength to fight on, in the face of such critical disappointments:
 |
 |
 |
How inspiring!
So, this episode was really good, even darkened as it was by the terrible deaths of some guy, and some other guy. How sad! Toshi really distinguished himself as the acting leader of the Shinsengumi when he… uh… um… did stuff, and we found out that Okita’s tuberculosis may not have been cured when he became a zombie. Also he was shot with silver bullets, which put a real crimp in his style and took him out of commission for the entire finale. Also Chizuru decided to stand by her man instead of sensibly saving herself from being raped to death by horned monsters. (She’s smart like that.)
The turning point in the series — and indeed in the historical record which motivates it — is the acquisition of firearms by the enemies of the bakufu. For modern Westerners, guns vs. swords looks like this, but for men like Hijikata, earning the right to kill your enemies in battle was a privilege afforded only to gentlemen. Yuck! So getting shot at by some asshole who may not even have been wealthy enough to belong to the samurai class would have been a terrible, unforgivable insult. In fact, it enrages Toshi so much that he almost develops a facial expression:
Which is unseated in its magnitude by the facial expression he almost develops while attending the burial at sea of Dead Guy #2:
On the positive, Toshi did learn how much fun it is to dig in the dirt with a big stick:
Of course, there will be a season two! Rejoice! In which Toshi will be dressed up like Liberace serving in the French Foreign Legion:
And he will smile at us again:
How exciting!!
(I think they got the timing right in that scene, so that Toshi doesn’t look quite so much like he’s getting the stick slowly pulled out of his ass on camera.)
I also really liked the sequence in which the blond oni (can’t remember names, sorry) incited Toshi to become a zombie. They framed the event in a way that made it look as if Toshi’s reaction to being abandoned by all his allies, unmanned by his lack of familiarity with gunpowder-based warfare, and deprived of council with his superiors, was to take refuge in the mythical possibilities of supernatural intervention. Which is, you know, shockingly plausible. People do that all the time. Even in the Real Times in which we live, such abominations as the Psychic Friends Network would not exist if the occult didn’t have a special appeal to people at the end of their tethers. I would’ve given the show even more credit for portraying such a potentially retarded extra-textual element in a way that was not overtly ridiculous if I thought it was in any way deliberate, and not the result of the plot stumbling drunkenly over some accidental realism in the middle of the night while it was looking for a place to pee.
So, I have to say that I absolutely love this show. I don’t know why. But, I think I’m going to put it on my iPod and buy the artbook(s). (SORRY, MOM.)
10 out of 10, where "10" represents Toshi’s hair.
ETA: Changed the title. Turns out I used that one before. (Oops!)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-05 07:19 am (UTC)I wish only that I could celebrate too (no-one's heard of Toshizou Hijikata’s Hair Day over here) ;_;
no subject
Date: 2010-07-05 05:23 pm (UTC)I really am proud of my country, sometimes.
I look at this entry, and I think: I am definitely, obviously, diagnosably crazy. But, but, throughout the whole episode, all the storytelling (as such) was done by his hair! It was amazing.
Brought tears to my eyes, so it did.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-14 03:32 pm (UTC)I arise from the dead.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-18 08:22 pm (UTC)(Of course I remember you!)