A thoroughline:
Pictured: our boy Anotsu having some Thoughts about descendants and the like.
Apparently his life's work being destroyed made him change his mind a little.
Then Rin was like: yeah, no, you gotta go.
And perhaps the funniest thing to me personally: him going "shit girl ur so right I was on some bullshit back there" immediately after she stabbed him.
Anotsu was a victim of inheriting ambition and a grudge and I love how he struggled with that to the very end. He doesn't actually know why he's doing what he's doing and all those fancy words are there to convince himself just as much as others. The way he spoke of a hypothetical child to Hyakurin is the most honest he ever is about he feels about his own life.
"If a child must honour inherited ambitions, what can he do but pour his soul into the chase? Not saying “No” while he still can. Not questioning good or evil, or even his own ability. Not thinking about what happens once he achieves his goal, or if he can’t. Charging blindly ahead. His life is a haze."
He didn't say no when there was still a chance and then all of that shit he did unfolded and he couldn't stop it. It became bigger than him and he ends up going against his own principles when the only way left to "win" is to pass it on to the next generation. I don't think he ever wanted to have children but it's the only card he had left to play. If he went through with it he'd be no better than his grandfather who put the curse of revenge on him.
I love the detail that Anotsu picked a Confucius quote as password to board the ship he'd escape on, only to reveal that he has bad memories of having to read Confucius out loud for his grandfather every day as a child. The password to return back to his grandfather's ancestral home land is a passage that grandfather forced him to read.
"How can you know death? You don't even understand life."
Anotsu picked that himself. He made all those choices, put his soul into his grandfather's chase and he couldn't stop even when he was standing alone, with nobody behind him and no future ahead except becoming the bitter, broken man he despised. I think Anotsu was relieved that Rin stopped it all for him. He could never stop himself.
hot DAMN that is some juicy meta to wake up to
But yes. These are all such good thoughts. Anotsu really is bad at introspection -- I also think often about how every time Makie appears, he thinks of their first meeting, and every time his memory gets more detailed. The first time, he tells it like a dream, as if it feels unreal to him. And then it just gets more fervent, until the very end, when we see a clear flashback of his actual meeting with her -- not his grandfather's abuse that happened after.
Similarly, his thoughts about children and lineage is something he realizes slowly, post Kaga. And of course, he's at his most introspective when he HAS to lay low and has nothing better to do than sit around moping.
I think it's also pertinent how in that one flashback, he said that his grandfather's philosophy of "only someone skilled with the sword can call himself a samurai" was the only thing of value he found in all his grandfather's teachings. I think he probably kinda clung to that, as the one sorta-kinda positive thing he got from his grandfather, the one point of connection they had.
That bit about the Confucius quote at the end is chef's kiss. And yes, it does describe Anotsu very well, huh? He never COULD imagine a life that was truly his own, and so he threw himself into A Cause, and when that cause failed... well.
(I've also been thinking about that quote in terms of Neo-Confucianism vs Kokugaku vis à vis the tiny bit of research I did, but those thoughts are not formulated well. But something something the way this manga thematizes -- and imo criticizes -- nationalism.)
Anotsu is a very juicy character to write about!
If I knew more about Japanese history, culture and politics I might dare to do deeper analysis on the themes he represents. I know just enough to know that the themes are there, I just can't contextualize it all.
Samura mentioned Anotsu being inspired by nationalist activists right before Japan opened up to the rest of the world. He didn't elaborate though because the interviewer originally asked him about Anotsu's sexiness and I think he was trying to avoid answering. The whole interview is very enlightening on the topic of where Anotsu's reverence for women's skills come from. It's also sleazy and sexist af but what else is new.
Anyway, I watched a video essay on bushido in modern day Japan which really got me thinking more about just how anti-bushido Anotsu and Magatsu and all of Itto-Ryu are, which I believe goes against them purely being portrayed as a nationalistic group. Like, they want to restore the glory and power of Japan with violence but Anotsu is also very much "fuck this tradition that's strongly linked to the identity of the nation, I'll destroy all of that crap". There also seems to be something about religion mixed in there that I can't fully grasp.
I'm just rambling now. What I'm saying is: I agree with your interpretation that there is critique against nationalism in there, andpossibly critique against effects of modern day bushido and how it can control a population with shame etc. If I had more than the shallowest surface-level knowledge about these things I'd love to analyze them.
HERE IS ANOTSU LOOKING LIKE A DYING PRINCESS (a reward for reading my rambles)
DON'T WORRY I am also far from an expert and...... this turned into a ramble as well
dsjlsadjf GOD THAT INTERVIEW
I read it ages ago, but haven't revisited it ago because
well
stares into the distance
Seriously, why are men in Japan apparently allowed to go public saying this shit.
BUT YEAH I think Itto-ryu was probably at least partially inspired by the Shinsengumi and such.
Also, a while ago I was reading up on Mishima Yukio, very famous 20th century Japanese author who was a staunch nationalist and also gay. AND... apparently his family owned land in Kaga and in Mito/Hitachi
so I'm like
COINCIDENCE??
He was apparently also a sickly child and scolded by his father for not being manly enough and later really got into body building. He famously died by seppuku, though, and we know Anotsu would've abhorred that so he opted to die by Rin instead.
I think I also hazily remember, way back when the manga was still being published, that there was some discussion in forums about the Prison Arc possibly being inspired by Unit 731, an actual historical event during World War II, when the Japanese military performed gruesome medical experiments on prisoners of war. Fair warning, the wikipedia article describes some REALLY gruesome stuff.
Of course, I can't really say how much any of this is true, but... yanno. There's also a promo image Samura once drew for the 2008 anime, which has Anotsu pointing at the rising sun flag, so. Y'know. Not exactly subtle here.
But yeah, at the same time, Anotsu's values are also... oddly more egalitarian than probably society in general, in the manga? And there's the whole thing where he himself is a descendant of immigrants. So it's a weeeeee bit more complicated.
Seriously tho why is he always prettiest when he's half dead. Like what's up with that.
Okay but that guy also raided a military base with four buddies and took the commandant hostage?? For real???
He failed though, unlike Anotsu. He also fought to restore the glory of the emperor and bushido while Anotsu implied he could kill the entire imperial family in their sleep and he spits on bushido. I love this! Because the many similarities makes it easier to spot the significant differences I think.
Anotsu is all about power through force. He doesn't care about the emperor or bushido or the nation at all really. He cares about the skill to win and that's literally it. "Nothing but the way of the sword, valuing nothing but victory"
I think Anotsu is fashioned in the style of a violent nationalist activist but his actual opinions and ideals are much more progressive and leftist. Like, very progressive but also pure violent chaos. I'm sure someone more into the fine details of ideology could pinpoint exactly what he is but my gut reaction is to slap a big anarchy sticker on him and wave my hands. In any case, Anotsu ends up fighting against the Japanese imperial government and we learn they are just as bad and worse than the Itto-ryu.
Fuckkkk, the immortality experiments parallel.. Of course. You're so right and that's so fucked up. I should have seen that. I read that wikipedia article over ten years ago and I still feel sick thinking about it. I won't read it again. The Japanese government still don't admit to those war crimes right? Now I kinda want to applaud Samura for what he did there. That criticism is overt as fuck now that I think about it. Samura took the war crimes Japan commited in China and put them right beneath Edo Castle, saying outright the goal of the mass murdering was to give the emperor eternal life.
I've wondered about the significance of Anotsu's Chinese heritage because there's plenty of real life history, controversy and racism to unpack there. It could feel like a racist thing to give the lead villain a Chinese heritage and let his grandfather's grudge be his motivation to commit horrible violence against a Japanese samurai family and to have the lead hero call him 'pointy eyes' but I don't get the vibe that Samura in any way sees these traits of Anotsu as negative. They clearly mark him as "bad and foreign" in the eyes of some characters but Blade of the Immortal as a series is very much about how foreign people and their stuff is very cool actually. Just look at all the weapons! And the entire plot!
The foreign sword that got Anotsu's grandfather cast out is the catalyst for everything else. Magatsu has a whole speech (2 speech bubbles) hyping up Chinese swords and his fight with Manji is about that sword! To get it back for Rin! Who wonders about why her grandfather kept it. Oh my god I'm seeing the themes unfold as I type 😵💫
Time to ship the grandfathers
Ok ok, point is: Anotsu is an antihero. Despite his evils we're supposed to root for him rather than for the Japanese imperial government that sadistically killed and tortured thousands of innocents and kill random peasants for being in the way. Blade of the Immortal criticizes nationalism. It criticizes samurai. Anotsu is not a symbol either of those things. He's the violent counter-reaction, which can turn into another sort of evil. And yet somehow we still don't end up with a status quo ending!
Blade of the Immortal is often described as "punk" and I 100% agree. It's a reeeeally violent anti-violence story that I think might also have some good anti-racism and even some hit and miss attempts at feminism despite the horrors. Good job Samura-sensei!
Yeah I'm going to have to re-read the entire series from start to finish now.
OH SHIT my dash kinda collapses posts automatically, here, let me put my response in a read more
Hmmm, yeah! The reason I still see some nationalism in Anotsu's whole *gestures* thing is that, while he criticizes bushido and all that, he still jumps at the chance to become part of the establishment. When Habaki comes to him with the offer to make Itto-ryu the official sword school of the bakufu, Anotsu freaking jumps at the chance. It's only when all of that falls apart that he decides to go full rebellion -- and even then, he still claims the point of his whole raid on Edo Castle was to make the bakufu realize the necessity of a strong military.
THAT SAID tbh I don't think he himself has it figured out. I don't think his ideology is a primarily a political one and is mainly about SWORDS!!! But he's got that yearning for a mythologized past of great swordsmen going on as well. Then again, boyo is TWENTY-TWO and I think that explains a lot tbh lmao lmao
And I always thought Anotsu's backstory was meant to make us more sympathetic to him. Like oh hey, the Asano family actually fucked up here. We see this right when Rin first meets Manji, he asks her whether she's sure the guys she wants to kill are really the bad guys, and she immediately recalls Anotsu's bitter face as he tells his story.
That right there is the first seed of doubt in Rin, a trend that continues throughout the whole manga, as she embarks on a journey of expanding and refining of her view of the world and her sense of morality.
And YES, there's also Rin's sword, and ages ago I wrote a meta post here about how it's significant that it was Doa and Isaku, two immigrants, who kinda brought life back to the Asano house / Muten-ichi-ryu dojo.
yes lmao the really violent anti-violence story
Everyone in this manga: wow I hate samurai bullshit
Also everyone in this manga: *keeps doing samurai bullshit*
